Chrystal’s Chronicles Repost (8/1/13): I was asked recently for suggestions on what to do with preschoolers for “school”. This is that I honestly need to update and revise but it still has pretty good information here and I think it’s still worth sharing. The only thing I would add from a few years of experience under my belt? Enjoy your preschooler. The years pass soooo quickly and the curriculum or “plan” doesn’t matter nearly as much as you just having fun with your child and giving them a love for learning as best as you know how.
I have yet to seriously blog about what we do for school at home in terms of schedule, curriculum, and philosophy. There is so much to blog about and so little time! But if you’ve been reading my blog for even a little while, you’ve probably picked up that I have a preschoolers and that I homeschool. I’ve mentioned Letter of the Week in a previous post about setting up a preschool environment. I have used this online curriculum as a guide for two years and love it – especially b/c it’s free!
I’ve just stumbled upon another awesome resource for Mom’s who would like to enjoy the learning journey with their little ones. This post was inspired by my find of Hubbard’s Cupboard. Discovering it today has inspired me to start making plans for my littles for the year. Check it out and be sure to come back here to leave a comment and let me know what you think!
I was so excited today about getting ready for learning with my little ones, I decided to post some of my favorite online resources for enjoying these fleeting preschool years.
If you have favorite sites for ideas for young children feel free to leave a comment that includes the web address. I’m always up for hearing about new things.As far as official curriculum that we use, below I have listed the ones that made it down to the final cut. I think I love all of them but, I can’t do them all (maybe over time and with more babies I will). So for now, here is the list that I had “to-pick-from”.
For the upcoming year I plan to use Little Hands to Heaven for my boys along with Letter of the Week. That’s the plan for NOW. The plan is always changing. As long as I don’t stay stuck in the planning phase and get down on the floor and have fun with my little ones, the curriculum doesn’t matter. They won’t remember which curriculum was the best. They’ll just remember that Mommy was with them, playing with them, reading to them, working alongside them, and snuggling them every chance that I get…
I hope this helps someone to come up with ideas and a plan for making good use of the years with your little ones. Remember, this season only lasts a little while! Make the most of it!
We home-schooled my now public-schooled 3rd grader in kindergarten. We also did some preschool stuff as well (even though she went to a mother’s day out type preschool). She started reading when she was 3 and there are two things that I give a lot of credit to for this:
-Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD.
I know that’s not exactly a “curriculum” and in fact is watching TV. But I love how the emphasis of it is on what sounds the letters make and not just naming a letter. J learned the sounds and names simultaneously, so there was no learning the ABC song and then having to go back and learn “hey, this actually means something”. She got the DVD on her 1st birthday, and when we were at the Cracker Barrel when she was 15 months old she shocked us by pointing to the letters on her kids’ menu unprompted and making their sounds! She knew all of them solidly by 18 months. Her 2 & a half year old brother who is a COMPLETELY different kid in learning styles was a few months behind in how quickly he let us know he got it (slower to speak), but he still showed us he knew them all solidly before he was 2. Whenever anyone asks about 1st birthday gifts, I always say “The Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD”. There is also a follow up, the Talking Words Factory that sticks short words together with vowels.
-Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
I know this isn’t technically a preschool thing, but my daughter used it at preschool age. And doing exactly what your child needs regardless of age is one of the big benefits of homeschooling.
I’ll admit, I found the lessons kind of dry. The book prompts you with exactly what to say. But my daughter enjoyed it and she really did learn how to read on a 2nd grade level when she was 4. I like it for a few reasons: the book doesn’t go in alphabetical order. It starts with the most commonly used sounds like m,s, etc. It starts out marking long and short vowel sounds so the child knows which one is which. It shows you how to hold out the sounds when you’re sounding out a word and not break up the letters individually. If it is a word with a silent E on the end, it makes that e smaller and in red so you know you aren’t supposed to sound it out, but still shows it so that you get used to seeing it there. And it introduces connected sounds like “ed” and “ing”… it actually has the letters connected to each other so that you know it is just one sound. Eventually it tapers off the markings and such and by the end the kid is just reading regular stories without the helpful prompts.
Great mentions Becca! We used both the Leap Frog DVDs and 100 EZ Lessons too! Thanks for sharing those great resources!
Thanks for including Preschoolers and Peace. It’s my heart to help mamas!
I am a homeschool mom of six ages 19 to 5. I have been very encouraged by your homeschool posts and would like to know if you have any up to date homeschool posts.
Blessings,
Danni
I haven’t talked about homeschooling in awhile. I will soon though and will include some more information!