by Mama Butterfly
My son will turn 3 in just a few short months. I had been back and forth with whether or not I wanted to send him to a local preschool this year -- mostly for the social aspect, but we have finally decided not to send him. He's only 3 so I really don't want to push him, but I am strongly considering homeschooling. Well, at least for elementary school because I would like to get a head start on some basic items.
He is pretty athletically inclined and was a little bit of a late talker. When he is learning something, he often won't do it until he's mastered it -- he is a bit of a perfectionist in that way.
For instance, he didn't really "toddle" when learning to walk. He refused to take steps and one day just walked across the room. He didn't talk until he was close to 2, but he went from no words to speaking in sentences in just a few short weeks. I've just learned that although I may not see progress in his learning, he is learning, and one day it will come out (he did this with his numbers, letters, colors, etc). As of right now he can say his ABC's, count to 15, and knows all of his colors and shapes, and even recognizes a few letters.
I would like to find a preschool curriculum or set of workbooks that I could use to work with him a little bit this fall and winter. Nothing that is going to be too intense, or push him too much, but enough that he will learn and have fun doing it. If there are different craft ideas and seasonal items, that is even better.
Did you teach your kids at this age? Any suggestions for curriculum or books I could use?
Comments (24)
I like Before Five in a Row for this age group.
I suggest at least trying to put him into a preschool or mothers day out. You can always still work with him at home. When I was that age I didnt go to pre school and then I had lots of social anxiety when it came to having to be in different places with children without my mom or other family member there.
i agree with mama sez before five in a row is a great curriculum.But remember your baby is only 3.I would also suggest looking at some Waldorf curriculum.
We are unschoolers so no set curriculum. I feel for that age there shouldn't be any formal learning so we just go with the flow and add in learning with every day life. For ideas, I love "The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas". It's for ages 3-12 so it is something you can use for years, regardless if you homeschool or the kids are in public schools.
Walmart has some fun learning tools like flash card type post-it note, dry erase writing boards with lines, word bingo. They also have a small selection of activity books for different grade levels. I have a K level book for my 4 year old that he pulls out from time to time. It's all in the office supply section. :)
I hope you have as much fun with homeschooling as we do!
For 3 I would recommend just teaching him the basics, colors, shapes, etc and work up to writing his name and identifying letters (this is more towards 4 though). Before Five in a Row is great. You can also go to scholastic.com and set up an account there. I believe when you have to input what school you work for you can just select homeschool. They have all sorts of books and teaching tools and are pretty reasonably priced.
when i was home schooled i used the Oak Meadow curriculum and really enjoyed it. they have a preschool curriculum that you might be interested in.
Your son sounds exactly like my daughter who will be 3 in November! She won't be going to preschool, but starting in the fall I'm going to make more of an effort to have a set "learning" time every week day. I don't have a curriculum, I'm just going to focus on the basics and come up with it myself.
My daughter will be 3 next week, and I'm feeling like maybe I might be a bit behind with her. I'm thinking about keeping her home for pre-K, and just working through some work books and activities with her. Pre-K isn't required so I figured next year would be a great time for me to play a bit of catch up and get her prepared. Though I think I should set aside some time this year to work with her. It would be great if you did a follow up post, outlining your curriculum and the work books that you have decided to use.
You sound like you have a good start to his learning. Remember if you aren't going to send him to a daycare/preschool but are going to send him to public school in a couple years he will need to practice social and behavioral skills as well as the academic stuff. I know that when my son entered school the teachers were much more interested in the children possesing the social and behavioral skills than the academic ones. Kids will generally catch up in the academic stuff if they are a tad behind but if they fall behind on social/behavioral skills they can be harder to recover from which will then affect their studies. I just incorporate learning into everyday activities with both my son and daughter. You can find really great materials at your local library to check out and get ideas from as well. They should have a seperate teaching type area (ours is located in the children's section). I think you should also be able to obtain from your local school district what they want the kids to be doing by kindergarten as well so that you can keep that in the back of your mind. At the pace your son is on you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
@ApplexXxAxXxDay@xanga - @Anamarie77@xanga - The main reason I was considering preschool was for the social aspect. However, we live within a few miles of all of my extended family and he is with his cousins all the time- at least a few times a week. We also attend church weekly and he is in a Sunday School class there that provides a social outlet. He's a little social bug and loves to be around people, so while I don't worry about him needing to grow in that area, I do want him to always have an outlet of some sort to be around other children his age.
@TornadoChaser - I don't really want to sit down with him for hours a day and have school, but I would like to have some workbooks and fun things that he would enjoy doing. I work from home and he enjoys sitting beside me and "working" also. I figure it might as well be educational if he's going to be doing it! :) Thanks for the tip on the homeschooling book! I am definitely going to look into it!
I really like the Abeka curriculum, it is religious in nature though so buyer beware ;) They have really great books for the three to five year olds in particular teaching them their basics in a fun arts and crafty way. My boys really enjoyed them. Good luck!
@la_vida_linda@xanga - I used Abeka when I was homeschooled and really liked them. I didn't realize they made books for preschool age. Thanks for the tip!
I have a little sister who just started the second grade today. She did not go to preschool or have a home curriculum, and she is an outstanding reader and little mathematician. In her preschool days, my dad stayed at home with her while my mom worked, and they did a lot of active learning together. Something that they did together everyday was have computer time. At the age of two, she was free to explore the internet (with some limits) and play games, and that was how she started learning how to recognize letters, then read and spell.
Okay, this didn't answer your question, but I just think my dad and sister are pretty cool.
