My grandson is now 13 and homeschooled since the age of 1. That is, if you want to call it home schooling
I invented a game, when he was only 1, called the 'I love you' game. I'd say 'I love you 1' and he would reply 'I love you 2' and so forth. Sometimes I'd start the game which meant he would be counting the even numbers and sometimes he would start, which meant he would be counting the odd numbers. As a result, he was counting to 100 by the time he was 1 1/2.

He was barely 1, when I got him one of those talking/learning toys. As a result he was reading by the age of 2. I picked up the lessons by playing 'reading the billboards' games, every time we went someplace.

Because I started all these lessons as games, that kid was (and is) insatiable.
One of the most powerful learning tools, I've found so far, is learning together. Right down to carrying around a book while examining plants, in the neighborhood. when a child feels he is helping his teacher, he learns things that stick with him without memorizing.

My grandson has one advantage over his peers. His grandma (me) is also a long haul truck driver. I took him with me for several months, when he was about 8. I got him a U.S. map so that he could relate to where we were, at any one time. He knows every state, the capitals and even what the terrain is like, as well as the predominate crops for every state within the 48 contiquous states.

Just by playing games, letting him help ME learn, and exposing him to his surroundings plus taking educational walks, this kid is far advanced of any high school grad.

Thought I'd share that because it seems to me a lot of parents are working too hard, to educate their kids. It's actually fun and challenges our own memory and knowledge.

I forgot to mention my favorite. I was on the road, and he was home, his mom doing the teaching, for about 3 years. When I came home, I discovered he was struggling with his times tables.
I informed him, that until he memorized his times, he'd never advance in math and I started yet another game. It's called 'think fast'. At any time or place I'd ask him a times question, just blurting out 'hey! What's 7 times 8?' If he couldn't answer, right away, I'd yell out the answer. It was a think fast, game and if he didn't answer before I did, he lost. There were a lot of frustrating moments, as it would make him mad that I wasn't giving him more time to think about it but, you know what?...it worked! he learned.