Homeschooling Preschool

Heaven help me.  I really like being a teacher. and being organized.  This book is dangerous for me.  I started using some of the lesson ideas with Caleb when he was two.  I told you.  Dangerous.

Ann Ward does a fabulous job giving detailed weekly lesson plans for preschool (can be made more advanced for kindergarten) that require very few purchased materials. In fact, the subtitle of this book is "A Christian Parents' Guide with Day-by-Day Lesson Plans Using the Library as a Resource."  Using the library?  We're all over that.  Especially since it's free. Each week has four days of "lessons" which should require about two hours per day.  The fifth day is always a hands-on field trip to reinforce the lessons of the week.

(This is Ben's "warrior face." Bahaha!!!)

Wait a minute!  Reading real books and then reinforcing them with life experiences?  That's how kids learn.  Hmmm..  So I'm getting more serious about preschool.  I know most of my littles' education is experiential right now.  Reading books with mommy.  Playing with blocks and trains.  Learning to share with brother (Heaven, help me.  For real.).  But to the extent that this resource gives us ideas about topics to explore or activities to try, I'm all for it!  On Friday, we played ball (a squishy, soft ball) in the house and practiced catching and throwing.  We played with a felt board (which I forgot I had), talking about top, bottom, and middle.  We talked about the First Thanksgiving since today was my family's feast and get-together.  And Caleb learned my phone number to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in case he needs it in an emergency.

Would I have thought to do all these things?  Nope.  Do each of them have value?  Yep.  Did it take a long time?  Not at all!  And I refuse to be a slave to a curriculum at this point in Caleb's education.  I won't feel bad not doing our unorganized preschool for days on end, but this Learning at Home is at least giving me some ideas of how to encourage learning and development when we have our at-home days.

Of course, I know the best education is found in books.  Read. Read. Read.  But this resource gives excellent recommendations (some I'm familiar with from my teaching days and others I can't wait to explore) so we have something to look for at the library besides a new Thomas book.  Yes, the Thomas books are in the picture books under "THO" for Thomas.  Please find them and check them all out so we can't.  Thank you.

Did I get you curious?  Not sure this is even in print anymore, but thank goodness for Amazon cause you can still get it used.  Great resource.  If you're nice to me, I'll let you come over and look through my copy.  If you don't feel up to niceties, you can buy one here:




So I guess that answers the homeschooling question I get (seriously) a minimum of four times each week.  Yes, we're homeschooling.  We have been since birth.  Not sure we'll do this forever, but pretty sure that watching my guys discover new things is one of the greatest joys of my life.  Can't wait to see what discoveries tomorrow will bring!