Those beginning years as your child is developing his/her language and using it to create imaginative stories and interesting drawings are amazing. Those are the teachable moments to use as a springboard for the future. If you can get your very young child to create literary works and present them to an audience at a young age, then speaking to an audience as they get older won’t be such a big deal.
Research has also shown that children who read and write creatively as well as learn grammar and syntax are more competent in grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. However, children who learn grammar, vocab, and spelling separately without reading and writing don’t show the same levels of competency.
The goal is to encourage a well rounded experience within the language arts. Encourage reading and then express the “inflow” by creatively expressing themselves with writing. Here are a few tips to help you effectively encourage your primary learner in language arts.
- Use English precisely, don’t talk baby talk or talk down to early learners.
- Early learners are ready to compose stories way before they are capable to write them down on their own. You can use this as a fun way to give them experience. Let them dictate a story to you as you write it down.
- Don’t require extensive amounts of written work from your early learner. Do some of the work orally, or help them with their writing.
- Help your children create their own books. Some of the most amazing books are ones that have been created from scratch. Hand sew several card stock pages together, and use cardboard to make a cover. You can even cover this with really interesting scrapbooking paper for an awesome little book.
- Provide and audience for you children’s play. I can remember as a young child getting my sisters and dog together to put on a circus for my parents to come and visit… complete with tickets and “wild beasts.”
- Allow children plenty of time for inventive play. Imagination is so important. In our modern technological age, children are daily being robbed of their imagination by television, video games, and computer. Shut off the electronics and go play!
- Don’t purchase elaborate resources for your early learner. Simple handmade workpages that present single letters of the alphabet or ones that you and your child draw picture representations of are highly effective. Allow play even while learning. Keep your child interested and motivated, seatwork and intensive books and writing requirements will give them a tedious view of school. Keeping homeschooling interesting is a vital part of teaching the early learner.
Check out the book – The Power of Play by David Elkind