We have a week and a half of summer left and are going to enjoy every minute of it, but I’m already gearing up for another year of preschool with my kids at home! I’ll be changing things up a little this year because my oldest preschooler will be five soon and he’s ready for more.
While I get things organized, I thought I’d share my checklist to get ready!
- Place Amazon Order … I just placed an order on Amazon for some fun preschool products I’m excited to use this year. I usually order any other books or stickers or things (like the plastic ants) that we’ll need for the coming weeks.
- washable markers
- scissors
- a glue stick
- box of crayons
- a pencil or two.
- and I usually throw in a surprise treat for the first day.
- tIP: There are GREAT sales on school supplies right now! I stock up on crayons, paper, glue sticks and washable markers (trust me, just get the washable kind, even though they’re a little more expensive!)
- Decide on the themes I want each day for A week.
- If you need a schedule ready to go, my calendar for A-D (September) last year is here. Calendars for the rest of the year are listed on my sidebar.
- Links to all letter ideas here. I stick with one letter each week and one theme each day. Then I try to mix up the activities so we are reading every day and playing, writing, exploring and learning a lot!
- Go to the library … seriously, one of my favorite places. We are now well-stocked with letter A books
Then read, read, read them! By the time A week comes, we’re ready to learn with some of our new favorite books.
- Put up an alphabet strip … I’m trying to decide where and how I want to put it up this year, but it will be up soon to get the kids excited.
- Organize preschool activity boxes … this is a whole post itself and I’m still getting my boxes together. I’ll post the details soon.
I try to keep it simple, but organized and fun
Thank you for such a great blog. I have a 2YO that didn't get into a typical preschool because her birthday is in October and missed the cutoff date. So I decided to teach her myself because she is wayyy ready to start learning. Your site has given me so many ideas to get going. Thank you. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Timille! We have had a lot of fun doing preschool at home!
DeleteI seriously was so excited when I saw you had a new post! I am excited to do preschool with Sadie and Zac. And thanks so much for posting all your fun ideas. I pretty much just follow everything on your calendars. It really has saved me a lot of time! I love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this; I also have a lot to do to get organized! I'm determined to follow along past A week this year! :)
ReplyDeleteI started doing these activities with my son this summer (he's 2.5yo). At first he seemed like he was getting it and understanding, but now we are up to letter L and he just isn't into it and can't even seem to remember the earlier letters anymore. I'm thinking flashcards and straight memorization one hundred times might be better (but not any fun) for him. I really want to continue doing our weekly letter activities, but I'm afraid that I'm doing something wrong. Any tips?
ReplyDeleteThanks everybody! :)
DeleteKelly, with your 2.5 year old, I would definitely just go with what he's interested in. From my experience, some days just don't work. If they were losing interest in all of my "great ideas" and activities, we'd drop it and just play, or just read books or whatever. My goals are to have some fun, structured time with my kids, read, and enjoy doing what they like to do. I'm not so concerned that they memorize the letter names and sounds, because I know that will come. You might consider inviting a friend over to do preschool with him -- it's always more fun with a friend.
Wow your blog is amazing! Thanks for posting about all your hard work. My son will be 4 in April and I'm getting excited to start teaching him. I was wondering if you've posted the details yet for the Organize preschool activity boxes? Thanks again!
ReplyDelete