Homeschooling and Preschoolers

by Katrina
(Oregon)

As a homeschooling Mom and an Early Childhood Education/Childcare provider who offers preschool as part of my curriculum, things can get quite crazy. My own boys are teenagers and while we "think" we have homeschooling down pat.... that, as any homeschooling parent knows.... can change on a daily basis. As a Childcare provider, running a preschool and daycare while homeschooling your own kids can be a challenge. Especially when ALL of them are boys, yes boys! Preschool is a large part of my curriculum, whether hands on learning or working at a table. Between all the kids, getting any kind of schedule set is a challenge because I want them all to be on board at the end of the year but each child arrives and departs at different times as well as attend all different days. We have been working on printables for the past couple of years and while this works great, it doesn’t always meet the need of each child. I have an age range of 2-4+, all with very different personalities which also means different ways of learning. We have recently switched to using a computer program. My Mom graciously donated her old laptop and I purchased via eBay a nice preschooler sized mouse! Then there was the problem of finding a quiet place where the child can do their 15 minutes daily, away from their peers but where I can supervise and the computer stays safe as well! This is working out better because with their crazy schedules, each child can have a brief daily period squeezed in somewhere to get in some learning. Now, we still do hands on work as well. Definitely working on our writing, names especially and you can never have too much coloring! Now, if homeschooling teenagers was so simple.....