Our Preschool Homeschool Curriculum
Our preschool homeschool curriculum actually isn’t much of a curriculum at all. It’s more of a skill set, learned through fun and “playing school,” that my little guy needs to accomplish before he’s ready to move on to actual schoolwork.
Our, what I believe to be, last baby is turning three years old in less than a month. He’s been working on various tasks that would be included in a preschool curriculum since we began our homeschool year in July.
Items Needed for Preschool Homeschool Curriculum
Don’t you love the excitement in the eyes of your little humans when you mention “doing school?” I undoubtedly do. They’re so full of wide-eyed wonder and ready for the next challenge. I just don’t get that from my older kids. They’re not as excited about learning as they used to be, but the little humans are ecstatic. I just love it!
This year, I handed my little guy his very own school box. He has his very own set of crayons, colored pencils, a glue stick, a pencil, and markers. These are staples of any preschool curriculum. He loved it. He just sat and looked at his new box of supplies as though they were treasure, and to him they are.
Skills & Activities Included in Our Preschool Homeschool Curriculum
Fine Motor Skills
Motor skills are very important in the development of your little ones. We use those preschool staples I just shared with you to draw and color. He has his own dry erase marker he uses to “practice” on his name tracing page. We bring out the sculptor within by playing with playdough. We talk about colors when we play with crayons or playdough. Making playdough items (cookies, rocks, dogs, cows, etc.) and counting them is a lot of fun.
If we’re having an issue with correct pencil grip, we work on that now. My little fella doesn’t seem to be having any problems with that, but I’ll watch for the next year to make sure we don’t develop any new habits.
Perfecting Potty Training
We’re working on getting to the bathroom in a timely manner, so my little fella can get on the potty all by himself with a little time to spare. And, for some reason, all my children have thought it was necessary to get naked from the waist down to go to the bathroom for around the first year after potty training. So, we’re working on being able to keep our clothes on while we potty.
Following in Older Siblings’ Footsteps
My little guy really likes doing what his older siblings do, so I’m taking full advantage of that. He has been sitting with them while they are watching their learning videos and taking his turn on the tablet when it’s time to play learning games. (I wrote about our favorite early learning apps in the post, Best Free Apps for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners.) Sometimes he’ll sit with us while I read to the kindergarteners. Other times, he plays while I read.
Hands-On Learning Games
I’ve downloaded several printables from totschooling.net, laminated them, and turned them into hands-on learning games we use over and over again. He takes his turn matching up numbers, colors, and letters with the different printables. There are even sounds he recognizes. (He does better at this than my kindergarteners. It’s a little scary.)
Focus on Play
Preschool is not really supposed to be “school.” I keep this in mind and I don’t force learning on younger children. If you don’t focus on learning, but on play, they’ll never associate learning with a sit-down-and-be-still activity, and hopefully, never dread “doing school.”
Small children seldom sit still for very long and have very short attention spans, therefore, we keep any activity that requires focus to no more than 30 minutes and we try to make it faster, if possible.
Do you have a favorite preschool curriculum? If so, leave me a comment or send me an email. I’d like to talk to you about it.
