Planning Your Homeschool Preschool Curriculum
Preschoolers come equipped with wiggles. They also are amazingly curious. Now is the time to encourage what delights them with a good helping of discipleship and learning tucked in along the way. Don’t be afraid of “doing it wrong.” Seek wisdom from the One Who “gives to all liberally and without reproach” (James 1:5), and then go have fun with your child!
Most states do not have specific requirements for preschool education, which provides parents with the freedom to pick and choose preschool activities to suit each family’s unique situation. Whether you are seeking a structured homeschool preschool curriculum or a more flexible approach, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is here to encourage you along the way.
Choose an option to create a preschool experience that sparks joy and fosters a love for learning in your little one. After all, there isn’t a single “right” way to teach your preschooler.
Option 1 – Pre-Kindergarten School Box
SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers a Preschool Box with an already-done-for-you Preschool Curriculum Guide to simplify your preschool planning. The Preschool Curriculum Guide provides a full year of engaging preschool activities to help your child develop cognitive, motor, social, and early academic skills.
Using the Preschool Box is as easy as 1, 2, 3—with an optional 4.
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Go to the Preschool Box.
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Download the Preschool Curriculum Guide. Save it to your computer so you can check the boxes digitally when the work has been completed.
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Follow the directions in the Preschool Curriculum Guide. It’s okay (and encouraged) to be flexible and adjust the schedule as needed.
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If desired, check out Preschool Playground for more resources.
Option 2 – Create Your Own Preschool Curriculum Using the Preschool Playground
The Preschool Playground on SchoolhouseTeachers.com includes an organized list of links to resources, such as preschool courses, daily charts, fun preschool activities, articles, and an eBook for parents.
In the Preschool Playground, you will find resources for:
- Bible
- History
- Language Arts
- Multi-Subject Learning
- Numbers, Patterns, and Cognitive Skills
- Manners and Healthy Habits
- Arts, Crafts, and Music
- Science
- Social Studies
Most of these resources are downloadable and printable. A few are better viewed on the computer, such as the Bible stories (which are fully illustrated picture books) or the World Book eBooks (which do not have a download option).
Tips for Using the Preschool Playground
Below is a step-by-step guide to using the Preschool Playground as a full homeschool preschool curriculum.
1. Gather two binders.
One will be a parent binder with a divider for each subject. This will be your master binder for storing all the lessons you’ll need for your preschool homeschool curriculum. The other binder (or folder, if you wish) will be your child. Use this to hold one day’s worth of work at a time for your child to complete.
2. Preview the Preschool Scope and Sequence.
The Preschool Scope and Sequence provides a general guide to what your preschooler can work on learning during the preschool years. This is a great reference for writing your own list of learning goals for your preschooler.
3. Write a list of learning goals and break those goals into doable steps.
Your list can be simple. “Recognize all 26 letters” is a good goal. “Focus on one letter each week for 26 weeks” would be the steps to reach that goal. Refer back to this list throughout the year.
4. Look at the resources available on the Preschool Playground.
Consider which resources will help you reach your learning goals. Don’t forget to check out the articles and eBook under the planning section to offer you more tips and encouragement.
5. Print, bookmark, and/or add a note for the lessons you plan to use.
Organize the printed lessons and your notes by subject and add them to the parent binder within the specified subject section. Check out the tutorials for more information about bookmarking courses on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
6. Choose your lessons for each day.
Each day, try to choose at least one language arts, one Bible, and one numbers, patterns, and cognitive skills page or activity to add to your child’s binder and work on with your child. Then you can add in and rotate the other subjects as each day’s schedule permits. At this age, there is no need to do every subject every day. If desired, use the Preschool Planner for planning.
7. Save the completed lessons.
Once your child has completed a page, or you’ve done the activity, return the page to your parent’s binder and put it in the back of its subject area. If it’s a skill or activity you want to come back to later in the year, put a small removable sticky tag on the page so you can quickly find it later.
Note: Not all lessons will—or need to—include worksheets. Taking pictures of activities is a great reminder of completed activities.
8. Continue to cycle through the skills, activities, and worksheets.
Some days your preschooler will be thrilled to “do school,” and you’ll have the opportunity to practice letters, numbers, and do a craft. Other days, you’ll barely get an alphabet or numbers worksheet completed before bed. It’s okay! Be assured your preschooler is learning and that “Faithful is He that calleth you” (1 Thessalonians 5:24a).
9. Reward your little ones with certificates from the Certificate Library.
There are even certificates specific to preschoolers you can print to recognize their achievements of counting, writing letters, getting dressed by themselves, tying their own shoes, helping with chores, and more.
Tips for Planning Your Preschool Curriculum
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Check out the articles and eBook available in the Planning section of the Preschool Playground.
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Consider your child’s interests and abilities. It’s okay to tailor curriculum specifically to your child.
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Be realistic and flexible. Days will not always go as planned, no matter how hard we try. Preschoolers can be wiggly and life happens. If something isn’t working, try something different.
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Plan ahead. Gathering books, art supplies, and any other materials before starting lessons with your preschooler can be very helpful.
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Have fun and explore the world together. Preschoolers learn so much through play and everyday tasks. You can go on color scavenger hunts, build towers and count the blocks, point out letters and words at the store, and play games. Learning doesn’t have to involve worksheets.
Conclusion
Within the framework of homeschooling, each of us is given a unique job to do. We have different children, different personalities, and different circumstances. Some of us have to figure out how to juggle many things on our proverbial plates, others are trying to fill the hours while daddy is gone for days at a time, while still others have no idea where to begin as home educators. We‘re literally all over the map!
I‘ll let you in on a little secret that has been a lifesaver for many a homeschooler: prayer works every time, in every circumstance. If this is the beginning of your homeschooling journey, lay aside the things that worry you most and commit them to prayer. If you are a mom on the verge of homeschool burnout, commit your fatigue and struggles to prayer. You‘re not alone in your endeavor to disciple your child and walk alongside that little person at home; God will equip you to that which He has called you, and He will never leave you nor forsake you. What a mighty God we serve!
And love those little people! They do grow up so fast, you know.
Special thanks to Kendra Fletcher of Preschoolers and Peace, whose encouraging words in Preschool at Home Where They Belong published by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® serve as the conclusion of this page.
