[jayb842]

Hi,

This is our background and goals for homeschooling. I'm a elementary teacher. i have a ton of experence with older kids but with ds is three and we are just getting start with pre-school. So far he is responsing to phonics and doesn't want to learn his letters. He can count to ten. The pre-school workbooks I have ds is ahead of finding differences, opposites, which one is the same. He 's a hands on learner. I'm more for a whole language program but have serously looked at Abeka k4 which is heavy phonics.

Our goals for homeschooling are to give ds the best education possible and for him to be a lif long learner. I think in order for him to a life long learner I think learning needs to be fun. So does anyone know of a pre package curriculum that fits the bill or do I need to make up my own?

Jay

 

[Lillian J]

I'm not quite sure whether this fits your question, but I have a whole page of resources about preschool and kindergarten learning. There's a box of articles, and underneath it are annotated links to sites that have great activities for little ones:

Preschool/kindergarten

I guess I should add that my son, clearly a lifelong learner, is grown now, but he attended preschool when he was little. At that time, most preschools, like his, didn't include letters or numbers or any kind of reading - it was all imaginative activities and play, singing, crafts, etc., but kids I know who went to that kind of preschool did absolutely fine as they proceeded through the rest of their education.

You mentioned wanting to have the best education possible for him, and for him to be a lifelong learner. I really think that the way the formerly 1st grade curriculum is being pushed down into earlier and earlier years is going to one day be seen by more and more as a serious mistake we made during these times. Here's a Call to Action on that subject, endorsed by over 100 professional educators and researchers:

--Background and References on the Call to Action
--Call to Action on the Education of Young Children

Lillian

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[wende]

Thank you for that Lillian. While I subscribe to the unschooling philosophy, I also didn't start homeschooling until my 3rd was out of kindergarten so I am now "homeschooling" my first preschooler. If my others were in school I would probably have just let preschool age go by as normal but since I'm home educating I have this idea in my head that I should be "schooling" him as well. It's a totally illogical and silly train of thought, I know. The links reminded me that what we do every day, the playing, is what really matters and I don't need to spend this next year trying to forcibly prepare him for reading.

 

[jayb842]

Hi,

Lillian thanks so much for the information. I really appreciate it. It's wonderful and makes me feel better about course with ds. At this point I plan to read everyday as I have been. I also play to do a art project a day and some counting. I agree I want him to be kid first and keep his joy for the world.

Jay

 

[Lillian J]

I'm so glad it was helpful!

Lillian

 

[User101]

I definitely think you should ditch the workbooks and play, play, play. The links on the page Lillian posted are some of my favorites! Some moms find it helpful to choose a theme (together with your child is best) and center activities around that.

 

[italiancookies]

Hi we are started a curriculum in Sept. My DD will be 2 on Aug. 19 so she is more pre-pre-school lol. I found this:
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html
It is age appropriate and fun and I needed something already mapped out! I felt it was easier that developing my own b/c it had all kinds of links for activities plus a yahoo group with others following it. She has a curriculum for younger and older. I will be keeping it as fun as I can b/c my DD is still young so it will be primarily a mapped out plan for us so that in the colder months I know already fun stuff for us. My dd know all her letters and can count to 11 and then 16-20 I dont know why she leaves out 12-15 lol. She also signs about 400 words. In my opinion the signing was how she learned so much b/c it really opeoend up our communication. I reccommend that to any age child. I also liked the before five in a row program. They have a website under fiveinarow.com there is also peak with books which is along the lines but I didn't like the teachings they werent as exciting as before five in a row.
Joelle

 

[joandsarah77]

I make my own letter themes. So far I have chosen letters that I think she would find most interesting, such as those in her name, D for daddy, M for mummy and so on. I didn't start till my dd was 4 though and we are pretty relaxed about it. if she dosn't want to do school then thats fine, we don't.
I don't think theres anything wrong with workbooks if you have a kid that really enjoys them, and some kids do. I'm a little lost with what you said though

Quote:

So far he is responsing to phonics and doesn't want to learn his letters.

Did you mean to say he is NOT responding? My dd has never shown interest in learning letters which is why I didn't start doing them for 'school' till she turned 4. Then I have tried to use a lot of craft and games to make it fun. I really would not buy Abeka unless I knew my child loved work books because its heavy on busy work from what I have been told.

 

[Stugroupie]

We will be starting letter of the week preparatory curriculum in Sept as well. As a pp mentioned, I really needed something already mapped out. My 3yo ds is interested in learning and asking so many questions about letters, numbers, animals, etc. He can say his abc's along with the song and can count to 11 but doesn't know any letters or numbers by sight. I really needed something/ someone to give me direction about what to teach and what activities would be fun. I am just not that creative, yk?

I'll also have another 3yo girl 2 days/ wk. I will be doing some stuff with both of them as she really wants to go to school. (Her older sister is starting kindergarten and is feeling left out.)

The two complement each other well as he prefers more physical activities, and she prefers quieter sit down things, art, etc. But they will do what the other is doing if it looks like fun...

Planning to buy an easel, too as I think ds would enjoy art projects more if he could stand and move around.

 

[littlest birds]

I'm sorry to interject as we don't fit the criteria of using curriculum w/ our preschooler. Just a thought:

If you place a priority on his enjoyment of learning and he is expressing a clear disinterest in letters, I would just wait a year. I don't really think a 3yo learning letters should be considered normal or necessary. If he is not ready yet, he's going to learn better and faster once he is.