Any parents homeschooling for preschool?

Question

What curriculum/materials have you found helpful? Has anyone tried The Learning Box Preschool? It looks easy to use based on the website. Any tips greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

We homeschooled our children for preschool.  We didn't really use any curriculum for preschool.  I don't think it's really necessary.

My children learned phonics mostly from watching things like "Between the Lions" on PBS and the leapfrog series of DVDs.  Or there are lots of inexpensive workbooks available at most any discount store or even at a lot of grocery stores--if your preschooler can sit still long enough for them.

We used the lists on http://www.worldbook.com (under "typical course of study" in parent resources) for ideas of topics to work on.  

We did lots of arts and crafts (good for fun, learning to follow directions, and to build motor skills for learning to write).  We explored places in the community. Went on nature walks and talked about what we saw.  Visited parks or played in the neighborhood a lot.  Visited the library and attended story time programs at least once a week.  Found a local homeschool support group and went to park dates and play dates.  Planted seeds and watched them grow.  Play board games, sing songs, play fun games (such as hopscotch, or "Mother May I" or tag or "Ring-a-Round-the-Rosie" or whatever else you can think of), etc.

And read lots and lots of books to them, on a wide variety of topics.  Sometimes, I'd pick several books on a topic and make a sort of "unit study" for the week, but other times it was more random.  Books on careers, history, places around the world, different animals, knights and castles, ancient Egyptians, alphabet books, or whatever else caught our fancy.  You'd be amazed at how much children can learn from this.

We found that a half hour of "lessons" in the morning and again in the afternoon was more than enough.  In fact, we generally only did this three days a week and did more playing and exploring (and sneaking in learning) the rest of the time.  And finding a homeschool support group or mom's group that gave us opportunities to just get together and play with other children regularly was invaluable.

Children at this age know so little, that it doesn't take a curriculum (in my opinion) to teach them.  It just takes investing some time and energy with them.

Answer 2

I have a four year old daughter who is VERY interested in the curriculum my six year old son is using. As a result she is reading at a 1st grade level. Little ones want to learn if it looks like fun too! I recommend going to your nearest teacher supply store, they usually have a pre-K area. You'll find alot of good ideas there.(Don't let the teachers scare you off! haha) Also, I purchased on-line materials from A Beka. They are faith based but its not crammed down your kids throat!

***** This is for koenig10, maybe you should have been home-schooled! You'd probably have better manners!*****

Answer 3

I'm home schooled and my mom uses stuff from edhelper

http://www.edhelper.com/

Answer 4

There is a way to homeschool for that level, but it is not a good idea. If you keep your child away from the outside, he or she will not pursue in friends or many other things. If a child is home schooled, they obviously stay home. This could be a major risk to affect your childs healthy learning enviroment, so homeschooling isnt a good idea, especially at that young of an age.

Answer 5

you should get your child to learn the piano lol even though he is in preschool, he might become a prodigy plus he/she can benefit from learning how to play the piano at an early age. like become a bit more mature.

seems to much for a preschooler to handle but, everything takes time,

Answer 6

I homeschooled both my kids for preschool. I had counting bears and Cuisenaire rods and number cards for math; letter cards and workbooks to colour letters and learn their shapes.

Answer 7

This is to Koenig10 - learn about homeschooling before you jump in and try to answer questions.  Homeschooling is not shutting a child away from the world.  It is freeing a child from classroom restrictions.  Homeschoolered preschoolers have more play time with peers than their schooled counterparts, though friends, playgroups, homeschool park groups and so on.

On to the question.

I'm linking you to a website that has many fun, affordable ideas for you and your preschooler.  Enjoy and have fun!

Answer 8

anything that's not going to last more then 3 hours..preschoolers don't have much patience & they don't need much time in school...by the way homeschooling ROX!! (i've been homeschooled since preschool & havn't gotten tired of it...I'm in 8th. grade now.)...oh & they learn a lot more if they learn it from their parents...& there's not that many distractions...it's a good idea...