1. Bright Beginnings, The Joy of
Learning with Little Ones
There's no reason to fear the preschool
years! Homeschooling little ones is easy and fun, even
if you didn't have a thorough Jewish education
yourself. Learn how to find and create materials - and
use what you already have! - to start learning
Hebrew reading, Yom Tov, parsha, tefillah, and more.

2. Why this is the easiest session:
• If you do it right, you should be having fun
with your kids!
• Education at this age should look a LOT like
playing!

3. Finding your “Educational Philosophy”
• In other words, “Know Thyself”
• What kind of parenting comes naturally?
• Are you
– Laid back, formal, casual, easygoing, high-strung?
• How do you feel about schedules?
• How do you feel about reading to your child?
• Do you want your child to meet milestones?
• Does it depend on your kid? (kind of)

4. My educational philosophy, kind of
• Charlotte Mason, 1842-1923
• “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, and
a Life”
• Emphasis on:
– Reading
– Narration
– Nature Study
• Advocated a late start (around age 6)

5. Teaching subjects you don’t know
• Baalei Teshuvah and Geirim
• FFBs who don’t know where to start
• Anyone who feels like they’re “not qualified”

6. They are VERY young
• The fallacy of the “preschool” mindset
• Before age 3 (and even after!), most
preschools are BABYSITTING – we don’t have
to compete!
• “Oldest” pressure – eager to start!

7. Finding YOUR front door
• “Shivim Panim l’Torah” –
• The Torah, and Jewish education, has 70
faces… what’s yours?
• Few right or wrong answers
• Not rocket science: If you miss something in
the early years, fill it in later!

8. WEEKLY PARSHA
• My personal hamster wheel
• Source of stories, copywork, songs,
• Crafts, activities, snacks, etc.

9. TANACH
• “Bekius”/ : breadth, as opposed to
depth: parsha = depth; tanach = breadth
• David, Daniel, Esther, Rus, Shimshon, Shmuel
– do our kids know these figures and others?
• Christians do this VERY well… but be careful!

10. YOM TOV
• There is ALWAYS a Yom Tov coming!
• Count down, count up
• Talk it up, find the stories
• Crafts, songs, get together with
friends

11. TEFILLAH
• Consider getting together with other
homeschoolers – once a week, bi-weekly,
monthly – to daven together!
• Don’t be overwhelmed – start small:
– modeh ani, shema, brachos, adon olam
– add on as you & your kids are comfortable.

12. ALEF-BAIS
• “Letter a week” for 22 weeks:
– Review the alef-bais song & “meet” the letter
– Colour the letter & post it prominently
– Sing a song starting with that letter
– Flashcards
– Crafts etc are optional and fun but
seemingly beyond me…!
• Have a “siyum” / party at the end!

13. OTHER
• This could include:
– Israel
– Gedolim
– 613 Mitzvos
– Middos

14. “Secular” subjects that ain’t!
• Don’t divide your kids!
• Even Jewish schools split learning into Hebrew
and “General” / “English” subjects…
…but homeschoolers don’t have to!
• Integrate Jewish themes into any subject
• Create your own materials: more on this later

15. Jewish roads into…
• Math
– Use Hebrew days of the week, practice numbers
on the calendar; observe Rosh Chodesh
– Create word problems for Jewish events
– Appropriate manipulatives (ie candles, etc)
– Sorting concepts: small, medium, large, with
Jewish or Yom Tov objects

16. Jewish roads into…
• Language
– Unit study on (good) books with Jewish themes
– Parsha copywork (more on this later)
– Similarities and differences (grammar etc)
• Crafts and/or Handicrafts
– This is the easiest!
– Christian “Sunday school” crafts (with caution!!!)
– Charlotte Mason: useful crafts

17. Jewish roads into…
• History
– Whatever history you learn, find out where the
Jews were & what they were doing
– Historicity of Yamim Tovim & Tanach events – they
really happened!!!
• Geography
– Map the parsha, yom tov, etc.
– Create maps of Israel

18. Jewish roads into…
• Science
– Find Hebrew terminology
– Use posters, charts, etc
– Phases of the moon / Jewish month
– Remember Hashem when you do science!
• Any other subject!!!

19. Topics to tread lightly…
• Ecology, earth day, global warming (pessimistic themes
that potentially deny Hashem’s benevolent hand in the
world)
• Israel??? Not what you teach, but what kids overhear!
(“it’s a war zone”)
• History, Science, etc – many Christian resources and/or
perspective (Crusades, literal young earth creationism)
• Some people are cautious about introducing:
– Other religions & belief systems
– Mythology
• I also avoid:
– Groundhog day, Valentine’s Day, Hallowe’en, New Year’s,
Mother’s & Father’s Day… & probably more

20. More about Hebrew…
• If you don’t know Hebrew yet… START NOW!
• Stay one step ahead, if necessary
• Use transliterations, if necessary
• Even if you can afford Hebrew tutors, LEARN IT
YOURSELF (easy for me to say!)
• It can be very hard, but Hebrew is your child’s
best and biggest door into a lifelong love of
Judaism and Torah.

21. What are your (Hebrew) goals?
• Chumash
• Tefillah
• Modern Hebrew
• Reading
• Conversation

22. Progressive Reading Model
Throughout all steps, READ TO THEM!
• 1) Foundations – alef-bais, nekudos
• 2) Early reading – kriyah, easy words (JK-SK)
• 3) Copywork (SK+)
• 4) Dictation (Grades 2+)
• English or Hebrew, “Creative” writing is
nice… but not essential!

23. Beginning Hebrew
• Different approaches: whole-word vs phonics,
just like in English
• My way:
– Begin with Alef-Bais – just the letters
– Teach nekudos next – cut out, move under letters
(ice cream cones!)
– Real words vs nonsense words???
– Read simple stories together
• SING, SING, SING!

24. Advanced Hebrew Steps
• Later on, …
• Introduce grammatical concepts:
– Use workbooks or NOT, as you prefer
– Plural and singular
– Gender –why are chairs “boys” but beds “girls”?
– Shoresh – “hidden” words inside every word
– Other suffixes and prefixes (later!)

25. How do you feel about…
…Reading “meaningless” text???
(words may have meaning, but not
necessarily for you or your child)

26. Hebrew Copywork
• One easy step, helps with
– Reading
– Grammar (use the best models!)
– Handwriting
• Themes
– Parsha
– Chumash, Yom Tov, Tefillah/Siddur, Poetry, more
• YOU don’t have to know (much) Hebrew!

27. More about Hebrew…
• Free kriyah resources from chinuch.org
• Hebrew songs
• Davening / brachos
• Alef-bais
• Native Hebrew speakers YES!
• YouTube videos
• Reading for pleasure

28. Helpful Resources
• Lapbooks
• Workbooks (use sparingly!)
• Toy and REAL objects!

29. DIY: Creating your own resources
• Why do we have to???
• Frum resources are often
– Non-existent
– Bad
• If you can type, you can create a worksheet,
poster, songbook, for any occasion!

30. Typing in Hebrew?
• EASY in Windows XP, Word etc – no software!
• Use Google Translate:
• Use Morfix – it even adds the vowels!

31. We forgot the FOOD!
• Find ways to add FOOD to the lesson plan!

32. … and don’t forget FRIENDS!

33. Helpful books
• Ruth Beechick (Christian), esp The Three R’s
• John Taylor Gatto – Jewish schools started out
dramatically different, but have “modernized”
toward the public model Gatto condemns.
• Well-Trained Mind (Classical education model)

34. NOT Recommended