Anyone doing preschool at home?

[*AM*]

Want to share notes?

I have a very busy 3 1/2 yo who I have decided to have stay home for preschool due to numerous food allergies. My oldest two had gone to preschool so this is a new swing to things here ;) I am trying to come up with fun things for him to do with us while we are working more one on one.

I would love to hear everyone's ideas :)

[LittleIzumi]

Where is he at with letters, numbers, coloring, shapes, drawing, interests?

[Carrie12345]

Read alouds, read alouds, read alouds.

And lots of crayons and paper.

 

So far, I've only had one child who really pushed me to give him "school work" at such a young age, so I let him get some workbooks from the book store. He did them mostly on his own "for fun", and we focused our one-on-one time on reading and playing games.

 

The rest of them have thrived through some sort of osmosis. ;)

[Nakia]

My 4 year really wants to "do school" with her sisters. I got her a set of Rod and Staff preschool workbooks, just to keep her busy sometimes so I can help the other two. We are also working on shapes beyond the basics. I read to her a lot, and so do her sisters. She loves for them to read to her. :) And now she has informed me she wants to learn to read. I have never had an early reader, and to be honest, I'm not ready for my baby to read. But, alas, she read the word "sat" yesterday, and has learned many of the sounds of letters. I don't expect it to take long for her to do it. She is, otoh, having a little more trouble learning her numbers, but I'm not worried. She also loves to write so I got her a little dry erase board so she can "practice" her writing. I showed her how to write all our names ONCE, and then she started doing it completely on her own.

 

Oops, I think that turned into a brag, and that wasn't my intention. I would just work with him on shapes, letters, numbers, etc. And like Carrie said, read a ton! Oh, and cutting and pasting! The love that!!

[Joyofsixreboot]

I'm 'doing' preschool with my turned 3 on Monday kid. It's the same stuff I'd do anyway of course. Lots of puzzles, play doh, paint, crayons, reading aloud with some letter worksheets from the net for fun.

[MotherGoose]

My dd4 went to preschool for 2 and 3 yo, but she's at home this year. I don't know how much she really learned at preschool and how much I taught her. But what I did teach her she learned incidentally. We talked/talk a lot about everything, and I pointed out letters/numbers on signs and in books and she figured out her letters, sounds, and numbers without anything formal from me. She went 2 days per week to preschool. We read outloud a lot. Preschool Art is a good book. I let her help me with whatever I"m doing and we go outside. As much as she'll tolerate I help with writing and reading but that didn't really start until she was closer to 4. Making sure they develop the ability to play for long periods alone is important too.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I am with my 4 1/2 year old. He is all boy and no where near ready for K. My K'er will be 6 in Oct and is just ready he also did pre-k last year at home.

 

We work on letter/number recognition, cutting, pasting, coloring IN the lines (:glare:) lots of read alouds and I am starting phonics pathways (SLOWLY) with him. We are doing lots of read alouds, number/letter videos, my amazing field trip to the planets (we are using that as his science curriculum (watching the movie over and over again while learning about each planet and space- that is his interest right now)

 

I know there are a TON of kids who were reading by his age but he is just NOT ready for that. He is all boy I guess and would rather be jumping our of the huge tree in our front yard making me panic that he is going to break a bone. We do this very slowly as he is ready. I do not push him, just whenever he wants to we do it until he is done. He does alot of playing with play-doh also and I have him count his creations or make me 15 balls and stuff like that too :D

[mama25angels]

I got some puzzles, some of those easy build a blocks and i'm going to order some of the Lauri puzzles from RR at mid month when I do my next order for him. I'm going to get him a sketch pad and let him go to town with it, he'll also sit in on my 2nd graders read alouds and anything else he decides to. I may buy the R & S workbooks later on.

[LisaMarie6]

My 4 (5 in Dec) year old really wants to do school like his brother and sisters, so we are doing school three days a week.

 

We are using:

handwriting without tears pre-handwriting

developing the early learner workbooks

lots of read alouds (from Sonlight's P3/4 and P4/5)

pattern blocks

mighty mind

puzzles

farm animal sorters

bears weighted sorters

crayons, scissors, glue

all sorts of hands on stuff.

 

We have a lot of stuff that we just play with and enjoy. Nothing really structured.

[LittleIzumi]

I don't know if he would like Letter of the Week (free online), or if that is too much or too little for him. Definitely lots of arts & lots of reading/books, and learning about nature. My little one loves to "do school" so she has a lot of simple Pre-K workbooks that she works in multiple times a day.

[kwickimom]

I have a DS4.5

We are doing letter of the week and a bunch of Kumon workbooks for tracing and cutting ( he LOVES these) I am thinking of getting HWT because he insists on writing and he has a horrible grip and is of course writing everything all wrong.

 

He doesnt regcognize all of his letters or sounds yet so we do Letter Factory and Starfall for that. I bought OPG and I read through it and will start it when he gets all of his letters and sounds. I also have the BOB books reading and waiting.

