Pre-K curriculum

[Terabith]

I'm a new homeschooler. (Am I actually a homeschooler if my kiddos are not yet legally school aged yet?) I'm planning for my older dd's pre-K year. She will be 4.5, and will turn five in September. I also will have a three year old, but she's more the tag-along, and I'm pondering if I can get feedback on my tentative schedule?

I figure we'll start "school" time around 10 am after breakfast and playing for an hour or so. I was thinking of having a circle type time with calendar, number line, review phonograms, read and discuss a nursery rhyme, do a phonemic awareness activity, Lord's Prayer, and some Enki music and movement/ sensory integration activities. Maybe finish with a motor skill activity of some sort. Then I figured I could work with Anna for 45 minutes or so on reading (Bear Necessities from Promethean Press and I See Sam readers), handwriting (HWT PreK), and thinking skills (Building Thinking Skills Primary, Visual-Perceptual Skill Building, and Developing the Early Learner). Then we could go outside and take a walk and play for 45 minutes or so. Come back inside, eat lunch, do an art project, and read alouds from Sonlight Core B for 45 minutes to an hour. Then put Catherine down for rest time and do more work with Anna: math (Right Start A and Singapore EarlyBird, Beginning Math Reasoning), fine motor skills practice (Rod and Staff workbooks), and language experiences (write in journal or dictate a story). Round out with some educational games/ centers later in the afternoon, play with Headsprout when she wants to play on the computer, lots for outside time and free play, and extracurriculuar activities for a prek year. How does that sound? I figure no more than 10 minutes on any lesson except music/ movement, art, or maybe RightStart math. Does it sound like too much? Feedback?

[training5]

WOW! Now THAT'S a preK plan! That looks great. Makes me think I need to rethink my little guy's preK plan. I was just going to do Saxon K and Handwriting Without Tears' Get Set For School set, along with Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Bob Books, as he is ready. You are an amazing mom! Can we come to your house?

[TengoFive]

This sounds like a really full schedule for a 4.5/5 year old. My 5 year old started doing school at 4 and is quite advanced for her age. I only require her to do 2 hours or less each day of formal schooling. She'll listen along when we do history and science, but I don't have her do the activities unless she wants to. I think the number of subjects you have sounds great, but I wouldn't try to do them all in one day. Maybe alternate days for the extracurricular activities. Hope this helps!

[snickelfritz]

I agree with both of the above posters about the rest of the schedule. The choices sound appropriate, but it ends up being a very long day.

One suggestion of tweaking would be to look at the objectives for an activity and group them. ex. fine motor skills practice and handwrting. These could be alternated for one-a-day. Or, I might even skip the fine motor skill workbook and make activities available for free time play (cutting, playdough, tearing paper into shapes for collages, using chopsticks, etc..)

I have tried a lot of the resources you mentioned (fine motor skills book, Building thinking skills, etc...) I have honestly found that I can't keep up with all of that, do our extracurricular activites (we all like to get out of the house), keep the house cleaned, train them to clean up after themselves, and still give them lots of time to direct their own play. That is just me. YMMV

We are all different, so find a routine that works for you and be willing to tweak it.

[Arch At Home]

This is a well thought out plan. I also wonder if there is too much. I don't want you to get burned out trying to implement such a schedule in Pre-K. I find that spending 15 minutes to a half hour in seat work for a K to be adequate. Add in lots of read alouds, good whole some play and crafts with mom and for us that is a great K program.

[momofkhm]

It sounds like a lot to do for pre-K. With mine for pre-K we did Letter of the Week (http://letteroftheweek.com). I think it took about 1/2 hour a day. It was enough that he was doing school, I found that I could do this and he actually did learn stuff!

My K program took less time than you are thinking you will take for pre-k. For that matter he is now in second grade and he is finished by lunch. So his second grade takes less time than your pre-K plans.

Enjoy her youth. Sit and read to her, cuddle them both. Teach her the alphabet but don't rush into anything academic. You'll have years for that! Yes, she'll be ahead and there is value in that. But do you want her finished with high school and heading off to college at age 16?

