Homeschooling

I am considering homeschooling my DD rather than sending her to private pre-k. I would then enroll her to start private kinder the following year. I have taught 1, 2, and 3rd grade in public school but never anythng lower. Has anyone had experience with homeschooling? Homeschooling pre-kinder? Where can I find curriculum to teach? It seems doable, but I would like to have an idea of what I am getting myself into. My DH said he only wants to do it if I can "prove" she will advance in her education and not fall behind....

 

I considered doing this for my 4 year-old, until we got into the free public school pre-k. What I did first was go onto my school system's website and print out the pre-k curriculum goals. This gave me an idea of what skills would be required for Kindergarten, and what skills were actually taught during pre-k. After that, I visited my local homeschool store (luckily we have one here, but there are sites online that you could check), to look for materials. Good luck with your decision!

 

This is a good, free, site...

Letter of the Week Preschool Curriculum

 

Letter of the Week was my first thought as well. There are plenty of books you can get at one of the big bookstore chains. Walmart also sells lots of worksheet books.

 

Hi!

My daughter will be 4 next month (my son is 2, and my twins just turned 1). My daugther went to preschool all last year but we decided to try it at home this year. I have loved it!!!! We're using Mother Goose Time (www.mothergoosetime.com) and it has been so user friendly and easy. It comes monthly in a box and includes all the materials you need for all the crafts and all the lessons. I've also added in using Starfall (www.starfall.com) which is a FREE website that includes great online activities for pre-reading.

In my opinion, you'd totally be able to do it-especially since you have an education background!

Best wishes!

 

Thank you....... you are so inspring!!!

 

I home-preschool my kids, but I do it a little differently that most PPs who've replied. I think that at four, children are really still learning to learn, and by that I mean they're still exploring with their senses. I do have my sons do an occasional worksheet, but most of our learning is sensory. We do "pre-math" by working with blocks. They learn balance, geometry, spacial relations and concentration when we make tower towns, as well as colors and shapes by looking at the blocks. I read to them A LOT. They like to sit on my lap while I read, and occasionally they like to tell the story instead of me. We bake stuff and go on nature walks, color (free hand mostly---not the preprinted worksheets), go to the library and check out lots of books. We get a lot of non-fiction and will sometimes do a theme day. On apple day, we'll go to the library and get a book about Johnny Appleseed and apple harvest, go to the store and look at the different colors of apples, let them each pick whichever one they want and come home and have a taste-test. We'll do apple-print painting and do leaf rubbings from apple trees as well as other trees from the neighborhood. We dig in the garden and play hide and seek. We drink apple juice and leave an apple slice on the counter to see what happens (it turns brown quickly) and we then talk about being sure to put food away. Sometimes this will be accomplished all in one whack, and sometimes it takes a few days to get to where I want us to be. There's always lots of playing and talking. I do think that children should be taught to sit still and focus, but I don't think that we should teach them that that's the only way to learn.

I did this with my DD, and she started K reading. She was ready and wanted to learn, and so I taught her. I can already see that my boys aren't likely going to be reading at the level she was when she started school, but that's okay. I know that they'll have a great capacity for learning.

 

We have been doing homeschooling for 8 years and never used preschool but ACE has a good K4 program. Sydney and Garrett both started in Kindy and Savannah went to public school K and 1st so she didn't start homeschooling til 2nd then.