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Before having children I never imaged teaching preschool from home. I worked in a child care center and I seen so many advantages that a child care center preschool could offer. Now that I am a stay at home mom I don’t see why I would send her to preschool when I can do the same exact things from home and for A LOT cheaper. I mean do you realize how much preschool really is. Where I live it is about 250 a month and that is for three-part time days a week.

Now yes I do have a degree in early childhood education but teaching preschool from home does not require any type of degree. Did you know that children learn through play? So guess what your little ones are learning without you even trying so see it can’t be that hard to teach preschool from home. And let me tell you at most preschools play time takes up most the day so why pay for them to go play when they can from home. The only thing they are not learning during play is numbers, letters and how to read. I know you can do it so let’s get started I’ll walk you through how to teach preschool at home!

What is expected of children to learn in Preschool

Children start preschool around the age of 2.5 and go till 5 or till they can go into kindergarten. Most of what goes on at preschool is probably already going on in your house so don’t get over whelmed!

• Hands on Play
• Knowing their abc’s
  • Being able to say them
  • Name the letters when out-of-order
  • Know the sounds that the letters make
• Identify Numbers 1-10
• Count 1-30
• Shapes and Colors
• Learn to take turns
• Learn how to sit and stay quite while listening
• Follow Directions
• Use scissors, pencil and glue
• Find their creativity
• Site words
• Start to learn to read

 

Remember most of these you are already doing without realizing it! Children pick up on so much and so easily they are watching everything you are doing and they are learning from it all. It may blow you away with what they already know as it.

Get some supplies

So lets start with what you will actually need to teach your little one.

Craft Supplies

You can not go wrong with craft supplies and you will probably want to get quite a bit! Items like crayons, markers, paint, paper, play doh. (Triangle crayons and the larger glue sticks are going to help hand control along with helping to support proper grip.) Crafts are a great way to incorporate learning activities while making it fun. Here are some great crafts and activities to do!

Along with the arts and craft materials there are some other materials that I highly recommend. (They are all shown below. you can click the image to look at it) I have created different worksheets that are great for preschoolers and they are located in my shop. I am in the process of trying to create a year-long lesson plan that will include activities and worksheets for preschoolers.

Other Materials

I have a daily calendar activity and responsibility chart that we absolutely love. We use this everyday to start off our preschool time. The teach my toddler box is a great starter kit for teaching your preschooler. We have used this company’s box sets since infant stage they are great! I absolutely love this preschool workbook, it provides so many different worksheet and activities for children to do. Wipe clean books are great because you can use them over and over. We have a wipe clean workbook that my daughter loves. Even though she can not completely trace correctly yet she has so much fun drawing in the book then being able to erase it. These are just a couple of ideas of thins to use. There are so many different options of materials out there.

         

                  

Routine 

I am very big on routines now I may not follow the same routine everyday but I try. I have found that it helps with the behavior issues that my two-year old has at times. When creating a routine and schedule this helps to make sure you will have time for preschool. The time needed for preschool is not a lot just about 30 minutes but it will also depend on your child. Some will only sit and pay attention for 15 minutes some will last longer. Don’t fight with your child to pay attention when they lose interest that’s the cue to stop. This also does not have to be an everyday type of thing like I mentioned above most children just go to preschool three days a week and most the time is spent playing.

My Routine

For my Routine I like to do two different time blocks for preschool. In the morning after breakfast for between 15-30 min. Then I do another block session in the afternoon after snack for 15-30 minutes. The afternoon time I like to do more of a screen time activity or read along book. One of the technology time apps I love to use is ABCmouse! This is a great app to use to help supplement in more learning! You can read my review on ABCmouse here!

The amount of time you set aside for preschool is going to vary and it will depend a lot on you have planned for that day and how your child will respond. It will be a lot less stressful for you if you go off your child. If they are not having it and want to go play let them.

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Tips to succeeding

• Stay calm
• Don’t stress
• Listen to your child
• Don’t force your child to do an activity if they do not want to. Trust me it causes more of a fight then to forget about it!
• Don’t worry if your child can not do what you think they should be able to. They will get their everyone learns at their own pace.

This can be a stressful time especially if this is all new to you to. I have been there where I have sat back and thought what in the world am I doing! That’s where you need to have an extra cup of coffee for the day!

Teaching them what they need to know

Teaching them the things they need to know can be easy. Children watch your every move and they learn from what you are doing. Repetition is key. It is going to take time for them to pick up what you’re trying to teach but keep with it and they will get it!

Teaching ABC’s

I spell out everything. When doing the calendar during our morning activity I spell out the month and the day while pointing to the letters. One item the I like to use is flash cards. Using the flash cards seem to help Avalynn  recognize her letters. We also like to sing the abc and use letter magnets. I may talk about all the letters every day but I like to focus on one letter a week. This helps with repetition if they hear the same letter every day for a week. I do art activities that go with the letter of the week too. Also the Wipe clean workbook is a great way to introduce letters and practice writing them.

Teaching Numbers

I love using flash cards! We have Mickey Mouse flash cards that we use. Avalynn loves counting with them and telling me the numbers. We also do different activities with numbers. We sort counting bears and count them and we count days on the calendar. If you count things in everyday life they will pick it up. Don’t worry if they mix up numbers while counting. If they say 1,3,4 say 1,2,3,4. You can correct them so they can have the repetition.

Teaching Shapes and Colors

This is a lot like teaching numbers. Repetition! Go for a walk and talk about the different colors you see. While at the store talk about different colors. When your going through your activity workbook mention the different colors your child is using. Using Legos is a great activity to add in colors. Talk about the different colors of the Legos. Same thing with shapes use the workbook to your advantage and name the different shapes you see. Do a  scavenger hunt through the house looking for different shapes. I also have a sand tray that I like to give Avalynn a shape card and have her draw it. I have the Mickey Mouse shape and color flash cards like the numbers one which works great.

Finding activities

Finding activities to do with your children is probably the hardest part about teaching preschool at home. Pinterest will make your life so much easier with finding activities. I use pinterest almost daily when it comes to finding different activities and things to do. The activity packets I have put together that are located in my shop include worksheets and activities that I used when teaching and are great to use to help teach your children the things they need to know.

I hope you have found this guide to be helpful! Have fun teaching preschool at home. It is such a joy as a mother to experience these moments with your children.

 

You may enjoy reading Learning Time with Your Little One!