Plenty of reasons bring parents together to figure out how to homeschool our preschoolers.
Whether it’s…
-the high cost of preschool tuition (yikes!)
-unavailability of preschools near you (I can’t spend my whole life on a waiting list!)
-the beginning of a whole childhood of homeschool education (here we go!)
-the desire to let your little one be little and WITH you for just a little longer (hey, I feel that.)
-or the hope that a 1:1 ratio for learning is best for your child right now.
No matter the reason, we’re all in this together. Let me tell you, from the other side of our first year of homeschool preschool, it’s not easy but it IS rewarding.
What’s difficult about it?
I think it’s twofold: preschoolers have exasperatingly short attention spans AND there is a sense of pressure/guilt that our kids might be better off in traditional preschool. Thus, when we grow weary of teaching our kiddos with their wandering minds, we second guess ourselves! We ask, am I cut out for this? (Yes!) Am I doing him a disservice by assuming the role of teacher? (No!) Do I have the patience, skills and resources to do this well? (Yes, you do!)
Some encouragement for the parent who feels inadequate:
Will it be a lot to juggle teaching with your mountain of other tasks as a parent liiiike tending to other children, keeping your home, and preparing meals (just to name a few). Yes. It will. But friends, shaping your child’s heart and mind is what we’re doing all of this other stuff for anyway, isn’t it? So let the house be messy and serve that one easy crock pot meal that you’ve all had a hundred times if you have to. Time spent nourishing your child’s soul is always, always worth it. You are adequate–don’t second guess it.
So, take heart! You, who love your child more than any preschool teacher ever could are fit for the task. You, who have his or her whole past and future (even, eternity!) in mind as you teach are equipped. You, who may just need the exercise and subsequent growth in patience that your preschooler offers you daily, can do this. You can. But you don’t have to do it alone; I’m here to help!
Like any parenting topic up until this stage of life, there is plenty of advice out there, but you’ll always have to try things out and find what’s best for your family. I’m writing this not because I think we did homeschool preschool best, but we did it. We survived. And my five-year-old is reading proficiently now, so I think we were reasonably successful. And the truth is, I am so so proud of myself for teaching someone to read. I didn’t know I could do it, but this accomplishment is inspiring me to move forward with homeschool education. I sincerely hope that you get to this same place that I’m in now. Here is how we got here–spoiler alert: mine is a pretty low-key approach.
Let’s get practical!
(I’m going to link to materials we’ve used and loved. These are affiliate links which will cost you nothing extra to use, but my family will get a small commission that’ll help us buy groceries next month. Thank you for supporting us in this way!)
I noticed that my son knew all of his letter sounds by age four (I honestly credit this singing alphabet fridge magnet with teaching him that. You put in a letter and it sings, “M says ‘mmm’ M says ‘mmm’ every letter makes a sound M says ‘mmm.’)
So, we began working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
We started after his fourth birthday. He was ready then, but I can already tell that his younger brother will not be ready that early. And that’s okay. I’ve had many homeschool moms encourage me that nothing formal needs to REALLY start until age seven, so anything before then is a blessed bonus. I really appreciate the freedom of that encouragement. Again, this is the gift of homeschooling, slow down where you need to and speed up where you can! Challenge strengths; nurture weaknesses.
I will say that it took a whole year to get through those 100 lessons, so we obviously didn’t do a lesson every day. Somewhere around Lesson 12 I wanted to throw in the towel on homeschooling completely and spent one sleepless night researching public and private schools around us. But my husband steadied me (he’s so good at that). He reminded me of our WHYS. I’d recommend writing down your reasons or at least discussing them with a spouse or friend so that you know who to go to when you want to give up. But once we got past that wall, we established a flow.
The lessons are simple to teach; it’s mostly the act of sitting down with a preschooler and focusing their attention that is difficult!
We figured out that it was best for us to skip the writing part at the end of each lesson because it stretched the lesson beyond my son’s attention span. I found that my son loved writing letters on his own time anyway, and I decided not to make it feel like work for him. I bought handwriting paper, but he really flourished in using white boards and dry erase markers. He also liked writing on blank paper (often asking me how to spell things and write certain letters) where he could also draw pictures.
