A retrospective exploration into pre-school years!

Early years education officially spans over the first five years of life before formal schooling begins, whether this will be home education or school led.  I personally dislike bringing age into it because then it becomes a race, with a tight goal. Innate pressure to perform and the world of competition begins, taking away the joy.  There exists a tick box if you will. However, every child should be given the space to explore this half a decade at their own pace.  Some children will need more time than others, and having had a couple of children with a myriad of special needs, I became very aware of the tight time frames given for every skill. They didn't sit up or walk or talk at the right age, so they were a failure in the eyes of professionals. Their successes were never appreciated or celebrated by the powers at be, they just consistently failed their tickboxes. This negativity can really bring you down as a parent. I finally broke free from this world and mindset an...

Music and learning/retaining knowledge have very strong ties. The emotion invoked through the music makes all the difference.  Sophia uses music to process and she first used it to deal with her medical trauma. She would sing in the car about the journey, what would be happening, and how she would be feeling. On return home she'd sing about it as well.  As she grew older, she processed her feelings through playing the piano. She uses music within learning and recalling knowledge as well. She wanders away from the original learning lyrics and replaces it with her own. I find this extremely useful. It's her version of retelling a story in her own words. She makes a song up using her knowledge. One example comes to mind. One day I heard these beautiful lyrics wafting from the bathroom....  'The food travels to the stomach to do a dance and then down to the intestines to squeeze squeeze squeeze and ahhh'. It's a no brainer what she was doing on the toilet towards the la...