Homeschooling a 2-year-old is much less intense than it sounds. When we think of the word homeschool, it may seem formal. Homeschooling a 2-year-old is not a formal education in the least.
In fact, if you have been a primary caregiver of your little one, you’ve been gently homeschooling this whole time. You have likely taught him/her how to sit, stand, walk, eat with a utensil, you get the idea.
Homeschooling is essentially learning skills and knowledge at home. Therefore, do not sweat homeschooling a 2-year-old. They are little sponges ready to soak up information.
That being said, let’s talk about how homeschooling a 2-year-old can be both fun and challenging for them.
After all, learning how to sit, stand, walk, etc., was difficult for your little but it was age appropriate. I will share with you age-appropriate ways to homeschool your 2-year-old joyfully.
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Tips for Homeschooling a 2-Year-Old
There are several ways to go about homeschooling your littles, but when they are under the typical “school age,” we want to keep it simple. The most important advice to homeschooling a 2-year-old is to let your toddler be a toddler.
There is absolutely no reason to burden your little one with formal education exercises. Here are some tips for a joyful homeschool experience at this age:
- Let your 2-year-old guide the learning process
- Teach through play
- Read, read, and read some more
- Invite your 2-year-old to help around the house
- Keep your 2-year-old near when teaching older siblings
Let Your 2-Year-Old Guide the Learning Process
As you have probably noticed, your 2-year-old loves being in charge. While most things we adults need to be in charge of, your 2-year-old can be in charge of their learning.
You will know that your child is guiding the learning process by following their lead on what activities they want to do.
If they love being outside, find opportunities to teach outside. You can do the same with coloring, water play, and any activity they enjoy.
Your 2-year-old will also let you know when they are done learning. If they start becoming bored, it’s time to move onto a new activity. I find it best to move to an activity they are already confident in their skills.
Homeschooling a 2-Year-Old Through Play
Studies have reinforced something that many parents already know: children learn well through play.
A recent meta-analysis looked at how well children learn through guided play. The study defines guided play as the halfway point between free play and instruction. Results were promising; guided play worked well in math skills especially.
I would not recommend pulling out workbooks for your little one. Now, please take that with a grain of salt if your child loves workbooks. My 2-year-old would prefer to color all over the workbook pages, so I skip it for now and just hand her a coloring book page.
If your child loves coloring and painting, for example, introduce the color names to them. You can keep teaching colors throughout the day when you see them in books, clothing, and toys.
A lot of 2-year-olds are interested in climbing. Arrange some foam blocks or pillows on the floor and let them learn how to balance safely.
Maybe your 2-year-old is interested in building with blocks? Let them learn physics by teaching them how to support their builds.
Read to Your 2-Year-Old Often
If you are familiar with the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling, you will know that children learn well from reading. And for your 2-year-old, this also includes listening to read-alouds.
My 2-year-old loves picking out picture books and bringing them over to me to read. She learns all about her colors, animals, social studies, and the Bible.
Charlotte Mason recommends reading about many different genres and topics. I would have to agree with her, as I’ve seen just how much my own littles have learned through reading books.
It is also fun to see what interests my children, as many books we read are not of my own interests naturally.
Since I also have a 4-year-old, I will place my finger under the words as I read books to show that I am blending letter sounds as I read. I have not seen the impact on this for my 2-year-old yet, but I wonder if this will be helpful for her when I do begin to teach her to read.
Invite Your 2-Year-Old to Help Around the House
One of the biggest advantages to homeschooling is letting your littles be involved around the house. At age 2, your child will want to be included in many of the chores you do. Take advantage of that.
If your 2-year-old always wants to know what you’re doing in the kitchen, bring over a safe stool for them. You can begin to teach them the basics of how to wash the dishes, how to be safe around the oven, and how to put away groceries.
My 2-year-old loves helping with laundry. She is surprisingly good at knowing which clothes belong to which family member and loves to sort them into their respective piles.
All of these “around the house” skills are important homeschooling skills. Remember home economics in school? This is it!
The added bonus (them loving chores is already pretty awesome) is that your child will feel loved & important knowing that you include them in your daily activities. After all, your children just want to be with you!
Homeschooling a 2-Year-Old by Association
Give your 2-year-old a quiet activity such as coloring and set him/her up near you while you teach older siblings. You may be surprised at what they will learn themselves.
