Hey, homeschoolers! Will you have a preschooler this year or next? Do you know someone who wonders how to homeschool a preschooler? If so, this episode is for you or your friend. I'll be sharing how I started teaching preschool, how I changed my approach with experience, and what I would do if I were homeschooling my preschool grandchildren.
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How I Taught Preschool at First
Homeschool preschool has a special place in my heart because that's where I started. I thought it was a perfect testing ground for determining if homeschooling would work for me. The short answer to that question was a resounding no. It didn't work for me! I thought I just wasn't cut out for it, but the real problem was I had no routine. I went to bed at different times, got up at different times, and wasn’t getting any homeschooling done. That wasn’t because I had such a clean home or because I was working from home; I wasn’t. Instead, I had grand plans for teaching my preschooler that all fell flat.
Granted, I had a baby and a toddler in addition to my preschooler. But all I was able to do at that point in my life was keep them alive.
Let’s talk about my preschool plans at the beginning. I had a preschool curriculum book that focused on a letter at a time. So far, so good. I do think that teaching kids letters and numbers is a great foundation for later learning. I also bought a preschool craft book. Because of my all-or-nothing craving for complete preparation, I literally bought every craft supply needed to complete every craft in the book. You heard that right. I had enough craft supplies to supply a neighborhood of preschoolers with activities. That’s because you can’t buy a couple of tongue depressors—you have to get a box of 500.
I was so excited to do the activities with my son, and this is where it gets silly. I don’t even really like doing crafts with kids. Kids are very messy with glue and especially with the the brainchild of Satan—glitter. When my child would begin using the watercolor paints I bought him and mixing colors without cleaning out his brush, my anxiety would build to the point that I needed a nap even if he didn’t.
Because I had this all-or-nothing mentality, I felt like I had failed if I didn’t do our lesson from the book or make one of the crafts early in the day. So I would delay our studies “until the next day” when I could do them perfectly. With three boys three and under, the perfect day never arrived.
It is true that I read to my preschooler constantly. But because I had been reading to him from birth, I didn’t give myself credit for actually homeschooling him. If you’re familiar with my story, you know that I felt like a failure at homeschooling and mothering. Neither my husband nor I thought that I could handle home educating our kids long-term or adding another child to the family.
That’s when someone recommended FlyLady to me. I began building routines that allowed me to get up at the same time roughly and do the same tasks in the same order. The best part of that was waking up to a clean kitchen. I had run the dishwasher the night before and washed the larger dishes, so I didn’t feel like a failure at the beginning of the day. I added other habits like laying my clothes out the night before, and preparing things for the day ahead.
Running my dishwasher the night before allowed me to have my preschooler unload the kid-friendly dishes. This became a chore routine that made my home and life feel manageable. It also taught my son an important life skill.
If you'd like to build an organizing routine, check out my guide The Organized Homeschool Life.
With the chore habit established, I was able to add preschool lessons to our routine. I was finally teaching! I also got the kids into preschool activities for homeschoolers and for the community. The boys went to playdates at the park, gymnastics, and swim lessons. And that leads me to how I taught preschool later on.
How I Taught Preschool Later
I continued to do chores at the beginning of the school day as we added more kids to the family. I would keep my youngest kids with me and help them do their chores while the older kids worked independently—or at least claimed to be working independently.
Once I had elementary students, I had to decide when to work with my preschoolers. I took the advice to spend time with my preschoolers first, then allow them to play in an adjacent room. This was effective; however, I had a long day to fill. This is when I started using the Managers of Their Homes scheduling approach. The idea that was most valuable to me from this approach was to pair a younger child with an older one for a short session. Usually this involved reading to them or playing with them.
I began to feel that I was shortchanging my preschoolers, however. I was focused on teaching more advanced skills to my older kids. That's when I heard about creating preschool activity packs. The concept was that you would create multiple packs of a couple of different educational activities for preschoolers and would then exchange them with other moms who had made different activity packs. I thought this was brilliant!
However—and you knew that “however” was coming, didn’t you?—I barely used the activity packs. I wondered why on earth I had invested the time and money into creating them when there are so many inexpensive preschool activities that I already owned or could purchase. Things like letter puzzles and games that I already had.
I also heard Steve Demme’s excellent advice based on his notion that curriculum book time at back-to-school is a preschooler’s version of Christmas without me. I decided to purchase books for my preschoolers to spend time in while the older kids did their independent work. Most of them were activity books like Kumon books that help them learn to write.
The best curriculum I found for homeschoolers around this time was from a company called Dakota Publishing. As a South Dakota native, I loved that the company was headquartered there, but I loved the approach of Little Hands to Heaven even more. The preschool curriculum was broken up into little—what I call—missions. Short teachable moments that could be completed before the other kids were fighting or the dog escaped the yard. Even though I never finished a complete lesson, I felt successful because I had completed parts of it.
As my younger kids became preschoolers, though, I simply allowed them to participate in our reading and activities as their interest and ability allowed. To keep them engaged when I was working with the older kids, I tried rotating toys and books that were for school time only. But because the kids seemed to enjoy throwing small toys around the playroom more than using them as intended, I had limited success with this.
That leads me to how I would homeschool preschool with my grandkids.
How I Would Teach Preschool with My Grandkids
I survived homeschooling preschool for all six of my kids. Not one of them is in a mental institution because I failed to teach them their letters, numbers, or shoe-tying at the optimal time.
Given my experience and my 20/20 hindsight vision, here is how I would homeschool preschool now:
First, I would continue reading to them. I would read picture books with them and take them to the library as I did with my kids, treating it like the gift and adventure that it is. I would also have them raid Grandpa’s bookshelves. My husband is a sales rep for school library books, so we have a literature-rich home. We would read picture books to address social and emotional skills as well as academic topics. I would relish telling them about their parents' bad behavior when they were little. Just kidding. Kind of.
Second, I would use a more by-the-way, unit study approach to teaching. For example, if there were a class or field trip that appealed to preschoolers, we would go and would then do reading and activities related to it. I would make ample use of the internet to find videos, recipes, experiments, and easy art projects that don't involve glitter. The most important aspect for me would be not having an overly planned schedule that could make me feel behind.
Third, for curriculum, I would use a children's Bible, Little Hands to Heaven, Color Me Mozart and other easy, engaging resources to teach specific topics. We would start off with these resources before reading and pursuing other activities.
Finally, I would use lots of board and active games to teach academics and social skills. I used the Phonics Game, Jr. to teach my kids to read and I would use it again. I would leave the computer games for the parents to use when they need down time. I would rely on lists of games that are easy to play and set up when I wanted to cover a particular subject like math or vocabulary or just to let the kids burn off steam.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I know I didn't do a perfect job teaching preschool. But the good news is I didn't have to. My kids enjoyed their early homeschool years and benefited from them. Yours will too. I hope my experience will help you create a realistic and enjoyable plan for educating your little learners.
Have a happy homeschool week!
