I have done preschool at home with all my kids. I like having them home with me still when they are young, and I also love the time we get to spend together as I help them at these very beginning stages of learning.
I don't have a lot of experience (besides what I do with my own kids), so what I do is pretty simple. But I thought I would share some of my tips for being successful with preschool at home.
1. Schedule it and stick to your schedule. I usually have one morning a week we do a structured preschool with lessons and activities, and then another morning in the week where we go to story time at the local library and play at a park afterwards. I actually schedule these two days for every week in my calendar at the beginning of the school year. I don't schedule things over those times, they are booked for preschool.
2. Pick a yearly theme to plan your lessons around. I usually follow an alphabet theme, doing one letter each week. Some weeks instead of doing a letter we do a holiday theme for the upcoming holiday, we do a review, or we go on field trips. This year I'm also incorporating specific books into my theme each week, just to change things up.
3. Make some learning goals for each child. I make these super simple. For example some of my little boy's goals this year include: be able to draw or trace a straight line, recognize all his letters, be able to count to 10, recognize basic shapes, recognize basic colors, dress himself, etc. Some of these he's already pretty good at, and some we need to work on. I usually break up learning goals into categories like Reading, Math, Art/Motor Skills, and Personal Info ( that includes things like learning their full name, their parents' names, address, etc.). Once I have my goals figured out, I can plan each week's lessons and activities around the goals we are working towards.
4. Have a lot of variety. Little kids are so fun at this stage and they are curious about so many different things. Make sure you are doing lots of different activities in your lessons to keep them engaged. Each of my lessons usually include activities in reading and math, a game or two, an art project or science experiment, playing with puzzles, and singing songs.
5. The Internet is a great resource for ideas. My favorite sites include makinglearningfun.com, everythingpreschool.com, and the PBS parents website. There are so many fun ideas. Pick and choose what works for you and your children.
Those are some of my tips! Anybody else do preschool with your kiddos? How do you set it up? What are some of your favorite activities and ideas? I always love hearing about what other parents are doing.
Here's to another great year of preschool!
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