Gryphon House is a publishing company that specializes in educational books for parents and teachers.
For this review we were sent The Homegrown Preschooler. This book is all about how you can have a complete preschool level education for your child, right in your home through everyday life experiences. It includes great information on child development, skills to try to achieve, and a ton of recipes. There are activities in every section that will appeal to preschool aged kids and are easy to implement.
How We Used It:
When Josie was three, I went headlong into preschool. We did "school" everyday. She was memorizing Bible verses, learning letters and letter sounds, knew her numbers, and was filling our fridge up fast with art projects.
Gabe turned three this past winter and my views on preschool have done a total 180. I've taken a much, much more relaxed path with him and, surprise, surprise, he's learning just as well as Josie did. He can count to 10 and knows his colors. He can sing a beautiful rendition of the ABC's and loves to paint. We don't "do" school with him yet. I just haven't seen a need to. When I want him to learn something, I pretty much just tell him or show him multiple times until he gets it.
For the most part, I feel good about this method. It's relaxed and easy on both of us. But every once in awhile I see what other moms are doing with their three year olds and I start to panic. The Homegrown Preschooler came right in the middle of one of my mini freak outs over preschool. I was sure I was resigning Gabe to a lifetime of being behind.
Within the first chapter, I had regained my senses.
Preschool is meant to be fun and kids at this age are sponges! The book goes over what typical preschool milestones are and has a ton of examples for how you can help your child reach them by just slowing down and explaining things as they happen during your day. After reading the book, I am armed with ideas that both kids will enjoy.
We tried out a few and they were a major hit. Gabe's favorite were in the kitchen. Instead of rushing, I slowed down and had him help me count out the eggs or tell me what colors all the fruits and veggies were. I was also reminded how important it is for me to spend time reading to him. We enjoyed quite a few rainy mornings reading on the couch.
I'm more excited about preschool than ever and think that we will all have a great year with it. I will be coming back to this book over and over for ideas on how to teach Gabe right here at home.
My Opinion:
I loved this book.
It was needed for me and helped me remember what my goals are for Gabe's schooling this year. Which is pretty much that I don't want it to feel like school at all. The ideas in the book were original and are going to be simple to incorporate into our day. I really loved how they broke it down into skills that we should try to cover and then had the ideas on ways to teach it naturally.
I would say that the biggest that I got out of this book was to slow down and take advantage of learning opportunities as they come up. It's easy for me to rush through my day and forget to take that time with him. He is able to learn so much right now and I feel refocused to take advantage of that now.
Plus, the book is pretty on my coffee table!
If you have a preschooler or are thinking about teaching preschool at home, I would recommend this book.
Product Details:
www.GryphonHouse.com
The Homegrown Preschooler - $29.95
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