Thanks for sharing!! Happy Mother's Day!

No matter what it is you're talking about their will be people on the opposing side searching for flaws to point out to everyone! It is true that the programs we use and the materials I have learned from  say that the MOST IMPORTANT part of the EL experience should be to make sure your child has plenty of time for play, and finds the activities you are doing are fun and stress free! As for the Disney Princess argument, it is truly silly. My girls are not allowed to watch very much Disney, they very rarely have movies my husband and I approve of. They do know some of the names of the Princesses, but only because of the books we've read or from I telling them their names. We play princess/dress-up all the time though : ) We do EL in our home because, to me, it seem anys that my children are begging for this type of interaction. They LOVE to learn and explore, and it doesn't seem like it is doing any harm

Hi, welcome to the forum! We are also from California. There is a lot of great information on here

Welcome, and congratulations on deciding to homeschool your child!! When my eldest daughter was only only an infant we started EL. However, at that time I didn't realize there was a name for it or that other parents DIDN'T do this with their child. It just seemed to me that she LOVED learning and everything we did was fun. She absorbed the information so quickly and we simply continued to introduce her to many different subjects and activities. It was only beneficial and an amazing experience! Now, I have 2 girls, 3 and 5, and they are very advanced for their ages and LOVE to learn. I think that is the most important part, that they keep the love of learning, never force it! You can purchase different curriculum, learning DVDs, flash cards, and other and use what you feel is working for your child. No need to stress about the perfect homeschool curriculum for now. As long as she is learning and loving it, you're golden! I made a lot of different materials for my children to explore and learn with. I think their is no wrong way of doing this. We have explored different subjects and areas of learning that were many, MANY years earlier than they would have learned them in school, such as the systems of the human body, and they absorbed the information like sponges! The one thing I would have done differently if I had known what I know now, was only to learn a foreign language for myself. Immersion is the best way for children to learn a second language! I feel like if I had been fluent in a language we would not be struggling with this so much. We do ASL, and Spanish in our home. As well as explore many other cultures and languages. It is just hard for me to be able to teach a language when I don't speak it, and their progress is slow because I am learning at a different pace in a different way. Anyway, good luck with your learning adventures!!

Welcome to the forum! There are a lot of great ideas on early learning here

Could not agree more with Cokers4life ^^^

Thank you for sharing! I always love reading about how other moms and dads teach their children at home. I can see if there is something different I want to try with my girls

Thanks for sharing!

It is really nice to see other parents giving their children the EL experience and advantage in life. However, I can only see the media and all who read about this that her child is somehow gifted and not get the true message about early learning out to the public. Very true, Mario, that people find it odd. I have never told anyone what we really do in our home because when I start talking about it they seem to jump to conclusions that I am a crazy mommy trying to force my children to be geniuses. Haha! I do wish that more parents would take advantage of this early learning window, but I do not see that happening any time soon.

Great responses, books and puzzles are great for ANY age, young or old!! I would also like to add (if you don't have them already) blocks, pound-a-peg, musical instruments, pop-up tents to crawl through. My girls LOVED a ball pit I made with a small plastic pool and too many balls, Lol. My youngest also received small animal figurines when she was about 15 months for Christmas. Some can be too small for children still putting everything in their mouth, however, my girls loved them and still do. I bought them from Safari Ltd. and the crafting/detail was amazing. They were used for learning animal names and much more! They have so many "toobs" to choose from. Happy early birthday to your little one!

Thanks for sharing the list of books. I will look into them. Hoping our library carries a few

I like that Khatty, it's good idea to freeze meals for later. And there is not enough time in the day to do everything. I find myself getting overwhelmed when I try to do it all, as well. Some days we don't eat as healthy as I would like, some days our learning time is cut, some days I am behind on housework, alas, we try to do our best every day and that is more than good enough! I can see the benefits in my children from raising them with healthy organic eating and early learning! So I must be doing a good enough job, no need to stress yourself and your family.

I agree with the article completely! We homeschooled for 2 years before finding a Montessori Charter school we love. I do miss homeschooling my daughter. It worked for us, and I felt my daughter was receiving a great education! It was a struggle for us however, because we are living on a very limited income. Now that we have found a school that we feel is right for our children I have the ability to work when my youngest starts school. I do see how a mom can homeschool and work as well. Possibly only part-time? Childcare can be provided by family, friends or even a sitter. A sitter will ask for less than a private school tuition, and the education a child receives at home is, a lot of the time, of better quality. For a lot of the reasons mentioned in the article, parents will do whatever possible to educate their children at home because they feel it is best! I wanted to keep my children out of the public schools for reasons other than the fact the education system is obsolete. So, for us, the only option was to homeschool until we found this amazing school.

Lol, yeah I meant Rightbrainkids (tweedlewink), haha...

Pamela from Brillkids on Emotional Freedom Technique (EMT), teaching children to "tap away sad or angry feelings"

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP1ukV4RmFAMOOnFSRUgW32VQqNkJkqWP