**New** ... Early Preschool?

[Guest Ashleigh]

Hi all :) I'm brand new to the forums. I'm hoping that it is okay for me to post this here. Every time I search for info online I end up reading through the forums here so I thought I would just ask :)

 

I'm the mom of a 3 year old (tomorrow actually :) ) ... My husband and I know we want to homeschool. I never saw myself as being the preschool-at-three mom. I've read plenty about not rushing things and taking the slow path.

 

With that in mind though, my daughter is a very quick learner and has loved the "school work" we have done so far. She already has many pre-reading skills (just through learning letters and sounds through tons of reading together). Because of this I recently purchased "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and she has been very engaged in the first few lessons.

 

Last year I would check out a book from the library or buy a book on Amazon and we would read it every day and do an activity/craft to go with it. For example we would read Little Red Hen and then bake a pound cake (something like that). She loved it and amazingly retained a lot of the information from the books.

 

All of that to say, this Fall I definitely want to do "something" with her. She is always wanting to do "school work" and I would love to have a plan or sense of direction of some kind.

 

I've looked at the preschool program for Winter Promise, Before Five-in-a-Row (which I've heard is a bit too simple), considered using Five in a Row and just scaling it to her level, considered doing KONOS and scaling it back to her level. I also just started reading "Whole Hearted Education" though I am just digging into it.

I certainly don't want to push her ... but I also feel like we would both enjoy having something for her to do most weekday mornings.

So any thoughts?
How do new homeschool parents wade through all of the amazing curriculum, books, and opportunities?

Do you think any of the above mentioned options might be appropriate for a three year old (modified)?

Thanks everyone :)

[shinyhappypeople]

Why not just continue doing what you're doing?  It sounds fun :)  She could also start learning to help with sweeping, dusting and sorting laundry, etc.  My kids LOVED being helpers and doing real work when they were that age.  

 

The Rod & Staff workbooks are really sweet, if she wants something more "big girl."   BFIAR is not too simple for a 3 yo.   This is also a great age for spending quality time with play-doh and crayons.   Work on those fine motor skills. :)  Also number and letter magnets are fun.  Teach her to spell her name.  Help her memorize her phone number and address.  Oh!  And she might love memorizing rhymes and poetry.  You might try reading aloud longer picture books and transition into chapter books if she seems interested.   BOB books are great for very early readers.

 

There is absolutely ZERO point in pushing her into FIAR (even a scaled back version) or other materials written for grammar stage kids.  There's a lot more to those programs that meets the eye, and what seems simple to us as adults requires a level of thinking that's incredibly difficult - or even impossible - for a 3 year old.   

[Guest Ashleigh]

Thank you so much for your thoughts!

 

I guess, ultimately, I do want to keep doing what we are doing I just want there to be a guide out there so I don't have to keep coming up with all of the ideas! :) lol

 

She loves play dough, crayons, magnets. :) She can spell her name but I had not thought of teaching her to memorize the phone number or address :) 

 

I know you are totally right. I have no interest in pushing her or taking the fun out of it all. She just amazes me with how much her mind is like a sponge. I've just started looking into the world of homeschooling and I am almost overwhelmed by it all :)

Thank you for your thoughts

[Mnemosyne]

Something more Waldorf/Montessori may be what you're looking at - something very play focused. Nature walks, lots of time outside, lots of art, introduction to letters and numbers... there is a bunch of really fun stuff there.

 

You could also look at 'Tot School'. http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/ has some really cool activities for young kids.

[Ellie]

Welcome. :-)

 

Actually, I wouldn't think of it as "early preschool." I'd just think of it as the kinds of things that mothers have always done with their young children. :-) And kudos to you for keeping her home instead of sending her to preschool. She will learn so much more at home. :-)

[dragonflyer]

When my son was 3 he was the same way.  We loved continuing through many lists of wonderful read-alouds and when he wanted to "do school" I printed out a few activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler Pre-K.  There are a variety of ways to use her materials and we stuck with the ones that were appropriate.

From there he learned to read by me putting magnetic letter together on his easel.  Calendar time is a great way to add some structure and learning without getting to workbook focuses.  I also printed the names of all the action/finger play songs I could think of and would let him draw as many songs as we had time for.

Most of our time was spent on the things you are talking about: reading, outside play, independent play, and the play-doh and manipulatives that are so fun for this age.

