I think one thing to remember, as a homeschooler or not--especially when your kids are young--is to ask yourself what you remember from your K-3rd grade lessons.
This lesson was available to me when I began schooling, though I didn't take full advantage of it. I had the benefit of my sister being about 10 years ahead of me in homeschooling and she kept telling me to relax. Then I repeated several academic years with my own kids (to save money on curriculum). My boy, who absorbed SO MUCH the first time through, didn’t remember a whole lot of the early years I’d poured into him. I was shocked.
My point is that what they learn in those early years is not so much academics, but behavior, attitude and identity. My son knows he is smart. He confidently approaches new things. He knows what I expect of our formal school time. And my kids know when my mood is off and are subsequently scared—that isn’t a good thing, but it is sadly something they’ve learned. I hate to think that I would have spared them that lesson if I'd heeded my sister's advice. If I'd relaxed in that eternal perspective, I wouldn't have stressed out every time we had off days.
The academics are learned through years of use and repetition. It is consistency of use that helps to drive something home. When you read to them frequently and ask them to read frequently, you may not be able to pinpoint the day fluency was achieved. But they will be equipped with all they need to be readers for life (unless they've learned to hate reading time because they associate it with legalistic fervor to get it done).
If you teach them to learn—to research, to ask questions—then if you have missed something, they will know how to gather the information when they need it. It falls under the teach a man to fish rather than giving him a fish category.
I am not suggesting to NOT teach in the early years. I just want to gently remind parents (especially of young lambs) that the facts of history, math and grammar will need to be re-taught several times through their school careers. This first time around, I think you will be less disappointed if you expect nothing to ‘stick.’ What will stick is their perception of themselves, you and school in general—positive or negative.
On top of all that, most kids who may develop a learning style other than kinesthetic are still strong kinesthetic learners in the early years. Hitting that muscle memory is why it is recommended to do all those art projects when they are young. They need their bodies engaged, and they need as many senses fully immersed in an experience to best understand those things to which you are exposing them.
With that in mind, taking a day off to check out petroglyphs, horses or a museum are decision made in a different light.
And that brings me back to my first point—what do YOU remember about school? The projects? The trips? The teacher’s personality? That A says apple? The kids in class? The formula for finding the area of a trapezoid?
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