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| Curriculum for Preschool & Kindergarten | Is it recommended to make a curriculum for pre-K and kindergarten? This is a common question homeschooling bulletin boards and email lists. It is a reasonable question, but some of the responses can be confusing to new homeschoolers. 
All people come into homeschooling with some common preconceptions of what the program should be - but many who have been at it for a while or raised homeschool grads are likely to strongly suggest not setting up a structured study program for young children. Here some misunderstanding can come into play.
A structured study program for a young child is inappropriate is not at all the same as saying that learning is unimportant during the early years. It is basically that many experienced homeschoolers and other educators feel there are certain kinds of activities that are much more important and appropriate in early childhood than studying the 3 R's - and that to establish a structure that emphasizes the 3 R's at that age can actually be detrimental. Of course, that's a whole different matter if a child is asking to learn to read, - but it's simply a question of helping that child learn to read, which is very different thing from setting up a curriculum.
If you've been raising a child up to the age of "pre-school" or "kindergarten," you've already begun homeschooling. In recent times, the most appropriate homeschooling activities are things that gently introduce a child into the wonders of his immediate world and the imagination. “Imagination is more important than knowledge” was said by Einstein, and those early years are the perfect time to provide an atmosphere where the child can freely dream and play and explore and grow in both body and imagination.
There are numerous things a parent can do to help a child develop a love of learning and searching - things that will carry through as a foundation for a life of joyful and successful learning. Most of them are things a parent does at one time or other anyway. A plus is that your child will be getting a good foundation for later studies, even picking up some elements of reading, writing, and math!
• Tell stories or read a lot of wonderful books to the child with no expectations beyond immediate enjoyment of the imagination.
• Provide beautiful picture books that can inspire and give children things to think about and daydream about.
• Go to children's book readings at the library.
• Keep children's reference books and nice software on hand - like encyclopedias - so that you can look up simple answers to their questions.
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