[Farrar]

I know what you mean about wanting to do something...  But instead of getting a curriculum or focusing much on "academic" skills, I'd try to make a routine for yourselves to focus on arts and crafts, play, learning to help around the house, read books, take nature walks, etc.  When my kids were little, I had art guides for preschoolers, piles of little games set up, and then everything was just a routine.  You don't need a curriculum to tell you to go take a nature walk once a week - just schedule it for yourself, you know?  While there are some fun materials to get for little kids, mostly I think things are like that - just make a little plan for yourself.

 

Good luck!

[ErinE]

My two eldest attended preschool outside the home. However, I have one toddler and another baby on the way so I've researched some activities usually when I don't feel like working or I'm procrastinating on planning for my bigs. I found the Brightly Beaming website; I plan to use it as a free resource for things to do with my littles.

 

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html

[Alte Veste Academy]

I never did anything formal at that age, but if you are looking for good ideas for maintaining a learning lifestyle and learning through play, my favorites for young kids are The Write Start, Playful Learning, and Kitchen Table Math (first volume).

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Write-Start-Nurturing-Scribbling/dp/1590308379/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=20OZILMA41KCQ&coliid=I1DRA2P4TRT9WS

 

http://www.amazon.com/Playful-Learning-Develop-Childs-Wonder/dp/1590308190/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=20OZILMA41KCQ&coliid=I3IQMWKNBFRGL0

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Wrights-Kitchen-Table-Math/dp/0982921128/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400208201&sr=1-1&keywords=Kitchen+table+math

[jnaj]

I totally recommend doing FIAR (or Before Five In a Row- it depends on what you think she is ready for..all kids are different..)- there is SO much you can do with FIAR. It can be as relaxed as you want or as extreme as you want (I only say extreme because I have seen some people completely go all out- it looks like their kids are enjoying it, but I guess it's hard for me to imagine doing it since I have 3 kids of all different ages :) Maybe with one kid though!)

 

Also, if you want more "school" stuff, there are those books from Explode the Code..Getting Ready For The Code. My youngest is doing it now and it totally into it. Also I believe it's the Mathematical Reasoning from the Critical Thinking Company. My little one is doing the book A right now and it's fun. Other than that, I really think all the hands on stuff is great- tracing letters and words in sand or paint, etc. Building their name with magnet letters, stamps, wiki stix, etc. So many different hands on things you can do at that age that is great. Nature walks- collecting different things, examining them, painting, etc. There is always library and book store story times, parks, museums, etc. 

[blondeviolin]

We do C Rod play, letter crafts, and What Your Preschooler Needs to Know (book and workbook).

[shawthorne44]

Also, in the WTM books, she mentions "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready".  I just got it, and I wished I'd gotten it earlier.  It has one activity a week.  I've seen other activities books and been underwhelmed.  They were designed for group preschool activities and more to keeping the kids busy and producing pretty things to send home.  This one seems just perfect.  The book has activities up to 5 years old. 

[Eagle]

Picture Book Activities by Trish Kuffner does projects with books similar to what you have been doing. For each book she gives you an idea for a craft, something to cook or bake, music/movement or something to act out, a rhyme or finger play, and some gentle learning ideas.

[jnaj]

Also, not sure if you want to spend this much, but All About Reading Pre-level is pretty neat- and it satisfies the need for specific laid out lessons. 

[CardinalAlt]

I second, third, whatever, a fun routine full of books, art, outside time, activities... Get a list of great books going, and do one a week... Google and you'll find lots of ideas for each one.

 

We dabbled in this very creative, free math program in those early years, when DD seemed ready - all done with stories, manipulatives, songs and whiteboard! 15 minutes a few times a week... http://ceure.buffalostate.edu/~csmp/CSMPProgram/Primary%20Disk/KINDERGARDEN/kStand.pdf

 

With my son I imagine starting to play with Miquon and Education Unboxed games when he seems ready, too. He already likes to build a staircase with c-rods and see the "mouse" climb it and sing the steps' numbers!

[EmmaNZ]

Have a look at Wee Folk Art.

 

http://weefolkart.com/content/homeschool-companion-guides

 

We enjoyed this a lot and it sounds like a continuation of what you have already been doing.

