OT: Starting homeschooling pre-K

[Denine]

Hi!

DD is 3-1/2 and I want to start pre-K with her in the Fall.

I am not sure if I should go with a boxed curriculum or try several different things with her. She does not sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. She just likes to be on the move, so I don't know if workbooks will be "her thing".
She likes to go and do. I realize that this may change in 6 months, but I want to start looking into stuff now.
She knows her colors and shapes. She can count to at least 14 and we are working on simple addition and subtraction. She is not all that interested in the alphabet, but we are trying. I think she knows her ABC's, but won't let on. She has been immersed in them since she was an infant and she doesn't forget anything.
Any suggestions?

Does anyone remember the Letter People for phonics? Do they still exist? I loved them when I was a kid.

 

[worm761]

i homeschooled my son for years. i personally would not buy a curriculumn for pre-k. my ds loved workbooks so they did wonders for us. you can sometimes buy them at the dollar tree. especially for the younger grades. they worked great for long road trips. gave him something to do. sesame street is great for teaching pre-k. it is fun and educational. my ds also loved the computer. i had bought him toddler programs. he never even realized he was learning. just make things fun for her. pm me is you want some links. i still have tons though i do not homeschool anylonger.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

My youngest two attended pre-K with a wonderful pre-K teach who still used the Letter people. DD could read by the end of kindergarten and ds wasn't far behind. They do a wonderful job with phonics.

 

[northwestmom]

Just my two cents worth, so feel free to take it or leave it. We are also a homeschooling family. We are currently homeschooling our 8yo DD (3rd grade) and have from the start. Our DS is 5, so we will start him with Kindergarten in the fall (homeschooled). I thought I would be so much better off to purchase a full curriculum for our dd when she started kindergarten. Was I ever wrong! It was a big mistake, at least for us. It was a lot of wasted money. At least in our experience, we found that a lot of the pre-packaged curriculum involved a lot of "time wasters" since most of them are also sold to private schools. I made the same mistake in 1st grade and we ended up resenting each other because I got a bit tyrannical about the whole thing. We have finally, this year, gone back to a full curriculum because we found one that is a nice fit for her style of learning. Of course I am sure my son will be completely different. You just have to find what works best for you (and her).

Thank goodness I recouped most of my money by reselling it on eBay, but it is a mistake that I won't be making when I start teaching ds this fall. Play it by ear, especially if she doesn't sit still for long periods of time well (yet). My recommendation? If you are near someplace like a Costco warehouse, they sell wonderful huge books for each grade level. Worksheets can be torn out and done on your timing. Use your public library and do a lot of reading together. The main thing is don't put a lot of stress on either of you by pushing too much at such an early age.

Have you read any books by Cynthia Tobias? She is a great author, I highly recommend her books, especially one titled The Way They Learn. I found I was trying to teach based on MY learning style. Once I relaxed and learned her style and could teach to it, things got much easier. Of course there are still things I teach "my" way, because I figure in life she will face challenges that won't be taylored to the way she does things, but for now, I gear it toward her learning styles.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck! I hated homeschooling at first (only did it because dh wanted me to), but I can now honestly say we've come full circle and I am proud to be a homeschooling Mom. I love having my kiddos home with me and wouldn't change it for the world!

Wow... sorry this got so lengthy. Best wishes!
Kitsel

 

[OceanAnnie]

I'm using resources off of the internet and lots of books. Here are some really good websites if you are interested:

www.preschoolexpress.com
www.letteroftheday.com
http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM
http://www.magicalchildhood.com/index2.htm

I use ideas from just about everywhere. I have used the book, "Before Five in a Row". And plan to use, "Five in a Row".

I use the library a lot!

HTH!

 

[Denine]

Thanks for the info! I saved the links for later.

I was originally thinking a boxed curriculum because everythin is written out for me and I am NOT creative, but I don't know that it will work for DD yet.

I will have to look into some workbooks at BJ's or other places.

 

[disneymom3]

As I recall from another post, your DD is 3 1/2, right? Here is my thought--take it or leave it.

There is no reason you need to do any schooling with your DD at this age. Play, sing songs, read books, finger paint, play with playdough, do puzzles, stack things up and knock them down. Make everyday observations about that block is heavy, do you like the red crayon, I am going to mix the blue and yellow paint and see what happens, etc.

If she really wants to do worksheets--which it doesn't sound like she is ready for yet, then get some of the School Zone or Jumpstart preschool ones from Walmart and let her go to it.

My Father's World has some great preschool activity toys and a book with ideas. You can find it at www.mfwbooks.com As far as I know there is no Christian slant to the preschool materials.

Some things my littlest liked doing when I was basically trying to keep him occupied while I did spelling or math with the oldest were putting little things into a container with a small opening in the lid, measuring pom pom bals into stacking cups, cutting and gluing, gluing buttons or pom pom balls, playing with dominoes, putting stickers on paper.

