Homeschooling

Question: Any suggestions for Christian preschool Homeschool Curriculum?

Looking for an inexpensive preschool curriculum with a Christian emphasis to use with my son and his friend who will both be 3 in December. Any thoughts or ideas from parents who homeschool?

Answer: Since the kids are still 2yo, I would recommend the book "Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready" (link below). It has many ideas such as I mention here, for use up to age 5, and it's very inexpensive.

One thing you can do is discuss with them what God made on each day of Creation. Then let them go outside and see it (and touch, if possible, like plants or animals if you have a pet).

Of course, the first thing God made was light. Take them to a dark room (just for a few seconds), then say, "On the first day, God said, "Let there be LIGHT" -- and when you say 'LIGHT', hit the light switch. Let them see what a difference light makes!

When you talk about God creating the firmament (the sky), let them color paper blue. Let them glue cotton balls on it for the clouds.

At that age, I would take them outside as much as possible. This is especially good for little boys who like to be active.

When you talk about God creating plants, these are some things you can do: (There are many more; use your imagination)

When the leaves change color and start falling (assuming you live in an area which experiences changes of seasons), let them go outside and look at the different colors (a fun way to teach color recognition). Talk about why the leaves change color, with the help of a good library book written on their level. Let them pile up the leaves and jump in them.

Talk about what will happen in the spring -- and make a note on the calendar to take them outside to see the new buds and then the little green leaves!

Get a colorful book on their level about plants from the library. Read it, talk about it, then let them plant something. Unless you're in the far northern USA, there are fall plants you can grow -- for example, pumpkins are especially good.

You could let them start the pumpkin seed in clear plastic cups with some potting soil so they can watch the seed germinate, and let them keep them in the house until they are ready to plant outside.

Once the plants are up, turn the plants every few days so they can see that the plants will turn toward the sun! This is neat.

Once the plants are thriving, you could let them transplant them outside and let them water them regularly -- also get any bugs off the plants each day (talk about bugs being insects, LOL).

When you talk about God creating birds (fowl):

If birds migrate from your area to go down south -- talk about that, why they do it, when they will return. A good library book written for their age group will help with this.

If birds migrate TO your area from the north, do the same.

Putting up a bird feeder where they can watch the birds through a window (so they won't scare them away) can be lots of fun. Chickadees don't migrate south, so if you live in the north; they will come throughout the winter.

When you talk about God creating fish, let them get a fish bowl and a fish (if you already have an aquarium, let them go buy their own fish and put in it). If you can, take them to a large aquarium. It would be a wonderful field trip.

If they're old enough to grasp it, teach them that whales and dolphins are not fish; they're mammals who live in the water. I'm sure you could find a simple book at the library about that.

When you talk about God creating animals:

Get a really good book about wild animals. When my dc were little, we got a wonderful "Animal Atlas", very big and colorful, which showed which animals live on which continents. The dc learned some Geography painlessly!

After you've gone through the book, a section at a time, taking time to read and discuss (perhaps with a globe nearby to show them where the continents are in relation to where you live) ...

Take them to the zoo and let them see the wild animals up close! Take a picnic with you and make a day of it.

You might find some "Life cycle" books at the library. When my dc were little, we found books like "Life cycle of the frog", "...elephant", "...bee", etc. It was amazing how much the kids learned!

When you talk about God creating man, read Psalm 139 to them, explain it on their level, and get a good 'kid' book from the library about how our bodies work. Relate it all to the goodness and wisdom of God.

You can relate letters to God's Word. I would not require them to do any writing at this age -- just have fun with it. Get some plastic magnetic letters for them to play with on the fridge or a metal cookie sheet. Let them see what their names look like.

When they are ready, let them color letters in a coloring book or pages you download and print out online.

You could also cook something special each week or weekend after you've discussed the letter and its sound -- like an Apple pie for 'A' (I always taught them to say the SHORT vowels sounds first -- save the long vowel sounds for when they are older.

For number sense, let them count! Let them count plates as you load the dishwasher -- and everything else around the house, too (like toys, as they pick them up). Psalm ? (don't remember which one) says that God "tells" (literally, "counts") the stars and calls them by name. That's fascinating to me! Also, that He knows how many hairs are on our head. (Matthew 5-7, somewhere in the Beatitudes)

Get the plastic magnetic numbers and let them play with them on the fridge, metal cookie sheet, etc. Let them find the one for their age (2) and for ages of their friends as they learn them. And, when they are ready, coloring books or sheets with numbers on them.

There are WAY too many ideas for me to list here!

Christian Homeschool Curriculums - Choosing your Homeschooling Curriculum

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