My son also did well with these Wipe Clean Workbook. (These go on sale frequently so check back if they’re not a good price for you right now.) We also went through some workbooks from the good ol’ dollar store (like these.)
Another fun way to practice “writing” in a tactile way is to spread shaving cream or sand on a cookie sheet or a long serving plate and have your preschooler write with her finger.
I think the key here is >>> do not make learning feel like drudgery to your kiddo. You’ll both hate it that way. Keep lessons short, let up when you need to. But do push where you know your preschooler can stretch a bit.
And seriously, that was it for formal lessons. The rest of his education took place in play, conversations, and experiences. The world shifted for me when I owned my role as a 24/7 educator. I realized that I should not tire of seeking out the answers to his questions with him. I would need to slow down and explain more. All preschoolers have a natural curiosity; we just followed his most days.
Here are some other ways we filled our days of homeschool preschool:
Frequent trips to the library for:
-Storytime
-Crafts (free and pre-conceived for non-artistic moms like me!)
-Lego, play doh, puzzles, board games, and educational toy play date programs
-Books books books! (We’re working through Honey For a Child’s Heart and highly recommend it for children’s literature recommendations. Pro tip: make a “hold list” online ahead of time so you don’t have to run around the library with all the kids in tow)
You read to them
Read books often! There is always something to learn from a good story.
Have them read to you
My son is doing well with Dr. Seuss books. Go, Dog, Go was his first favorite! Seek out the beginner reader section at the library for a treasure trove of books to peak their interest!
Nature Walks
Exercise, observation, and good conversations all in one!
Field trips
The zoo, museums, the beach, free events at restaurants or stores, kid-friendly concerts or shows, whatever you have around you–GO and make the most of it!
Parks
Let them assess and take risks with their little bodies!
Church
Let them see your heart and devotion. Let me them learn to sit still. Let them learn what a life-giving place and gathering of people this is. It won’t always be perfect, but let them learn from you there.
Household chores
Teach them to serve others. Watch them rise to the task. Make them feel important. Ask a little more of them, even if the results are imperfect.
Playdates
Homeschooled kids can still be social. ;)
Sports or Lessons
We’ve tried basketball, soccer, and swim lessons/team. Much to our surprise, our son is LOVING swim team. Music lessons are next on the radar.
Art
Blank pieces of paper and paint/crayons/markers/colored pencils are usually all we use. I used to feel bad about not being more of a crafty mom, but then I read an article about how it’s good for their minds to not be boxed in when they create. So I’m good with it. :)
Memorization
We usually have a Bible verse that we’re working to memorize. You may try memorizing and reciting poetry, too!
Building
Wooden blocks, legos, or our family favorite: magna tiles! (We have this slightly cheaper different brand set and really love it. So many hours spent with these!)
Pretend play
We have costumes galore and my boys live to dress up. I stock up after Halloween when stores have all their deepest discounts!
Counting and shapes
Puzzles, tangrams, coins, manipulatives–anything can be counted!
Music
Fun, silly, dancey, classical, educational, Scripture memory, story-telling, motivational–music can always enrich the day
And, yes, screen time:
Shed the screen time guilt and work it into the day intentionally. There are so many wonderfully educational shows. Put one on while you make dinner or get the baby to sleep and know that your kiddo is still learning. Super Why is always my first choice. A few other educational shows I’d recommend on either Netflix or Amazon Prime are:
-Leap Frog shows
-Little Einsteins
-Cat in the Hat (knows a lot about that)
-Creative Galaxy
-Storybots
-The Magic Schoolbus
-Some of the books to movie shows on Amazon Prime like: If you give a mouse a cookie, Llama Llama,. and Snowy Day.
So that’s how we’ve done homeschool preschool and I think it’s how we’ll keep doing it with the next kids. I would love to hear from you! What are you doing? What’s working? What isn’t? I think it is always helpful to come together without judgement to help each other stay afloat, troubleshoot, and grow with our little ones! Hugs and blessings on your homeschooling journey!
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