What do YOU do at home with your preschooler?

[sarahtar]

I mean, beyond the normal routine I have a preschooler stuff. I'm trying to figure out if most people do preschool stuff at home, or not. I constantly feel like I should be DOING something...

We currently just basically hang out together, do crafts and drawing, and generally live our lives together, but we don't do anything specifically homeschooling-ish.

[swimming with sharks]

we use this http://www. letteroftheweek.com/preschool_age_3.html It gives me someplace to start and ideas for the week.

[Freetobeme24]

Hi, :)

These are the things that we do:

Read, talk, look through and read books, clean up toys, play computer games, draw with sidewalk chalk, he plays in the backyard with his water table, shoot hoops, play outside on his slide, ride his bike outside, visit neighbors, cook stuff (let him add ingredients from recipes), paint, color, and that seems to be about most of what we do. He goes to starfall.com and we look at letters and stuff too. Oh yeah, we also watch PBS kids together too!

[ziggyplaid]

I struggle almost daily with feeling like I *should* being doing something, but, honestly, the more I read and talk to experience moms, the more I realize that just playing and reading a lot and talking a lot is the best I can do for her right now.
:) From what you have said, it sounds like you are doing a really good job.

[Senta]

christel has some workbooks, worksheet type things that she likes to do. I don't force it, but she picks them up from time to time. She asks me how to spell stuff and I tell her. Now she can spell voltron, pokemon, alf, cat, wiggles, dora. She likes to pick shows out on netflix, so she types them into the search on netflix. She counts. We do hide and seek, she counts to 20 or so and then finds me. These are all things she decided she wanted to do. We read each day and we also make up stories. She also has the computer games she likes, nickjr.com, pbskids, and disney.

[illinoismommy]

I mean, beyond the normal routine I have a preschooler stuff. I'm trying to figure out if most people do preschool stuff at home, or not. I constantly feel like I should be DOING something...

We currently just basically hang out together, do crafts and drawing, and generally live our lives together, but we don't do anything specifically homeschooling-ish.


That's what we do as well. Toss in trying to get new experiences.... like going to the zoo or something.... and reading good books, and there you have it. The new experiences and books lead to creative play where he processes them.

You might be interested in Einstein Never Used Flashcards, its been a while since I read it but I remember it talking about the value of free time for children.

[ziggyplaid]

I second "Einstein never used flashcards"....GREAT book.

I've also recently read "Miseducation: preschoolers at risk" and "the power of play"... :yes

[blossomnatalia]

oh thanks for the book idea! :heart

I will check those out.

[teamommy]

Well, I have done about the same when I had a 3 and 4 and old, and will do about the same when my second turns 3.

Here are some of the things the play-based, non-academic preschool I looked at and liked (but did not enroll ds in) did with the 3 and 4 year olds:

make playdough
sort little toys into groups based on beginning sound (Montessori-ish) or color or shape
make little books, with drawings, or pictures cut from magazines
have the children make up stories and dictate them to the teacher, sometimes make them into a little book, or have the class act them out
lots of outdoor free time
ant farm, butterflies, class pets (gerbil, turtle)
paint, color, etc.
read lots
PLAY --tons of different play areas


I guess I did some of these things. When he was 4 I taught ds his letter sounds and names using lowercase sandpaper letters. We also made a little alphabet book with one page for each letter, with pictures cut from magazines. I don't think we actually finished it. :) We baked bread from scratch often (the kneading is supposed to be good for fine motor skills, too).

[sarahtar]

ok, so good. I just every few weeks have this deep need to be DOING something. I do want to work on letters and numbers and will start to do more with that in the future, but generally, it looks like at least I'm not totally slacking off. I also include watching PBS Kids together as a preschool activity!

And, this year, we'll be adding Science Center and Living History Farms to our Zoo membership, so we'll have those places to go, too.

Thanks!

[Leslie]

We currently just basically hang out together, do crafts and drawing, and generally live our lives together, but we don't do anything specifically homeschooling-ish.


That's what I do with my preschooler. It's tough to resist the pressure to get started once you know you're going to be homeschooling. For me, it's a necessity - I have three older boys to homeschool, and I don't have time for a fourth group of lesson plans.

I'll have to read Einstein never used flashcards - it sounds like it might be along the same lines as Endangered Minds (which I reviewed awhile ago here (http://www.amblesideonline.org/ReviewHealy.html)).

[Marmee]

Read books, read books, read books, and then read some more books.
It may be because I work in the library (children's room), but, I am convinced that the only preschool a child needs is access to the outdoors, access to loving caregivers, access to art supplies, and LOTS of books. Read out loud to them and let them see you read and have books out for their enjoyment.
Some great grown up reading on this is, "The Read A-loud Handbook" by Jim Trelease
(This is probably even the best way to go for kindergarten, maybe 1st grade... :giggle, Okay, maybe just the whole 12 years!)
Just read books... :shifty

[Clane]

Read, play games, read, do a craft, read, playdoh, read, play kitchen, read, puzzles.... oh, and we read :) :heart

Now that one of my pre-ks is a bit older, she likes to play on her computer games, or leapster. For "work", she enjoys the Kumon books.

