Just Beginning Homeschooling

You are just beginning homeschooling? Imaginative play is very important. (I stink at it too but my kids both loved it, especially my son when he was young!) We had a big bag of dress up clothes and he was always something.

In much of the Montessori and Waldorf literature imaginative play is one of the most important things a child that age can be doing.

Try not to look at it as him not wanting to do what you want him to do, but rather that HE has unfinished business with his own activities. It's not just "play" for them. They are learning all sorts of things in that brain and working things out that we can't even see. Encourage your child by asking him if he would like more "props", ask him if he would like a tape recorder so he can make up a pretend story about what he is doing. If you look at what your child is doing, a computer game say, maybe that could count as "math" or "phonics" if that is what he is playing. Keep a list of what he is doing and remember that Kindergarten isn't about lesson plans and being on a schedule. Aim for a happy kid who is learning the things he needs to know right now. See if there is something he keeps going back to in his play that is a special interest that you can build on and whatever you do, hang in there an don't give up yet!