What curriculum should I follow in teaching 3 preschool kids, please read on.?

Question

I am a stay at home mother who has two kids, ages 3 and 2, and I babysit my brother's daughter who is also 2. They will be 4, 3 and 3 in August/September. They do not attend a preschool or daycare and I want to work with them like those places would.

I have bought preschool work books from walmart and need some guidance as to what is normally expected out of kids of this age. I'm looking for something like a web site that I can turn to for reference as to what should be taught each week- as if they were in a real preschool classroom. What letters do we start with, how many at a time do we do, what activities can I introduce that would tie in with the letters/numbers we are practicing etc.

I thank you in advance for you answers and suggestions! :)

Answer 1

You are to be commended for your desire to prepare the children for school.

At their age it is important to remember that play is how they learn.  Try not to do a lot of "sit down and listen" learning with them because you do not want to turn them off to learning.

However, there are many things that you can do to make sure that they are prepared to be strong learners when they get to school.

I have included some websites that have good information and helpful activities.

Also here are some ideas:

Make sure that the children know how to take turns.

Make sure that they know how to keep hands and feet to themselves.

Make sure that they are able to have eye contact when someone is speaking to them.

Make sure that they know how to raise their hands and can wait to be recognized.

Make sure that they eat healthy meals everyday and take naps.  (A healthy physical body is an important part of the learning process.)

Make sure they have good bathroom and hygiene skills.

Teach them to tie their shoes and to put on and zip their own jackets.

Make sure they can dress themselves.

Make sure that they have time to run and play everyday.

Read to them and show them pictures everyday.

Build their vocabulary by naming things in their environment.  Make them say the word, not just point or say "the thing."

Teach them nursery rhymes, songs, and Bible verses to memorize.

Give praise freely but try to stay away from tangible rewards.  (Let them learn to feel good about themselves from within.)

Let them help you prepare lunch, pick up toys, organize drawers and so forth.

Take them to the library for the preschool reading activities they sponsor.

Help them learn to feel good about themselves and their friends.

Teach them not to talk to strangers or to go with strangers.

Teach them safety skills.

Teach them how to share, speak clearly, cross the street, be compassionate for others, and exercise restraint.

Here is a book: Learning Through Play: Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years - T Bruce - 2001 - Hodder & Stoughton

Make as many moments as possible "teachable moments."

These are areas many people forget but are part of the foundation for preparing the children to be ready to learn when they enter a formal learning environment.

If you would like to read articles that could be very helpful, write me and I can refer you to some.

Answer 2

i used to work with preschoolers, our curriculum was set on a time schedule, kids need a routine! we would do circle time, which is where you go over abc (zoo phonics), count to 10 (once they get that go to 20) go over the days of the week (song) colors, shapes, weather, months, things like this. then we would do bathroom break, and recess... once we come in wash hands then table time, where we would do drawing and let the kids tell us what they drew, cutting simple lines, and writing letters or even their names. we would also do simple projects. then play time.. have them use blocks for patterns and sorting!

Good luck!

Answer 3

The most important thing you can learn at an early age is how to act appropriately in public.  Just having them play games and interact is a good start.  Reading to them as a group would be a good way to get them interesting in learn early on.

Answer 4

it looks like everyone has a great start on helping, but as an educator one thing i would also focus on is music, let them be introduced to all kinds and talk about the kinds..also cooking experiences can be fun and a learning opportunity,.  you can tie nutrition, measuring (math), sanitation, reading ( recipe) into just one cooking experience.  Also do rhymes, it is proven that rhymes and music are noth great for brain dev. when i was a nanny, i would do a weekly theme, get books from the library on the theme and do all things that week on that theme.  also help them with problem solving skills. here are some of my fav preschool sites..good luck

http://www.preschoolbystormie.com/

http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/

also let them do lots of hands on activities, just let them create with lots of different art mediums, nature walks for science stuff etc

Answer 5

teach em basics like abc's and spelling small words like ant.  Also some math too, 1+1=2 kinda stuff.

Answer 6

Here is an example of a scedule for you!  (and at the bottom, some great books)

6:30-7:00 Wake up- Get dressed.

Breakfast at 7-730ish.

8AMish  - Alphabet song, Days of the week song, and talk about the weather, clothing, etc.

9AM ish.  Structured Playtime.  Pick an activity or give choice of activities to do.

1000ish - Snack time.

1030ish, Counting, Writing.

1100 - Structured Playtime, preferably dancing, and singing,  or playing outside.

1145 - Bathroom, handwashing.

1200, Lunch. and then bathroom break.

1230-1245 - Naptime.

(they may lay down and read for 20 minutes before having to put the book down. After this, they must it away and lay down for 30 minutes quietly.  After this time, if not sleeping, they may get up and read, or play a silent activity like drawing for another hour.

200-230ish -Wake up time!  

2PM-300PM (depends when awake!) - Snacktime and then outside playtime until 4:00.

4:00 - wash hands, read stories.  Sing songs, Count!  Talk about Emotions

5:00, Counting!  Writing!  More Art or Stories!

at

Here are a few great books.

By David Shannon.

A bad case of the stripes.

No, David!

David gets in Trouble.

David goes to School.

Where the Wild Things Are

by Maurice Sendak

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

by by Bill Martin Jr. (Author), John Archambault (Author), Lois Ehlert (Illustrator)

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Answer 7

There are a lot of good responses here.  Probably enough for you to feel a bit overwhelmed.  Another suggestion for a week-by-week program would be from:

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

There are weekly lesson plans for ages baby on up.

One suggestion, when using this program with my preschoolers, I found it helpful to change some of the themes to ones that my girls were more interested in.  In order to find activities and songs and such to go along with these themes, I've used the following websites (all designed for teachers of young children):

http://www.everythingpreschool.com/theme...

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/presch...

http://www.123child.com/act/

I hope you find them as helpful as I have.

Answer 8

there is a really great home schooling program called A-Becca (not sure that is spelled right) it has video teachers and work books..  It also has K4 and K5 curriculum and since you have 3 kids doing it I would just order 1 DVD and 3 workbooks.  this program is really great they have a unique way of teaching that draws the child's attention and it is affordable

Answer 9

Just a brief idea: check out homeschooling websites on the internet. One good one is http://www.homeschoolingadventures.com/p...

Rather than planning the curriculum ahead of time, plan activities based on what they are interested in. If they are interested in birds, go on a walk. Count the birds you see. Draw pictures of the birds. Write about the birds (you write down what they dictate to you and then read the story together). Read about birds, etc.  

Almost any subject they are interested in  you can build activities around. To find activities, just google the topic (for example "birds preschool activities" and you'll find tons of ideas!

Answer 10

Fun! Oh, that is sooo cool! Anyway, I went on the Yahoo! search engine and came up with these sites to help:

http://www.star-brite.com (you have to pay, though)

http://www.time4learning.com (worksheets, etc...)

http://www.preschooleducation.com (place for "educators" to share ideas and lesson plans)

If you want more just do another search on one of the search engines. Just type in "preschool curriculum" or even something more specific like "preschool math worksheets". You will probably get many more sites.

When you are doing your themes for this age group do them either bi-weekly or monthly. I loved the following themes:

Dinosaurs, Animals, (which you can group by location - jungle, farm, domestic, etc...) Insects and Other Creepy Crawlies, Transportation.

Have fun!