[Saria]

I wasn't really going to do pre-k with my 3yo yet, but when he saw his brother doing "school", he insisted :smile. So, on the days when he wants to do something, we go into the schoolroom and read a story, then we do a craft. He really loves to use scissors and glue, so I work these into it. Otherwise, he helps me cook, we go places, and he sits in on some of ds1's stuff. He's always learning. :)

[Peaceful Meadows]

Nothing really... I read, read, read, read, read to my preschooler and toddler. He helps me with my cooking, sorting laundry, and cleaning. We talk about colors and count things then. We play games together, go for walks, dig in the dirt (he loves helping me in the garden), and stuff like that. I have art and craft supplies in an area where he can get them out when ever he wants. He also loves to climb trees with his brothers, play in the sand, ride bike and scooter, and look for worms, bugs, toads, and lizzards. He enjoys making playdough and then playing with it.

Wow, when I list what he does it seems like we do a lot. The funny thing is that it just happens. I don't have a set of lesson plans that we follow or a set preschool time, it just happens as a part of life. It has been helpful to write this out because I felt like he was getting lost in the suffle as I worked with his older brothers but I am seeing that he and I do a lot together. The only thing that we have set is that I have a set time I work with him on speech therapy. He calls that his school time. :giggle

[kaismamma]

I second what the others have said. I do the following as well:

- Bible reading (a few verses a day and a story from his Bible story book)
- Bible memory (Lots of options for this. We like Bible verses put to music.)
- Foreign language exposure (just listening to the sounds is good for their brain development. We have lots of kid-oriented foreign language music. We're going to start learning specific Spanish words for things soon.....one word at a time.)
- Quality music exposure in general (everything from classical, to ethic, to traditional kids songs. We usually play it in the background, but sometimes we break out and dance!)

Of course, everything is kept low-key. If DS doesn't want to do whatever we're doing, we don't do it. Any learning must be kept fun at this age!

[meginma]

We read,watch PBS, go for walks, go to the zoo,she helps with some cleaning(she loves to clean mirrors), and do crafts. She knows the whole alphabet, and can count to 20, so I think she is learning plenty for her age, w/o being officially HS

[meldogsun]

I just recently made a very general list of things that I want to do - partially to remind and motivate and partially to prove to myself that we are "doing" things. It's comically general, because I want the freedom to do a variety of things under each category and I'm the type that will add something that I've done to my list just so I can check it off! Okay, disclaimers out of the way...here goes!

Get up and get dressed (in the spirit of Flylady)
Work (do a small chore each time before you play and eat)
pray
read scripture
calendar time
cook/food prep
eat/drink
read aloud
converse/discuss/narrate/listen/observe (happening throughout the day)
go outside/move around
mid-day rest
interact with people
garden
run an errand (library, mail box, store, etc.)
music/art
clean up (before each new activity)
independent time/free play

We don't get to everything everyday or always do it in that order, but it helps to have it written down on the front page of my planner. Hope that helps!

=), melanie

[MamaBeth]

Gracie wants to learn to read, so we are working on memorizing the sight words that she'll need to know for Kindergarten, as well as letter sounds. I'm also working with her on learning to print, because she was doing it at the daycare she was going to - and because I didn't do anything formal with Logan, which has left him struggling in school even now as a second grader. I want Gracie to be better prepared academically. I have a couple basic preschool workbooks we picked up at Walmart with "thinking skills" and some math stuff.

[GrowingInGrace]

My 3 year old preschooler does Montessori type activities like the ones here

http://growinginpeace.wordpress.com/our-montessori-activities/

I also have a few different kinds of sorting/counting things, bead stringing, and sewing cards seen here:

http://growinginpeace.wordpress.com/early-enrichment-activities/

We have shape peg puzzles and shape sorters too.

For letter recognition - we have a couple of things: magnets - both uppercase and lowercase. Alphabet books with a sliding window for each letter. I have book with uppercase letters and another book with lowercase letters too. I also have a set of foam alphabet letters for the bathtub. I give my dd some plastic measuring cups, spoons, and cups and we play "alphabet soup" with them in the tub.

My 3 yo also navigates around starfall.com really well.

And she likes to sing songs. We have Lauri Berkner and Veggie Tales that she likes to sing in the car.

We have a couple of Bible song DVDs that we put in occasionally that she loves to sing and dance to.

She's starting to enjoy drawing and art, so she is having fun drawing faces and squiggles of all kinds.

For my 4.5 year old preschooler, she started to read about a week ago, so instead of me reading to her, she reads to me.

For her, after she mastered counting to 100 and letters/beginning letter sounds (which she did last year), she is now doing some simple addition.

Also we play games that reinforce skills

Chutes and Ladders (numbers and counting to 100), Candyland (color recognition), Hi-Ho Cherry-O (adding and subtracting), dice, dominoes (the ones with colored dots). My 4.5 year old also likes playing Clue Jr.

Making simple patterns from different shaped/colored blocks and having the child copy what you made is good for motor planning skills, pattern recognition, and visual spatial reasoning. Puzzles are aslo great for visual/spatial reasoning and motor planning.

She is also starting to get interested in workbooks too, so she has a few preschool workbooks from the dollar store.