As you plan your year, it is a good idea to create some educational goals for your children, along with your nanny. Whether your child is a toddler or school-age, you can have specific goals such as:
- Learning the ABCs
- Learning numbers
- Mastering addition or subtraction
- Multiplication and math facts through 12’s
- Basic Spanish vocabulary
- ABCs of sign language
- Geography (e.g., learning the states, continents, countries)
- History/social studies (e.g., learning the presidents, holidays, cultures)
- Science (e.g, forms of matter, weather, temperature)
From there, ask your nanny to draft a monthly or weekly schedule to incorporate activities into their days to reach their goals. Add your own input/ideas and start working towards the goals. There are numerous activities online applications that focus on areas like math, language arts, science, history, and more. Below are a couple of Pinterest boards Mom’s Best Friend has created as a starting point:
Remember, motivation goes a long way, so try to incorporate rewards to get good results. Give your nanny a budget for different rewards for varying milestones (e.g. stickers, $1 store items, larger items for larger accomplishments).
Ask for monthly updates on the progress, and reinforce the activities into your evenings and weekends to reinforce the concepts. Be realistic. Don’t give your nanny a huge list of goals – start with one or two and if they succeed quicker then you expected, create new goals. Make sure your expectations are clear so everyone is on the same page.
You will be amazed at how much your children will be able to accomplish with adequate planning!