Toddlers learn a great deal of oral language, but may have difficulty learning how to recognize letters, a prerequisite for reading. A simple reading activity program for toddlers can help them learn to letter recognition one letter at a time. FIRST Learning Series: Reading (Letter Recognition) is available on Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=FIRST+Learning+by+Geneva+J.+Chapman&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AFIRST+Learning+by+Geneva+J.+Chapman

The secret I only revealed on Twitter!

I learned an invaluable secret when I spent two weeks home schooling my nephew
while my mother, his regular homeschool teacher, was on vacation. His program
consisted of two half-hour online sessions with a virtual teacher followed by written assignments that he had to email to the online teacher.

Right away, I realized the simple lessons were way too easy for the gifted third-
grader. One of them involved examining soil in his backyard to determine what type it
is. The lesson cited only two types, sand and loam; but as a former science major I knew there were at least three: sand, clay, and loam.

We went online and investigated and found the three well known types of
soil and one not so well known type. My nephew was intrigued by this information.
Earlier I'd asked him what are his favorite subjects and he'd told me science and
social studies.

Following his lead, I expanded lessons in those two areas to include additional
investigation and research. He loves learning new information and is an encyclopedia of knowledge. The two weeks I worked with him, we studied things that added to his reservoir of knowledge.

I was also able to use his interests to encourage him to do what he hates most: read. By focusing more on his interests and expanding his online instruction based on those interests I was able to get my nephew's attention and keep him engaged.

When our two weeks were over, he told me he wished that I could homeschool him all year!