I am thinking of homeschooling my child but I want to give her a headstart. She is 3.?

Question

My daughter really does not like going to daycare so I've decided that I will home school her, but I would like to prep her for when she is of the age to begin kindergarten. She's doing pretty well so far. She knows some of her alphabet and is familiar with some letters and numbers. I play audio phonics everyday in my home while she is playing and having fun. She loves the phonics so much that she asks me to play it over and over because it's a lot of fun and it's really good. I try to teach her a little science as well, when we go for walks I'll show her the leaves and how they're shaped, etc.

Are there any other things I could do that will be fun for her and make her want to learn? Has any of you used the Sonlight Curriculum? Is it good?

Please don't suggest anything that will overwhelm my daughter. I want her to learn and have fun at the same time.

Answer 1

What you are doing is probably sufficient.  Make sure to read to your daughter a lot too.

Other ideas, play with play dough, and make letters with it, paint, finger paint, go on nature walks, build with blocks. In addition, I agree with the above poster about lapbooks, they are excellent ways to not only teach academic concepts in reading, math, literature, science, and other subjects, but they are also great for developing fine motor skills in cutting, gluing, taping, etc.

You might find this website helpful also, it has online reading activities and games, printable readers, and I think printable worksheets:

http://www.starfall.com

http://www.homeschoolshare.com  (this site has free lapbooks)

http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolworkshe...

http://www.preschoollearners.com

http://www.preschoolcorner.com/Free_Pres...

http://www.earlychildhoodlinks.com/teach...

http://www.preschoolcorner.com/Printable...

http://www.beginningreading.com

http://www.kinderplans.com/content.cfm?p...

http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/math-r...

http://www.funlessonplans.com/free/works...

Answer 2

I know it sounds cheesy but my mom and I would watch sesame street and reading rainbow together. I actually learned to speak from those shows (my parents are deaf). I also learned some Spanish and basic math from it. I think its different when you watch with her and then review and discuss the program. I was able to skip first grade because my mom already taught me like you are doing with your daughter.

The other thing I really loved was  basic science experiments. My mom would get me different things like a microscope or a ant farm and I would learn about all sorts of things. She got her ideas from captain Kangaroo (I think he's dead now...)

See.. TV can be good!

Answer 3

Here is a wonderful website with many great ideas.http://www.universalpreschool.com/how-to...

Answer 4

I would suggest lapbooks, rather than a workbook-type curriculum.  You can find some well-made, fun, skills-based lapbooks here: http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/Shop-L...

Just choose an age range and go for it :)

Before Five in a Row is also great, it's a unit-study curriculum that is based around really great children's books.  You can find it here, and it corresponds well with lapbooks for hands-on practice: http://www.fiveinarow.com/B4FIVEINAROW.h...

Sonlight has very good books, and for the P3/4, there are no lesson plans, so nothing to overwhelm your child.  However, you won't find as many hands-on things, so if she is the type of child that needs that sort of activity (some preschoolers do, some don't as much), you'll want to either look at a different program or add that in.

Hope that helps!