[Closeacademy]

It sounds like a lot. For preK I would keep circle/seatwork time down to about 30 to 45 minutes max.

The circle time would probably be enough for prek with reading the Sonlight core B books at bed or during a quiet a period. At this age the painting, drawing, exploring outdoors, playing on their own with open-ended toys, having access to craft supplies, playdough and blocks is really enough.

If you feel like you must do the workbooks then I would do the HWT PreK and either singapore Earlybird or Rightstart math.

If your child is visual I would stick with earlybird and only do a page a day and take it slowly.

As far as small motor/thinking skills I would do either the Building Thinking skill or Developing the Early Learner not both. Really DEL is great for K and can be a bit hard for preK especially books 3 and 4. I wouldn't go beyond book 1 and 2 for preK. Book 4 is actually written more for a 1st grader.

Personally, I would drop any sort of reading practice until she asks for it. You are doing during circle should really be enough for this age.

I thought Enki was a complete program or do you just have the movement portion of it?

Hope this helps. Keep things simple, have fun and take time to cuddle.:)

[Trivium Academy]

10 am after breakfast and playing for an hour
circle type time with calendar, number line, review phonograms, read and discuss a nursery rhyme, do a phonemic awareness activity, Lord's Prayer, and some Enki music and movement/ sensory integration activities.

Maybe finish with a motor skill activity of some sort. Then I figured I could work with Anna for 45 minutes or so on reading (Bear Necessities from Promethean Press and I See Sam readers),

handwriting (HWT PreK), and

thinking skills (Building Thinking Skills Primary, Visual-Perceptual Skill Building, and Developing the Early Learner).

Then we could go outside and take a walk and play for 45 minutes or so. Come back inside, eat lunch, do an art project, and read alouds from Sonlight Core B for 45 minutes to an hour.

Then put Catherine down for rest time and do more work with Anna:
math (Right Start A and Singapore EarlyBird, Beginning Math Reasoning), fine motor skills practice (Rod and Staff workbooks), and
language experiences (write in journal or dictate a story).

Round out with some educational games/ centers later in the afternoon, play with Headsprout when she wants to play on the computer, lots for outside time and free play, and extracurriculuar activities for a prek year. How does that sound? I figure no more than 10 minutes on any lesson except music/ movement, art, or maybe RightStart math.

For the ages, 10-15 at any activity is enough. I think your schedule is a little unrealistic in both expectations and academics for PreK. You said 45 minutes many times!

Math, Handwriting, Phonics are all you need in a gentle way. Everything else besides spending time through play will not be worth your time until later. Building Primary Thinking Skills? That can be done through puzzles and games.

[kalanamak]

Kiddo is 5.5 and "active". He can concentrate and sit still, but not always at the moments I want him to. Your schedule would have been far too much for him and he would have let me know post haste!

I would suggest starting out very slowly and learning your child's style and abilities as you go. Art is a good way to start on pencil skills. Next, for us, was mazes (Kumon) and then cutting and pasting (Kumon). Plaid Phonics K was the most playful and basic letter introduction I could find, but at 4 we never did anything more than 10 minutes in a sitting.

I started math with getting a good supply of manipulatives and then just getting them out and playing with them. Not pedantically, but integrated in the play I introduced "longer, shorter, more, less" etc etc. We counted his toy animals and cars. I introduced a clock face (a stamp without hands) and, per SWR, had him run around on a big one on the floor. For his whole fourth year it was fun fun fun. We did some of the things from Mudpies to Magnets and Everybody Has A Body. Kiddo loved our "science lab" times.

*I* was the one I was schooling. I read about curriculum, I assembled it (mostly used), I started reading and outlining the ones I planned on using, like SWR, Singapore, Kingfisher science, etc. I pick at Latin, I read Guerber's books and The Story of Mankind and all the books of My Book House, etc. I'm currently reading the ABCs and All Their Tricks.

