preschool

Im debating on buying a curriculum, using a free one online, or just doing one letter and number a week. I've looked at the Horizons Preschool program and liked it. I also like the ABCJesusloves site and a couple other sites listed here, and then I thought about just starting the first week of September and doing letter and number of the week and buying a few preschool workbooks from Wal-Mart. I'm already doing a bible study lesson plan with the kids. That will last until next May since it's 52 lessons. So I don't need the Bible based lessons right now. I just think if I do the letter and number of the week if will get me more involved with the lesson planning and I will have to do more work. It might be a good thing because it will really give me a good idea if I like homeschooling the kids or not. I'm only going to be working with DD this year. I'm just rambling here. I've talked about this enough with DH he doesn't want to hear it anymore.

ETA I'm planning to buy the Teaching your child to read in 100 Lesson book.

 

Have you looked at Five in a Row? It's a book that gives you preschool lesson ideas. There are actually a few volumes, all with different books. The concept is that you read the same book for 5 days in a row and do different activities with it each day. The book has lots (way more than 5) of ideas for something like 15-18 (maybe more?) books, most of which you can find at the library, and many (like Corduroy) that you might even already have. There's also a msg board for people who use it, but I haven't really looked at that in years. http://www.fiarhq.com/ And it looks like now they don't sell it on their website anymore, but you can get it at RainbowResource.com (where I actually buy LOTS of my school books) for usually the best prices. And I think when I first bought FIAR, I got it at a Christian bookstore in town. It's not a religious curriculum, unless you specifically get the FIAR bible study.

 

Thanks! I'll check it out.

 

How old is your preschooler? I did Letter of the Week with my twins when they were 3-4. I also bought some workbooks from WalMart. We kind of fizzled out on it because it was too structured for them. At that age they seemed to need a broad sturcture (school at the same time each day, the same kinds of activities each day, etc.) instead of everything planned out. I ended up just doing lots of crafts, stories, games and of course Snack Time! I did continue exposing them to letters and numbers, but in a more casual way. Personally, I was glad I didn't spend any money for preschool curriculum. They learned plenty and when we started Kindergarten the curriculum was too easy for them!

Good luck and have FUN!

Rebecca

 

I think you need to decide what all you want them to know by the end of the year. You could also go to your states dept of education and look up what preschoolers are actually assessed on which will help you make a better decision on whether or not you actually need to buy curriculum. The only thing my girls were assessed on in Preschool was recognition of numbers from 1-10, counting to 10, they had to recognize all their letters and know all their letter sounds. Coloring and their colors and simple shapes were also assessed. They also assessed social skills, playing with others, manners, that sort of thing. They had a couple of major themes they worked on, they learned about firefighters and fire exit routes for home and school, they learned about construction equiptment, dinosaurs, farm & garden, restaurants, and some things like that. I honestly don't think you need curriculum per se. There are so many websites that you can go to to access lessons which may be a cheaper solution for you then actually buying curriculum. It just all depends on what you want them to know by the end of the year.

 

My little girl will be 4.5 in August. I was just thinking this morning that I'm going to dig up DS's preschool review and use that as a guide. Not that j need to do everything but just like a guide.

I really like Five In A Row. I'm leaning towards that right now. DD loves stories and bring read to so that might be a good fit. It seems more relaxed. Ds learned about fire safety this past fall. I'm planning on doing fire drills this summer with both the kids. I probably will review more in depth with DD though this fall. So she knows as much as DS does.

 

Just a note about Five in a Row - for preschool, you would really be looking at Before Five in a Row (also found at http://www.fiveinarow.com/). It is a little less structured and involved than the regular Five in a Row which you would start later. According to their website:

There is also a Beyond Five in a Row for older children.

I, too, am drawn to FIAR and am going to be using it next year with my 1st graders. I love the idea of literature-based curriculum and have learned a lot about the program by reading on the forums Dielle linked to. There is a forum there specifically for Before Five in a Row, too.

