Hello, My husband and I have decided that we will not be sending our 4 year old daughter, Maddy, to public pre-k next year. He will be in his 3rd year of residency and will have more time off. We are 7 hours from all of our family and figured if Maddy was in school we would not be able to travel home as much as we would like. I feel strange asking this question because I have a teaching degree, but somehow its different with your own kid. I don't really know where to start on scheduling and curriculum at home. I am wanting ideas on where to find curriculum, maybe some scheduling ideas, etc... I also have a 5 month old daughter, so I would like to find a curriculum that is mostly planned out already. Any homeschooling tips/websites/books would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! Jenny
I'm so watching for some good advice here! I need it too! I have an almost 3 yr. old and one on the way in April!
I have found some great sites on line for pre k, that i use with the kids i have been babysitting. Rod and Staff has some fun looking stuff, Chirstian Liberty has pre school also. abeka has pre k If you want to look at this site http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/ this is what I am using for my bs kids. It is free, Christian based and fun to work with. Starfall.com this site I know most use for K on here now, you for time sed and what I would do it in the morning and just for hr or so, mostly playing learning games with her. This is just all my opnion though.
Before Five in a Row is a nice book too. And the books that go along can be gotten from the library. We used Starfall for K....but they've added a new letter series that would be great for PreK and you can easily transition to the Learning to Read section. I'm a big one for reading, reading, reading and having fun in PreK and K. Learning is something they almost cannot help but do when it's fun.
I found different letter, number, & shape things online to do with mine. http://www.first-school.ws/ http://www.kidzone.ws/ These worked really good. The other stuff was mostly exploring outside like scavanger hunts ie go find me a yellow leaf. We also did playdoh & did little art projects!!!
Children at that age learn through PLAY. All you need to be doing is to provide variety of play, let her follow her interests, do lots of counting and reading aloud. Sit-down worksheets are fine AS LONG AS she is willing to do them. When she decides she doesn't like them, back off. But some kids will sit all day with them, and that's fine, too. You really need to be child-directed at this point. The idea that children "need" preschool is the biggest bunch of BS ever to come out of the education community. What a preschool child needs is to be a preschooler. I am teaching science to three boys, two age 9, and one that just turned 7. The youngest has an almost 4yo brother. We have been studying space, and I have coloring pages that the little guy can do if he wants, but often he wanders into the other room and plays. And that's OK. Today we just returned from a field trip at the Neil Armstrong Space Museum in Wapakauneta, Ohio. We saw, among other things, a movie about the Apollo 11 moon landing. Quin was sitting next to me most of the time (he did get up at one point, and moved by Mommy). He kept talking and asking questions, but the talk and questions were actually on topic. The mom apologized afterward, but it was very appropriate talk and behavior for a curious little guy who can't sit still for very long.
Are you going to be sending her to public school for K after this year? I do think play is important, but if you plan to send to public school K after this year then I would use a curriculum of some sort especially if the public school has a pre-k program. My neighbor's little girl was so down starting K at a public school that had pre-k and all of her peers in the class had attended the pre-k and were ready for the reading and such and she really got down on herself. She wasn't able to attend the pre-k program b/c she was an out of district transfer. Most of the kids in the K class had attended the pre-k program and the class was taught from the starting point that they had been exposed to the pre-k curriculum. Here are some sites