How We Homeschool Preschool & Kindergarten

Over the years, how we homeschool has changed as we've changed in our philosophy and style. One of the biggest changes has come in the area of how we school our preschoolers and kindergartners.

I began homeschooling when my oldest was 4 1/2. I sat him down at the table with a long and involved (and rather teacher-intensive, I might add) curriculum and purposed to teach him to read within 2 months or else. We made every craft, took every field trip, and read every book that curriculum suggested. By the end of the year, he was reading and

I was exhausted.

However, my next child threw me for a loop. She's the polar opposite of my oldest and so I figured I would wait to school her until she showed more readiness. However, one day she announced she could read the word "office" (and every other word for that matter) and we realized teaching her was going to be an absolute mystery. She still just suddenly learns things and hates having someone actually "teach" her.

Now, I've added #3 to the mix. She's somewhere in between. But, there is something they (and all children) have in common...

They are sponges.

My first child is the kind of sponge that wrings himself out quite often, so you are never in doubt as to what he knows. My second child is the kind of sponge that rarely wrings herself out, only to suddenly and without warning get you all wet. My third child is just happy to be a sponge.

So, how has this knowledge changed how we homeschool?

Well, we've relaxed...A LOT, and we've learned to school them through everyday LIFE.

So, here's a taste of how we homeschool our preschool and kindergarten aged children...

Organization:



Each child has a black crate ($2.50 ea) with their name on it. The crate contains their books, their pencil box, and a folder with each subject velcroed to it.



The preschooler's crate has 1 coloring book and his pencil box which contains washable markers, 2 fat pencils, crayons, glue stick, and preschool scissors.

The kindergartner's crate contains her folder with 1 math sheet and 1 handwriting sheet tucked inside, her reading book (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons), and her pencil box with the same contents as the preschooler's.

On the outside of the kindergartner's folder are these velcro tabs:
AM CHORES, CHORES, MATH, HANDWRITING, PHONICS
As she completes each one she moves the velcro tab from the outside of her folder to her chart on the pantry door.




Her completed worksheets go back in the folder and the folder goes into the COMPLETED box where I can check them and reload them each night.


(This system began as a modified Workbox System for large families that I found at Peace Creek on the Prairie blog. I have since modified it even more to fit my family's needs and preferences.)

Workbooks:
My kindergartner has only 2....Horizons Math - K and A Reason for Handwriting - K.
My preschooler has a coloring book. (The $1 kind from WalMart)
I load one sheet per workbook, per day into the kindergartner's folder (the preschooler has free rein of his coloring book). If she wants to do more, all she has to do is ask and I tear out another for her.

Schedule:
I hesitate to even call the way we school our littles a "schedule", but for lack of a better term, this section describes the basics of what their "school day" looks like.

After everyone finishes chores, we begin school. Usually that means everyone starts in on their workbooks. The bigs do their independent work while I work with the kindergartner on her 1 math sheet and her 1 handwriting sheet. Occasionally, one of my older children helps her if I am busy with baby or finishing up in the kitchen. My preschooler works at the table alongside everyone else cutting and coloring and gluing his coloring book. (yes, I allow my preschooler to cut AND glue)

After the kindergartner finishes her workbook lessons, she and the preschooler and I move to the couch to read. They love this time and I cherish the snuggle time I get with them. Usually we begin with Leading Little Ones to God, followed by child-friendly books I've gathered from various book lists (more on those sources in a bit). By the time I am finished reading to them, the preschooler has had enough of sitting still and goes off to play. At that time, I do 1 reading lesson from 100 Easy Lessons with my kindergartner.

That marks the end of anything resembling formal schooling. It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Life Lessons:
Here's where the true schooling takes place. My littles spend copious amounts of time with me in the kitchen, outside, and on the couch. We cook, measure, talk ingredients and life while we work in our teeny-tiny kitchen. Outside we make contraptions from rope and buckets, build campfires, read, and explore nature (yes, there is nature in the city!) On the couch we cuddle and read and read and read. Life is a running dialogue with God's awesomeness at the center of it all.

That's what homeschooling is all about.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:7

Now, for the book list sources I promised to talk about.

I'm a book junkie...a bibliophile, if you will. Since I was in grade school, I've made lists of books I would someday read. I still have some of those lists! (this LIST being one of them)

For my littles, I use lists from several different sources. Here are a few of those sources:
1. Honey for a Child's Heart (I got my copy from Paperback Swap!)
3. Old Fashioned Education book list
4. Ambleside Online book list
5. The Well-Trained Mind resource list
6. Five In A Row Series List

It's very easy to use lists like these. Simply take the list to your library and find several of the titles listed. As you read them to your children, check them off the list. Also, don't forget to engage your child as you read...point out things in the pictures, ask questions, have them tell back to you what you read. You will quickly see a LOVE for reading develop, and reading opens all sorts of doors because books can be about so many different subjects.

As you can see, homeschooling preschoolers and kindergartners need not be daunting and scary. Grab some good books, find a place to curl up together, and enjoy each other's company. There really is very little extra they need.

(Micah "snacking" on the the name tag from his older sister's crate)