A formalized teaching agenda is almost never helpful or necessary for young children. If, when you think of teaching your child, you think of sitting down and making an announcement like, “Ten o’clock! Time for your math lesson! Put your blocks away and get out your pencil,” and then having your tiny child eagerly rush over to you for a rousing arithmetic lesson at the table, then you must think again. Perhaps the worst thing you could do is tell your child to put her beloved toys away so that you can rigidly teach her something “more important.” She will immediately learn to resent the activity that is making her put her toys away. So instead, if you want to teach her some basic mathematics concepts, find a way to incorporate them into your play time with her. Help her build towers with her blocks and count how many blocks you can stack on top of each other before they fall. See how many blue blocks, green blocks or red blocks you can find together.
Do not seek to schedule your child’s day by means of a rigid schedule where certain subjects are taught at certain times. This can be stressful and down right boring for your child. Instead, become a master of incidental teaching in your home. In other words, be on the lookout for opportunities to teach your child any concept that presents itself. Learning to recognize and seizing upon the fleeting teaching moments in your small child’s life is how to become a master of incidental teaching. Most often the greatest intellectual achievements occur in a relaxed setting where teaching arises naturally from the events of a child’s day.
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