Homeschool Mommies...

[nikkiARNGwife]

I need some advice. I am hoping to homeschool DS for preschool this year. He will go to public school next fall but I'd really like to get his day more organized right now and work on some skills with him. I am totally lost in the homeschool world though lol. I have no idea if I should buy an entire curriculum or what..any suggestions?

I am someone that needs a system..it's hard for me to pull ideas out of the air on my own kwim? I need guidance and lists lol..something that tells me what, when, where why how lol

[BrattyMeg]

I woudln't buy a curriculum for prek...I'd just work with him on his numbers, letters, read to him, do hands on activities, and just get him used to a daily schedule to prep him for school. You can get dollar books @ target or activity books to work on his skills w/out having to fork out a lot of $$$

[SaraAmarie]

I am planning on doing home pre-school with my dd this year. I was completely overwhelmed earlier this summer, had no clue where to start, and felt, like you, that I couldn't just pull ideas out of the air without a set curriculum. Now, I have things planned out a bit and am really excited. I'll be back with a huge long post with links and stuff. lol

[Leila]

I agree with Meg. Pick up some of the Pre-K/K skills books at Target or whatever store you can get to and use those. There's truly no need to buy curriculum for PK.

[kim21673]

I am starting next week with my 3 year old...I used to teach kindergarten/first grade so I am "using" some of those ideas....we are talking about the basics....letters, sounds, shapes, colors, numbers, calendar, weather, etc......I am basically structuring it like the first few months of kindergarten and we will reevaluate after that. Jason knows his numbers, colors and shapes but our two year old doesn't and he'll be around too!!

[mom2peanuts]

Nikki I am also doing pre-school home schooling this year. I am like you and need plans and organizing. So I bought the pre-school curriculum from Sonlight and I love it, it's a Christian program. There is a schedule and you get a whole bunch of fun books. I really like how it's put together. It involves mostly reading and I really like that.
Here is the link
http://www.sonlight.com/newcomer-p45.html

[mom2peanuts]

Oh and I know it's pricey but we live overseas and I don't have any way of buying English books except on line so I figured it was worth buying everything at once and having someone else put together a program for me.

[Sarah8914]

Oh I am SO with you on this! I'm doing the same thing with my DD this year! I don't really know where to start. I keep finding great info, but I need direction now!

one good site mentioned before here is letteroftheweek.com It has week by week lessons/schedules.

[rochelle789]

Originally Posted by Leila

I agree with Meg. Pick up some of the Pre-K/K skills books at Target or whatever store you can get to and use those. There's truly no need to buy curriculum for PK.

This is what we did, and I work full-time. My daughter went to daycare, but not official preschool. They worked with her on letters and numbers, and I worked with her at home using books you can just buy at any store. She started kindergarten last week reading at a first-grade level, so it worked for us.

[nikkiARNGwife]

Thanks for all the suggestions! We've done the workbook things from like wal-mart..he literally breezes through them. He already knows all of his numbers and alphabet, can write them all upper and lower case and is reading on his own pretty much..beginning reader books. I need something a little more challenging for him I think but I just don't know where to put my hands on stuff like that I guess.

[AnnieBananie]

Check out Letter of the Week, if you haven't already.
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

(Sorry if it's a repeat, mah reedin skeelz aint sew gud tooday.)

[MamaBee]

Okay... I'm going to sound stupid since it has been many moons since I was in school... but you all mentioned about getting them into a routine so they are ready for school... what is a typical routine in Kindergarden or preschool? Are you talking about the lines of "stations"... we first work on letters... then crafts... then nap time... then snack time... etc?

[Emmy]

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

Thanks for all the suggestions! We've done the workbook things from like wal-mart..he literally breezes through them. He already knows all of his numbers and alphabet, can write them all upper and lower case and is reading on his own pretty much..beginning reader books. I need something a little more challenging for him I think but I just don't know where to put my hands on stuff like that I guess.

