Since about June 2013, my oldest daughter and I have been doing an informal preschool curriculum at home. She's four years old (turned four in December 2013), and LOVES to read (be read to). Actually, that's an understatement...she has more books than I do, and can sit with a stack of books and go through each one, making up her own story to go with it if she doesn't quite remember the actual one. So, she was totally ready for a little more structured preschool. Being a teacher, I knew that I would love planning activities for her to do. However, I couldn't do it all on my own. I turned to some amazing homeschooling bloggers for inspiration. On their blogs, I found worksheets, games, ideas and activities to supplement my own ideas. Mostly, though, I was inspired to keep going with L. Some days have been really challenging - we definitely push each other sometimes! But overall, I'm so proud of the progress she's made, and the fun we've had together. Since her birthday is in December, we'll have another year together before she starts school. The possibilities for awesome preschool lessons are endless, and I'm very much looking forward to it! Will we homeschool for future grades? Not sure yet. That's a whole different post! For now, I wanted to share some of the activities we did so far, and maybe inspire you to try some with your preschoolers. Have fun, and happy learning!
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| We started our lessons with a Letter of the Week sort of plan. Here's a sampling of some of our decorated letters. For each new letter, we added stickers and other items that started with that particular letter. Such an easy craft, but great reinforcement of the alphabet! |
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| Here are some of the activities we did to go along with the Letters of the Week. Noodle pictures, a dinosaur from shapes, flower petal fairy, Madeline mini book, leaf pressing and more...this is really only a small sampling. You should see the actual stack! |
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| Here's our Alphabet Box. This has actually been more fun for L. recently, after we completed all the letter lessons. (Yes - I know there's a couple of letters missing...they fell off!) Each drawer contains items that begin with the letter on the front. For example, in the 'P' drawer, there is a paintbrush, paints, piano, penny and pumpkin. The 'B' drawer contains birdcage, bell, books, bird and bears. (See pictures below for these letters.) Some of the drawers also have laminated pictures of family and friends. We take out one drawer, and L. names each item in it and lays it out on the blue felt mat. Later, we'll spell out some of the names of items. It was challenging to think of things to include for some of the letters, but I did find a couple of things for each drawer. |
This is only a small sampling of the activities and lessons we've done together in our little home preschool. While it does take a little extra time and planning for the parent, I feel so blessed to be able to help my daughter in this step of her learning. (And did I mention that I'm learning right along with her?!?! She's helping me understand how she learns, and making me be more creative than ever in the activities I choose for her. Her curiosity and questions keep me on my toes, and challenge me to search for the correct answers for her. Gotta love a preschooler's thought process!)
Special thanks to the following bloggers for their seemingly endless inspiration:
1+1+1=1; Homeschool Creations; Confessions of a Homeschooler; 123Homeschool4Me
Have a crafty day!
Kristin at Fiddle & Frog
