Differentiating Home Preschool
If you teach preschool at home, you may wonder how to make home preschool different over years. Some of us start doing preschool activities at home around age 2 and continue until a child is 5 (or even 6!). Today, I’m sharing how to differentiate the years of preschool. With my background in education, this is what I feel kids need to know before heading into Kindergarten.
Preschool is a really fun time in a child’s life. My biggest advice is to make learning FUN during this time! Find ways to explore the world they live in. Read lots and lots of books. Play! Sing lots of songs. Be social with other kids. Let them use their imagination. Make these years enjoyable so they have a great start to their educational journey.
Here are some suggestions on what to work on for each year:
Year 1 (age 2-3)
Literacy:
- listens to read aloud stories
- follows 1-step directions
- uses scribbles to write words or ideas
- identify uppercase alphabet letters
Math:
- identify colors
- counts objects with meaning to 10
- matches numerals
- identifies these shapes: circle, square, triangle
- sorts by color
- identifies patterns and duplicates them (AB patterns)
Other:
- holds scissors the correct way
- uses scissors to cut playdough
Year 2 (age 3-4)
Literacy:
- listens well to read aloud stories
- understands left to right movement of reading
- can express and describe feelings
- follows 1 and 2-step directions
- retells information from a story
- recites alphabet
- identifies uppercase and lowercase letters
- identifies alphabet letter sounds
- traces letters and numbers
- uses pictures to communicate ideas
- traces his/her name
Math:
- sorts by color, shape, and size
- identifies patterns and duplicates them (AABB, ABC patterns)
- orders several objects based one 1 attribute
- recognizes simple patterns and duplicates them
- counts to 20
- identifies these shapes: oval, rectangle
Other:
- uses scissors to cut paper
- draws lines
Year 3 (age 4-5+)
Literacy:
- listens well to read aloud stories
- can express and describe feelings
- follows 1 and 2-step directions
- retells information from a story
- recites alphabet
- matches uppercase letters to lowercase letters
- identifies the sound each letter makes
- writes a few letters without tracing
- writes his/her name
- reads a few sight words
Math:
- recognizes patterns and can duplicate them (ABBA pattern)
- counts to 20 and beyond
- understands directional words (up/down, right/left)
- understands comparative words (big/little, slow/fast)
Other:
- ties shoes
- uses bathroom by his/herself
- dresses self
- brushes teeth independently
- uses scissors to cut on lines
- draws shapes
I think all preschoolers should work on these motor skills:
Gross Motor Skills:
- runs
- skips
- hops (on both feet or one)
- gallops
- leaps
- jumps
- somersaults
- pedals and steers a tricycle
- climbs a playground ladder
- catches a thrown ball
- bounces a ball
Fine Motor Skills:
- stacks blocks
- buttons
- strings beads
- zips
- snaps
- laces
- grasps writing utensil with tripod grip
- completes simple puzzle
- good scissor skills
- glue neatly
- uses tweezers
If you want to read more about what I think children need to work on before kindergarten (including social skills), I recommend downloading this checklist:Â Kindergarten Readiness Checklist
Of course, these are just suggestions. Your child may know more or less. Most of all, I encourage all parents to make learning fun for their preschooler!
Hi, I just came across your site and really appreciate you sharing your experience and knowledge. Could you let me know where to find the worksheet your son is working on in the picture above, where he’s tracing the letter “v”. Also, do you have any recommendations on good “pattern recognition” activity books?
Thanks, Cindy
This is exactly what I needed! I just had to pull my 2.5 yr old out of daycare/preschool as I lost my job. There are thousands of activities to try, but this is a good guideline of where she should be and what we should practice next. Thank you!
Wonderful! So happy to hear this.
I really liked this. Thanks so much Angela for sharing this.
Well thank you for this post. I teach preschool at home to my 4 yr old and soon to be 2 yr old. My in laws are pressuring me to put my oldest in a preschool but I haven’t found one I like and that is affordable. She is totally on track and is ready to go into kinder next fall. I HATE that being at home is looked down upon and I keep being told that she will fail in school if I don’t get her in somewhere soon. I am profoundly hurt and feeling disrespected as a mother and a teacher! I taught pre K and kindergarten for several years before choosing to stay home with my babies. Thank you for helping me feel encouraged and giving positive light to all the hard work we put into home preschool!
Don’t feel discouraged!! I am looked down upon for even thinking of homeschooling our son. But God has called me to do that and I will do so. I hope that you will do what you feel is the right thing. I always say to other mothers “What works best for one family may not work for another.”
This is WAY after the fact but I wanted to comment anyway. Having worked in the public school system (and personally attended many a private school), I always find the opinion of them failing due to homeschooling absolutely ludicrous. Has anyone set foot in a public school recently??? Academic failure is an epedimic only being surpassed by moral depravity. Don’t ever let someone make you feel inferior because you are choosing to spend intensive one-on-one time with your child. Even if she somehow ‘lags behind’ academically, she will reap the rewards of being with mom (or dad, or both) for years to come.