7 Steps to Continue Early Learning at Home

Children’s brains are like sponges: they are constantly absorbing information from the world around them. This doesn’t just happen at early learning centers though. No matter where your child is, they will observe and learn from their surroundings.

If this is the case, why not help your child develop their cognitive, academic, and emotional skills at home as well as at early learning centers? Here are some simple steps you can take to continue your child’s education at home:

• Talk to your child’s teacher
• Create a learning-friendly environment
• Use your child’s interests to help them learn
• Use play to learn
• Set goals and track progress
• Use Conscious Discipline when needed
• Don’t push your child too hard

As an early learning center with seven locations, we’ve helped thousands of children under the age of six learn important skills to thrive in this world and provided parents with tips they can use to continue this education at home. Let’s break down exactly how you can help continue your child’s education at home.

1. Talk to Your Child’s Teacher

The best way to ensure your child’s at-home learning sticks is to coordinate with their teacher. After all, the last thing you want is to contradict something your child’s teacher is teaching them. This will confuse your child and slow their overall learning as they grapple with different expectations set by two important caregivers. Parents and teachers must work together to make sure learning at home is supporting the learning happening at school.

Start by emailing your child’s teacher and asking for more information on the curriculum they are providing. Better yet, schedule a time to meet in person. This will give you both a chance to get to know one another and work together to strengthen your child’s education.

Early childhood educators can tell you if there are any areas where your child is struggling in school that might benefit from more at home early learning. With this information, you can know exactly what areas to focus on and even get resources from your child’s teacher to nurture these skills. This doesn’t mean your home needs to look just like a school though, but having a dedicated learning area isn’t a bad idea.

2. Create a Learning-Friendly Environment

Learning can happen anywhere, but it happens best in areas free from distractions. Create a designated area in your house where your child can learn. Make sure it’s away from screens and noisy areas so your child can focus. This area will change as your child grows and develops new skills. Here are some appropriate-appropriate materials to match your child’s stage of development:

• Age 3: Chunky puzzles, shape sorters, and picture books to build fine motor skills and early focus.
• Age 4: Child-safe scissors, alphabet blocks, and simple storybooks to build letter recognition and sequencing.
• Age 5: A small desk, tracing workbooks, and counting toys to build writing readiness and number sense.
• Age 6: Beginner reader books, simple math games, and a notebook for practicing short sentences.

Whether you are teaching reading or fine motor skills, make sure your learning area has all the tools you need to help your child. With enough use, your child will start to associate this room with early learning and know that when they are there, it’s time to focus. This makes the transition from play to learning much easier. This isn’t the only way to make at-home early learning easier for your family though.

3. Use Your Child’s Interests to Help them Learn

A dedicated learning environment is important, but it’s not the only place where at-home learning should take place. Children often learn best by exploring their environment, being active, and engaging with their interests. Start observing your child and discover what they are interested in so you can add it to your at-home early learning curriculum.

Watch out for interests that show up in various areas of your child’s life, like at school, at home, while learning, and while playing. For example, if your child is fascinated by dinosaurs and this interest shows up in every area of their life, it’s likely not a passing fad. Next, create some learning activities that revolve around dinosaurs by asking the following questions:

• What’s one counting or sorting activity here? For example: count the number of toy dinosaurs.
• What’s one story or vocabulary activity here? For example: read a story together about dinosaurs.
• What’s one “why” or “how” activity here? For example: research how herbivores are different from carnivores.
• What’s one hands-on or creative activity here? For example: draw your favorite dinosaur.

Don’t be surprised if your child’s interests change. Instead of building an at-home learning strategy purely around your child’s interests, focus on the learning structure itself. Then you can simply swap out one interest for another while keeping the lessons the same. Remember, children are much more likely to learn when they are interested in the subject matter.

4. Use Play to Learn

How many times have you had to drag your child away from playtime so they can go back to learning? Children love to have fun, and playtime is actually one of the best tools for early learning. You can easily turn playtime into a fun educational experience your child will love. Playtime itself already helps develop creativity and exploration. With a few tweaks, it can develop other skills as well. Here are a few ways play and learning can be used together:

• Outdoor play: Running around outside helps your child grow physically, as well as teaches them how to explore and engage with the world around them. This time can easily be turned into a learning experience about nature, the seasons, and more.
• Puzzles and building blocks: These toys help children build important skills like problem-solving and spatial awareness.
• Reading books: If your child loves stories, have them sit and read with you to practice language development and reading skills.

