Reader Tammy wants help finding an inexpensve preschool curriculum:
I am wondering if you have any suggestions for an at-home preschool curriculum. I’ve seen some online, and many of them look very educational and entertaining. (Expensive, too!)
Are there any good, inexpensive programs out there? I’m good with on or offline versions.
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Tammy, I’ve homeschooled 6 kids, and talked with dozens of other parents. The advice I always hear from the experienced is “Don’t be pressured by the glitz and glitter! Get a library card! Read to your child, count dinner plates, play games, go on nature walks, and read aloud some more! Watercolor, bake cookies, gaze at the stars, fly a kite, Read science and history type books as well as great fiction. Subtract cheerios. TURN OFF THE TV” And so on along those lines. The problem with the pre-packaged preschool material is not just that it costs too much money. It costs too much time – when you could be learning naturally. There will be workbooks and texts and such that are needed in the coming years. Enjoy these years of free-style learning while you can!
AWESOME advice, Sharon!! I absolutely agree with you!!!!!! :)
I like the “Letter of the Week” curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler. (You can download it here: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2010/07/letter-of-week-curriculum.html) It is easily a year’s worth of activities for $10. I just print off what I want to use and add in other activities that coordinate with the theme (art, cooking, music, etc.). Works well for us.
I totally agree with Sharon. Preschool is a time for “learning through PLAY”. Academics come soon enough; and children with a strong foundation in social skills do great in school!!
You can find tons of great lesson plans online for free. Teachers.net is a great place to find them: http://teachers.net/lessonplans/grades/preschool/
I’ve found some great preschool workbooks at our Dollar Tree. My daughter LOVES them.
Since children at this age have very short attention spans, be patient and don’t try to sit and work on something for longer than 10 minutes. Then allow them to get up, wiggle and play. Later you can sit back down and work for another 10 minutes.
I agree that preschool is a lot about learning through play and activities, but if you’re looking for an actual curriculum, Money Saving Mom (at MoneySavingMom.com) has lots of different curriculum plans under what she calls “Educational Freebies.” Some are for older kids, but if you search “Educational Freebies” you’ll find some great stuff for preschoolers too.
We did, and do, what Sharon F. described above. My daughter is five and reads incredibly well. We rarely watch TV, but we spend a good amount of time at the library, reading at home, doing all sorts of fun and educational activities (check my blog on Friday the 4th to see how to make ‘the pizza game’!!) The library has tons of books with activities in math, art, science, language, etc. if you need ideas. I would much rather spend my money on experiences (admissions to zoos, museums, etc.) than a curriculum.
The dollar tree has an awesome selection of educational stuff, check it out.
You may want to check out ABCJesusLovesMe.com – they have a lot of free materials for preschoolers. You can print it for free or buy an inexpensive printed version.
“Letter of the Week” by Brightly Beaming Resources is amazing, and free! It has nursery, preschool, Kindergarten, and even some elementary curriculum. I used it for a while with my daughter and it was fun and easy, and very adaptable.
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/
The book “Teach Me Mommy” is one of my favourites. I like the philosopy and found it had creative, inexpensive ideas.
I did Joy School (found at valuesparenting.com) for two years with my son. You pay a fee and then get access to all the lessons and songs online. We did it as a group with four other moms with preschoolers. Each taking a turn at our house. I think I paid $70 a semester ($140/year)- living in California at the time I thought this was a very cheap deal. Fun too.
I heartily agree with the suggestions to not buy a curriculum. The most important advice is to read, read, read. When you read to you kids you are exposing them to all kinds of information, etc. that creates “hooks” in their brain to add future learning to. If you click on my name you will go to my blog where I have a couple suggestions for teaching the alphabet and I am adding more on Tuesdays.
Just spend time playing, sorting socks into piles of different colors, or take fruit and put all the apples together and then all the oranges. Play with blocks, draw shapes, etc. You can buy an inexpensive workbook at Walmart if you really want something to work through.
Go to the zoo, playground, library etc. My daughters both knew their letters when they were two and started to learn to read at three so this approach works.
Just wanted to add that if anyone has suggestions for teaching the alphabet and wants to post them on my blog, I would love to hear them.
The confessions of a homeschooler blog has A-Z collage worksheets that are super fun! for example, gluing cherrios onto a large letter “C”…my preschooler really loves these. http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-printables.html
And I agree with the first post~I made the mistake of buying a large curriculum set for my son our first year homeschooling, I have since learned that experiences paired with using my own instinct is the best route. I pick up low cost workbooks at dollar stores, use printables, library resources, and follow blogs to get ideas for art etc. I also take note what my children are interested in, for instance my son adores science, so I incorporate fun experiments and adventures for him:)
Since I do a formal Kindergarten curriculum with my 5yo son, I needed something ‘pre-school like’ for my 3yo to work on. Unlike my son, she hates workbook-type activities. So I’ve had to have a much different approach for her. This is what we do:
If I’m using counters in math with my son, I have her group them together – by color, by pattern, by object, etc. I have a ton of the following items. Some are for during school only hours (so she sees them as a treat) and others are for whenever she wants to do them. If there is a such a thing as a ‘crafts’ love language, it is hers. ;) So we have a good amount of: puzzles (28-40 pcs), millions of different kinds of stickers, stamps with stamp pads, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, construction paper, glitter glue, etc. Often I give her direction with what to do and sometimes she just does her own thing.
Other ideas of things we do for free preschool: lace cards (can make them from template online), I draw lines on a paper and she cuts on the line, blocks, finding patterns with blocks or counters, etc.