that are good for pre-k. Reading Eggs Headsprout Donna Youngs free printables-has writing readiness sheets and record keeping pages Enchanted Learning http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM abcteach starfall Curriculums- MFW K-works well for pre-k 4 Heart of Dakota Little Hearts for his Glory-says k/1st but is more pre-k than K to me. Calvert Pre-k-secular R&S preschool-R&S doesn't do kindergarten so this is their k program and very good for the $$$ Christian Liberty Press pre-k- new program Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum-good for the $$ used k-3 for my 4 yr old (boy) and it was great. I added in Donna Young's handwriting printables. Abeka k-4- I have used this 2x with 2 of my kids (girls). Out of these curriculum's, I have used HOD LHFHG, LFBC k-3, and Abeka k-4. With a 5 month old, I would wait until nap time and do the work then. It doesn't take that long one on one for preschool. You will probably be done with any bookwork in an hour or so. It all depends on what you are looking for for pre-k. With Abeka k-4, they are definitely ready for public school kindergarten (probably more than ready and advanced) and will be reading cvc words and silent e by the end of k-4. With LFBC k-3, they will learn the alphabet, numbers to 20, colors, shapes, and if you add in the handwriting sheets from Donna Youngs web site it is a good k-4 program. HOD's LHFHG is a good pre-k year with the k options. It says for k/1st but in my opinion it is pre-k/K. It is really a schedule for other curriculum. The author of the guide picks some good ones though like Singapore Earlybird K Math, R&S Preschool books for fine motor skills, A Reason for Handwriting K or Getty Dubay Italic depending on the style of writing you want, The Reading Lesson, CLP's History for Little Pilgrims and CLP's Our Father's World. HOD's LHFHG is more Charlotte Mason style and short, quick lessons. Anyway, these are the ones I have used and worked well for my kids. I have always been curious about Five in a Row and Sonlight too. Horizons has a pre-k too. Good luck planning your pre-k year!
abc teach has lots of good things for your age child. Go with the around the room with the ABCs s theme and keep the lessons short 15 mins max then coloring time or painting or playing, etc. Curriculuim for this age is mostly printables and crafts, not a whole lot Learn the abcs and 123s! ( I went to college to teach preschool - k but wiht my own I am always different too)
I am beginning teaching my 3yo grandson this year, and I just purchased the pre-K Hooked on Phonics. (in fact, I just received it today!) I LOVE it!!! I bought an older edition off eBay, and for 22 bucks got the whole curriculum for learning the letters and their sounds, along with activities, games and songs. It takes about 20 mins a day to do, so is well within his and my time limit. This is great for me, because I plan on using the Hooked on Phonics to teach him reading, and I already have a set of that, so this will lead into it very nicely. Besides this, I am working on simple things like counting, very basic time concepts (like what a clock is, what they are for, the calendar, day, week, etc.). These are hard concepts to grasp at 3, so I am only introducing them, not exactly teaching them. I like to do a unit on family at this age, and introduce age. One thing I did with all of my kids and I think I'll do again with him was cut out pics in a magazine of all different aged people, and put them up in time-line fashion from baby to elderly. You could also take photos of people you know. then on the time-line I add the names of people he knows, like mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, sister, brother. I do a unit study for each holiday with crafts, cooking, things like that - some songs, videos, etc. Decorating for the holiday is always a big part of this one! I am debating picking up something more structured for math. Not that HE needs it, but I'm thinking it might be easier for ME. :roll: Hope this helps a little. There are a lot of free work units out there, and try under daycare sites. There's a lot of good information on those as well. Finger games, songs, even schedules and crafts! Have a wonderful year with your toddler!
