Preschool Beginnings

Preschool is just ABC's and 123's right? When did it get complicated? Ok, I know it's probably me that's complicating things because, of course, I want to make sure I am "in the know" about every different way preschool can be taught. Did you know there are even different schools of thought on whether or not you should teach the alphabet in sequential order or should you teach capitals or lowercase first etc etc.

A few weeks back I decided it was time to get serious about doing a more structured preschool. Corben is three now and is ready to take on a little more structure. It helps him a lot to be engaged in different activities throughout the day. We have been doing a little bit of letters/counting throughout the past year but nothing really structured or consistent.

So I figured out a way to get myself into a routine and get organized about it. Accountability. You know that fascinating concept that God came up with to make sure we keep each other in check. Our friends live a few doors down from us and have two munchkins that are close in age with ours. Corben loves playing with his best friend Joe and Devlin is just enamored with little Jetta. So why not have a class and teach everybody? It would give Corben some classmates and give Lanie a little break throughout the week and a chance to get in some intense schoolwork with the older boys. So that's what I did. Twice a week my four students get together to have class from 10 AM - 1 PM.

I didn't really know what to expect at first. I was just going to go "all in" and see what happened. I was so surprised at how anxious they were to learn. Their little faces just lit up whenever we switched to a new activity. Wow! I thought it would be so hard to keep their attention but it's been great. I switch up activities often and make sure we have some free play in there too. So we can get all of those wiggles out.

I'm learning a lot and enjoying it! I like reading about all the different philosophies on education. Now the hard part is trying to decided which ones I think will be the most beneficial.

Here are some websites that I have enjoyed visiting so far. They have great hands-on ideas for little ones:
www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com
www.notimeforflashcards.com
http://lovemylifex4.blogspot.com

Enjoy!