If you’ve been around a bit, you know that in July 2018 I had my beautiful baby boy. As a teacher and lover of books, I started reading to him in the womb! Naturally, I continued reading to him once he was born. Sometimes I actually read aloud my books as a way to allow me to continue reading!

Now, as a sweet 2.5 year-old, he absolutely loves to read. A trip to the library is something to get excited about. (Of course, this bibliophile momma loves that!)

Lately, I have really begun to focus more on “teaching” him. We are working on our alphabet (with help from Leap Frog’s Letter Factory). While most of my “teaching” happens through reading, I want to be more purposeful with him. I began to think about our patterns and routines and discovered that we spend a lot of time in the bathroom. (Can you say potty training?!) Naturally we read more there and have many conversations. I realized that this room has become his classroom (along with the kitchen table). As such, I decided to tape some alphabet cards to his bathroom wall. This gives me a visual to work with both for him to see and to remind me to talk about the letters.

So, if you are starting to think about ways to be more purposeful in teaching your child their letters or numbers, think about an area of the house in which you spend a great deal of time and make that your classroom. You do have to be ok with your house, or at least portions of your house, looking like a pre-school classroom. To me, that’s ok! I welcome it.

What ways are you purposefully teaching your child(ren)?