What Should A 3 Year Old Be Learning?

Question:

“What should I focus on for my three year old?”

A Foundation on Which to Build

During Core Phase, we lay the foundation for all learning and service in the child’s life. Moral lessons are the curriculum of Core Phase (ages 0-9). Utilizing the analogy of the planet for a model, the Core must always be active in order for the planet to sustain life. Core Phase develops into Love of Learning, but it will always be a focus because it's the core of who we are.

During core phase children learn:

Right and wrong

Good and bad

True and false

Relationships

Family values, especially spiritual culture

Family identity, including family history and mission

Family routines and responsibilities

Accountability

The value and love of work and play

Children in this period should be instructed and trained in gentle, loving, constructive and positive ways. Always remember that during these phases, children learn more by what we are and the environment and feelings that surround them than through the explicit teachings or activities we provide.

If I Could Teach Only One Thing...

Ask yourself: if my child could do or know only one thing, what would it be? Yours might be something like:

“that she is a child of God”

“that her life is precious”

“that she has the power to be happy”

What Do We DO?

This is an ideal time for reading and discussion of good books, listening to and discussing good music, watching and discussing good media programs, playing at art or math and building with Legos or Erector sets and other similar activities.

Tools for Academic Learning

The tools for academic learning are present, as are the tools for cooking or making home repairs, and little children use them in the context of tagging along or playing at the work of adults. There is no adult skill that children are obligated to master at this stage…

During Core Phase the child should be prepared to make choices, heed her conscience and know in her heart when she is being inspired.

But What About Academics?

Core Phase is not devoid of exposure to the tools of academic achievement or the body of human knowledge. A mother plays at learning with her children in a core appropriate fashion such that her children are exposed to great ideas; indeed some children will, with such exposure, naturally pick up academic skills.

We would not expressly discourage academics—quite the contrary. However, our experience has made us much more wary of the mother who (with the best of intentions) leads her young children right into the ZPD and thereby displaces critical core lessons than of the mother who provides a cocoon of simplicity and nurture and waits until the last minute to teach her youth scholar skills.

{From Oliver and Rachel DeMille in thier book Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning}