*Edit: Since writing this post a few weeks back we have transitioned to using the Year of Tales curriculum A-Z! A 3-year-old friendly curriculum included with the Year of Tales program! That way we can focus on one letter each week and I’m spending less time modifying activities.
I’m so excited to share what we’ve been doing for preschool! Instead of enrolling AG in a traditional preschool program again this year we’ve decided to start preschool at home. We’re leaning towards homeschool for Elementary school so we decided this would be a good time to start some “learning at home” rhythms and routines so that hopefully by the time Kindergarten rolls around things will go a bit smoother.
Pearce is a public school teacher and I have some teaching experience (in a preschool setting and elementary) so we’re not necessarily starting from nothing. It’s also helpful that AG does have a year of in-person preschool under her belt so she has some understanding of what school is all about. But if you are starting from scratch with no teaching experience, do not fear! There are SO many amazing resources available to help you teach your child from home. Many of the curriculums and preschool programs offer teacher assistance and lay everything out for you in a parent guide.
I should also mention that if you’re overwhelmed with the idea of following a curriculum or coming up with activities to teach your child, preschool at home can be as simple as reading books and playing together! There is no right or wrong. This is just what we have chosen to do! Partly because I really enjoy it and it feels like I’m putting all of those Elementary Education classes from college to use and partly because AG and I get a lot of joy out of doing “school” together. We want to keep things FUN but also SIMPLE because hellllllo, there’s also a 12-month-old running around our house! Oh and I have a business to run and seem to have some sort of house project going on every day! Ha!
This week AG & Millie started at a Mom’s Morning Out program on Tuesday mornings and we officially started with our new preschool curriculum, A Year of Tales!
This will be our primary curriculum and the launching point for how I’ll structure our lessons. The curriculum is a Charlotte Mason approach with a heavy focus on learning through play, nature, and literature. We use Beatrix Potter’s literature and other amazing books as the base for lessons. So far I’ve felt like the curriculum is well suited for children 3-5 years old, so I plan to spread the weekly lessons out over two weeks and maybe we can use the curriculum into next year, circling back on some of the projects and assignments that were a bit too advanced this year.
We’re also incorporating some of Francie’s Teaching My Toddler resources for more in-depth letter/number learning. The Year of Tales curriculum also incorporates biblical lessons from the literature we read each week. For example this week we learned about obedience through the story of Peter Rabbit and referenced back to Ephesians 6:1. For older children, you can take the lessons deeper with memory verse copy work and thoughtful conversation starters. We’re also pulling in biblical truth lessons from Francie’s free bible resource. We’re not quite ready for the memory verses but have enjoyed the letter coloring sheets and the biblical truths activities! 🙂
So every two weeks we are incorporating the following into our preschool at-home routine!
- One week from the year of tales which includes a letter (this week is R), mathematics, literature study, bible, a craft project, and nature study! Each week you’ll also find a fun field trip idea to coordinate. On friday’s there are no lessons because a “tea time” is encouraged (v excited about that!!!) to recap and reflect on everything you’ve learned that week. (Again, we’re stretching each lesson out over two weeks so we’ll do a field trip and a tea time every other week. It’s also not necessary to follow the set monday-friday schedule but it’s there if you want to. My philosophy is to let the kiddos lead here – if they’re really enjoy something, stick with that and don’t worry about your plan!)
- Additional craft projects that coordinate with our themes or letter that week. AG loves crafting so we go big in this department! I save ideas here!
- Dot marker pages. Dot markers are pure gold. This week we covered rabbit, rainbow and the letter R so I printed dot marker pages for each of thoses! I’m also looping Noah’s Ark into the mix while we’re on the subject of rainbows so I’ll print that one too!
- Additionally, we supplement with resources from Teaching My Toddler that coordinate with our lessons.
- *Sometimes* we’ll use Youtube videos (mostly songs) that coordinate with our lessons, numbers, and letters! Such an easy way to mix things up and break up too much time in one space.
- I also pull in fun manipulatives and puzzles or books & toys from our own collection if those things are relevant to our lessons. It’s amazing what you’ll find with a quick loop around the playroom!
Our days aren’t super structured (so far we’ve done “school” in the afternoon but most days it happens in the am) but this is generally what we cover in about an hour… give or take.
- Bible Lesson
- Literature / Read Together
- Letters
- Art
- Math
- Sensory Project or Nature Play
And these are a few of our favorite supplies!!!!
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The goal for us is to help AG develop a LOVE of learning, not necessarily to master skills or learn to read just yet! When she’s ready, those things will happen.
Are you homeschooling this year?