[Aiden]

My daughter seemed ready for school at age 3 as well. We started "doing school" just a couple months after her third birthday. We're just finishing up her "preschool" year--she'll turn 4 in July. We used two formal curricula: Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven and Sonlight's P3/4. We also used 2 workbooks from The Critical Thinking Co--Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1 and Thinking Skills Beginning; we started those later on, but they would have been fine to start earlier, I think. If you want to read the full "what we liked/didn't like," I wrote a blog post about that last month, so you can read it at http://deborahreflections.blogspot.com/2014/04/our-homeschool-preschool.html

 

Short version--we enjoyed the Bible stories and phonics activities from LHTH, but we skipped the art, drama, math, etc. Since you seem to be more of an activities person than I am, you may like those parts more than we did. It's very inexpensive and pretty comprehensive WRT phonics and Bible, but no literature. And the phonics were more review than learning for my daughter, who also knew most of her letter sounds already (though I didn't know that when I ordered it--I just realized as we went that she'd picked up more than I knew from Leapfrog!).

 

Sonlight P3/4 sounds like an already-planned-for-you version of what you've been doing. The IG is a list of stories, with an activity to go with each. Some of the activities are really simple and IMO pointless; others are more relevant to the story, more fun, more educational, etc. You can buy just the IG and get the books from the library, or you can buy the whole set. Some of the stories were a little long, with too few pictures, for my daughter, but she has grown into almost all of them now. The book selections do include a couple of science books as well--one about animals and one about digestion, senses, and reproduction (very appropriate--the explanation begins *after* fertilization, so you can explain that part however you like).

 

And I highly recommend the workbooks from The Critical Thinking Co. They're available at Amazon for around $30 each.

[Haiku]

So any thoughts?

 

My thoughts:

 

Don't waste your money on an expensive preschool program. You won't get your money's worth. There is nothing in a curriculum that your 3 year old can't learn just from living life with an involved parent.

 

Don't start too early. I know that the temptation to start schooling early can be great. Many of us have been there. It's fun to research and plan, and the urge to start right now is strong. Don't. Your child has only a few short years to live with no academic expectations. Don't undervalue that time. If you homeschool all the way through, your life for 12 or 13 years will revolve around homeschooling, and your relationship with your child will be profoundly influenced by it. Don't force it too early. Enjoy what you have now, which is a young child being a young child. Even if you intend to have only developmentally appropriate expectations, once you get a curriculum, unintended expectations can creep in.

 

Don't believe that a curriculum can do a better job than you can. At age 3, that's not true. You know your child far better than some curriculum developer does. If you feel the need to "do something," I would encourage you to devote your energies to creating a well-flowing daily and weekly routine/rhythm that meets your child's needs and addresses her interests. Plan a field trip day, if you like. Carve out time to read together. Create an art space so that doing art isn't a hassle of dragging out a bunch of materials before you can even begin. Find some fun Pandora or Spotify stations that introduce young kids to world music (Putumayo has a great series of kids' cds). Focus on creating a learning lifestyle, not on doing a curriculum.

 

All that said, if you absolutely MUST do SOMETHING curriculum-like, I suggest Before Five in a Row. ETA: I also got some ideas from this website when my kids were young.

[Zuzu822]

So many good thoughts about preschool activities and routine at home.

 

To follow the idea of rhythm or routine, you might like establishing a certain activity for each day of the week.

 

For example: Monday- library day, Tuesday- arts and crafts, Wednesday- playdough/Montessori/tot school activity, Thursday- bake, Friday- nature center/field trip/playgroup. Whatever works for your lifestyle and routine!  :)

 

The daily rhythm might be wake, dress, eat, read alouds, play (in or out), activity of the day, lunch, rest, play, help with supper, eat, bath, play with dad, stories, bed. 

 

This is basically the routine we've had since my oldest was a toddler, and even though my bigger two are school age now, we have continued the same one. We just substitute "lessons" for the "activity of the day" and some days that afternoon playtime is replaced by swim or piano lessons. 

 

Sounds like you're off to a great start!  :hurray:

[boscopup]

One thing to note... My kids all learned more when I wasn't actively trying to do anything "school" like with them. That even includes reading (2 of my 3 were reading independently at age 4).

 

Encourage a lot of outside play, observing the world, finding interesting things in nature and looking them up at the library (eg, she sees a frog, you go to the library and get an easy reader about frogs... learn how to draw frogs, pretend you're a frog, etc.).

