Time to start teaching?

For the past year or so I've had web sites saved in my favs that are similar to what a day in preschool would consist of. I've not really looked at them in the past but today took a peek and thought that I might start to get the boys involved in this at home. The page I was looking at had themes and I was thinking about picking a different theme each week and have everything revolve around that theme. meals, books, coloring pages, even trips to a local spot that may offer something that has our theme.

In the past we have never had a schedule. We go about our day and when they are tired they nap, hungry they eat, we watch 2 TV shows a day and then we just play. color, read, play dough ect.

I think now that they are to the point where they are talking more and understanding more that I might try to get them involved in school like activities.

Does anyone have any opinion on this? What does your day looks like with your DC?
And anyone that may have more web sites to get my little boys minds a moving that would be great!

thanks

 

I do have a structured day as far as meals, naps but pretty much the inbetweens are whatever. Sometimes we go out but since it is cold we are home alot. They actually play with their toys now and also play together (sometimes I have to break up a fight or two) and watch some of their fav shows. I would like to implement some sort of time during the day where it is a set learning activity like preschool but I haven't really done it yet. I do things like ABC's, letters and numbers but I really would like to get more consistant too.

 

Your ideas sound great! I work, but if I stayed home I'd probably have to do something like that just to keep my sanity.

Our preschool does week long themes within monthly units. A recent one was people in your neighborhood. They looked at 4 jobs of people the kids would see on a regular basis. Another was food, each week looked at a food group, each day a food from that week's group.
I know some websites, but they might be the same as yours. We should all share our favorites. I'll start another thread.

 

QUOTE(Meximeli @ Jan 30 2008, 03:36 PM) [snapback]596883[/snapback]
We should all share our favorites. I'll start another thread.


Great idea for everyone to share favs...

 

I never did anything as organized and structured as you are describing, but did sort of focus on whatever they seemed to be interested in at the moment. For instance, for a while they were really in to ocean animals. So, we went up to the Aquarium, checked out books from the library on ocean themes, went to the tidepools, I put all their ocean-related toys in the bath, etc. There was a dinosaur phase, trains, bugs. I'd use the web to find local activities related to whatever it was, and that was a fun way for me to find new things to do with them.

 

Like Ellen, I never did anything remotely formal. While out and about, we might play I Spy or something like that to learn colors. If they pulled out a book, we would read, and look at letters, etc. Everything was done informally. They never had a problem in preschool or K, in fact, Jon was reading fluently at 4, and they are both doing great in school.

 

I have tried off and on to simulate a preschool environment here at the house now apt. the trouble is that daily life keeps getting in the way: dishes, laundry, toy cleanup, decluttering, making dinner. And I dont always have time to organize the week's theme. Or the twins are interested in the week's theme so much it turns into a monthly theme. Or there is so much info on, say, "bugs" or 'farms" that you can be stuck on the theme for months just getting through all the cool resources. And of course something is better than nothing. Once again, I am trying to organize our day to be more structured and have a school time. But to do what I really want to do , would require me to spend my evenings getting ready for "class the next day" and I would really rather spend the time veggin out on TS or watching a movie or chatting with DH or combination thereof.

What I'm saying is that with all my good intentions and educational background, my attempts at home-schooling preschool isn't working as well as it would in a "real" preschool setting. all of our learning right now consists of teachable moments. Like Ellen posted, when the twins get on a kick, we go to the library and get 1-2 videos and 5-6 books and hunt the internet for info about the topic/theme. we answer their simple questions, make murals, color pictures, sculpt play doh, all within about a 2 wk period. I find that the best time to plan is during nap time. I didnt post any web site favorites b/c most of mine are already posted.