Our Home Preschool Adventure

New Ideas
I am continuing to write my own curriculum for my daughter's preschool experience here at home.  Of the boxed preschool programs that I have bought in order to sample them, I've decided I don't like any as well as what I can come up with on my own.  Any curriculum that is already put together continues to be too much for an almost three year old (in my experience). 

I was wanting to find an easier way to plan preschool since we've got a baby on the way.  But, so far we are managing.  I have written a few month's worth of curriculum that will get us through the end of May, then I will probably come up with new themes for the summer.

I really identify with the ideas that I have read about how it is too easy sometimes to push kids too hard at a very young age.  I agree with the opinion that its better to take a slow and steady approach.  With that in mind, I'm trying to think of our preschool experience as more about exploring than learning.  Of course, learning will come naturally through this process.  But, I am not at all concerned about her knowing her letters or numbers at this point.  Even so, she knows her alphabet song and can count pretty well.  We will not be touching any workbooks for a long time! 

I like the idea of focusing the most on reading together, music, art, and Bible.  I have set up a special basket with quality books and I am trying to establish a solid reading routine with Joelle.  We now have a routine of reading together every morning when she climbs into bed with me after she wakes up.  I am also trying to make a regular habit of reading to her every afternoon.  So far, this turns into at least a half hour of reading every day. 

I researched different companies that put out entire curriculum bundles for preschool, and looked at all the different books they include in their packages.  I went on Amazon and compiled a wish list to work through little by little as I have the funds, and/or check them out from the library in the meantime.  So far our basket includes some books that I already owned, that I think are really good quality literature for young kids.  Books like Poems to Read to the Very Young, Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, A Bedtime Book of Lullabies, and Big Thoughts for Little People.  I also have a couple Dr. Seuss books, Little Critter Books, and Berenstain Bears, as well as several other books.  We do have a lot of good books!  I plan to rotate these out for others that I own every couple of weeks. 

I read recently the suggestion that if it is not a book that I enjoy as an adult (simply because the plot line is so cheesy) then it is probably not quality literature.  I don't have anything against random books and stories, but I also have no desire to read those kinds of things to her on a daily basis.  I know she loves Dora, but there is only so much I can take of that!  All of the books these preschool companies use are quality literature- classics that most people are familiar with (like Curious George, Corderoy, Eloise Wilkins books, Little Golden books), fairy tales, and folk tales, poetry, Bible stories, nonfiction books that are likely to spark an interest in something.  I am excited about this new routine that we are establishing, and I know it will expand over time as she gets older. I have always loved reading, and I want my daughter to do the same- so I'm trying to focus on making this an important and meaningful part of our day.  

Time with Mom
Most days I am pretty relaxed about what we do together.  I like to alternate between spending time with my daughter and letting her have freeplay by herself.  She knows how to turn on her big cd player and switch the cds by herself, so it is easy for her to put on whatever music she prefers.  I have started putting on some nice praise music every morning right after we get up as we are eating breakfast and getting dressed.  This really helps with setting a positive mood for the day. 

I've also started letting her help me with chores more if she wants to be near me while I am working on stuff.  She still loves helping load the dishwasher, or wiping off something with a wet wipe, or helping to put laundry in the dryer.  I'm trying to be more conscious of opportunities for her to help because I want her to be in the habit of doing this as she gets older.

We also continue to do other activities like library storytime and music class every other week.  I still try to keep us busy so that we are never bored, though we are a bit more laid back now that I am also needing that nap in the middle of the day!

Preschool Time
Twice a week we do focused preschool time for several hours in the morning.  Preschool always includes the following:

Circle Time
The first thing we do in circle time is find the name bunnies.  Each child has a paper bunny with their name written on it.  I will help them to find their names, and then we sing the BINGO song for each child, substituting in different words, to spell out their names.  For Joelle, the song goes like this:

There is a mommy who has a little girl
and Joelle is her nameo
J O E L L E
J O E L L E
J O E L L E
and Joelle is her nameo!

The kids love this song!  I point out the letters in their names as we sing it, and they are starting to help point to the letters as well whenever we sing this song.  I do not have any expectations for the kids to start recognizing their names, but since this is fun for them I know it can probably help them in the long run when they are old enough to start spelling their names.  If nothing else, they are learning that letters have a connection to their own names.  And, I'm sure that over time they will probably be able to pick up at least the first letters in their names.

After singing the nameo song, we play with the weather bear (dressing him appropriately for the day).  The kids love this too!  After the weather bear, I introduce the theme for the day.  Since today's theme was the letter A, I used some pictures of "A" items that I had previously attached magnets to and let the kids help put them up on the magnet board.  Then I sang this little song that we have learned at library storytime:

Here is my bag with something inside
What could it be?
I'll take it out so you can look
Tell me what you see!

The tune is not something familiar, but you can use almost any tune with this song since it is so simple.  I have a small bag that I had filled with several "A" items ahead of time.  The kids really enjoyed this song, and finding out what was in the bag!   

Next, we got up and sang four action songs that I had found and typed up ahead of time.  They all use familiar tunes such as Twinkle Twinkle or I'm a Little Teapot.  We sang a song about flying like ladybugs, a song about a seed growing in the garden, a song about different animals moving around (hoping, running, swimming, etc.), and a song about looking for Easter eggs.  I typically go online when I am planning my curriculum and find a handful of songs like this to type up and use for the month.  These are great because they get the kids moving and they are very simple songs.  I always try to have one song that uses props because the kids love it!  For the easter egg song, we got out our collection of eggs and hid them around the room.  Then I gave the kids each a basket and let them find all the eggs while we sang the song.  We did this several times!

I am also incorporating Bible songs into my curriculum, and in the future I plan to do Bible verses (but I feel it is still early for that).  I am trying to focus on us learning two new Bible songs every week, while continuing to review the old ones.  I think this is the best way for kids to memorize at this age. 

After singing songs, we sit down again for storytime.  We sing another little song we learned at the library about storytime, as well as doing the hand rhyme "Open them, shut them."  Today we read and talked about the story of Creation, and then read several other books about the alphabet, shapes, and caterpillars.  Whenever the kids seem restless, storytime is over.  I then put on a kids CD and we have some freeplay time.

In writing my curriculum, I decided to spread the themes out.  We will be going at a very slow pace, and alternating letters and shapes.  One week we will learn about a letter, and the following week we will learn about a shape.  I am not obsessed with my daughter learning all about these concepts right now.  I am focusing more on exposure and having fun!  Her familiarity with these concepts will help later on, but for now we are just doing what is fun and what feels natural.

Projects and Games
Since today's theme was the letter A, today's project was painting a page with a large letter A on it.  We also did a coloring page with the letter A. 

I always like to have several different games that are seasonal out for the kids to do.  We have our egg tree out, where the kids can put the egg ornaments on it and take them off again.  We have a small set of bunny tic tac toe that we like to play together.  A new favorite is cardboard puzzles from the dollar tree.  I am amazed at my daughter's ability and attention span with these!  She can master one in less than a week!  This is one of her new favorite activities to do with Daddy when he gets home after work.  I love that she is into puzzles!

Every day of preschool, we will also have some kind of a sensory activity.  Today I got the Easter Sensory bin out and the kids really enjoyed it!  Other times, we do water play or playdough, or bubbles, or something like that. 

Enjoying Life
I know this is still an age where kids need to be able to play and explore more than anything else.  I am not into pushing the academics.  I think they will have years to come of that!  For now, we are enjoying the themes and taking it slow.  Learning some letters, shapes, and Bible stories as we go.  That is it for this chapter in our home preschool adventure.  Stay tuned for more updates in the future.