 

Read, read, and read.

 

Take field trips. I have to say that's something I should have done more when my kids were younger than school age.

 

Let her help you with cooking and cleaning as much as possible. Talk to her while you work. She'll learn a million things that way.

 

I never found any preschool materials to be better than living life with mom. And I'm NOT a fun project type mom! I don't do arts and crafts. I do involve my children in day-to-day life though. From 18 months old, they were all helping unload the dishwasher, for example. My kids learned all of the preschool (and Kindergarten) type stuff by just hanging out with me and me reading books and talking to them. I don't buy any kind of "curriculum" until K level, and then it's basically just a math workbook (I let them do Singapore Essentials K at age 4 whenever they ask for it - we don't make it a daily routine to "do school" until they are K age). Any other workbooks they have before school age are just cheapy for-fun stuff that they're not really learning from, because they already know the material from living life. ;)

[krismoose]

Picture Book Activities by Trish Kuffner does projects with books similar to what you have been doing. For each book she gives you an idea for a craft, something to cook or bake, music/movement or something to act out, a rhyme or finger play, and some gentle learning ideas.

This has been a great resource! Here's the amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743216172?ie=UTF8&at=&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

 

I agree also that the Sonlight P3/4 book list is great.

[ForeverFamily]

If you really feel the need for workbooks.  Kumon books are great for that age.  They have books to help teach cutting, tracing, coloring, etc.  My kids have all loved them.

[basketcase]

One thing that is advantageous to learn young is a foreign language. The Salsa videos from Georgia Public Broadcasting are adorable for this age, for instance (and available for free online, or at least were a couple of years ago). Little Pim is also appropriate and available in multiple languages. Then you can use children's books to build on what she's learning. Stringed instruments also can be started as young as 3, as well as a few other instruments.

 

ETA: Montessori practical life skills are great to work on at this age. While letting them explore with pouring water or punching holes in paper, you're also building their pre-writing skills, for instance.

[Jennifer132]

We like the nursery rhymes pockets by Evan Moore.

[Slache]

I would check out Timberdoodle and My Father's World for ideas and Ambleside Online for awesome book suggestions.

[Courtney_Ostaff]

I second (or third ;) ) the daily routine/weekly rhythm. We had a nice schedule when my daughter was that age: baby gym day at our local university's community PE program, baby swim day at same, story time at the local bookstore day, grocery store day, park day, library day, Kindermusik day, etc. It was more to get me out of the house and get her used to other human beings than for any "purpose," but it saved my sanity. ;)  I'm not an "activity" person, either, but my husband and I love to cook, so she learned to chop fruit and vegetables with a plastic lettuce knife, to "cut' pasta with a butter knife, to mix a cake batter, to shape and decorate cookies, etc. She also helped sweep floors, fold laundry, and put things away.  She took daily long (30 min) walks with my husband, at her pace--we live in the country, so it was like a nature study type thing.  Plus they garden together.  I'm very big on free art play, so she had/has a huge bin of paper, washable markers/pens/pencils/crayons, scissors galore, glues, tapes, pastels, etc.  I also recommend creating a bookshelf just for her, so she can grab and "read" at any time.

 

This is a great book, FWIW: Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years

[Korrale]

You can get a giant workbook for preschoolers at most department stores. But dot to dot, mazes, coloring books will also suffice. As will paper, scissors and access to lots of craft supplies.

The workbooks are just nice if you want some guidance.

 

There is a book called Marshmallow Mafh. I highly recommend it. It gives ideas of how to incorporate math in day go day life.

 

John Bowman's Montessori books is exceptionally good also.

 

I also love the tot school blog at 1+1+1=1.

 

And read, read, read. Not just picture books, non fiction books also. Easy chapter books too. Audio books are good for the latter.

Talk about the books as you read. Point out the pictures. Try and make predictions. Run your fingers under the words.

If you want to teach reading there is an amazing series of DVDs by a company called Preschool a Prep. If you aren't against media you could pop one of those in while you get something done.

[Meg429]

My daughter (now almost 5) was the same way at 3.  We did all the BFIAR books and it was perfect for her.  It seems simple, but it is such a rich program that you can add as much or do as little as you like.  She learned so much!  We are just now starting some FIAR books, but they would've been too much at 3, for sure.  I blogged all of our BFIAR "units", link in my sig.  

