PreK for kids who love school?

[Paige]

Would anyone like to recommend a fabulous, fun, and hopefully frugal preK program? I had to take my youngest out of her church PreK3 when we moved. I wasn't going to send her in the first place because I didn't think she needed it but someone paid for her so we accepted and she loved it and learned more than I expected. I don't want to pay to send her in our new town and I doubt the person who paid for this year will want to do it another year. She really, really wants to do school. She loves the schedule, the worksheets, the everything and misses it dearly. Just letting her have free play while the others work is not keeping her happy.

 

I have math and phonics covered for her but would like some kind of themed program that does crafts, stories, social studies, handwriting practice, and maybe some songs. She loves songs. I want it to last about 1hr only of one and one or less, be interesting enough that the older kids might sit in and enjoy parts of it as well, and for it to be completely planned out with supplies if possible because I'm not so good on follow through if it isn't laid out for me with her. Any ideas? I think I'm running into a wall because I don't want to pay for anything with phonics and math, as I already have that, but I haven't found any programs that don't include those as the main focus. Any ideas? I am not a crafty type person but she is and so are the other kids. I don't need crafts or want a lot of them but it would be nice if an easy one or two came up every week.

 

Thanks for any ideas. She is desperately bored with just hanging out here and playing- and that means she is getting in trouble, distracting us, and throwing fits because she's bored. She is an older 3, and can write letters, shapes and numbers, she knows all the letter sounds and can read very short words, and she can count, sort, and do very simple adding and subtracting. She can cut, paste, color, and stuff like that too. I think she may be ok with doing a preK 4 or Kindergarten program since I'm not looking for phonics or math anyway.

[mnemom]

At that age, we did a lot of Kumon workbooks, went to library story times, and took a music class (we have done both Musikgarten and Music Together). You might want to check out CDs of nursery rhymes from the library and you can buy some instruments for her. I'm thinking maracas, a tambourine, etc.). At least in our community, they have free or inexpensive activities for preschoolers and their families, such as crafts and puppet shows. Many churches have MOPS groups that she might benefit from. Hope those ideas help.

[Paige]

She has been doing Kumon books and loves them. She could do one in a day if I let her! I can't do any of the storytimes or classes for preschoolers because of the older kids. They are too young to leave at home, aren't welcome at the preschool things, and honestly, we don't have time during the day to stop school and go to them just for her. Thanks for the ideas. We do have instruments here for free playing but I'm looking for something a little more organized where someone has tied the songs, crafts, books, and other stuff into a little unit study around some science, history, or social studies type theme.

[lorrainejmc]

Five in a Row?

[CanaryMelody]

You might want to look at Confession of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week curriculum ($10 download) or Brightly Beaming Resources' Letter of the Week curriculum (free). Tons of ideas for a unit study. :)