The sky is the limit when it comes to turning playtime into an early learning experience. Discover what your child gets excited about and combine it with the skills and lessons they need extra help with to continue early learning at home. Just know that even though playtime is fun, this doesn’t mean your educational play sessions should be unstructured.

5. Set Goals and Track Progress

When you spoke to your child’s teacher, you may have learned that your little one is struggling with a specific subject or having difficulty developing a certain skill. You want to help your child and one of the best ways to do so is to be consistent with their at-home learning. To do this, start by creating a goal for your child. This could be, “Learn how to write the alphabet,” or “Learn how to use scissors.” No learning goal is too small.

Reaching these goals takes time, patience, and consistent effort from you and your child. To learn these major skills and lessons, try setting smaller milestones you can track.

For example, if your goal is to have your child write the alphabet in six months, set weekly goals for them to master writing down one letter. These weekly goals can help you track your child’s progress to see if more or different learning tactics are needed.

But remember to avoid being harsh on your child if they don’t reach the goals in your set amount of time. This might mean you need to try a different learning method or get your child additional outside tutoring. Do be sure to praise your child for the effort they’re putting into learning this new skill. This shows to your child that you value their hard work which encourages them to learn even more.

6. Use Conscious Discipline When Needed

Whether your child is throwing tantrums, exhibiting unwanted behavior, or struggling to regulate their emotions, Conscious Discipline can help. This approach to discipline is a great way to nurture your child’s emotional development. So even if they are excelling in other areas of early learning, Conscious Discipline can help them grow their emotional skills.

Want to see this approach in action? Conscious Discipline’s free tips and resources offer practical, real-world strategies straight from the experts. This is a great starting point if you want tools you can use at home right away.

So how does Conscious Discipline work? By following these steps:

Create a Safe Place for Your Child

Just like how you made a dedicated learning area that signals to your child that it’s time to focus, create a space that helps your child feel safe. This space can be a corner in a room and include soft blankets and pillows, your child’s favorite toys, and sensory toys. The goal is to make your child feel comfortable enough that they can calm down even if they are in the middle of a tantrum. Once this place is created, the real teaching moments can begin.

Speak Calmly to Your Child

Even if your child doesn’t understand every word you say, they will understand your tone of voice. When your child is exhibiting unwanted behavior, take them to their safe place and acknowledge how your child is feeling. For example, you might say, “You are angry right now. Your hands are clenched into fists.” This not only lets your child know that you see them, but it also helps them name their emotions and recognize ways their body reacts to them. This is vital to your child’s emotional development, even if they continue to cry or lash out in the moment.

Teach Your Child to Calm Down on Their Own

If your child is in the middle of a tantrum, see if you can gently hold them or place your hands on their shoulders. Then, take several deep breaths on your own. When you feel calm enough, ask your child to take some deep breaths with you to calm down.

This new parenting tip doesn’t have to be applied only when tantrums are happening though. You and your child can practice deep breathing, visualization, and other calming practices even when everything is fine. In fact, this will help your child learn how to regulate their emotions before big feelings take over. Then when your child is full of emotion, they can more easily remember and implement the Conscious Discipline techniques you’ve practiced together.

If you feel like you’re constantly disciplining your child to get them to learn or your kids just aren’t understanding a lesson, it might be time to take a break.

7. Don’t Push Your Child Too Far

When you discover new parenting tips, it can be tempting to put them all into action at once to get your child to develop even faster. This can actually backfire.

Early learning takes time and children need downtime to process new information through rest and play. Rest and play don’t just recharge your child though, it helps them develop their creativity, imagination, and self-regulation abilities. If your child is learning all day at school and then has to do more at home without a break, they will quickly burn out.

Here’s some signs that your child may be experiencing burnout:

• Change in behavior and mood
• Increased irritability and angry outbursts
• Fatigue
• Difficulty focusing when this used to be a non-issue
• Lack of interest in things they once enjoyed
• Difficulty making decisions
• Change to sleep and appetite

So, if your child is exhibiting any of these symptoms, what do you do?

Take a break and encourage your child to rest and play without a learning objective. We all need time to breathe and have fun to be our best selves, children are the same way.

Looking for More Ways to Continue Early Learning at Home?

The first few years of your child’s life are vital to the development of their cognitive, emotional, and academic skills. Consistent early learning at childcare centers and at home helps make sure your child continues to grow and is ready to start big kid school. But it can be difficult to know how to include learning at home. Sign up for our newsletter to get monthly tips on early learning you can use to help your child develop.

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