 

Thanks for sending me over to B4FIAR. That would be a lot better for us. I think DD is going to LOVE this. I do have a question though. The Before Five in a Row has twenty-four books. I remember reading in the FAQs that they don't expect you to do all the activities/discussion/etc.. for each book. So am I supposed to go back and re-read some of the books and do the other activities to finish up the preschool year or since DD will be five should I move on to the first volume of FIAR? I guess it all depends on DD and how she's doing but I'm just interested in what others have done in the past?

 

I would say for preschool you'll probably have enough for a school year with that, since one of the blessings of homeschooling is the ability to take off and do other things when they catch your fancy. You can go on more field trips, take vacations or family visits more often, take the month of November to learn about gratitude, Thanksgiving, and pilgrims, December to learn about and celebrate Christmas (I'm assuming you're Christian from your 1st post about Bible studies), and so forth. Spend a week on other holidays like Valentine's or St. Patrick's day, too. A regular school year with summer off is about 36 weeks, so doing some of those things along with a program that length will fill up your year. And honestly, after reading/working through the volume I have, I could have done my own, similar thing for a couple of extra books if needed. So that would also be an option.

 

Yes, I'm Christian. That's the reason I'm thinking of homeschooling. We are sending my son to Catholic school this year for K. Something I was excited about until I started to really read the bible and now I'm not so sure I agree with the Catholic religion. Our public school isn't all that great so now I'm left with homeschooling. It's been something I've always been interested in so I'm excited.

I didn't think about not reading a book every week. We will spend time in December and the month of Easter learning more about Jesus. Thank you for suggesting FIAR and all the help!

 

I used Abeka K4 program for preschool. It's strutured. They end up learning to read by the end of the year. It's phonics based and spiral math.

 

Are the A Beka workbooks pretty self explanatory? I thought about ordering one just so DD could do some sheets here or there. Like when we're working on patterns, matching, and letters. I looked at the samples online and they seem pretty easy to explain without a teacher manual. I'm planning on buying their bible songs cd and song book.

 

Many of the pages are pretty easy without the manual. If I remember correctly (it's been 6 yrs), there were a few pages that needed the manual. Like there may be a picture of something without an explanation of what you are supposed to do with it to incorporate it with the lesson. You may be able to find a used manual online. You may like the Readiness Skills books or the Art Projects books. I really liked the My Blend and Word Book. It incorporates the blend ladders that they use to teach blend sounds after learning the letter sounds. Makes for an easy transition from learning individual sounds to actually reading words without memorizing words (sight words). But that wouldn't be needed right away.

I'm not sure how much help that was... I personally will use Abeka K4 this year with my twins. But, I'll use a modified version of the lessons. I won't use the manual word for word like I did with my first. I'll do the games within reason and move more quickly through when needed. The first part of the year seems to be slow and the latter could move quickly if they aren't "getting" reading.

 

I agree with Dielle about breaks for other things (holidays, birthdays, mom the kids just need a break... ).

Also, a lot of posts I've read have talked about actually staying on a book for longer then the standard week at times. One of the ways this happens is that they will all become interested in a certain aspect of the book and go off on bunny trails to learn more about that. For example, You may be reading a book set in France and see the Eiffle Tower and talk about how it was built for the World's Fair. Then the child wants to know what other things were built for the World's Fair. This leads to how Thomas Edison was featured at the 1904 World's Fair, leading to a discussion of all of Edison's inventions, leading to learning about inventors in general, and so on. So, the study of one book may lead to unit studies on other things.

With FIAR (and the Before FIAR) you not only don't have to do the books in any order, you also don't have to do all the books if you don't want. You can choose the ones that appeal to you most and just use those.

 

Dielle and Stacy A - thank you so much for your help answering so many questions about FIAR. When it comes to attention I think DD gets less than the other four kids. She's such a good girl and usually does everything the first time I ask. I love snuggling with the kids and reading books so I’m really excited that I can have this one on one time with DD. I think FIAR is going to be a perfect fit!

 

I just posted on the other preschool question in this forum about what I've been doing for my 4 year olds. I'll add that link here, too. It's just another resource to look at and mabye think about. It's all free online, and it uses a lot of hands on learning activities. My girls have really LOVED it.

Preschool blog