First, Congrats on considering homeschooling. We are unschoolers, and I basically let hte kids do what interests them. Some are readers sone love workbooks and some computer. Figure out what he likes. He's only 3 so don't push too hard and discourage any natural achievements he may have had. If he likes workbooks, Walmart or Sams has pre-K through 6th I believe. Go for games, leapfrog games are great, v-smile, the fisher price bicycle (my son has one and I can't remember what it is called) but you pedal and get the numbers. The boys have a magnetic number toy that says the word and each letter you put on it. I love to stay in the learning section of walmart. Look at garage sales, you would be surprised how many people homeschool now and the sell their curriculum, games everything when the kids grow out of it. I have gotten a lot of fun things that way. Just leave everything available to him and he will pick it up when he is ready.
Read, read, read
Lastly, my girls are the most social little things I have ever seen, but they are not lacking in friends or outings, birthday parties, slumber parties...you name it. Join a homeschool group or 5 in your area. You will be busier than you could imagine. After all would you rather him "socialize" with kids that aren't supervised on a play ground or at a park with his mommy right there.
None. Let kids be kids. Kids should play and mess around, it's how they learn basic social, motor and other skills. He doesn't need a curriculum unless it involves running around and finger painting.
I put my daughter in preschool this fall. She turned 3 in April and I felt she really needed it. She is used to only being around adults, and I really felt she needed the social interaction. My daughter can count to 20, say her ABC's, and has been able to write he name since she was 2 1/2 because she wanted to learn how. Our doctor says she's pretty advanced, but I'm not sending her for "schoolwork" I'm sending her for the socializing, friendship building, and problem solving of being around other children.. :o) And I only send her 2 days a week for a few hours each day!Â
You seem very concerned about "pushing" him, but I think that as long as you are just teaching him and letting him absorb, he won't get stressed about it. My absolute favorite way of teaching little kids is to instill in them a love of reading. I remember my parents reading to me and my brother every day from a very young age. I especially remember "The Little Golden Books" and the "Great Illustrated Classics". The GICs are probably too old for him right now, but I remember loving them in elementary school- and I have read for at least a half hour every day of my life since then.
I firmly believe that reading to him is the best thing you can do for him. :)
My mom sent me to preschool at 3. All I remember is that a pentagon has 5 sides, there are volcanos in Hawaii, and blocks are fun.
@loveandpolitics@xanga - I didn't mean that I am going to sit him down for 3 hours a day with an intense curriculum. I really just wanted a few fun books that he can work on a few times a week during the long winter days. I fully agree that 3 year olds (especially boys!) should be running around playing and jumping off of stuff! He enjoys sitting and coloring, though, and I figured he might as well be coloring letters and numbers if he is going to be doing it anyway.
@Jennifer - I fully agree! He absolutely loves to read, and has since he was only a few months old. I have pictures of him surrounded by board books at 7 months. He'd sit there for close to an hour looking at the books. I'm glad that he's seemed to inherit my love of reading!
try the montessori school curriculum...or better enter him in a montessori school
Montessori methods are good for kids.
It's a fun way of learning though they use materials for kids in your son's age....the kid is free to learn what he wants...search more about "MOntessori's" method, see if you like it...:)
I'm not yet a mom but I assure you Montessori schools are GOod!! I'm a Music and Education Major and We've studied school methods and I liked Montessori's method best, plus I was a "Montessori" child back in preschool..:)
Hi! We homeschooled last year. Due to PPD we decided to put my eldest in school and to do a morning preschool this year to take some of the pressure off, though we will return to it. We have been unschooling and doing Classical Education. Even with our littlest ones (6yrs, 4yrs, 2yrs, and 10mths) we do some latin words. Especially now that our eldest is at a classical school and is bringing that home.
For preschool we did a lot of unschooling. We looked around at things to learn colors, shapes, and textures. We did science in the bath tub and the kitchen (what floats and sinks? What color do you think the koolaid will turn when we add water?) We did counting and pre writing everywhere! For books their grandparents got some workbooks from the bookstore. Though they only really used them with them. I didn't usually use those types of books at home. While my husband and I did most of the reading with the little ones at first, especially with the older two, now our six year old prefers to be the one reading to them most of the time. We did some holiday studies. Some things off of the internet and some from family tradition. Many of these we incorporated history and faith into.
I know that may not have been what you are looking for, but that was our experience with it.
I have four daughters ages 14 to 25. We've homeschooled for 19 years now... : )
I wouldn't worry too much about a curriculum right now. Let him have playtime. Try gardening and art.
If you are set on a curriculum, a very sweet one that would be appropriate in simple number, alphabet, color recognition? Rod n' Staff curriculum is tops! It is the sweetest ever, adorable and extremely reasonable. They have precious coloring books and read to me books. And so inexpensive! They also have a darling preschool cookbook, I was just looking at the catalogue today. : )
Have you ever read "For the Children's Sake" by Susan McCauley? Or Schoolproof by Mary Pride? Ruth Beechick has a wonderful little set of books called the Three Rs. Every child is different, every reading level is different. Dr. Raymond Moore has some nice ideas on your questions as well. : )
Bob Jones University is a nice K5 curriculum, they tell the parent to not worry, the subject will be reviewed. (relief!) They just about tell the parent when to breath! My children the first year tested post-highschool in many subjects! I did not push them at all...just followed the teacher's manual. : )
Take a deep breath and enjoy! Play, play, play and create! Don't fall into the comparison game that is so prevalant these days...
Blessings!
That should have read...Rod & Staff Publisher. : )