Whether you are considering homeschooling for the entirety of your kids’ education or just want to do preschool at home, teaching preschool at home is fun and simple with just a few tools! If you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, I’m here to tell you exactly how to homeschool preschool.
Knowing what skills your child should learn before kindergarten can seem very overwhelming. I know because I’ve felt that same way! Thankfully, there are so many great resources to learn how to teach your 4 year old at home to get him or her ready for K5.
Homeschooling preschool is a great way for you, as the parent, to see how your child learns. Many parents feel intimidated and inadequate to teach their children, but preschool is a low-pressure way to find out if homeschooling is right for your family! In this post I will go over what our family uses for K4 and what is most important for your child to learn in preschool.
How to Homeschool Preschool
Why homeschool preschool?
There are so many great reasons to homeschool and especially for preschool! Here are just a few…
- It gives you more time with your kids. Trust me, I know the days can be long, but this is precious time you will not get back. Truly, I’m not trying to give a guilt trip because I really do think it’s important for mom’s who are homemakers to get time out for themselves to recharge. But, our responsibility is to disciple our children and we only have so many years to do that. Homeschooling give you a great deal more time to train up your child to be the Godly man or woman they will one day be!
- You learn how your kids learn. I’ve found this to be really helpful this year as we do K4 with my oldest. I believe even if you don’t plan to homeschool all they way through high school, knowing how your child learns and what he or she struggles with is very important as a parent.
- You know what your child is learning. When you’re teaching at home, you know exactly what your child is learning and being exposed to every day. In today’s culture, it is okay and good to shelter your preschooler.
Our family plans to homeschool for K4-12th grade, but we will definitely be taking it one year at a time to determine what is best for each child. There are so many options for homeschooling- from doing everything at home with the parent teaching, to co-ops, to online classes. There really is an option for everyone! For example, this year we are homeschooling K4 and my little one goes to a local resource center two days a week. While going to a resource center or co-op is not necessary for homeschooling (and definitely not for preschool) we felt that it was a good option for us with our kids’ personalities. It gives them a place to make consistent friends, but also leaves the education ultimately in the parents’ hands.
Important skills to teach when homeschooling preschool:
- Learn the alphabet – letter recognition and writing upper and lower case
- Learn to count and write numbers 1-10
- Recognize colors, shapes and patterns
- Pencil grip
- Scissor skills
- Begin blending letters
- Calendar
- Play!
What you need:
- Curriculum– Not only is curriculum a very personal choice but it’s also not completely necessary to have for K4. You can find so many workbooks and manipulatives online that buying formal curriculum is not needed. With that being said, some people (including myself) like for everything to be spelled out and have guide for what to do each day. We are using the Abeka curriculum for K4 and have really loved it! It has multiple workbook pages for each letter and number they learn so they get a lot of practice.
If you choose not to buy curriculum, you can easily find free printables online or other preschool workbooks. We have utilized this Brainquest workbook and I think it would be a great option to use for K4 with some additional crafts if you don’t want to purchase a full curriculum. Do-a-dot pages are also a great way to practice learning the letters and kids get so excited about using dot markers! Pinterest is my best resource for finding printables and activities for free!
- Pencils– These pencils are great for little hands learning how to grip a pencil correctly. I’ve found that holding a pencil the correct way is a skill that really has to be learned. Something that comes so easily to us as adults takes a lot of practice for little hands. So, be patient and keep practicing!
- Scissors– K4 is a great time to learn scissor skills with age appropriate scissors. We use these.
- Flash Cards– Alphabet and number flash cards
- Manipulatives-I purchased these manipulatives to go along with our Saxon math curriculum. If you’re not going to teach a formal curriculum in K4, Learning Resources has so many great options. For K4 we have mostly used the linking cubes, counting bears, pattern blocks and clock. The main things we are learning with these is counting, sorting and patterns.
- Crafts Supplies– Preschoolers will learn so much through play! Play dough, paper plates, paint, glue sticks and crayons are always great to have on hand. Use the play dough to form letters or paper plates to make an animal out of the letter of the week! When you’re lacking ideas- Pinterest always has a great preschool craft!
- Pinterest- Pinterest has so many great ideas of preschool crafts and learning resources! Be mindful, though, that your homeschooling doesn’t have to look aesthetically perfect and have an amazing theme each week. If that excites you and your kids- go for it! But don’t let it make you feel inadequate either.
How often to do school:
It’s most important to make preschool fun and short! You can easily spend 30 minutes or less 2-3 days a week to teach the necessary skills for preschool.
Each child will learn differently and if you feel like your child is struggling learning something, find a fun way to get more practice in. As I mentioned earlier, there are so many preschool crafts on Pinterest! Or if your child just enjoys learning, take advantage of that and get more school time in!
When to do school:
The great thing about homeschooling is that you can do school work any time that works best for your family! As mentioned before, preschool work does not take much time so you can be even more flexible with your schedule.
Although we do not have a scheduled time of day that we do our school work, we do sit down at our table and do work. That’s what works for us, but if your preschooler will focus better sitting outside and learning- go for it! Again, that is the beauty of homeschooling.
Bottom line- Do what is best for your family and personalities! Set time aside for school but it does not have to be a specific time, unless that helps your family get the work done.
A few other preschool skills:
Calendar: K4 is a great time to teach the calendar- days of the week, months, year and seasons.
Letter sounds and blending letters: Along with teaching the alphabet, it is time to learn what sound each letter makes! Keep reviewing the letter sounds even as you add more. We’ve also begun to blend letter sounds (like “ba, bi, be, bo, bu”). Even if your child struggles with this, it’s great to introduce blending just so they are a familiar with the concept.
Reading Aloud: Read aloud to your preschooler as much as you can! Some kids will sit and listen better than others (I can tell a big difference between my kids), but do your best. Even sitting for 5 minutes to listen is a great way to start. My kids love going to the library and it’s helps to let them pick out the books that they are excited to read.
This is so important…
Every child learns at a different pace! Do not compare your child to your friend’s child. Some people will put their 2-3 year old in preschool, so they will probably know the alphabet sooner than your 4 year old. That’s ok! Don’t forget that there is so much value in staying home with your kids in those very early years. Your child will learn a great deal just by watching and spending time with you.
