Once again, the end of the homeschool year is upon us! Whether you are celebrating the end of one year, or already planning for next year, the end of the year is a great time to make a few assessments of the current year which will make planning for the next year even easier. >>Read ... Read More about End of Homeschool Year Evaluation
Download your FREE Perfect Minimalist Homeschool Planner here and start homeschooling in 2021 organized and prepared.
After way too many Christmas posts, I'm finally back to writing about homeschool stuff (although you shouldn't assume Christmas p...
Preschool homeschooling should be filled with fun, interactive educational activities that little ones can enjoy! There are a lot of free Preschool Homeschool Curriculum options to help keep you from breaking the bank! Little ones are often ready to start learning long before we even begin thinking about their education. It is important for parents …
Are you thinking about homeschooling preschool? What do you need to teach preschool at home? Here is your ultimate list of preschool supplies.
Looking for a preschool homeschool curriculum for 3 year olds? This is the one we are using for our family along with how we are organizing it to help keep us sane.
EASY and FUN Simple Activities for 4-year-olds You can create fine motor, writing, and pattern activities for your child!
Science. Technology. Engineering. Mathematics. STEM. These are all subjects that provide children countless opportunities to learn using hands-on activities and you don’t have to break the bank to do it! There are a lot of great STEM activities that you can do with things you have around the house and even from the dollar store …
See which preschool homeschool curriculum we're using for the 2021-2022 year, and read why it was our top choice (+ how we're liking it)!
Inside: Are you going to homeschool second grade this year? Get ideas for second grade homeschool curriculum from our second grade homeschool plans (with a kindergartener along for the ride!). It’s almost time for another
Homeschool planning can be overwhelming. With these homeschool planning secrets and hacks, you can conquer your challenges with homeschool planning today!
Grab our free, clickable Mega List of Themes and Skills for Pre-K & Kindergarten Lesson Plans to see what themes/skills I cover in my classroom all year!
Inside: Learn how to structure the day for toddlers and preschoolers while doing preschool at home. This daily routine will cover everything you need to know for stay-at-home preschool. If you're looking to start preschool at home - you're in the right place. The good news is that you don't have to be an educator, or spend hours scrolling through Pinterest to teach your toddler
One of my favorite projects of the year is our End of the Year Memory Book. It's a special keepsake for students and parents that features photos, drawings, writing samples, and more. It's a project the class works on periodically throughout the year. I love it because it shows how much the kiddos change over the year. It gives parents a memento to remember the year by, rather than trying to save everything the child brings home. #guiltyofthat This is Ellee. She was in my very first class. She just started 10th grade! Her Mom sent me these pictures of her looking back on her Kindergarten Memory Book before school started last month. It made me so happy to know that she was reliving all of the fun we had in Kinder. Crazy to think 10 years has come and gone! You can see in the photos that Word Art was all the rage back in 2007. LOL. I've made some updates to my Kinder Memory Book since 2007, and I've also created a Preschool and 1st grade version. I have some tips for creating these Memory Books that will make them manageable. 1. If you have active parent volunteers, find a parent that will head up this project. My first year in the classroom, I had 26 kids in my morning class and 25 in the afternoon. 51 memory books! Thank goodness I had an amazing aide and some super parents that helped out. 2. Two options for binding the memory books... You can copy all of the pages you need and bind them over the summer/at the beginning of the year. However, I think it's better to wait to bind them until the END of the year. To keep it all organized, I have a file folder for each student. As we complete a memory book page, I file the completed page away in the child's folder. Then at the end of the year, all the pages are in order and ready to be bound. 3. Print extra copies for potential new students or for "Uh Oh" mistakes. 4. If you forget to take a photograph of a student for a certain page, they can draw a picture instead. The combination of photographs and illustrations will make it extra special. 5. You can send a page home for "homework" every now and then if you just don't have time to get to it in class. Be sure to tell your students how important these pages are so they come back in good condition. I would recommend sending them home in an envelope or file folder so they don't get ripped, folded, or destroyed on the way home. :) 6. I've included extra pages at the end for photographs. Students can personalize it, color it, add stickers, get autographs from friends, etc. The teacher can write a special note to the child in the back of the book as well. These Memory Books will work great for Homeschool Kiddos and for the crafty Mamas out there. Just print and use the pages you need. I'm thrilled to be making one with my preschooler.
Make record keeping a snap with these FREE printable Homeschool Report Cards for k12 students. Tons of options!
At the Crafty Classroom, we have over 30 preschool themes with numerous printables and activities you can use in your homeschool or classroom!
We were a homeschooling family for 17 years. Before my oldest son turned 2 years old, my husband and I both felt called to check out this homeschooling
I am linking up with DeeDee and sharing a peek at my week... and year. It's been a little chaotic around here lately, so I created a weekl...