 

I also bought HOP K-2 when it was super cheap (older version has CDs, not DVDs) There is a good computer game in there which he does when he feels like it. He cant pass the level about letter sounds so he gets frustrated but I dont make him do it.

 

We are also starting MEP reception next week because he is also insisting on Math :D

 

My main goals are letter recognition and sounds, and tons of read a louds. All the other stuff is because he chooses to.

[myfatherslily]

I am doing a daily preschool time with three little boys, ages 2, 3, and 4. It's still a work in progress - I've tweaked a few times in just 3 weeks!

 

We're using A Beka ABC-123 as a "core" but I've had to change it as it does not fit my wiggly boys! I do like having the teacher's guides as a guideline though, and for the extra ideas.

https://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/CatalogSearch.aspx?grade=K4

 

We are using this lovely curriculum for "enrichment" activities - reading the two suggested books and doing an activity and/or field trip. You could do all of their suggestions and have a full preschool curriculum!

http://weefolkart.com/content/harvest-time-preschoolkindergarten-curriculum

 

Some others:

http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com

http://prekinders.com

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com

http://www.starfall.com

[Rosie_0801]

Dd is 3 1/4 and not language orientated so many of the "totschool" blogs aren't much use to us yet. We do jigsaw puzzles borrowed from the toy library each day :001_wub: (I do love my daughter, but I really, really love the toy library too!) I've been borrowing matching type games and I'm starting to work with sequencing, but we're not having much success there yet. Other than that, read alouds, the usual talk about colours and numbers, art and I'm working on some new Auslan resources.

 

Rosie

Edited September 2, 2010 by Rosie_0801

[Wildwood]

I have a 3 1/2ish little girl who is super busy!

I'll just share what we like...

 

Oak Meadow K activities/crafts/storytime

Oak Meadow 1 activities/crafts/storytime (with her grade 1 sister)

Starfall.com

Abeka ABC-123 Preschool Phonics and Numbers workbook

An unlimited supply of dot-to-dot books

Dr. Seuss books

Sonlight P 3/4, P 4/5 read-alouds

Unifix Cubes

Coins/money

Coloring books

_____________

[Sherry in OH]

We're using Five in a Row and lots of additional read aloud titles. My 4.5 year old is doing MEP Reception. He also likes Starfall and the Dinosaur Train website.

[Joyofsixreboot]

 

We are using this lovely curriculum for "enrichment" activities - reading the two suggested books and doing an activity and/or field trip. You could do all of their suggestions and have a full preschool curriculum!

http://weefolkart.com/content/harvest-time-preschoolkindergarten-curriculum

 

 

Ooh, I like the looks of that. I think even my older kids would buy into some of the activities for the afternoon, at least my 1st grade dd would. Thanks

[Amy Jo]

I know my 4 year old wants to be included, so I'm doing most of Hubbard's Cupboard's "Bible & Rhyme" - the Bible story, rhyme, math, letter, etc. I exchanged the phonics for Pure Phonics on Google books, and the verses I am using Foundation Verses from Desiring God.

 

For my 4 and 6 year olds I am going to do FIAR. I think the boys will like it, and it should be fun. I'm pretty sure even my 8yo will join in, but he'll have to let the littler ones take first shot at questions.

 

Everything is varied and light - hopefully just enough to make him feel like a big boy this year.

 

Amy

[Greeny]

We are doing preschool with our 4 year old. We use Saxon K, art, lots of reading, he sits in on history and will sit in on science when we start with that next week.

[hsbaby]

My 3 year old Is busy during the school day with the following:

 

Preschool activity bags

ABC home preschool dry erase workbook

TONS of read alouds

Painting, coloring, cutting...lots of art

Dry erase ABC and number workbooks

We have LHTH, but rarely use it

Sequencing cards

She has her own little shelf in the schoolroom and stays pretty busy. I think the activity bags are the biggest hit. She loves all the little art projects, matching games, etc. Good luck. Last year seemed so chaotic, but I think we finally have a good routine in place!!

[NanceXToo]

Well, I did preschool at home (sort of, I guess, LOL) with my son last year. We did not do anything formal. No worksheets or anything like that (unless you count the very simple mazes he liked to do).

 

Nothing very structured or rigid but the types of things we did were:

 

Going on some nature walks, and collecting items for a "nature tank" (he could then take things out and examine them with or without a magnifying glass as desired, replace them with other things, etc).

 

Fingerpainting, watercolor painting, coloring, cutting, pasting, gluing, and other simple crafts.

 

Some occasional cooking and baking.

 

Puzzles, geoboards, pattern blocks, playdough, and other educational toys and manipulatives.

 

Preschool board games, computer games, tv shows and books.

 

Conversations/conversational games about rhymes, opposites, left and right, colors, shapes, alphabet, counting/numbers, and so on.

 

Working on days of the week, full name, birthday, address etc, conversationally.

 

Outings and activities and field trips.

 

Making texture books and "about me" books and backyard nature books and so on.

 

Bird watching.

 

Outside play, playgrounds, riding his scooter, and so on.

 

Reading poems, singing songs, playing with simple musical instruments (some store bought, some homemade).

