It has been almost two years since I began my homeschooling journey with Rudy (now four years old).
Over the past two years, my goals, plans, ideas, and strategies have been from one end of the rainbow to the other…in other words, I am figuring out this homeschooling thing as I go.
I have had some major bad ideas…like our Ivory soap science experiment. I blew up a bar of soap in our microwave…it wasn’t supposed to do that.
But some things have really worked! A game I played over and over with Rudy was a huge hit…Funny Letters. It’s a super fun way for your toddler to learn their alphabet.
This particular semester (January-May) we have a daily school schedule that Rudy and I are both enjoying.
So for fellow new homeschooling mommies out there who need a plan to be given to you rather than coming up with one yourself (since you have so much free time), I figured I would share mine.
It took me a couple of months to get our daily school schedule just how we both like it…creating lesson plans, deciding on your priorities, and preparing every day is a lot of work! But take heart…you get better and faster at it as you go along.
So here it is…hope this helps!
A Daily School Schedule For Your Preschooler
First of all, I knew that we needed an official curriculum. I searched, asked questions, researched, and finally landed on what has been so far an excellent preschool curriculum.
Confessions of a Homeschooler K4 Curriculum
It costs only $15 and is actually a download that saves to your computer; it’s not a hardcopy. So every week, I print out that week’s lessons and I laminate it. (I laminate everything so that I can be re-used with all my children.) Her curriculum is extremely organized and easy to follow and prepare for.
So once I bought my curriculum, I began putting together a daily schedule.
Every day, we do this:
- Pledge of Allegiance: I hung up a tiny American flag in our school room. I would say it with him until I noticed he knew the whole thing; now he knows it all by himself.
- Story Time: Following the Pledge, we sit down in a special spot for story time. We are currently reading through “The Beginner’s Bible“, which is a great story book Bible. I like it because it has easy stopping points. We read anywhere from one to three chapters per day.
- Calendar Time: I bought this great calendar kit. It comes with a calendar, numbers, a months-of-the-year poster, days-of-the-week poster, and weather chart. Each day, we sing a song about today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
- Alphabet and Numbers: I also bought an alphabet poster and a numbers poster. Rudy stands on a chair, and points at the posters with a ruler as we sing and count.
- Map Time: Using a globe and a map of the U.S., we discuss where the Unites States of America is, how far we are from other places he’s interested in at the moment (such as Australia, since he’s been watching “Rescuers Down Under” lately), and the name of our city and state. He loves map time and seeing how big the world is!
- Lesson: This is the meat and potatoes of each day. Following the lesson laid out for me each day, Rudy completes an assortment of worksheets, he does fun activities, and he makes some really neat crafts.
This is a page out of my K4 Curriculum Notebook. I laminate everything so that I can re-use it.
So that is what we do every day. But there are also some extra things that we do just one day each week.
- Monday: Craft Time! After school, we do a special craft that I have prepared for. They are usually outdoor crafts that we all do together. Example: Let’s fill a mason jar with pretty layers of berries, acorns, and other things we find outside.
- Tuesday: Scripture Memory! Rudy has memorized nine Bible verses so far. Today, we review four of them.
- Wednesday: Fun Game! After school is over, we play a fun game that I have prepared for. Example: What’s in the Bag?
- Thursday: Scripture Memory! We review the other five Bible verses that Rudy knows.
- Friday: Service Project! This has been a really neat thing that we have done together. Every Friday, Rudy takes on the role of humble, unseen servant. He does a sweet act of service that benefits someone else. Example: Let’s find three neighbor’s trashcans that are still out, and Rudy will bring them in. As we work together, we have precious conversations about loving your neighbors and doing something without expecting recognition.
And that’s it! It’s really not overwhelming for me…the whole thing only takes about one hour to do, and each Sunday night I spend about two hours preparing for the whole week.
And the best part…Rudy is definitely learning a ton, and the curriculum and activities really seem to be working!
There is one final thing that I wanted to share with you, though. A giant motivator for Rudy to work hard and have a good attitude every day…
…our reward system! If Rudy works hard, has a good attitude, and follows instructions well, then he gets to put up a yellow star. And once he puts five stars on the wall, he gets candy! I call it, “Reach for the Candy!” Haha!
I’m telling you, the kid will do anything for one measly piece of candy. We potty-trained him with a few M&M’s! 🙂
Any homeschooling mamas out there have any more ideas? Please share!