Nikki - I don't want to deter you but if you progress him academically this year, beyond where he is now, he is going to be WAY advanced for kindergarten. Not that it's a reason not to - I'm just sayin', something to think on. Check out Rainbow Resource.com Some things I like for where he is at:

Explode the Code workbooks
Singapore Math workbooks
Handwriting practice - Reason for handwriting is nice (religous)
Nature journaling would be fun check out www.handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com There should be a getting started link on there somewhere
Read great books to him and talk - check out the booklists at www.fiveinarow.com or www.sonlight.com (religious) or www.winterpromise.com

HTH

[nikkiARNGwife]

Originally Posted by Emmy

Nikki - I don't want to deter you but if you progress him academically this year, beyond where he is now, he is going to be WAY advanced for kindergarten. Not that it's a reason not to - I'm just sayin', something to think on. Check out Rainbow Resource.com Some things I like for where he is at:

Explode the Code workbooks
Singapore Math workbooks
Handwriting practice - Reason for handwriting is nice (religous)
Nature journaling would be fun check out www.handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com There should be a getting started link on there somewhere
Read great books to him and talk - check out the booklists at www.fiveinarow.com or www.sonlight.com (religious) or www.winterpromise.com

HTH

I do worry about that...But he shows such interest in learning and is always wanting me to work with him on stuff that I feel guilty not doing something..which I think is another reason why I feel so lost with it all kwim?

[Emmy]

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

I do worry about that...But he shows such interest in learning and is always wanting me to work with him on stuff that I feel guilty not doing something..which I think is another reason why I feel so lost with it all kwim?

I totally understand. Yep, it doesn't make sense not to do stuff when he loves it - yep, that's how I ended up homeschooling.

[SaraAmarie]

Ok, back with links and stuff for what I am going to do with my girls this year. My older dd (almost 5) knows her letter for the most part but this will help reinforce them and I got a book (Teach Your Child ro Read in 100 Easy Lessons) that I will work with her a little bit.

I plan on doing about a letter a week (some weeks might be 2 letters per week). Everything will focus on that letter:
*We'll be going to the library at least once a week to get books to read that go with the activities planned.
*Work sheets printed from various websites (whatever looks fun for the day lol) Learn the sound of letter/upper case/lower case/find letter on letter banner.
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/preschool_age_3.html
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphabet.htm
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/mabcposter.html
http://www.beginningreading.com/Free%20Workshe.htm
*Craft with letter. Some of above links have craft ideas
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2...-alphabet.html
*Field trip to a place starting with that letter. These will range from simple, like pet shop, bakery, etc where I don't have to call and set up a time, to more in involved things like the fire station, dentist, etc. I also looked at events in my town that would work (we have a sky diving fest that we will go watch for S)
*Learn about an animal that starts with the letter. I have a couple really neat animal books.
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/animals.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/
*Letter in Sign language
*Character trait that starts with letter
http://www.duggarfamily.com/images/c...rqualities.pdf
http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2...tertraits.html
*I have a huge world map and US map that we will point out places that start with that letter and maybe do some simple state facts.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/
*Make food together that starts with that letter. I don't have much planned here yet. lol

Beyond that, here are some other things I have down that I want to work into the above.
**numbers:
write
counting with beans, small objects
grouping, patterns
measuring
coins
http://math.about.com/od/earlynumera...chool_Math.htm
Some of the above letter sites have number worksheets as well

**science:
calendar + weather (I'll have a large calendar that we will keep track of the weather on)
seasons
5 senses (taste/touch/smell blindfolded, etc)

**holidays:
traditional
earth based
international

*other:
meditation/yoga
nursery rhymes
kid songs with rhythm clapping (copy rhythm)
opposites

[nikkiARNGwife]

Wow Sara! Great ideas and links! Thanks!!

[Sarah8914]

awesome list sara!

I was also going to add that I recently stumbled on lapbooks. they are geared for homeschoolers but I'm using them with my dd because they are perfect for her. Last week we did an ocean theme and filled a file folder with little activities and information related to the ocean--spec. a book about the ocean. I found everything free online, printed it and we put it together. It's been so fun.

My fav. place for them (which also has unit studies) is here: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
and this one is good too: http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/ToolsforTots.html