does anyone "home school" their preschooler?

dande2129

DS is a little over 3 and currently goes to a fantastic day care. He went from not talking at all to speaking full sentences and having conversations with 2 months of being there, and it wasn't even two yet. I really love the school but it is very expensive. With FI's schedule and my schedule, we can work it out so that one of us is always home with him. However, I am nervous that all this learning that he does would cease. He really is a smart little boy. 

We are waiting to see if I can get a grant from my university to pay for day care. If we don't get it, then my only choice is to pull DS out. Does anyone homeschool? Where do I go for curriculum ideas/plans? How do I know what is age appropriate learning? I guess I really just don't know where to start in general.  

tracy41

There's actually a homeschooling board on TB with some good info.

kcisthebombdotcom

I would not homeschool preschool. The important part of preschool is learning how to navigate socially with peers without mom right there and learning the rules of a classroom. You can't do that at home. I mean if your master plan would be to homeschool your child's whole educational career that would be one thing. If your end goal is to transition your kid to the public school system at kindie you're doing him no favors attempting to homeschool.

if cost is an issue, you can do a part time, half day preschool that's 2-3 days a week for much less than full time daycare.  

Mountaineers

Are there no public preschools instead of daycare? DD was 4 years turning 5 when she started preschool. There was no cost other than normal lunch and supplies. Maybe a fundraiser or two. Maybe you should just teach at home and go to the park or pool for the social stuff until he can start school

orangecurls

My son is going to go to a parent coop preschool, it is much less than a regular preschool. I do have to volunteer a few days a month though.

If he wasn't going to the preschool, I would just do story time at the library, play dates, and other enrichment 'classes'. I wouldn't worry about a curriculum other than a child led curriculum.

XCrissCrossX

Sounds like you're concern is academic- I assume you're planning to do play dates and stuff.

I would just make sure to do lots of things with letters and numbers. Count everything. Read everything. Label everything. There are tons of activities for preschooler's online-- you can search for them on a search engine or on Pinterest. 

Just remember that kids this age learn through play. So make everything fun. Draw letters in shaving cream, talk about the colors of his toys, count his trucks. 

Kingston54

Pinterest & there are some nice preschool workbooks at Michaels.

virginiagirl11

KC_13:

I would not homeschool preschool. The important part of preschool is learning how to navigate socially with peers without mom right there and learning the rules of a classroom. You can't do that at home. I mean if your master plan would be to homeschool your child's whole educational career that would be one thing. If your end goal is to transition your kid to the public school system at kindie you're doing him no favors attempting to homeschool.

if cost is an issue, you can do a part time, half day preschool that's 2-3 days a week for much less than full time daycare.  

I totally agree with this. We don't send DS to his daycare/preschool for the learning aspect, which we can easily do with him at home and do. We send him for the socialization aspects. And also for all of the different crafts and projects that they do with him that would be difficult for us to replicate at home without investing a great deal of money and/or time.

We send him three or four days a week and he spend the others days at home with his regular babysitter, whom we've trained over time so that she knows how to be very interactive and involved with him.