Preschool at Home - Exploration and Setup

  For some reason, I could never get Jack excited about going to preschool. He seemed very apprehensive anytime I brought it up and would say "I'm too little for school, Mommy." I definitely was feeling the cultural pressure to get him in preschool as soon as possible, but I finally had to realize that he is a special little boy and I don't need to rush him out of the home. I began to explore the possibility of doing preschool at home, and felt really good about that decision. Jack will be challenged, I will be able to use my teaching credentials to benefit my own child/children, and it will give us more structure to our day (which we also needed).

      Thankfully, Jack is really excited to do school "with Mommy, at home." I gave myself a few weeks to pull together a curriculum and materials as well as setup our schoolroom/playroom. There are so many great resources online, and I am so excited to start on Monday!  Here is what I found and have been preparing for the boys:

Curriculum

Confessions of a Homeschooler - Letter of the Week (<---click on the individual letters to see the activities for each week and the links to download them for FREE)

    - This awesome homeschool Mama put together a Letter of the Week curriculum for preschool and provided all the printables for free! Downloading each file can be tedious, so she put everything together in a Letter of the Week downloadable program that includes all the printables as well as lesson plans and other extras, for a small fee.  She suggests going through the vowels first and consonants second (which corresponds with what I learned in school), upper-case letters the first time and lower-case letters the second time.  I also found these playdough mats that I like better than Erica's traceable mats, so I'll purchase these, soon.

    - Calendar Time activities and printables

    - Daily Learning Notebook for J to fill out during Calendar Time

Tot School

    - Knowing that Alex would have a hard time leaving Jack's stuff alone, I found this website that has a letter of the week focus for toddlers.  I prepared the A's, and matched them up to activities that Jack would be doing. My weekly lesson plan shows the activities the boys will work on together, as well as corresponding, individual activities.
    - She also includes a Tot Time Notebook for toddlers to do while older kids are using their Daily Learning Notebooks.

    - I also love her Tot Tray ideas for toddlers!  

We Choose Virtues
    - This program helps children to learn and apply 12 different virtues, such as being attentive, forgiving, diligent, etc...  I kind of want to just order the kids Virtue Clues cards and hang a different one up each week to focus on, but I haven't ordered them, yet.

Lots of homeschooling blogs are written by Christian families with short biblical verses to memorize each week.  This seemed weird to me at first, but then I realized that they memorize books all the time.  Why not have them memorize scripture verses? I have started to put together an LDS list of scriptures for each letter of the week, but I'm not quite done with it.  This will probably be practiced during Calendar Time.

These blogs have their favorite cds for music and movement. We love Super Simple Songs on Youtube for educational videos, especially since they don't use tons of flashing lights and quick movements, which are bad for people with seizures (i.e. Jack).

Other Resources

On Becoming Preschool Wise

    - I got this from the library recently and decided to work on a regular daily schedule this week in preparation for school to start.  The boys love knowing what is expected and our days have really improved! Here is our basic schedule:

7:00 am - Wake up, eat breakfast

7:30 - Make beds, get dressed for the day

7:45 - Free Playtime

8:30 - School Time (M-F) 

9:45 - Morning Snack

10 - Outdoor Time (usually at a park)

12 pm- Lunch

12:30 - Nap (They still nap at the same time)

2:30 - Wake up, together reading time

2:45 - Afternoon snack

3 - Structured Play with Sibling (A specific activity I have them do together)

3:30 - Free Playtime

4:15 - Quick cleanup

4:30 - TV time/Dinner Prep

5:30 - Dinner

6 - Family Time/Daddy Time

6:45 - Mommy and Daddy Time/Roomtime*

7 - Get ready for bed (bath, pajamas, brush teeth)

7:30 - Bedtime (scriptures, prayers, 30 minutes to fall asleep)

*Roomtime is also known as Quiet Time or All By Myself Time. I have a box of activities set aside each day for Jack to take into his room and play with by himself. This helps him learn to focus for increasing periods of time, and gives him a break from Alex trying to take all his toys). And Mommy and Daddy Time (AKA Couch Time) is time for the hubby and I to sit together and chat about our days without interruption.

    - A few other suggestions in the book that I am working on are helping the boys develop self-control and "three-candy speed." When I notice the boys start to get wiggly when I need them to be still and quiet.  I say "fold your hands and get some self-control," which buys me some time to redirect their attention to something else.  Michelle Duggar also describes her method of teaching self-control on their blog. And "three-candy speed" is showing them how fast they clean up if 3 pieces of candy are at stake, then using that phrase to guide them in cleaning up quickly when the occasion calls for it. 

Setting Up

The basic chevron calendar and date cards were purchased at Utah Idaho Supply for $7.

I found the chevron month labels for free on Teachers Pay Teachers.

The other big posters were purchased from the Dollar Tree, and there are a few of the Calendar Time printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

These boys are silly.

I set up a few tables and kids chairs from IKEA, as well as the hanging pouch from IKEA for basic art supplies.  I created that coconut tree from construction paper to correspond with the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom activities in the Letter of the Week curriculum.

Our car rug is from IKEA, and we have a few IKEA boxes labeled with pictures of books and blocks so the kids know where to put things away.

Our TV/Wii area also includes a basket with papers for drawing, special books, puzzles, our "treasure chest," and a few labeled buckets for toys (the left is for cars and trains, the right is for people and animals).  Jack is allowed to play the Wii only on Saturdays for a limited time, so he really looks forward to Saturdays.  :)

Jack in the reading corner. That wall has our big clock, a changeable weather poster from the Dollar Tree, and the seasons poster from Calendar Time.

Other Supplies

    I have also been stocking up on basic supplies like cardstock and multi-purpose paper for printing, a laminator, glue, scissors, a pack of alphabet beads from Hobby Lobby, folders and sheet protectors to organize the Daily Learning Notebook and curriculum, random stuff from Dollar Tree (lacing cards, pipe cleaners, foam sheets, Bingo markers for Do-a-Dot pages, flash cards for Quiet Time boxes, etc...) I have also gathered materials for Jack's Quiet Time boxes.  

I have no idea how next week is going to go, but we are all excited!