Yesterday I shared with you what I felt was most important in homeschooling preschoolers: training. Today I am going into the educational aspect of home eduction and Pre K children. Hopefully you will find this list of ideas helpful. Of course this list is not exhaustive – I plan to add to it as I find more helpful resources – and your input is appreciated!

“Mainframe”

Tapestry of Grace -

This excellent, Bible based Classical-education curriculum is designed for the whole family to learn together. You can read for yourself just what Tapestry of Grace is and why my husband and I chose to use it. Coming soon I will be publishing the last installment of my Tapestry of Grace and Young Children Series; that post will be specifically on how I use it with my young children.

The Three R’s

Reading  and wRiting -

I cannot stress enough how useful and efficient copywork is. Copywork is simple and very inexpensive and a great tool in teaching young children who have not yet learned how to control pencil movement. You can make your own or pick up copy books at your local education supply store. Below are more ideas:

• Memoria Press’ Copy Book series. This series of three books is a quality product. This is one resource that is notinexpensive and is something you will need to buy a new one of for each subsequent child. My oldest daughter has used it and I plan on purchasing more books for my younger children as money allows.
• Worksheet Works. This is one of my most favorite places to include in my home school links. With this site I can build my own copy work worksheets – for FREE! – using Bible verses, poetry, ABCs, names, or whatever floats my fancy. Worksheet Works is the most easy to use make-your-own type of worksheet generator I have found to date. (And did I mention it is free?!) You can also use this site to make worksheets with focuses on areas other than reading and writing.

‘Rithmatic -

• Ray’s Arithmetic. This is a new one for me. I have heard many great things about it but haven’t yet started it. I got this product as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew so you can be sure I’ll be posting a review about it. So far I have liked what I have seen. We’ll see if Dory meshes with it!
• PBS’ Parents Early Math section – I am not a huge fan of PBS but these games will be perfect for Dory to break up her day and learn while she’s at it.

Science -

Christian Kids Explore Biology - This is a very easy to use curriculum. I love it!

Lap Books! These are a great way for young children, especially tactile learners, to learn just about anything. Usually lap books are incorporated into our home school science unit studies. Children at this young ask  many, many questions such as: “How big are stars?” or “Why do butterflies have pretty wings?” and the like. Turn those questions into a study using lap books. They provide an easy activity that will showcase what your child(ren) have learned and will give them something they can look back at as a refresher. (HINT: These are also very useful at showing to grandparents.)

You can purchase pre-made lap books from:

Hands of a Child I have not personally bought lap books from here, though I have gotten some freebies from them. They are high quality!

CurrClick

You can use these links to make your own lap books:

• Homeschool Share
• Lapbooking on Squidoo (This is one of my favorite LB resources! I especially love the directions on mini-books)
• Lapbooking 101 – (Great FREE site that tells you all about everything you will need in order to make lapbooks. Perfect for the beginner!)

Where to find Lapbooking Books *NOTE: I have not personally used any of these books. I am posting this link to provide examples only. This link goes through my Amazon Affiliate account and I will receive a percentage off of anything you buy from the link. Just so you know!*

Amazon Lap Book Resources

Extras

File Folder Games

What are File Folder Games? These are homemade games that you make out of – you guess it – File Folders. These teach children basic concepts in a fun, simple way.

Sites with resources and more info on FFG

• File Folder Fun (Free ideas!)
• My File Folder Games (Have not purchased through this site.)
• Enchanted Learning (Paid site, with freebies. I lurve their freebies!)

Sign Language -

Signing Time DVDs This series is amazing. I remember thinking the first time I heard of teaching little ones to sign “But doesn’t that stunt their growth in actually learning to speak?” After talking to lots of moms on Twitter about it, I discovered that children who are taught to sign will have no problem learning to speak. One mom even went so far as to mail me the first two volumes of Signing Time. Let me tell you, my kids – and I – were hooked. We have the first five volumes now. I believe the first two are the best and to be honest, I don’t care for Mrs. Coleman’s songs. I still tout these as a great learning tool so make sure to check them out. It is quite amazing to see my little girl not even 18 months old signing things and me having the ability to understand what she is saying. If you still are not convinced, think of it as learning a second language.

