Time Lengths For A Toddler Homeschooling Schedule
These time lengths work best when done consistently each day within your child's homeschooling schedule. Please feel free to add or adapt anything to meet the needs of your individual child.
1. 50-60 Minutes Of Cognitive Play
Cognitive play should be independent and unstructured. This is where your toddler chooses their toys based on what they want to do. Provide a variety of toys and materials that require problem-solving, testing, transforming, dumping, repetitive movements, creativity, and trial-and-error. Overall, you want to give your child enough space and time to take charge of their learning.
2. 1 Hour Of Movement Activities
Physical activities that require the whole body and vary in speed should be done for 1 hour daily. These activities promote movement, coordination, energy release, and body control. These physical activities are best done outside so your child can be in nature, move at different speeds, have space, and use other equipment.
3. 10-15 Minutes Of Singing
Music interactions can be done with your child at any time throughout the day. This can be done by singing, listening to music, or playing instruments. Music can help your child with their emotions, understand transitions better, be more engaged with instructions, increase their attention span, and create warm feelings and moods.
Music 101
Choose songs that have simple verses.
Pair singing with reading books.
Leave space for your child to start their songs.
Choose some action songs.
Sing a mixture of calming and energetic songs.
Sing songs that are familiar to your child.
Sing songs that help teach new concepts and movements.
Sing songs that have instructions to follow.
Use singing as a language tool.
4.15-20 Minutes for Quiet Time
Have a quiet spot available in the home where your child can relax, calm down, or have personal time. To make this space feel more comfortable, ask your child to help you create it and let them choose things to add. A few suggestions: stuffed animals, books, puppets, comfy pillows, quiet toys, and family pictures.
5. ½ Hour Of Together Play
Parents, siblings, or friends can play with your toddler during this time. This time together is meant to be social and can help your child build listening skills, hear new ideas, and build positive relationships.
6. Rainy Day Activities
Some active indoor rainy day ideas. Yarn or string mazes, obstacle courses, animal races, kicking balls, walking up and down the stairs, jumping jacks, movement competitions, yoga or dancing with ribbons, and jumping.
Some calmer indoor rainy day ideas. Dramatic play, crafts, painting, baking, listening to audiobooks, instrument fun, I spy weather games, singing, filling and dumping activities, and making play-dough.
Some Science activities include Weather charts, making rain sticks, painting weather pictures, listening to weather sounds, and splashing in puddles after the rain stops.
Homeschooling Schedules Should Also Have
-Room for helpful tasks
Leave room for your child to help around the home if they choose to. Practical tasks should be flexible, age-appropriate, based on your child's interests, and be your toddler’s choice if they want to engage.
-Time to tidy up toys
Give your toddler enough time to clean up their toys before they move on to another activity. Use additional strategies, such as giving more time, redirecting, pre-cleanup warnings, singing, working together, or making a clean-up game, to help motivate your toddler.
-Ways to teach independent cleaning up
Model cleaning up your things and being vocal about what you are doing.
Be realistic and consistent about cleaning up.
Please remind your child to clean up before moving to another toy.
Give your child enough time to play before it’s clean-up time.
Give a few reminders that clean-up time is going to start.
Start small (pick up 1-2 things), and each day add items.
Add pictures of the toys so your child knows where they go; this can promote independence.
Have consistent music or songs for clean-up time.
-Ways to teach joint cleaning up
Make cleaning up a challenge. For example, set a timer and see if your child can clean up before it goes off.
Do hand-over-hand to help your child feel the motions of picking things up.
Each time your child finishes something around the house, have them put it back.
Have child-size shelves, bins, and baskets to make it easy for your child to put things away.
Add pictures on bins so that your child knows where things go.
Praise your child’s actions of cleaning up.