This summer, our big plan was to dive into lots of educational workbooks with our daughter. If I’m being honest, we didn’t stick to that plan as much as we thought we would. Instead, we leaned into play. And you know what? She learned so much through it. From pretend play, to exploring outside, to little games that just naturally included learning, her curious mind was always at work, even if it wasn’t in a workbook.

Our daughter is incredibly bright, and we want to make sure we’re always nurturing that love for learning. For us, that looks like a mix of things: sometimes it’s worksheets at the kitchen table, other times it’s pointing out letters on street signs, reading addresses, or finding words in the world around us. It’s all learning. It just takes different shapes.

One thing we’ve been navigating is how to balance meeting her needs educationally while also including our 1 year old. At first, it felt a little overwhelming. How do you keep a toddler entertained while giving enough focus to a preschooler? But it’s turned into something really beautiful. Our youngest wants to be part of everything her big sister is doing, which motivates her to “learn” right alongside. And our oldest, in trying to teach her little sister, actually shows us how much she’s absorbing. It’s become this unexpected win-win.

Now that school is back in session, we’re trying to balance it out a bit more. We’re pulling the workbooks back into rotation and leaning into a more structured rhythm, while still keeping the fun and exploration alive. She knows all her letters and their sounds, which feels like such a big milestone. The next step, stringing those sounds together into words, is where we’re focusing right now. It’s a challenge, but one we’re excited to keep working on with her.

It’s such a special thing, watching the pieces start to click together for both of them, each in their own way. Every child’s learning journey looks different, and we’re just trying to find the right blend for our fam. And we are learning each week\day\session might need a different blend. My longing for perfect, consistent structure is out the window lmao