If I'm to be the tutor, I'm to be informed, so I can be nimble in those "teachable moments". (I'll never forget kiddo, 4, at the Party Store watching the balloons be inflated. "Helium is a noble gas" he said, and all the gals let out a whoop and he got a free balloon.)

Somewhere just after 5, when I could see him start to get more self-control, I have slowly put down more rules...holding pencil properly, focusing....still this is all to me much more about he and I learning how to do this rather than the raw material we are covering. E.g. I've learned when my guy says he's tired or thirsty, etc to get out of something, it is because he is anxious to do everything right the first time. A little reassurance that he is still learning and "no one knows but us" (regarding mistakes) or whispering "we have erasers, you know" and he's much more willing.

In short: start slowly and build on slowly. Go from success to success. If you feel you "aren't doing enough", ease your anxiety by schooling yourself! Rome wasn't built in a day.

HTH, and ask away. There are many, many helpful people here.

[Tonia]

First question - does your daughter enjoy workbooks? If not, then I'd cut them way down. My dd is also four (and loves workbooks) and she wouldn't sit for that much work.

The first thing you should do is sit down and figure out what goals you want to accomplish this year - ex: learn her letter sounds, write all the letters of the alphabet and then figure out what you need to do to help her accomplish these goals.The skills to focus on at this age - building obedience (absolutely essential before anything else) and motor skills. The basic "schoolwork" I would focus on - reading, math, and a little bit of handwriting. Everything else is gravy.

As far as scheduling:
circle time - 10 minutes at the most (and only if it is something you really have your heart set on doing)
Reading instruction - 5-10 minutes of instruction and 5-10 minutes of her reading to you. Set the timer.
Handwriting - 5 minutes (and you don't really need a curriculum - just a kumon workbook from the bookstore)
Math - I'd pick one program.
Everything else - one book/series for thinking skills, rod and staff, art stuff etc. - keep on a shelf and let her use them when she wants to.

I'm doing K4 with my dd right now - the only things we do everyday - reading books, phonics instruction, science OR math, and some basic french (we live in Quebec). But not all at the same time - generally dad reads to her sometime in the morning while I'm exercising, I'll do some phonics instruction right before lunch. And after lunch we play a math game or do some science activity. Everything else is whenever we feel like doing it. She has workbooks, crayons, scissors and a glue stick sitting on the desk that she is allowed to use whenever she wants - Explode the Code, Total Math, Never Bored Kid Book, Rod and Staff book, kumon workbook. For art - I keep a small table in the corner of the dining room with a five drawer tower full of art supplies and math and science manipulatives that she is allowed to use whenever she wants. This is working for us.

Sorry this got so long, but I hope it gives you some ideas.

[Terabith]

Thanks, this is the kind of feedback I want! I worry about it being too much, but I also know myself....I am an all or nothing kind of gal. I have to either be VERY structured, or totally loosey-goosey and nothing gets done. I want her to play outside for an hour or two a day, and I don't want her to stress. At just turned four, she already can read phonetic 3 or 4 letter words, so I felt like the reading/ phonics would be appropriate. Technically this is her preK year, but I'm pondering counting it as kindergarten, since her birthday is in November and academically she seems okay. I know I said 45 minute blocks, but I was thinking combined...you know, 5-10 minutes on reading, 15 minutes on math, 10 minutes on handwriting. We routinely read for an hour at a time, so read alouds I'm not worried about. I wouldn't do Right Start and Singapore math on the same day or Developing the Early Learner and Building Thinking Skills on the same day....it'd alternate and do one thinking skills and one math daily. I dunno; I still have to think about this. I don't want to rush too much, but I know how I get if my day isn't really planned out. I'm worried I'm not cut out to be a homeschooler. I'm too much of a perfectionist, but I desperately want to homeschool!

Yes, Enki is a full program. I plan on just getting the movement book, however.

They do spend a lot of time playing on their own and lots of time cuddling and such. I dunno. Arg.