And we just have tons of time for play – outside in the sandbox, etc.
-Lauren
The Pikes Peak Library has learning packages available to loan out — but you need to take their training class first. Everything is free (including the training) and designed to work as a unit based around a book or theme and includes more than just a book and instructions! I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out myself, but heck, it’s free and taxpayer supported. I’d call DownTown or ELIC for info.
I agree with all those who say learning through play. We are not a fan of pre-school in our home. We have spent time with our children & will “work” on the things that they are currently interested in. Yes, school is different, but my preschoolers should not be in such a fixed curriculum that we can’t expand on their interests. (my opinion!). My eldest was reading fluently at 4 years old, my next in line has no interest in reading right now, but loves to practise her letters & paint. Play is so very important and flexibility! All the best!
Yes, “preschool” should be a time of learning through play! Develop activites to corespond with her interests-to enhance her curiosity about the subject, to answer her questions. This way you can be flexible and yet help her develop self-control to work through a job (which is what she will have to do in school.) But don’t expect too much–she is in preschool!! :) A great site I use is http://www.dltk-kids.com ; it is very user friendly, easily searchable, and has great lesson plans that incoorporate all subjects on one topic. And it’s FREE! For instance, if my little guy had just seen an amazing new creature (aka bug) I would go to this site and search for bugs. Up pops a lesson plan to work on the letter ‘B’, science habitats, math counting (legs), and so on….
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! I am slightly leery of a traditional curriculum, but my daughter is an ‘old’ preschooler and missed the cutoff date for kindergarten by just 2 months, so I’d like to start getting her ready for that environment.
I’m going to look into all of these, because despite the fact that I want some structure, I also agree that this is the best time for her to have flexible fun while learning.
FIVE IN A ROW!!! We loved FIAR and Before FIAR with each of our youngest 3 children for preSchool & Kindergarten. Some of the manuals are available at the library, and almost all of the books in the lesson plans are found at the PPLD.
Very gentle, very thorough!
The website http://www.starfall.com has some great “learning to read” activities. My almost 3 year old loves to play with it! Very kid friendly. Just need to scroll the mouse and click.
I have homeschooled my 4 boys. I have always taken the Montessori “hands on” approach. It helps teach focus, gross and fine motor skills and a basic foundation for higher learning. It is also child lead. So you don’t pressure a child to learn they just do and it keeps their love of learning in tact. Also don’t be fooled….. you do not need the fancy materials. You can find them in your house, make them using everyday materials etc.
Here are some books you can get from the library that have curriculum in them:
Slow and steady get me ready. – Oberlander
Montessori at Home – Spitz
Teaching Montessori at Home – Hainstock
Basic Montessori : learning activities for under-fives – Gettmann
Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child – Pitamic
One small square books
Free online sources:
http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/_link.htm
http://www.moteaco.com/albums.html
http://www.ehow.co.uk/videos-on_7410_montessori-visual-activities.html
I don’t know if this offer is still good it was yesterday:
http://www.mightybookjr.com and sign up for a free 1 year subscription to their online library. They have 900 books for ages 2 -13, and worksheets/activity pages/test question etc for the books too.
Click on Buy Subscription, then choose Paypal as your payment method. Then enter coupon learntoread
Search youtube for Montessori videos and google for free Montessori activities.
Have the child pick a subject they want to learn more about and go to the library….we do a subject a week.
The main thing to remember is at this age use all 5 senses to teach and let them experience by doing things themselves. They will learn more if the fail, spill, do it wrong than if you do it for them. Always encourage to try again, one of life’s lessons.
Last piece of advice I always remember a friend saying. “No matter what, they will learn in spite of you.” Good luck!
Awesome! Yes, the mightybookjr did work, very easily!
I and 5 other ladies from my church do pre-k for our children. We each take a week. We have a theme like zoo, valentines, fall, sports. Then we teach a letter, number up to 20 shape and color. We have it planned out for the whole year at the beginning. We start out coloring a page while everyone shows up. Then we say a prayer and pledge, which we would never be able to do in a regular preschool. I don’t know how exactly all the other ladies do it, but I do a few worksheets, then we have singing time. I have the names of fun songs on the back of bees and they pick the bee and put it on the beehive. They love it. Then I have pictures of animals on craft stick for old mcdonald and of bus items for wheels on the bus. Then we do more worksheets and I fix the snack. Then we do story time and maybe some games that are centered on the theme. Then we do a craft. Then they have playtime for 20-30 minutes. I know it seems like a lot, but all of that only takes from 10-11:45 on 2 days a week. I do it more for the social aspect for my daughter than the learning. She loves to be around other children and it helps her know how to behave appropriately in certain settings. I love it.
Hello, I send my son to Pre-School for the interaction with other kids his age as his older brother was 16. I also had to work. We did teach him at home as well. But Gift Of Time Preschool is amazing. He not only learned everything he was supposed to she also has a Christian background so prayers for snack was included her values were wonderful! When he started KG and was tested he was ready for the First Grade. My son missed the cut off date as well and this really did give him the jump start needed. She also does the real life things with them. They plant a garden. Teaches them to use a butter knife. She was a blessing. It is not baby stuff drop off and go. She teaches to the students as a person not a curriculum. If the children are more advanced she challenges them if they are not she works with them and challenges them as well. Check her out.
GIFT OF TIME CHRISTIAN PRESCHOOL Contact: Vicki Ingram 4939 Garden Trail Colorado Springs, CO 80918 (719) 388-1626. License #1537470 …