 

dress up, imaginative play. Plenty of free play.

 

Next week, I'll be moving on to the Oak Meadow Kindergarten with him. It's a very hands-on, creative sort of curriculum, focused on stories and drawings and music and movement and nature and crafts and hands on activities. It's slower paced in the earliest years and does not push academics, so in Kindergarten, a child will focus on learning the upper case letters of the alphabet through stories and in hands on ways like looking for them in nature, forming them with clay or bread dough, drawing them in the dirt with a stick and so on, and will learn the numbers 1-10 in similar ways.

 

I like this about it. I want early childhood to be a time of creativity and play, not rigorous academics.

 

My advice, and some will not agree, is to NOT make preschool about "academics" and to not waste your money on a preschool "curriculum" which is SO not needed!

[annlaura]

I do many of the same activities already mentioned with my 3 1/2yo DS - lots and lots of reading, then more reading, playdoh, coloring, painting, crafting in general, puzzles, games, then more reading. We also do lots of counting - count the number of steps into a building, counting produce at the grocery store, count how many hops to the crack in the sidewalk, measurements when cooking, etc. I did buy a workbook for him to try if he wants to, and may start a bit of writing. But if he doesn't want to, I'm not pushing it yet. I do want to introduce more storytelling by him, with and without puppets, and more songs with motions. He has been resisting memorizing and reciting poems lately, but I'm hoping to have one ready by Halloween.

[WiseOwlKnits]

I am! I got some Rod and Staff workbooks and Kumon workbooks (cutting, pasting, mazes). He plays on Starfall.com and watches Leapfrog DVDs. We're practicing writing and he's learned to write his name now...we read a lot of books, and he plays with lacing cards, and plays with sorting bugs to count them and make patterns.

[Giraffe]

DD is in Montessori in the mornings but in the afternoons we work on letters, numbers, and read, read, read.

 

I love Before Five In A Row, OPGTR.

 

We have a biggish white board that she loves to practice writing letters on (she's not too bad, actually), flash cards with letters, and manipulatives from My Father's World (peg boards, lacing shapes, lacing letters).

 

Mostly she thinks it's play. Mostly it is. But she's learning!

[Shifra]

I found Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years by Elisabeth Hainstock to be very helpful (but it's old; even my mother used it! :lol:). Another very good Montessori handbook is Montessori Play and Learn. In addition to using sandpaper letters and numbers to introduce the alphabet and numbers, I followed Oak Meadow Kindergarten very loosely (which entailed using a fairy or folk tale to introduce the letter and numbers). In addition, we did circle time every morning with prayers (we're religious, but if you are not, you could skip it), nursery rhymes and finger plays. The books I used for the nursery rhymes and finger plays included Baby Games, Usborne Nursery Rhyme Songbook (which included a cassette tape), and Fingerplays and Songs for the Very Young by Carolyn Croll.

 

I also did a lot of "waldorfy" crafts from Earthways by Carol Petrash. We would do watercolors one day a week, make beeswax candles from sheets of beeswax, sometimes bake.

[Scrapmom3]

We are using this lovely curriculum for "enrichment" activities - reading the two suggested books and doing an activity and/or field trip. You could do all of their suggestions and have a full preschool curriculum!

http://weefolkart.com/content/harves...ten-curriculum

 

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing this site! I love that her curriculum centers around the seasons and nature.

[desertmum]

I have a 4 yo who is very active and although he is not really ready for school he wants to read and write and is big into astronomy so we do lots of reading aloud and worksheets and math games. He gets to play loads but he learns at the same time. No more than 10-15 minutes at a time on any given subject. Lots of drawing and dancing, too!

[mom4knights]

I would also encourage you to check out the site:

 

http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com

 

Erica is a hs mom to 4 and she has put together some great resources and even created her own Letter of the Week curriculum. It is all free to download - although the free version must be dowloaded one sheet at a time. You can also spend $10 and download her entire curriculum at once.

 

I actually purchased it today and have been printing out materials and laminating several of them.:D They are so great and I know my ds#3 will love doing them!

 

You can also check out her "My Printables" section and download more items from Math, Bible Time, Art/Music, Calendar Time, Colors/Shapes, Phonics and more. I am so excited about it and can't believe that in the past, I have paid so much $ for PreK programs and yet I like this better!:)

 

HTH! :D

[VBoulden]

I would suggest Bob Jones K4 DVD school. It was full of activities and we loved it. We did it when my daughter was three/ four years old. But, with the food allergies you mentioned, this might not be a good fit for you... We had to use peanut butter for crafts almost daily. It was the "glue" for all the edible crafts. Depending on her food allergies, though, you may be able to substitute??? I bet you could call Bob Jones and talk to someone and ask more specific questions. ;)

 

I'd also suggest trying one of Sonlight's Cores for Preschool. It has less hands on activities and more reading. Choosing one of these Cores will give you a bulk of books to share and "start" your studies from... We used P4/5 this last year and it was wonderful. You may want to look at one of the Cores for even younger kids.

 

Good luck with whatever you pick!;)