Tot School Plans for 18-24 Months

I remember reading about tot school even before I knew we were going to have a child. I thought it sounded like such a good idea, something I would really love to do if I ever did have children. I've been looking forward to giving it a try ever since I found out I was pregnant. And now that my son is 18 months old, the time has finally come!

So What is Tot School? And Why Do It?

The term originated on Carisa's site 1plus1plus1equals1, and here's how she explains what it is:

Tot School isn't really school at all!  Don't let the name confuse you!  Tot School is basically a focused time each day on the tot in your family. ~ Carisa at 1plus1plus1equals1

It doesn't involve forcing your tot to learn or play a certain way. It simply means that you expose them to various learning activities and then follow their lead. The key to me is that it's "focused time." It's easy to get distracted with all the other things that need our attention throughout the day and miss opportunities for teaching our children. Tot school helps ensure that our little ones get some focused attention to help them learn and acquire new skills.

My other big reason for starting tot school and viewing it as a structured event rather than just including activities randomly is that I'm really bad at choosing activities to do randomly. I spend so much time thinking about all the possibilities that before I know it, the day is over and I never ended up picking anything to do. Having a plan and schedule for tot school will (hopefully) help me overcome my indecision and do more fun crafts and other activities with my son.

My Tot School Plan for My 18-Month-Old

Most of the tot school schedules and curriculums that I've looked at seem to be geared toward slightly older toddlers, at least two years old. My son is only 18 months old and I know we're going to be limited as to which activities are appropriate for him at this point. I plan on building up a stash of craft supplies, learning materials, books and more as we go so that we can continue doing tot school for the next couple of years and then transition into a preschool curriculum when the time comes. If a certain activity is a little beyond him right now, that's fine! We'll save it for a few weeks or months until he's ready to give it a try.

For the next six months I plan on working our way through the alphabet, using one letter per week as our general theme. Well be working on learning the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors; learning how to use craft materials like markers and crayons, Play-Doh and paints; adding to our sign language and verbal vocabulary; and lots more--all while having lots of fun just spending time together and playing!

I'm so excited to share our tot school journey with you. We've already gotten started and I'm already seeing ways that I'll need to adjust my expectations and approach--but we're already having a lot of fun, which again is the whole point! I'll be back within the next few days to share our first tot school theme for week one.

Have you done tot school with your child? Any tips or suggestions? Any resources that you would recommend? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!