Since I’ve been thinking of the possibility of homeschooling, I’ve been doing a little bit research here and there. There really aren’t any curriculums out there for preschoolers, obviously they should be playing and running around and working on just being kids for most of their day and I support that. Hannah enjoys learning though, so I want to have something available for her when she wants to do something new or when she is ready.
For a little while, I’ve been using the preschool Brain Quest workbook that I found at Costco and which Hannah seems to really like. Some days she wants to do page after page, and some days she doesn’t ask about “school” at all. She really likes the mazes right now (she’s done all the ones out of the book, so I might have to find a workbook with just mazes in it). It also has a pull out poster of the alphabet and stickers and other fun stuff. Maybe when she is done with it, I’ll get her the K one.
She’s been taking once a week music classes with a lady in our neighborhood and I think I’ll continue that while it is available. She is also finally old enough to be enrolled in some of the dance and art classes at our activity center, so I’ll probably look into that soon. I want to limit it to one class per week, but they are usually short time spans (6-8 weeks) so we can try a few different activities to see what she really likes.
She gets lots of outside time and we have at least one playdate with other kiddos a week. We’ve been working on introducing herself to other kids and asking them if they want to play with her. She is starting to do pretty good at that.
I also decided to order the Sonlight PreK package. Sonlight is literature based so its a lot of reading with suggested supporting activities and not as much worksheets. The preschool package is even more relaxed, no curriculum, just recommended reading. Hannah loves reading anyway so even if we don’t use Sonlight for later grades, these books will still get used. I figure if I can get the nanny to read at least one or two of the stories in the morning and I can follow up in the afternoon and maybe do some worksheets, I’m happy. Below is the list of books that should be heading to my house soon:
– 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible
– 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury
– A First Book of Fairy Tales
– Make Way for McCloskey
– The Bee Tree
– Eloise Wilkin Stories
– Go, Dog. Go!
– Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales
– Horton Hatches the Egg
– Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle
– Mike Mulligan and More
– Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs
– Noah’s Ark
– Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm
– Poems and Prayers for the Very Young
– Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day?
– The Tall Book of Nursery Tales
– Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics
– The Usborne Flip-Flap Body Book
– Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies CD
– Level P3/4 Parent’s Companion: Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fun for Little Learners
Also a couple games:
– Mighty Mind Game
– Teddy Mix & Match
I’m excited about something to hold me accountable to being more intentional with some scripture work and bible stories. And the Mighty Mind game looks fun. I’m not sure Hannah is as spatial as me so she may not like it though.
Well, that’s going to be Hannah’s preschool for at least the next year, maybe two. Life probably won’t change very much just because I finally spent some money on books!