AmI forgetting anything in my preschoolers day?

[StormySar]

This is our typical set up. It's not usually done all at once unless my dd1 shows interest. Each day we do cover somethign from the list, but not necessarily everything listed. For example on bible time we may only cover reading from the bible and a discussion... I don't always have an activity, and math isn't necessarily something we "sit down and do" it's rather spread through the day. It looks like a longer list than it is.

Open with Prayer

Begin with bible – read from bible, memory verse (or have her repeat the verse after me... Not really working on memorizing them just yet), read bible books, activity, discussion

Work on reading – read books of choice, have dd1 narrate picture books, introduce new vocabulary through the books we read, verbal sound/word games

Work on math through games, counting objects/pictures

Sign language

Songs/Dance/Rhymes/Fingerplays

Flannel Board Stories/Time to Play @ Flannelboard

Coloring, painting or other art

Worksheets if requested

Other games/activities: matching, threading, play-doh, playing with beans/rocks, ABC scrapbook, Truck book, cutting, tracing, etc.

Also outside play, time at parks, story time @ library once a week, etc, etc. We do get out :-)

Am I forgetting anything vital? I just got hit with the "I don't know if I can do it"s even though I know we can... LOL.

[RedWine]

You don't have how old your child is...and of course it all depends on your child...but it looks good to me.

[elizawill]

i don't know how old your child is, but the title says preschool. my son is 3 and 7 months and i don't do anything with him that has any kind of schedule or routine in any shape or form (except meal time) so yea - you are definitely covered imo!!!

[phroggies]

This is way more than DS or I would either be able to do, so I'm hesitant to add anything. . . But what about nature study? I know you said outside play, but are you including something that involves observation and/or discussion? Not, I should add, that I think that would be strictly necessary--I guess I'm just thinking of it as a sort of proto-science lesson.

You know, like gardening together, talking about leaves, feeding birds, going on walks, watching ponds, etc.

Just a thought.

[mraven721]

we don't have a schedule for the day, that's about what we do in a week!
My biggest homeschool fear is burn out, so I don't push it KWIM?

[greenthumb3]

Yes, one thing to add:

Do one thing together that you both enjoy. Really thoroughly like, whether that is take a walk, bake cookies, visit grandma, read a book, watch a movie, play a board game, you get the idea!


This is your child's childhood and you are fortunate to be a part of it. Adding that into your recipe for preschool can only be good.

Best wishes!

[Munki'sMom]

Sounds good to me if not too much. My girls are 4 and 2.5 and we do not have an education schedule. We cover lots of those types of things but very spread out. We really enjoy doing things with nature. GL to you.

[EStraiton]

How about a daily nature walk?

[PGTlatte]

OK, I feel like a complete slacker now......our oldest DS is 4.5 and I don't do anything anywhere NEAR this !

We read at least one book most days, some days more, but some days none if he doesn't want to. Once in a while we work on number recognition with dots on paper. Once in a while we pull out the Reading Lesson or the first two Bob books. He paints frequently. He likes to watch Magic Schoolbus. He plays with his little brother. He takes a sports class one day and a gymnastics class another day. He draws pictures. We get together with friends. Today he asked about the seeds in a nectarine so I saved the pit so he can see what it looks like when all the gunk is dried off. Today we also discussed the difference between Halloween decorations and other fall decorations. Yesterday he asked me what happens to poop after it is flushed down the toilet so we talked about how it goes into a big tank and little tiny bugs too small to see eat it and make the water clean again. The "important" stuff.

I think you've got your bases covered. Perhaps I should be doing more.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by llp34

Perhaps I should be doing more.

Aw, you're all doing just fine - and then some!

Here are some interesting articles:

And They Played All Day, by Naomi Aldort, PhD, a parenting and family
counselor

Story and Play: The Original Learning Tools, by Vivian Gussin Paley,
an award winning nursery school and kindergarten teacher with 37 years of experience. An excerpt:

"Of course, there has been some good research, even scholarly
research done on play, but we are rarely convinced. Jerome Bruner, in
the sixties, did a study in which a lesson was presented in three
ways: one had the teacher lecturing; the second had the teacher
demonstrating the concept with materials; the third allowed the
children to play with the material, in every way they wished. The
students involved were four year-olds, seven year-olds and nine-year-
olds. In every case those who were given the opportunity to play with
the materials figured out the solution to the problem presented to
them far more quickly and in more original ways. Pretty convincing?
But apparently not convincing enough. Play is considered appropriated
only for little children in the sandbox.."
- Lillian

[mammal_mama]

Why don't you ask your child if she thinks you're forgetting anything vital? I honestly think she'll know, better than anyone else, if there's something she wants to be doing that she's not getting to do!

If she's happy you're doing absolutely great! And by the way, this is also true of older kids, not just littles.