Also Horizons has a great prek program. It is pretty much and open and go.http://www.aophomeschooling.com/horizons/preschool Also Sonlight has a good prek program, it involves lots of reading to your child, but your younger one could sit in on this one. http://www.sonlight.com/curriculum.html Now there is all kinds of place to go and buy curriculum, I am not sure if that is what you are looking for or not. Here is a few places http://homeschoolsupercenter.com/ http://www.homeschoolstockroom.com/store.html http://www.homeschoolstockroom.com/store.html http://www.christianbook.com/
I am of the opinion that no "boughten" curriculum is needed until at least first grade. So many of prek-K stuff can be taught through just going about your day! What do prek-K kids actually learn? Counting - you can do this all day long! How many spoons do we need to put on the table for the soup we're having for supper? One for mommy, one for daddy, one for you, one for .... 1, 2, 3, ... (however many). If (specify guests - gran and grampa, or the 3 neighbor kids, or whoever) come to have supper with us, how many spoons would we need? Counting shirts in the wash, counting 3 cans of veg at the store, counting toys as we pick up... Sorting. Sort the laundry by color, by size, by type of piece (shirt, pants, towel, etc.), by owner. Sort the cans of veg or the fresh fruits and veg as you put them away, things that need to be in the refrigerator and things that need to be on the shelf, sort the toys as you put those away, sort the blocks by color and/or size. Size. Talk about the sizes of the laundry. Daddy's shirt, your shirt, mommy's shirt, baby's shirt (socks, pants, whatever). Big towel, little towel, washcloth. Big can of veg, small can of veg, etc. Color. Laundry, toys, labels, what to wear today, anything you see. Fractions. Cut the sandwich in half. Cut the apple in thirds. Fold the towel in half, in fourths. Letters. LABELS! There they are -- c o r n right there with a picture of what's in the can! b e a n s right there on the package! Labels on the bins at the grocery, labels everywhere! Letters on the stop signs, on the billboards, on the street name signs, letters everywhere! Time. Clocks, calendars, we use them every day. What time do we get up? go to bed? eat supper? How long can we watch tv? When does our favorite show come on? When is our doctor appointment? When do we go to church? How long until Aunt Fran comes over? How long is "a minute" (I was constantly telling my kids "just a minute"!) Money. Pennies, count 'em, save 'em, stack 'em, use 'em (if you can find anything for a penny nowadays), trade 'em. No better way to teach a child about money than to let them hold it, give it to the clerk, get something they want... What is it? What's it used for? What's it made of? You can do this all day long, with everything in the house. Paper? plastic? metal? wood? Weather. Just observe daily. Draw a picture on the calendar if you wish. Talk about what clothes to wear if you go out. Do we need an umbrella? sunny? warm? breezy? cool? Take a nature walk. Observe changes in your neighborhood. Are things getting greener? turning brown? What kinds of clouds do we see today? What kinds of animals - birds? squirrels? insects? Grow a bean in a cup. Plant a garden, even a container-garden. Kids love watching things grow. And all this doesn't even begin to cover all the language arts and other concepts learned through read-alouds and there are literally TONS of those at the library. You might be surprised at the variety of nonfiction books in the little kids' section, and the number of things little'uns can learn from those and from fiction. There's vocabulary, which is a huge thing. Art, observing the different kinds of illustrations. Rate, rhyme, rhythm of language (especially if you're an expressive reader -- voices, tones, etc.). Cultural things, like about cities if you live in the country, or about the country if you live in the city, holidays, foods, customs, history, just everything you can imagine! Pick a topic - say, birds - go to the library and get a bunch of juvenile level fiction and non-fiction books about birds. When you're tired of birds, choose another topic - say, weather. Then animals. Then whatever topic strikes your (or your child's) fancy. Don't forget the educational television. PBS has a myriad of shows like Sesame Street, Between the Lions, Word Girl, and a lot I can't think of the names of right now, that promote early learning. (No purple dinosaurs at MY house, though!) If you feel the need for it, there's a bazillion things you can print off from the internet (for just the price of the paper and ink), or interactive things you can do on the internet, or images (I'm thinking a "zoo trip" without leaving the house)... And all this is for free AND you're getting your daily "stuff" done AND having special time with your child too!
THANK YOU!!! That's exactly what I've been saying!!! Your little one is LEARNING through LIVING. Just do what you NORMALLY do in the day. Count as you go up the stairs, discuss color when you buy apples and bananas, talk about the starting sounds/letters on the grocery store name, learn one-to-one correspondence through setting the table... Plus read, read, and read some more! Buying expensive curriculum for preschoolers (and even for kindergarten and to some extent for first grade!) is a total waste of money. Stop buying in to the lie that you don't know what your children need, and you can only do it with the "professional's" expensive guidance!
You have gotten a lot of great ideas and sites and curriculum ideas from everyone on the board. I hope you find what works best for you and your daughter to prepare for kindergarten! Enjoy the time you will get to spend with your family instead of worrying about scheduling around the school calendar. I love the pre-k years. It is always fun.