The 2012-2013 school year was our first year homeschooling. I had a 5 1/2 year old and a just turned 4 year old and we were doing My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum. I loved the Biblical integration along with the phonics and science instruction, and the gentle introduction of math concepts through daily activities. There was only one thing I didn't love - the handwriting instruction, or, in my opinion, the lack thereof. While it included practice pages for each letter, along with instructions for how to form each letter, these were grossly inadequate for my child, who rarely picked up a crayon to color, and who's writing and drawing ability included drawing a line and a circle. He had never been to preschool. He was such a busy child who learned plenty through playing. He knew his letters and sounds before he was two years old. But he was never interested in coloring or drawing, and I never pushed it. I knew he'd learn to write in Kindergarten, and I was fine with waiting until then. However, once we started Kindergarten, I knew he needed more instruction. The curriculum, which began with practicing writing the letter S in the first week was NOT the recipe for his writing success. Immediately, I knew he needed an introduction to writing on three lines, and he needed to start by writing horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines on those three lines. As a third grade teacher I had used Zaner-Bloser handwriting curriculum, so I went to their website and ordered samples of their Kindergarten and First Grade books. Upon receiving them, I was happy to see that they began with learning to write horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. From there it progressed to the letters L, I, T, etc. I could see right away that this was much more developmentally appropriate. However, the directions for teaching were still boring. It used the terms "horizontal, vertical, and diagonal" - new terms for my children who were also learning a new fine motor skill. I was looking for cute, kid-friendly descriptions...maybe even pictures of letter and numbers turned into characters to help children remember their formation. I remembered learning that kind of thing as a child who was learning to write. I searched the internet but didn't find what I was looking for....until I found Handwriting Without Tears. It had hands-on teaching materials that taught the components of writing, with child-friendly vocabulary (Big Line, Little Line, Big curve, little curve). For lower case letters, fun descriptions included phrases like "dive down," "magic c," "Slide down," and "Up like a helicopter." It also gave instructions which would help eliminate reversals, which is something my four year old was doing. However, by the time I was convinced it was what I needed, we were done with Kindergarten, and my child had already learned to write, for the most part. However, I like the HWT approach as it transitions into cursive writing, so I decided it was worthwhile to go back and teach HWT handwriting from here on out. However, I didn't want to purchase all their materials, so I found some ways to do it myself at home, with homemade materials and free printable from the internet. I want to use this blog to share what I have done. Here is a downloadable sample of Handwriting Without Tears alphabet poster. However, this sample can be printed on regular copy paper and laminated - a perfect size for homeschooling or one-on-one tutoring! Using materials I already had, (construction paper, magnet tape, a compass, a ruler, scissors and a laminator) I created magnetic pieces that would fit on our small magnetic white boards. This mimics HWT's Wood Pieces for Capital letters, their magnetic pieces, and magnetic board. These materials, along with their other hands-on products can be seen here. Homemade laminated letter pieces on our white board. Magnet tape on the back of the letter pieces. In place of HWT's chalkboards, I also created small white boards for teaching and practicing capitals and lower case. I used a 3 1/2 x 5 photo frame for the capitals, and a 5x7 photo frame for the lower case. These handwriting without tears products can be found here for capital letter board and here for lower case lettter board. Then, I found free printables to help with the teaching terms here. I put them, along with free printable practice pages I found online such as this one in plastic sleeves and bound them together with rings. I have also found the videos on HWT's website and on you tube to be very helpful in explaining their teaching methods. We enjoyed doing the Mat Man activity with my homemade pieces. (See this video). This also helped my oldest who couldn't seem to get beyond drawing people with arms and legs coming out of their heads! Mat Man pieces store in a plastic sleeve Our "Mat Man" I plan to purchase the workbooks and teacher's books on grade level, but for now I can get started with these items! (Update: I still haven't purchased the books, but am using these homemade materials with success!).
BJU Press Homeschool is our top pick for our curriculum each year - here's why you (and your kids!) will love what BJU homeschool has to offer.
Want to add history to your day, but struggling to get the basics done? Try this simple homeschool history plan that works!
Use these math & literacy assessments for preschool & pre-k in your classroom or at home if you're homeschooling (kindergarten readiness).
Can I just say I have one of the most creative colleagues ever!! You guys remember Jayme right? She made the cute farm games at the begi...
Whether you are doing a homeschool preschool program or are a teacher in a preschool, having a plan is essential. Every year, I begin with an outline for what I plan to teach throughout the school year. I created this resourceful, editable preschool curriculum to keep organized and easily change what I teach from year
Unschooling ideas for the 2023-2024 school year: resources and collaborative plans for grades 8, 6, 4, 1 and Pre-K.
Yes! FREE homeschool math curriculum for K-8th grade does exist and it's wonderfully Charlotte Mason. Click, print, and done! Watch the video
Plan a year's worth of field trips with these ideas! Great list for homeschoolers (or just for family outings!)
Print a set of greater than less than alligators! Teachers can write down two numbers, and students can say which is greater by picking the right alligator.
Preschool assessments are a great way to record a child's progress throughout the school year. Last year, we had an cream party on the last day of preschool and I wanted to use an assessment that went along with our ice cream theme. Below is the assessment we used, you will also see a beginning of the year assessment with the same theme that has different wording. We had a lot of fun with this theme and will be using it about for this coming school year. Beginning of school year preschool assessment End of school year preschool assessment One of our activities for the ice cream party was this coloring page and poem.
Planting lifelong foundations in early childhood
Year long monthly name writing and self portraits for August- July. For this activity students can draw a self portrait of themselves and write their name on the line. These are a simple way to document students growth throughout the school year. Teachers can keep these for the year to show parents and students a progression of their abilities as the year progresses. You may also like: September Writing Prompts October Writing Prompts November Writing Prompts
We spent the last two weeks learning about animal classification. This all came about last year when we were doing our rain forest animal reports. Many of
Montessori-inspired Continent Activities with Free Printables
Curriculum Map for Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten for the whole year! Year plan, month plans, and week plans by theme.
It can be overwhelming to plan for the entire year of preschool! This year-long curriculum map for preschool and Pre-K includes a Year at a Glance, weekly plans, and book lists. I mapped out the whole year for you, just print and go! There’s even an editable template for you too!
Grab our free, clickable Mega List of Themes and Skills for Pre-K & Kindergarten Lesson Plans to see what themes/skills I cover in my classroom all year!
Teach your four-year-old more than ABCs and 123's. Make sure they are ready for kindergarten by teaching them these 8 essential life skills!
Have you thought about picking a homeschool theme? Picking a monthly homeschooling theme can make lessons more interesting and thought-provoking!