 

It sounds like you're doing perfectly, and you could just keep it up without any curriculum.  But for a little more guidance and suggestions, BFIAR is great.

[Jackie]

I have a young child that craves, begs for, and loves the "academic" stuff. We do incorporate it into our day and she thinks it is wonderful play. Some of the things that have worked for us are the Kumon First Steps fine motor skills workbooks, RightStart Math, Bob Books when she was ready to start sounding out CVC words, Magic School Bus science kits, Lets Read And Find Out science books, and Stuart Murphy's MathStart series. We also did Montessori practical life activities, guided a bit by the Montessori at Home e-book.

 

We did do Five in a Row for a while when she turned 3 and the vast majority of the books and activities were within her ability but I didn't care for the amount of prep work it required so I abandoned it. I found it easier to organize my own thing than to follow someone else's ideas. Though I haven't used it, I've heard good things about Flowering Baby for giving a template of organized ideas and not being too prep-intensive.

[WahM]

I agree with the others to make a schedule of fun stuff and just follow that. Also, check out your libraries for fun classes. I wouldn't start a curriculum yet. FIAR is very meaty, too meaty for a three year old. Even B4FIAR is very meaty, not simple, in fact, I use for kinder then I start my kids on FIAR vol 1-2 during 1st. Just relax and have fun during those early years! Play, play, read, read great ways for little ones to learn.

[amazzie]

There's a curriculum you could check out called Flowering Baby. I was just looking at it because my two year old doesn't get enough mom time to do fun stuff. I think it would drive me crazy, but that's just me! It has a little list of activities to do with you kid each day.

[mamakelly]

I loved Wee Folk art with my 4 year old. But please don't overdo it. You have plenty of time for academics. If you skip ahead and do FIAR now, what will you do when she's Kindergarten, then first grade etc...? Have some fun preplanned activities, but don't go make yourself crazy and try to homeschool a 3 year old. You will have plenty of time for that. Plan fun experiences, cook, sort laundry, plant a garden, read books, play with playdoh...Just don't push early academics with a 3 year old.

[Guest]

Memoria Press has a new program. And you could also look into their JrK program. Just go slow and only do the parts you think she could handle.

[PeterPan]

Have you seen Enchanted Learning?  It would keep you filled with ideas to go with your books.  :)

 

[Guest Ashleigh]

Thank you all for all of the thoughts and incredible ideas.

 

We actually already do many of the suggestions: she folds laundry and pair socks, she helps me cook everyday and bake occasionally, she loves play dough, she knows how to sweep the floor, and so on. We have a library day and we go to church each week as well as have other activities and a pretty good weekly flow/schedule.

 

I think I have just decided to invest the money in a solid, high-quality books and do something similar to what we've done the last year. Stick with "teach your children to read in 100 lessons" and perhaps buy a few very early "math" in real life, art, and busy books.

 

I clicked through all of the links and looked at everything. Thank you everyone!

[PeterPan]

If you're wanting to invest, consider Playmobil, puzzles, audiobooks, flannel graph kits, art kits by Djeco, anything from Timberdoodle...

 

[CardinalAlt]

Thank you all for all of the thoughts and incredible ideas.

 

We actually already do many of the suggestions: she folds laundry and pair socks, she helps me cook everyday and bake occasionally, she loves play dough, she knows how to sweep the floor, and so on. We have a library day and we go to church each week as well as have other activities and a pretty good weekly flow/schedule.

 

I think I have just decided to invest the money in a solid, high-quality books and do something similar to what we've done the last year. Stick with "teach your children to read in 100 lessons" and perhaps buy a few very early "math" in real life, art, and busy books.

 

I clicked through all of the links and looked at everything. Thank you everyone!

Sounds like a great plan! Have fun!

[Staceyshoe]

Education Unboxed is a great way to explore early math concepts in a playful, interactive way.  The link has videos with a mom and her daughter (age 4, I think?), so I would watch them to understand how to teach the concepts to my son.

[petepie2]

We used Kumon workbooks at that age--mazes, tracing, cutting, etc. I started the ETC primers when they developed some phonemic awareness (hearing sounds at the beginning of words). My oldest was about 3 when that happened, but my youngest was closer to 4 yrs old.