Homeschooling preschoolers?

[angeleyz]

I have three children who should be in preschool next year but for various and financial reasons, they won't be able to go. So I am looking into homeschooling them.

So my question is, are there any others here who homeschooled their preschoolers? Or are currently homeschooling preschoolers? How and where did you start? I have read several books and done tons of online research and I'm still not sure what to do or how to start.

NOTE: Also, PLEASE do not start lecturing me about how preschool is not mandatory and there is no need to HS a preschooler. That happened on another site and needless to say it was not helpful at all. All I want is a little support, not criticism. Please and thank you!

[Mark]

welcome to the forum.

[Kimberly]

Hi Angeleyz. NO lectures from me. I did preschool with most of my children. We used the Rod and Staff preschool materials both because they are cheap and because we like them. The link is http://www.rodstaff.com/.

I also invested in some lauri puzzle letters (both uppercase and lower case, over 100 letters) It was one of the best investment I ever made. My children seem to do well with actually being able to touch and play with the letters. I tried to teach them their basic letter sounds in preschool. Some learned them, some didn't, but I didn't stress about it either way.

A couple of my children seemed ready to read so we used "Learning to Readin 100 Easy Lessons" for them. It turned out one was ready and took off reading and we stopped the book at lesson 20 for the other one who didn't turn out to be quite ready after all.

I also tried to do a lot of "hands on" activities...such as simple science experiments, baking together, going outside to hunt for leaves, bugs etc.

We are past the preschool stage and I feel kind of sad about that. It is such a fun age.

A very nosy question, feel free to disregard it if you want to. I am curious as to why you have three in preschool next year. Are they triplets? Close in age? Are you a legal guardian? As I said, please feel free to ignore my nosy question if you want to. I won't be offended.

[angeleyz]

I have twins that are 4 and one who is three Their birthdays are in September and December so it won't be long and they will be 5 and 4. My oldest is 6 and is in Kindergarten this year, 1st grade next year. I'm thinking about working on some reading skills with him this summer (the only area I feel he's lacking in). But I'm mainly worried about my preschoolers, especially the twins. One was just diagnosed as having a generalized anxiety disorder and can be quite the handful at times. Her twin may have the same problem but she's not quite as bad and she handles school and other stressors better, so I'm not nearly as worried about her. My youngest is just one bright little cookie and has been begging to go to school next year. Since I can't afford to send all three to school next year (or even one for that matter) I am looking into homeschooling. The twins have been on an IEP the last two years for speech issues and so attended a special ed preschool for free. Next year only one is on an IEP but she will not be able to return to the special school because they need the slots for more challenged children.

So anyway, hope that helps give a little more background on us Oh, and we are in Kansas btw. I don't really want to use a curriculum at such an early age. But I do want them to be ready by knowing their letters, numbers, shapes, colors and at least being able to write their names.

[iamnettie]

I think it is wonderful you want to work with them durning their preschool years! We have been doing homeschool since my kids where each 2 years old. The things I have done durning the preschool years are:

colors
shapes
letters
numbers
letter sounds - like prephonics
coloring
drawing
beginning writting, drawning straight lines and circles


I purchased about 3 preschool teacher resource books that I scan and print activity pages as we need them.

Hope that gives you some ides.

Good luck!!!

[mdsmomct]

No lectures here either! My son is 2.5 but a very self-motivated learner and seems to want to know it all now!

Of course we read A LOT. We do the library weekly plus attend story time which is free. Each week I get him a book about the alphabet (there are literally thousands out there!) and a book with basic math concepts, colors, shapes, etc.. whatever else he is interested in that week. And I got the books Honey for a child's heart and Ready for reading. They both give excellent book selections. Ready for reading has a list for each week and it has some fun activites to go with the books. So far each book suggested has been a big hit here!

At home we do his leappad, he loves to color - he has an easel and he really likes those twistable crayons- they are long and easy to hold and he writes effortlessly with them. He also loves to paint. We play games- he loves Cariboo, Boggle jr. and some card games that are just made up but I use them to teach numbers, letters, shapes, patterns, and memory.

I also painted a chalkboard in his room with the chalkboard paint and that is a big hit. He writes on it constantly.

I hope I am not going on too much! We also take DVD's out of the library-I highly recommend ALL the leapfrog DVD's Letter Factory, etc.. and the Math circus. Also, if they have it DVD's from the Waterford Institute with Rusty and Rosy raccoon - it is a series of 4 videos that teaches phonics and writing and that is where ds learned to write his letters. We rented them so much I found a used set on Amazon and bought them.

The library is your best friend truly- ours has a whole education section and a homeschool section so that helps. Good luck!

One more thing the library should have free passes to many child friendly museums, zoos, etc... in your area so check that out as well. Free is great!!!

[Calla_Dragon]

I love homeschooling preschoolers. I homeschooled my son since he was 2 (now 6) and I'm homeschooling my son who just turned 4. We work on things like colors, letters, shapes, numbers, relationships, opposites, same/different, basic writing skills...lots of basic stuff. Everyone has their own opinion, but I don't agree with waiting if kids are interested and having fun. My younger son sees his big brother doing schoolwork and begs me to do his own school work and I'm more than happy to oblige. I love to see that kind of enthusiasm!

As for what we use, I use lots of toys and books, lots of real life stuff, and we use some worksheets (mostly basic coloring sheets). Things are really simple at this age and we spend 30 min - 1 hour on schoolwork. We also do speech therapy here so that takes up a little extra time when I do formal speech therapy otherwise it's just constant therapy and modeling for little man.

[mdsmomct]

I wanted to add when we absolutely LOVE a library book I go to abebooks.com and they have awesome books for very low prices. They even have books for me!

[angeleyz]

Thank you all SOOO much for all the wonderful replies. And for not lecturing me LOL I appreciate it. I'm glad to have finally found a site that has homeschooled preschoolers. Thanks for all the wonderful advice so far and keep it coming!!!

[gardening momma]

My oldest daughter is 3 1/2. We use alphabet flashcards, inexpensive (Walmart, etc...) preschool workbooks, coloring books, etc...

We'll do one or two pages in a workbook, then switch to something else. She doesn't have the patience to do more than that at once.

We have a few simple puzzles...mostly 9-12 pieces. Before that we started with wooden peg puzzles. Now she's doing the kinds of puzzles where the pieces actually fit together. Sometimes she still needs some guidance with those.

[Redhead]

I remember seeing your post on the other boards! I'm glad you were able to find more information to help you here.

I wanted to add that I saw some pre-K mini workbooks today at Mardels. I don't know if you have one in your area or not, but they looked really good for use for parents who were looking to prep their kids to go to school. The books were only $1.99 apiece and had specific focuses--- phonics, number order, letter order, scissor use, etc.

They looked cute and fun--- a bit redundant for me since I have a K5 curriculum, but perfect for someone who wants to do a preschool-type prep for Kindergarten but doesn't want to buy a whole curriculum package!

[angeleyz]

Thanks everyone

Redhead -- I've actually never heard of that store. LOL But those sound like great books! I think our Walmart carries some preschool type books that I think I will look into. A bit more expensive, but I think they have a book that includes all the subjects in one book. We'll see though Thanks for trying to help! I appreciate it.

[Kimberly]

I have really enjoyed reading through this thread. Preschool is one of my favorite ages and, as I said, I feel kind of sad that it is behind us now.

Redhead, I assume you are a redhead? My husband and four of my five children have red hair so I am very partial to redheads..

[Redhead]

[Kimberly]