Photo credits: ctechs

This year I will have a 1st/2nd grader, a Kindergartner, and two Pre K children. While I will be using Tapestry of Grace with all of them by way of including each child in the read-alouds, the younger set will be doing less bookwork and more hands on. I know it can be hard finding inexpensive ways to keep little hands busy – yet learning at the same time. We do not spend a large amount on Pre K materials. This is generally because the younger ones need only basic lessons and it is very easy to make these or print out ideas on how to do this. A full curriculum will probably overwhelm those in Kindergarten or younger.

Our home education consists of more than just a set period where any academics takes place. Nope. We go beyond that to make every opportunity a time to learn. Helping Mama in the kitchen is the perfect time to learn basic math (and home economics!) skills. Working outside with Daddy and discovering an ant hill is a built in science lesson. Everything from cleaning bathrooms to laundry to gardening to a grocery shopping trip can provide a way for you to discuss all ranges of topics. In fact, I tend to think that if I have just performed some usual household “chore” and I haven’t taught my child something then that was a wasted opportunity.

Before even academics, however, training must and should occur. These preschool years are precious in more ways than one. Training them from very early on how to obey and be respectful is necessary for any household to run efficiently. Biblical concepts and Scripture memory work to lay the foundational work of their faith is also important at this time. These little ones, with their growing minds and sincere curiosity, are smarter than society in general likes to paint them out to be. As it is, my youngest, who is not even 1 1/2 years old, is learning colors, shapes, and her letters. It isn’t because she is extremely genius (though maybe I’d like to think so!) but rather that she is being directed in the right areas and not pushed beyond her limits.

Home education will benefit hugely from the young ones being trained. If they can be disciplined to obey Mommy when she says it is time to play quietly or by themselves then teaching the older children will be much easier. While including young ones as much as possible in the whole process is a good thing there will be times when older children will need your focus – such as with a science experiment or an essay – and the little ones will need to be quiet.

Below are some helpful resources on child training. I do not necessarily agree with everything on these sites or in these books so please do not take them all as my endorsement. Rather, use these to learn from according to your family’s vision. Of course, it would be very wise to discuss with your husband first and get his approval before undertaking any major child discipline changes.

Training resources:

• The Bible – Certainly this is the most overlooked child training resource available. Not excluding myself many parents tend to think that the Bible is not the place to look for the how-to’s of child training and discipline. If you read the book of Proverbs and really any of the Bible you will find this not to be the case. Look here first and study intensely what the Bible has to say about child rearing. Then and only then should you proceed to read any human written books!
• Shepherding a Child’s Heart
• Raising Godly Tomatoes
• Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World – I love this DVD series! I feel this is direct, to-the-point, no holds barred wisdom for parents on how to raise children. However, I do not agree with everything in there. I feel the advice on scheduling babies to be unwise and outdated. Feeding a newborn baby every four hours instead of on demand can mess with the mother’s milk supply as well as the fact that demand feeding at this point in their early lives means they will need to cluster feed. End of disclaimer. Moving on.
• Blanket Training
• Older moms. This means seeking out the advice from those older women at church. Find a woman whose view of womanhood you most agree with and ask her what are the most important training tips she can offer you. You will learn a lot from this alone!

I realize many of these are “controversial” topics and I understand that. Again, I do not agree with everything provided in these web sites and books. I feel much of it is quite useful. Only a handful of resources are provided because I know how too much information can overwhelm.

If this was helpful to you please let me know! Also, if you have links and resources you would like to share with me please do so. Tomorrow I will put up the academics portion of what may help you as you home educate your preschooler.

Photo credit: iprole