Preschool is a delightful time in a child’s life. Little hands writing their name for the first time or creating a unique art project. Preschoolers are very curious and want to learn about everything around them. Their excitement is contagious and as moms or homeschoolers we want to be sure we are giving them the best educational start possible. I try to tell moms homeschooling preschool for the first time to let the child lead. Allow for fun, creativity, nature walks, painting, exploring and making big messes. Lessons are best learned messy and hands on. However many have expressed they still feel better with a concrete curriculum to guide them. I recommend using it only as a guide. If your child does get great joy out of completing workbook pages then by all means allow for it. However, please know it is not required. The best avenue for learning is through story books and nature exploration.
To help you on your homeschooling preschool journey here are some of my favorite tools and curriculum:
Before Five in a Row: The curriculum gives lessons for 23 wonderful children’s books. Many you may already own but if not you can purchase or borrow from the library. The lessons do not require you to make large purchases. It will require about 20 minutes of well spent cuddle time with your favorite little one. The focus is on exploring the books and gaining life and academic lessons through the stories.
All About Reading: A wonderful curriculum by Marie Rippel, the creator of All About Spelling. All About Reading is a multi sensory approach to learning letter recognition and phonics. The book comes with activity ideas which take no more than ten minutes a day. The program also includes a rhyming book to focus on each letter of the alphabet, a work book and Zig Zag Zebra Puppet.
Inchimals: My all time favorite preschool and Kindergarten math manipulative. Inchimals are 12 wooden blocks, each with a different animal and number painted on the block. The blocks are made into one inch increments. The ladybug is one inch and so on until you arrive at the 12 inch giraffe. Included in the set are a dry erase marker and a spiral bound dry erasable book with puzzles.
Join me again as I tell you more of my favorites!
Favorite Books for Preschoolers