Preschool at Home

Currently, I'm doing preschool at home with my 4 year old and we both love every minute of it.  Usually, we do activities based on an yearly schedule that follows the seasons and related holidays. We are blessed to have all the seasons of the year, where we currently reside.  I have been doing preschool with him but this year starting on the day he turned four, we have officially started to follow a more structured preschool schedule. I am doing this to prepare him for kindergarten, as all the great teachers say: "Consistency is Key!" I want to help my child transition smoothly into school next year (fingers crossed ;)

© Everything Family Guide

What I do every day (while the little one is napping, possibly in the early morning hours after breakfast or during the little ones nap time) as follows:

This was what we did before he turned 4. 

© Everything Family Guide

© Everything Family Guide

© Everything Family Guide

Here is what we during our preschool schedule:

1. Go over the schedule (I change this daily or weekly).
2. Calendar (place date card on calendar and reading the date/day of the week aloud)
3. Reading (any book from the library; today we "If you give a mouse a cookie" by Laura Numeroff.
4. Alphabet Writing Practice (in a lined notebook with instructions from moi).
5. Poem or song read aloud/singing, based on something that starts with the letter we are practicing.
6. Alphabet related activity or playing together with a manipulative (i.e. blocks, games, things that kids can touch/feel, etc) that directly deals with the alphabet we are practicing.
7. Number Writing Practice (activity books from kids section at your local family store).
8. Counting aloud practice (on a number line, on sticks, on cards, in a 100 chart, as numerals or cardinals, etc.
9. Number or counting related activity or playing together with a manipulative that deals directly with the number we are practicing.
10. If time allows, we do an art activity based on/related to something that we did during the day.
11. We have added a science activity to our schedule to include inquiry-based learning. It is pretty low-key and my child gets to be my assistant, as we test, analyze, question, make conclusions, and record our observations. 

Believe it or not, we are able to do all that within an hour to an hour and a half.  I feel so great that I'm getting my child ready for kindergarten.  I never push him to finish or accomplish the tasks but only go on till he is bored or tired.

Hope you have as much fun as I do!

CALENDAR ROUTINE UPDATE 

I have been planning and executing a classroom-like Calendar time activity for my preschooler to get him ready for Kindergarten. I have been growing the Calendar Routine and adding new learning concepts whenever my preschooler becomes comfortable with whatever is introduced and practiced.

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The following are some things we do with a preschooler for Calendar Math practice:

• Greet each other with a polite greeting like "Good Morning!" or "How are you?"
• Check the window for a weather update and change the weather wheel to indicate what the weather is like today; "Today is Sunny." I always remind my preschooler to look at the sky and the surroundings to check for a weather update.  
• Read the date, days of the week, the months and the year using a complete sentence: "Today is Saturday, November the 9th, 2013."
• Place the date card on the Calendar in a pattern (we have mastered the AB, AB pattern and will be moving on to the ABC, ABC pattern once the month is over). Repeat the pattern by saying it aloud. For example, we have date cards in two colors and place the cards according to the pattern sequence. In this case, we say: "yellow, green, yellow, green,....).
• Count the numbers on the date cards aloud (from 0 to Present Date). Then we say aloud which date was yesterday, today, and tomorrow in sentence form.
• Sing the Days of the Week song to the theme of The Addams Family. We also sing the months of the year to my own tune :)
• I bought a really affordable color-in Calendar that my son can color in, rewrite the current date in the box and then place a dot sticker on the box to indicate that the day is over.
• Then we organize the numbers in a number line with our pre-made number cards for additional number practice.
• Finally, we do a math manipulatives game that teaches math concepts like numbers, shapes, colors, patterns or counting/cardinality. During Calendar tine and other times of the day I focus on teaching important sight, literacy, math, science, social and calendar related vocabulary words.

We do other activities that are literacy related at another time of the day (usually before going to bed). This activity is mostly listening, reading, identifying, questioning and discussion related.

What are some routines that you do with your preschooler that are similar or other creative ideas?

Let me know...

Annie