PS - I'd love it if anyone wanted to come over. We need more play dates! And I'd LOVE to have more kiddos to school. Really, what I'd love was to have my own small school with five kids or so.

[jg_puppy]

PS - I'd love it if anyone wanted to come over. We need more play dates! And I'd LOVE to have more kiddos to school. Really, what I'd love was to have my own small school with five kids or so.

I wish that you lived near me. I would love to have some homeschool friends that lived in my neighborhood. We have some homeschool friends, but they live about 20 minutes away.

Jan

[Texas T]

What you have planned sounds like a lot for a 4-year-old. You sound like you're going to be a great homeschool mom, just remember that you build year by year on their education and if you make it enjoyable in the early years, it won't be so cumbersome as they are older and they'll enjoy learning. There really isn't a need to do much more than 15 minutes per activity and to make it relaxed and no need to stretch it through the day. I think all-day kindergarten is one of the worst ideas yet, and so I don't think it good to stretch pre-k either. Also, use this time to read about learning styles, watch your child and how your child learns best, read all kinds of books on home education to see what would suit you and your family. If you pray, then pray for wisdom to make a good, healthy, fun start to this homeschool life. I wish I'd known then what I know now and could have started my children's education in the way it is heading now.

If I had it to do over again, I'd take my oldest child (now 12) at the age of 4 and do as much learning as we could in game/play form. I'd minimize the seatwork and maximize integrating learning the basics with activities using large and fine motor skills. I'd take her fun places to learn out in the world. I'd allow her to play outside more and explore more. I'd STRONGLY encourage her to do more creative imaginative play and less of all the other things, particularly anything requiring much writing unless it is just something they beg for. Instead of doing these things, I pushed too much learning on her at a young age and I think we missed some fun things we could have been doing that would have been worth so much more. My 3rd child is now a 4-year-old and we're doing the things I wish I'd done/known before. He loves preschool workbooks, but if he didn't want them, I'd toss them. What we're doing is fun, he's learning a lot, and there's no stress to it. Just my thoughts.

Teresa

[Laurel T.]

I am an all or nothing kind of gal. I have to either be VERY structured, or totally loosey-goosey and nothing gets done.

I am kind of like this also. I started out with a great plan this year. I was actually quite proud of it. But, in the day-to-day reality it was really very difficult to get more than a few minutes of "school" done. Not that my son couldn't handle it, but that life just kind of took over. My thought was that my preschoolers will never have another time when they can direct their learning as they do now. We could not really smoothly transition from one activity to another. By the end of the year we actually completed what I wanted to complete, but for us it turned out that one day we would play outside all day, then another day we would do 5 art projects, then one day he would sit down and do 20 pages in a math workbook. It was really hard to move through the day the way I had envisioned. In the end it got done, but I let them kind of decide in what order and in what manner.

I guess what I am saying is that it might be helpful to look at what you want to accomplish for the year (as a whole) than for each day. This is just what worked for us.

I hope you guys have as much fun with preschool as we are!!!

Laurel T.

[StephanieZ]

Sounds like WAY too much to me!!

My dc have all thrived academically with abt 20-60 min/day of structed schooling at that age. And by thrive, I mean surpass all typical milestones rapidly and consistently.

I'd pick one reading program and spend 15-20/min a day on it. Then I'd add some complementary reading or handwriting activities as optional enrichments. Maybe some math for fun. Max it out at 1 hour a day spread over perhaps up to two hours (with the breaks/lunch or whatever).

The rest of the day should be very loosely structured and fun. Art is so fun it shouldn't count as school. Same goes for science projects or nature study. I hate bossing my kids around so I like to keep the demands/requirements low and do the rest as fun stuff. They're learning just as much whether or not they know it's school.

Don't stress you and your child out. Have fun. Take it easy. Teach her to read. Do those things and you'll be way ahead of the game for the next, K, year.

FWIW, I find it easiest to start one curriculum every few weeks at most and add them in one at a time over several months/years. You can stop adding when you feel busy enough.