Just let her play and keep just being mommy. You have clearly done a good job of it so far and have nothing to worry about. Keep in mind that you don't want to burn her out on "school" before she even starts. The most important thing is to just remember to have fun!

 

[mom2att]

My kids are 10, 5, and 2 and we have always homeschooled. At 3.5, don't burden yourself or her with a boxed curriculum. You say you are not creative, but there are soooo many books out there that are full of hands-on activities, and all you really need to do is make sure you have all of the supplies! I really like the Williamson Little Hands series--they have tons of crafty-type stuff that kids love. Find a "theme" she really likes and build from there--mine really like learning about animals at this age. We've had success with doing "letter of the week" type activities at this age, and there are plenty of books out there with more ideas than you can possibly use. She knows her letters, so work on letter sounds, and before you know it, she'll be ready to read. A great website for pre-and early readers is starfall (sorry--apparently I don't have enough posts to put the link in there. The rest of the URL is obvious). Have fun and happy homeschooling!

 

[Selket]

I don't technically home-school but I do have a preschooler! He has several medical issues so I might end up homeschooling him eventually - at least for K and 1st.

But one thing that has REALLY made a difference for my son (he just now turned 4) is his Leapster (not the Leap Pad - this is more like a handheld game). He doesn't play with it everyday but ended up learning ALL of his alphabet from it. I got it for him for Christmas about the time of his 3rd birthday and we have the cartridges for little kids like Dora, Kindergarten, Nemo, etc. He can spell small words at this point and really ended up developing an interest in the alphabet just from that.

Not all kids like the same thing/learn the same way but I was really amazed. That being said I don't think my older son would ever have paid 2 seconds worth of attention to a Leapster but he did enjoy computer games geared towards Pre-K which are similar. He struggled to learn the alphabet - even in kindergarten and 1st grade. He is in 3rd grade now in public school and reads perfectly however. So don't lose hope if your daughter isn't interested yet - she will be and re-introducing/reinforcing etc. it will eventually click for her!

 

[disneymom3]

Well, I certainly have enough posts!! LOL

www.starfall.com


Also you could check out the Five in a Row series and even Before Five in a Row for her age. That is about as far as I would go as far as a curriculum. A few friends of mine have also really liked Slow and Steady Get me Ready. (It's a book.)

 

[Denine]

Thanks again everyone!

I think I am just going to wing it for pre-K.

I bought some work books, just to see, last night. THey look like fun.

I am going to go to Michael's and buy a bunch of stuff we can glue and string up.

I keep saving all the links, now I just need time to look at them!

Has anyone done Catholic Homeschooling?

 

[Mom to Jordan]

Home-school for preschool need not involve anything that a good stay at home mom would noy already do. Flood your child with lots of wonderful life experences. Read not just to her but with her everyday. make the book an experence and involve her in the story an any way possible. Take her to the library and story time.Find a good play group or at least a friend or two in the area for play dates. Forget the work sheets. Most of your better preschools do not allow them in the three year old program and most experts will tell you that they are delevolpmentaly not for threes. Enrich her learning and phonic skills through every day fun activites. Talk about the colors you see as you walk to the park. Count the mail boxes on your walk though the neighborhood. Look for diffent ABC's on bill-board and in the grocery store. On shopping trips, looks for items that start with a certain letter. Provide her with lots of open ended art supplies; markers, and paints and huge sheets of papers. Encourage all attemps at letter making but do not push her. Limit TV and spend lot of time together. Your 4 year old program only needs to slighly more structured as you prepare for kindergaten the next year. Just relax and enjoy time with your child.

Jordans' mom

 

[Denine]

Thanks again everyone.

We are already doing the obvious pointing out of things. SHe has now learned her left from right. She loves to count things. Now, she is asking what words start with what letter. So, we tell her the letter and say how it sounds and then come up with other words that start with that same letter and sound.

She has a leap pad. We just bought her a new cartidge withthe ABC's and sounds. We work on it for a few minutes and then she is done.

She is only part interested in the workbooks. We looked at them, but I am not pushing them. I am really saving them for the Fall when she turns 4.

I am looking forward to going to the craft sotre to by a bunch of stuff for her to do.

 

[northwestmom]

I forgot about another website that has some nice print-outs...
www.enchantedlearning.com
... you can print some activities out for free. If you find you really like the website, then you can pay a fee to become a member. We did that when dd was doing 1st grade work and she loved the activities I was able to find there.
Kitsel

 

[Denine]

Now that I have a working printer, I can print out stuff!

Went to the craft store last night and bought a bunch of stuff. This morning, we worked on gluing for about an hour DD had a lot of fun.