Preschool

[DaniMama]

My oldest is about preschool age...will be 3 this fall. I am looking into curriculums and wondering; what did you used for your preschooler?

[Stacey B]

play play play, go to the library, explore the world, read, make things. Read this and spend a lot of time reading and educating yourself about homeschooling.

[SundayCrepes]

Yup! Play, play, play, read, read, read.

Here's a great book about the brains of preschoolers. http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Never...8704017&sr=1-1

It's really easy to read and cites study after study. It's conclusions:
Play, play, play, read, read, read.

[MovnMama]

We send our son to preschool (just turned 3 yesterday - happy birthday Kai!). He's been going to school for 9 months now. My priorities regarding preschool are that my husband and I can teach him so much scholastically, but at the end of the day he needs to learn how to interact with peers. At school, he learns sharing, he's made friends, he learns about respecting other adult figures, he learns self-sufficiency, he learns teamwork. He basically learns that he is NOT the center of the universe (as an only child right now, this is a big challenge in our family). If you can afford it, part-time (like just mornings) preschool could be really beneficial, IMO.

Also, I agree with the postings above: all he does as school is "play play play" and "read read read." Avoid schools that show "educational videos." They don't watch any TV at Kai's school - they do art projects and building projects and field trips to the park.

[DaniMama]

We don't plan on sending DS to a preschool. Depending on how well preschool and kindergarten go, I will be homeschooling our kids. I basically have to prove to myself that I can do it. He learns to interact with peers and such by me having a very small home daycare. He's also going to start dance classes next year.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by DaniMama

We don't plan on sending DS to a preschool. Depending on how well preschool and kindergarten go, I will be homeschooling our kids. I basically have to prove to myself that I can do it. He learns to interact with peers and such by me having a very small home daycare. He's also going to start dance classes next year.

We've made friends through storytime at the library, a mom's group through mdc, and the local homeschooling groups. Right now my son's primary playmate is a little girl I watch. They have loads of fun together and I'm really grateful for their relationship.

[LuxPerpetua]

Play, read, and do fun things as a family. We grow a garden, we feed birds, we do nature walks and nature study, we swim, we travel, we go to festivals, we go to parks, make playdough, we cook a lot, we run, we play games, etc.

http://www.besthomeschooling.org/art..._ps_kdgtn.html

I've also done some things (loosely) from Seasons of Joy and the two free samples from Little Acorn Learning . Mostly, though, we focus on the seasons and read seasonal books from the library and do seasonal crafts and baking. I also have been working through Ambleside Online year 0.

[rparker]

My daughter will be three in October and I'm just starting to think about more "planned" educational opportunities for her...

We already read to her a lot. I've read a few Montessori books and am slowly buying/making some of the sensorial Montessori materials and plan to do those for less than an hour a day a few times a week (unless she's interested in doing more). I also want to begin a really low key introduction of a second language because she seems really open to it right now but I don't have a definite plan for this yet.

Another goal I have is to do something artistic and messy with her at least a few days a week and to make a point of encouraging her to scribble with crayons. My interactions with her tend to be all about books and make-believe but it seems like more physical creative activities are also important for development.

I'm also trying really hard to schedule non-school activities with other kids which is difficult because we live in an area with very few children and very few things geared toward them other than school/daycare. She just finished a 5 lesson "parent and baby" swimming class and she'll repeat it every time it's offered (about 4 times a year) until she's 4 and can begin the independent swimming lessons. I'll also probably start her in dance lessons later this winter. (She won't be quite old enough to enroll in the fall and things might be kind of crazy right then anyway because I'm expecting #2.)

