Any good home preschool ideas for two year old?

Question

I am interested in doing preschool for my son at home. Do you have any ideas, or programs you can recommend?

We already read together, and play, but I am looking for something a bit more structured.

Answer 1

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

This is called Brightly Beaming, and it is for baby all the way through kindergarten, minus math (you could do some simple counting exercises such as counting pots and pans, etc... for a two year old; it's a basic making them aware of numbers, not necessarily counting in and of itself). FREE. :)

This is recommended by, where else, Old Fashioned Education, which is also a free curriculum - but OFE is for K-12, and it is a complete curriculum including math. Because of its classical structure and it's consistency, it would actually probably be a great plan for your older son. I have no idea where he is at individually, but as with all kids, make sure to get him outside and doing hands on stuff. Book learning is nothing if you aren't putting your hands to something as well. :D

I think it's awesome that you are focused on teaching your children at any and every age - life is a constant learning process. There is a Yahoo! Group called 3RHomeschooling that focuses on the OFE curriculum, but a lot of other free sources are constantly being shared as well. Good support system too, very positive. ;)

Answer 2

Toddler Counting Fun . encourages very young children to explore texture during this sensory counting experience.

Materials: Lunch paper bag and cotton balls.

Description: Place cotton balls in a lunch size bag.  Ask the child to reach into  the bag and grab a handful of cotton balls.  Put the cotton balls on the floor and count them out loud as the child watches, or helps.

Teach toddlers five colors with this song .

Materials: White work gloves;  red, yellow, green, blue and orange paint.

Description: Take the white gloves and paint the fingers only of both hands. Paint them red, yellow, blue, green, orange, so that you have two of each color.  Then, sing this song.

Tune: "Are You Sleeping"

Where is red? (bring one hand up with all fingers showing)

Where is red? (repeat with other hand.)

Here I am,  (wave one hand)

Here I am (wave other hand)

Show me if you can, (Hold hands up)

Show me if you can.

Where is red?

Where is red?

Repeat this with all the colors allowing the toddlers to show you the colors.

Dinosaur Eggs

Two year old preschoolers discover what is inside of an egg after patiently awaiting it's time to hatch. secret recipe for  "Sand Goop".

Materials: Plastic eggs, small dinosaurs and teacher made "sand goop" (recipe below).

"Sand Goop" Recipe

1 cup sand

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp. alum

1/2 c. water.

Cook on medium heat stirring until thick.  Cook to touch.  Put dino into the plastic egg and cover with "sand goop".  Place in "nest".

On Monday, talk about dinosaurs and how big their eggs were.  Show the children the "eggs" YOU found. Say, "Look how big they are.  What kind could they be?"  The eggs should still be wet.  Tell children that we have to watch them until they turn white and crack. When ready, let children finish cracking them open and find their dinosaur.

Answer 3

He's just 2 years old!!!

He doesn't need to be preschooled, he needs to play and have fun. Don't take this from him, he's only a toddler once and time flies. This is an essential phase and he needs to explore his surroundings at his own pace, not being taught like in school.

Answer 4

Pre-school is all about getting children ready for school. If you're going to HS it's kind of a redundant idea. Either way IMO 2 years old is WAY to young to be thinking about structure.

Answer 5

There's Before Five in a Row, Calvert, and Sonlight:

http://www.fiveinarow.com/B4FIVEINAROW.h...

http://www.calvertschool.org/engine/cont...

http://www.sonlight.com/PC00.html

There's also the "preschool activities in a bag":

http://www.activitybags.com/

This is a great site for preschool info:

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/preschoo...

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/early.ht...

Also, look into classes at your zoo, science center, art museum, etc.  My son started them at 18 months and loved them.

HTH!

Answer 6

Don't knock play.  "Play" is the task of the child.  It is exploring and learning about the world they live in with eyes full of wonder and a thirsty mind.   Don't stifle that by giving him "structure".

Enrich his world, buy a globe, picture books of nature, people, places.   Answer all of his questions.  If you don't know the answer look it up with him.  Keep reading, reading, reading.  Cut out the garbage TV, watch nature and science shows.  Let him help with your daily tasks, tell him what you are doing and why you are doing it.    Let him have time for himself to process his thoughts and develop his imagination.   Don't bring "structure" into his tender little life, there's time for that later.  Don't inhibit  this wonderful time of learning for the joy of learning.