It’s Back-to-School season and I know that it may put some of you in panic mode. If this is your first year of teaching home preschool, then I hope this post will be encouraging to you!! I’ve taught preschool at home to my two older boys for 4 years and I just love this age so much! Here are my 10 tips.
1. Set a Schedule
I recommend setting up a schedule for the day. It doesn’t need to be a rigid schedule, but some sort of routine so your preschool will know how the day will go. Here’s what our schedule will be this year:
9:00 – Circle Time (weather, songs, calendar)
9:15 – Read Aloud
9:30 – Literacy Activity
10:00 – Snack & Break
10:30 – Sensory Play
11:00 – Math Activity
11:30 – Lunch and Play Time
1:00 – Quiet Rest Time
And the rest of the day is not very structured and there’s lots of play time!
2. Have LOTS of Play Time
Preschoolers need lots of play time. Learning through play is an awesome way to teach preschoolers.
3. Do Hands-On Activities
I’m a big advocate for hands-on learning activities. Preschoolers don’t need worksheets, they need hands-on learning tasks. They learn best this way!
4. Read, Read, Read!
If you only remember one tip, this is it. READ all the time to your preschooler. Read stories, kid magazines, informational book, and whatever interests your child.
5. Sing & Make Music
I haven’t met a preschooler that doesn’t like music. Sing lots of songs when you’re starting the preschool day, transitioning to new activities, celebrating holidays, or really any time!
6. Follow Their Interests
This is the beauty of homeschooling. You can take time to follow your child’s interests. If they are curious about frogs, then take time to read books about them, make a sensory bin, do crafts, and take a field trip to the pet shop to observe frogs. They will love learning when you follow their interests.
7. Learn From Other Moms
There’s no need to re-invent the wheel. Learn tips and tricks from other preschool moms. I’d love for you to join my preschool moms facebook group to connect with other homeschool moms!
8. Have a Set Area
If possible, try to have a certain area for preschool. We have an office room that we use for our preschool time.
9. Try Homeschool Co-ops
Check into your local homeschool co-op to see if there are opportunities to meet and learn with other homeschool families.
10. Don’t Worry!
Don’t sweat about all the little details about home preschool. I don’t believe you can really mess up preschool. As long as you’re reading, playing, and doing hands-on learning activities you will be good!
Have a wonderful first year of homeschooling!
If you’re looking for tools to effectively teach preschool at home, check out my curriculum, Home Preschool Made Easy. I even offer a course that teaches you everything you need to know about home preschool! Check it out here.
Great tips. We will be doing preschool at home with both of my boys this year and are very excited.
That’s awesome, Jodie! I hope you have a wonderful year!
This is so helpful!! Where did you find everything on the wall?
Thanks! I found most everything at Target. The banner on the wall was made by a friend. The posters, wall art, spinners, pocket chart, weather calendar are all from the Target dollar section. We love Target!
Looks great!
My 4 girls are grown and have started their own families.
I didn’t get a chance to totally home school them, however
many hours were spent with reading and music, puzzles etc.
All their teachers were amazed at how well they read and asked
me how I managed to get them interested.
I READ! READ! READ! to them.
Gma D ?
Hi Angela Thayer,
Very nice and helpful blog for new mom’s.
Pre-schooling is very important for a kids future. The habit of going to school and as well the most important basics one gets at their pre-schools only. Setting a schedule for your pre-school is the most important thing you have to do for start. A good and easy schedule is helpful at the start-ups.
The tips described here by you are helpful and useful for being practical, it is also well described. You should always keep in mind that you have to only make a habit of studying by teaching them basics. Don’t panic as definitely you are the best pre-school teacher for your child.
Thanks for sharing these tips and ideas, keep posting like this always.
Have a nice weekend.
~ Harshwardhan
Harshwardhan Singh recently posted…7 Essential Pregnancy Tips for the First Time Mothers
I have owned my in home daycare for twenty seven years and work with children mostly ages 2-5. I liked your setup and advice but I disagree with you about worksheets. They are essential to early learning and should in my opUnion never replace play time. The demands are great for kindergarteners and our culture discourages work books coloring books etc but in reality they teach discipline focus and help our children excel — rethink that — God bless — lots of experience and a teaching degree
That is a good point! I should probably rewrite that. I don’t believe all worksheets are bad. They are good for practicing handwriting and learning to focus. I just like to do hands-on activities most of the time.
Worksheets aren’t essential to early learning, kids can and will learn information without them. It doesn’t mean the odd worksheet is detrimental, but the experts agree that young children learn through play.
Great Advice! I’m excited to start my preschool homeschool journey
Hi Angela!
Getting some kind of structure in the day is one of the most important things not just for little kids, but for adults too. I find that if I go and create a short to-do list before going to bed, the next day will be a lot better for me. If I just get up and try to do many things that just pop up, nothing gets accomplished.
I also like to leave a lot of leisure time in my day. My son is 7 years old, and when we go out, or do some kind of learning activity together, I always structure the day so that we have a lot of free time. This takes away from the classroom environment, and also leaves more time for exploration.
Going back to my previous point, I also find that leaving free time during my day enhances my productivity, and makes me a more centered person. I find it to be a great way to raise my kids with routines that I feel will help them in their adult lives.
Awesome advice! I never thought of Co-ops for preschool. I will be checking into it for sure! Thanks!
Awesome tips… i like to reed and know this… Thanks a lot…
So true hands on activities is so important. Unfortunately most kids I see these days just stuck on YouTube
Your home school tips were quite helpful to read, thanks for sharing it.
Our little guy is just turning 3. He is not a sitter downer We learn through play and talk.I do use worksheets on the wall (my form of bulletin board)and the pocket chart as a focus point. He is just discovering the file folder games which I am turning into a busy book. Love the teachingmoma.org seems to follow my philosophy of education.
thanks