I'm not big on a really academic "school" environment for kids under the age of six but I do feel like I need to start planning/scheduling small chunks of time or it might get overlooked entirely once the new baby arrives

[St. Margaret]

There's a big preschool homeschool thread here

DD is 3 and we get out with playgroups or library storytime/yoga and that kind of thing at least 3 times per week. I think a preschool can be great for a parenting break/messy art projects not in your home/playing with more/diverse toys than in a simple small home... but we're doing just fine and the good schools around here are $$$$. Since we'll be HSing anyway, we're skipping it. We mostly play and read all day! DD loves workbooks so we'll do that as long as mommy can stand, too. Today DD asked for school 8 days a week

[kittie313]

With my two oldest, we did www.letteroftheweek.com and Sonlight core P4/5. My two youngest are doing pre-k now, and I'm doing Sonlight core P3/4 with them and the 4yo is going to head start in the fall (to help with her speech delays, she needs more practice than I can give her and I've already spoken with her teacher about her needs and what we hope to gain from this). With dd4, I plan to just add some of the LOTW stuff I mentioned earlier and start her on letter names and sounds and counting (she can count to 10 already and sing her ABC's halfway correct so we're just building). The afternoons and on fridays with dd3, if she's interested I'll start some K material with her for reading and writing and math, even if she's not good with talking the kid is really smart and catches on fast to stuff, she's above the head start curriculum already.

[DaniMama]

St. Margaret- Thanks! I'll have to look for it. I swear I did search before I posted.

kittie313- How do you like LOTW? I've seen that and was thinking about maybe using that as a guideline. I love that it's free. lol

The main reason I'm looking for a curriculum is to keep myself on track.

Thanks for all the input so far!

[Radish4ever]

We just do a ton of play, as well!
My 3 year old really wants to be involved and have "school" like his sister, so I got him the PreK Brainquest Workbook and he LOVES that. He calls that his school.
We also watch LeapFrog DVDs quite a bit - Math Circus, Math to the Moon, Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory, etc. He has learned tons for that.

Here are some free curriculums:
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/
and
http://preschoolpalace.org/monthlycurriculum.aspx (click to the left on each month to have access to the PDFs that have complete lesson plans for each day of the month - GREAT resource!)

[shoefairy3]

we play and read. DS4 likes starfall quite a bit

[greenemami]

dd was 3 in April... I have kind of started Letter of the Week and she really likes "doing school". However, i am awful at sticking to a schedule, lol! So far we have been cramming the weeks worth of lessons into two or three days because I forget or get distracted most days. We read a lot and go to the library, I have been trying to get better at doing more crafty stuff. She plays all day I am thinking of doing Peak with Books (or Before Five in a Row) starting closer to when she is 4. Ds is only 4 months old now, so I am hoping we will more in a groove by then and I will better be able to concentrate-although honestly it is just not my personality to follow a schedule. She seems to enjoy having a little more structure though, so I am hoping having a curriculum of sorts will be good for both of us for now

[Love_My_Babies]

Originally Posted by DaniMama

We don't plan on sending DS to a preschool. Depending on how well preschool and kindergarten go, I will be homeschooling our kids. I basically have to prove to myself that I can do it. He learns to interact with peers and such by me having a very small home daycare. He's also going to start dance classes next year.

I was in the same boat just a couple years ago. When my oldest was 3 I thought I needed to start getting into the homeschool groove more to prove to myself and my family that I was capable of it. I tried LOTW, and it was a really great program. But, it didn't work with ds learning style. Then, I tried Little Acorn Learning. I loved it at first and then hated it because I was trying to do it all and we were all getting overwhelmed. Then, I fell in love with it again when I decided to use only the parts that worked for me. The program helped us set up a daily routine of having a morning "together time" where we read books, sing songs, and do a project. When he wanted to learn how to read, I put together a "lesson basket" and I told him to bring me the basket each time he wanted a lesson. He brought it to me every day for almost a year.

Have fun! Oh, and my ds started dance at 3, too!

[Mittsy]

For DD(5) we used BFIAR, HWOT, Funtastic Frogs and cards, Preschool activities in a bag, LOTS of art/nature time, and workbooks whenever she was interested.

For DS(3) we'll be using New Child Montessori. If he expresses interest we'll look into ETC, HWOT, and some workbooks but we're just following his lead.