For example, my 4-year-old is currently learning the alphabet sounds and blending. I randomly gave my 2-year-old an old “M” flashcard and she said “M.” I was shocked she recognized the letter just from overhearing her brother learning.
When we stop to think about it, though, this really isn’t surprising. Children learn through modeling and will often do whatever their older siblings are doing and their parents.
What a Typical Day Looks Like Homeschooling a 2-Year-Old
Now that I’ve shared some tips for homeschooling a 2-year-old, I want to share what my homeschooling day typically looks like for her.
When she wakes up in the morning, she is served breakfast. We say a prayer, which is the first learning lesson of the day: how to show thankfulness to God.
I also like to use this time to either introduce the Bible verse of the week or remind them of it. We are currently using Abeka’s Bible Memory Cards. I try to find supplemental songs and/or dances to help with memorization.
After eating, she scraps her plate (if needed) in the garbage and places her plate and utensils in the sink. This has been taught to her through modeling and encouragement. Again, 2-year-olds love to do things themselves so why not let them.
Once breakfast is over, it is free play time between her and her brother. She learns much during her free play time and it gives me a chance to eat breakfast and get some chores done.
Speaking of chores, my 2-year-old often follows me around as I complete them. She is learning how to do these things by watching and even participates in some chores herself. As I mentioned in the tips above, she loves to help sort the laundry.
Next in her day is outside play time. She loves to color with chalk, play with water, and many other fun activities. One of her favorite outside activities right now is picking raspberries, huckleberries, and blackberries. I have been teaching her how to recognize when fruits and vegetables are ripe.
We come inside and wash up, during which I remind my kids how it’s important to have good hygiene skills. She has a snack and then it is time for her 4-year-old brother to do school.
While he is working on his preschool work, she either colors or participates, given the skill level. She loves to participate in the games her brother plays in his The Good and The Beautiful Preschool folder activities.
Homeschooling my 2-year-old also involves a bit of reading instruction. My son is using the Children Learn Reading program to learn how to read and my 2-year-old loves to sit in as well. I believe it is a bit advanced for her right now, but she loves to get a chance to draw on the whiteboard and practice letter sounds.
After “school” is over, she has lunch, takes a nap, and wakes up for more play. I try to have the “official learning” time be in the morning whereas lots of child-led learning play happens after nap.
We keep it really simple and as soon as she is disinterested, we move on to another activity or take a break altogether. I also typically find myself putting on a tv show for her and her brother to watch while I make lunch. I have included my favorite shows in the next section below.
Some of My Favorite Resources for Homeschooling a 2-Year-Old
My 2-year-old loves to learn through tv shows, as most 2-year-olds introduced to tv do as well. While I do limit the amount of screen time my little has, when she does watch tv, I love educational shows.
Here are some of my 2-year-old’s favorite educational shows:
- Ms. Rachel on YouTube – we love how Ms. Rachel teaches preschool concepts through song.
- Blippi – while my current 2-year-old isn’t as big of a fan, my now 4-year-old loved Blippi at 2-years-old. He learned all about excavators, cars, animals, and colors. Do keep in mind that some episodes of Blippi are less educational than others so you may need to pick & choose certain ones.
- Blaze and the Monster Machines – this Nickelodeon show teaches STEM to littles and, even though it probably goes over my 2-year-old’s head, she can start to get introduced to science and math concepts.
Here are some of my 2-year-old’s favorite educational toys & activities:
- Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles
- Picture books
- Coloring books – crayons, colored pencils, washable markers
- Dot coloring books (the kind you use Bingo daubers to color)
- Sidewalk chalk
- Vtech Explore & Write Activity Desk
- Matching card games for memorization practice
- Abeka’s Bible Memory Cards
- Hide ‘Em In Your Heart Volume 1&2
- The Good and The Beautiful Activity Folder
Save This Resource for Homeschooling a 2-Year-Old for Later
I hope you found how I homeschool my 2-year-old to be inspiring and helpful. If you follow your toddler’s lead and incorporate play, you and your little one can enjoy learning at home together very much.
Are you still on the fence about homeschooling in general? Check out my post on how homeschooling is better than traditional schooling for our family.
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I’d love to know in the comments below, how have you homeschooled your 2-year-old?
