Homeschooling your preschooler can be one of the most rewarding experiences of parenthood. That being said, I do not want to disillusion you. Just like parenthood, it will not be without its moments of exhaustion, frustration, and will from time to time push you to the very brink of your sanity.
This time of pandemic has more and more parents choosing to keep their preschooler home, I mean after all preschool is not really a requirement. You may be researching what it takes and how to do it and feel so overloaded with the myriad of conflicting information of mom blogs, education experts, and pediatricians that you just don’t even know where to begin. So let me simplify it for you.
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The “Classroom”
For Preschool there is no need to dismantle your home office or dining room to create an elaborate learning space for your toddler. Your day should be no longer than 15 to 20 minutes and the family breakfast table will suffice as a learning space, no matter how you choose to approach your lesson planning.
Do create a corner with 4 to 5 shoe box sized lidded tubs that have individually propelled learning activities. Such as yarn weaving, color matching, puzzles, etc. Change these out occasionally as mastery is fulfilled. These will not only serve as a lifesaving break for you, but will encourage curiosity and confidence for your toddler.
Required Curriculum
The idea of preschool is simply to prepare students for Kindergarten. The idea of showing them what a structured activity is like, and showing them the wonder of learning. That being said, this is what they should know by Kindergarten:
- Basic Shapes
- Colors
- How to count to 20
- Identify and write numbers 1-10
- Identify and write letters of the Alphabet (upper and lower)
- Basic Cut and Glue Skills
- Basic Hygiene (flush the potty, wash your hands, etc)
- Read and write their name
In order to maintain that I am on task with my preschoolers I have them take regular monthly assessments. These help me gauge where my child may need more assistance or review. This can be downloaded for FREE and printed here. Virtual Programs such as Education.com offer a real time report of the child’s mastery and progress as well.
How To Teach
Don’t overthink this, however works for you as caretaker of the child. You must feel comfortable and confident. There is no out-of-the-gate wrong way to teach preschool, or really anything for that matter. Choose one, choose two, or choose all three, it’s about you and your child.
- Themed weeks and lessons.
- Letter/Number of the Day
- Workbooks or Worksheets from Education.com
- Virtual tools such as ABC Mouse or Time4Learning.
Preschool Home School Tips
- Preschool at home does not have to take more than 15-20 minutes of quality time a day.
- Don’t stress yourself on order.
- Yes any preschool workbook, no matter the brand or cost will do.
- Virtual Programs use gamification for education have shown to prove quicker mastery
- Allow the child to lead the learning. Every Saturday I ask my kids, “What do you want to learn about next week?”
Any Questions? Just ask. I’m here on my Facebook Page pretty much 24/7, and I love helping other parents learn from my mistakes and my victories.
I like how this is broken down with emphasis on not too much time. I’ve seen people make preschoolers hate learning because they’ve been forced to do boring rote memorizing for a couple of hours at a time. It turns into a confrontational situation with no winners.
So very true!!! I think sometimes parents may feel guilty for not spending more time on education when they look at how long a school day should last…and that’s understandable. It’s important to let that guilt go and just enjoy the time spent together doing anything. <3
This is a fabulous guide I think more people will
Be doing this especially as covid doesn’t look to be going away!