I am now on to my third little one that is ready to start doing some sort of formal learning. I follow a pretty strict learning through play philosophy for the younger years but I also know that each child is different and you need to let them guide you a little on what they are ready for.
My almost four year old (he will be four next week) has been asking for school work like his siblings for a few months now. I purchased a few cheap work books for him from Target a month or so ago and he just devoured them page after page until they were finished then he was asking for more.
Ammon has some language delays. Just like his older brother he was very late to the talking game and is still not 100% understood by people outside the family. It was this reason that I have not pushed academics with him because I wanted his language abilities to catch up.
Is my Preschooler Ready for Homeschool?
There are a few milestones I like to check off before I even entertain the idea of putting my preschooler on the homeschool schedule.
- Ability to focus for a set period of time: We all know that a preschoolers attention span is almost as short as a goldfish. In order to be successful at homeschool I find that they need to be able to at least concentrate on the task at hand for 10-15 minutes.
- Good Language Skills: So much of the early preschool work focuses on language and letter recognition along with learning the sounds associated with them. If they are still trying to get a good grasp on speaking it is probably going to be really difficult for them and frustrating for you. Instead you could work with them on their language skills so that they might be more ready in a few months.
- Willingness to do the Work: If a preschooler doesn’t want to do something then they aren’t going to do it without putting up a fight. This is not worth the argument and can be detrimental to their learning if they start to associate school with something negative. If your child is willing and eager things are going to go much better and they will soak up everything you are teaching them like a little sponge.
How Long Should I Homeschool My Preschooler?
It all depends. According to my schedule I have Ammon doing two 15 minute slots four times a week. I am fitting him in while my older children work on their spelling and copy work.
Those 15 minute slots are dedicated to sit down work where we will work one on one. There will be other points during the day when we will get out some learning games, or play games with older siblings. There will also be a lot of extra reading and writing practicing going on as just a part of daily life because that is just how our life goes.
I would say anything more than 30 minutes a day is probably pushing it a bit though. You will have their undivided attention for about 5 minutes before they start to switch off and you need to move to a new activity.
We do a quick 2-3 minute lesson, then an activity to reinforce the lesson.We will then do another quick lesson and activity is time permits.
If they are however really enjoying what is happening in the lesson by all means keep going but take your cues from them.
Curriculum Choices for Preschool
There are so many different options out there for preschool. This year we are doing a mix of a few different curriculums based on Ammon’s personality and learning style. I love the flexibility that homeschooling brings and that he doesn’t just have to fit in to whichever curriculum a teacher chooses before even knowing him…sorry teeny tiny rant!
Math
We have a lot of math manipulatives. I have used these counting bears for about five years now. They are perfect for little hands. We use them for creating patterns, counting and sorting. My older children use them for math also. I love resources that stretch to other grades. So I will use these for Ammon to help teach counting and pattern making along with lots of fun games to reinforce different concepts. I have also purchased four math text books for preschool. This is simply fulfilling his desire to have books like his siblings. The ones I chose were Excel books from our local educational book store.
Language Arts
We generally use The Good and the Beautiful for language arts but I feel like this is just not the right fit for Ammon. He need a lot more hands on, game based and intensive language arts course. The Good and the Beautiful incorporates both math and language arts but I really felt he needed a completely stand alone language arts course.
It is for this reason we will be returning to All About Learning Pre-Reading. My oldest child used this and really thrived. I am excited to get back into it. I love the games and the simplicity of the open and go curriculum. I have no time to go and create something for him so I am willing to pay good money for someone else to do it for me!
I am also going to subscribe to Reading Eggs for a year to see how he goes with it. I have used it for my older children and they really loved it. It was easy to understand and navigate for young children and the bonus for us was that you could change the accent to American, British or Australian. My kids were starting to get American accents for the last reading app I purchased! Nothing wrong with an American accent but when you aren’t living there it’s just a bit weird. They still say things with an accent, it’s amazing how ingrained it became from just a couple of months despite us correcting them! They usually have a great trial period if you wanted to look into them too.
Art, History and Science
These aren’t really a focus for him at the moment. He will likely join in on his siblings lessons as we teach these subjects family style. I will also help him to work on a nature journal throughout the year.
Reading
Ammon loves books and to be read to. We will have lots of read aloud time together as I have found that the more I read to him the better his speech is.
What will my Preschooler Learn?
Even though I am still very much play focused I do have some goals for Ammon for the coming year. This year is his first time to get to come on his special goal setting lunch. One of our favourite traditions is at the start of each school year everyone gets to go out for lunch with me and we discuss the coming year. I will share with them my goals for them and they will also tell me what their goals are for the year. Together we write them all down and come up with a plan of attack. If you are wanting to know some more of our fun back to school traditions you need to go check out this post.
I will break down each area I am going to focus on this year and identify what goals I have for each.
Math
Ammon is still not counting past three. I haven’t pushed it or even attempted to teach him. He can spout off a random bunch of numbers while “counting” but definitely not in any particular order.
My experience tells me that my children need context. Sure I can teach them how to recite the numbers 1-10 but it doesn’t stick until they have some context to put it in. Since this skill comes later it is no surprise to me that they are late to the counting game.
My goal for Ammon is to be able to count to 20 understanding the one to one correlation. I expect this goal to be achieved mid year and then I will move on to addition between 1-5.
Ammon has a very good understanding of patterns, shapes and sorting but I will still work with him on these in a more complex way since this is something he thoroughly enjoys. When children are really loving an area of study they can go far beyond what is expected of their age so I want to just ride his love of learning in this area.
Language Arts
Ammon’s speech delay has held him back in this area but I am confident that this year he will advance in leaps and bounds.
My goals for Ammon here is to be totally clear on his understanding of all the letters, both in their upper case and lower case forms. I will also expect him to know all of their basic sounds.
This is an area that I know we will struggle but I am positive by the end of the year we will be able to tick this one off too.
Handwriting
At the present time Ammon still switches between his left and right hand. He hasn’t shown any preference for either. I am hoping that by the end of the year he will have a dominant hand in which he will write with.
By the end of the year I would hope that he can write his name and at least half of the alphabet in lower case.
Everything Else
As for everything else I just hope he plays in the mud, runs around outside, spends hours in the sandpit and continues to build his extravagant creations with all his blocks and Lego.
Children are little for such a short amount of time. We can sometimes feel like we need to rush them into academics or prove that we are teaching them well. The reality is that children will learn when they are ready. There is no reason to even start a preschool curriculum if your child is not ready. Let them play, they are learning, they are progressing and when it does come time for them to start homeschool they will be so much more prepared and excited learner than if you force it too early. Trust me I know from experience!
