My son goes to a daycare/academy and started prek there today. We still do some homeschooling as well though. He is also just started soccer. I purchased some workbooks from target (dollar spot) and amazon. I also purchased some posters. Also check out your local library for homeschooling books. At this age it is mainly just playing. Make everything into a game. For example if into cars say lets see how many colors we have and group all the blue cars into a group and etc. Then can go further with it by counting how many are in each color category etc. We first start off by going over the posters doing a row of the alphabet and 0 to 10, basic shapes, and going over colors (he already knows all the colors though). Then we do 10 minutes of sit down work doing worksheets unless he requests to do more or starts getting frustrated. We then move onto fun activities where he can be up and moving. Whether that's playing dinosaur, cars, waterplay, or whatever he wants. We also practice 15 minutes of soccer and do P.E. We do a lot of imaginary play such as house, kitchen, doctor, ambulance etc. We dont really follow a curriculum just work on stuff such as learning alphabet, counting to 20 then 100, practice writing, shapes, colors, community helpers, scissor skills, and life skills. But also do themes like learning about the solar system, nature, bugs other things that interest him and go in depth about stuff. If he wants to learn about volcanoes we then learn about lava, mountains, earth quakes, rivers and other land related things. If wants to learn about the ocean we include ocean animals the different sea levels, tsunamis and etc. But really at this age is just learning by playing.
I don’t homeschool right now but we’re going to start as soon as we move next year into a bigger place just so we have more space for a classroom setup!
@mrayta_1983 In my state, we do connections academy. They send us the entire curriculum. We log on through their secure site and it has lessons and we do worksheets, projects and workbooks. In the lower grades, we have a few live lessons with her teacher every week. The kids all get on webcams and talk. There is a great class every morning on math, the weather, and how to do graphs, etc. My daughter absolutely loves it. I love that we have a teacher testing her and guiding her along the way. She's had a lot of growth with being a self starter and managing her time. It is very time consuming for kinder thru probably 4th grade, but if you're thinking homeschooling, I think you're not afraid of putting time in. :) and yes, it is free and no superintendent giving me a hard time about my homeschool curriculum.
@mrayta_1983 For connections academy, you have to log an average of 5.5 hours a day, and for kinder and 1st grade a lot of that is workbook/worksheet/reading the storybooks in the curriculum. You have to attend the live lessons at their scheduled time, but the schedule is flexible otherwise. If you want to take a day off to go the children's museum or something, you just do a little over an hour extra the other days. You can do Saturdays and Sundays. It is flexible. Some online schools are not as flexible. I love that it teaches her to budget her time and to make good trades. And if the weather is awesome one day and horrible the next, we can switch up the schedule to accommodate that. And there are a TON of clubs you can join. They do the same state testing as brick and mortar school kids and you know where your child is at at how much they are learning. I like that they can give your child more challenging curriculum if they need it, too.
I don’t homeschool but I’ve been really thinking about doing something like that or even starting to teach my son now. He’s 2 1/2 ... but I just don’t know where to start! Have you starting doing anything with your yet?
No I haven’t started anything yet as he is only 17 months. But we are repeating numbers, alphabet, colors etc. I’m waiting for my friend to send me the link for free preschool curriculum so I can start and see if it’s for us
Yes I have been considering homeschooling since he was born, and I have a couple of friends who do it. It’s just kindof overwhelming when you just look into it
@mrayta_1983, it is bc there are so many options!! Once you find a curriculum that has a philosophy you like, just stick it out is my word of advice. It’s not that overwhelming if you have a step by step process. It’s worth a try to get a basic preschool
pkg and see how you like it and how your little one learns