I have gone back and forth in my head for so long about how I wanted to approach preschool. I'm torn between "it's unnecessary" and "I feel like my kids are missing out". And more accurately, we're a little bored at home.
I plan on starting homeschool next fall when Piggie is five and a half, so I knew if we were going to do preschool, it would be at home for the same reasons I plan to homeschool. I failed preschool a year ago when Piggie was 3. I tried for like two days, following the typical preschool schedule that includes a circle time, a few lessons, etc. It was just too early, for starters, and secondly it was too structured. My boys just aren't capable of following a structured preschool schedule at home, and it's torture for me as well. As in, I'm not a "Pinterest" mom and I just don't find the enjoyment of doing craft after craft, etc. Especially with small boys; I'd rather take a bullet to my Nutella jar.
Propelled by our summer cabin fever and boredom, I once again explored the possibility of doing intentional preschooling again, but just much more laid back. I don't want to do random crafts; I would definitely prefer to have a preschool-like theme every month that we focus on and that ties in with lessons they're learning. I also don't want to do multiple things in one day. That feels more like busy work and takes the joy out of it for me.
After scanning countless lesson plans, themes and curriculums, I decided to make up my own. I created 12 months of themes that include letters and numbers of the month, things to explore, days to celebrate, and shapes. I also will be including Spanish books and printables into our themes, as well as Mexican holidays and events. I am seriously amazed at how many awesome, free printables I can find to go with our "lessons"! I'll be linking them all here every month when I share our monthly theme and activities.
Today I just wanted to share the printables I created for my preschooling binder and also a look at our themes for the year. Printables for these two pages are in the printables library. Tomorrow I'll share our full September schedule with links.
I created the themes based off of what my boys love mixed in with what I would like to teach them right now. For example, September's theme of "All About Me" is going to help me educate Piggie on the differences between boys' and girls' bodies and also boundaries for what's appropriate touch, etc.
I found some awesome books to help me explain these things so I'm really looking forward to it since he is VERY MUCH into the differences in bodies right now and I would also like for him to stop humping our backs.
My boys' goals.
See how there's just ONE thing a day? That is totally doable with a 2 and 4 year old boy (the 2 year old is questionable for some of these but he can tag along). This I can do.
This printable is in the Mommying section in the printables library because it's not preschool related, just more of a reminder for me so that I can check myself before I wreck myself with these little boys! These are notes I've taken out of the book Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys.
Click here to access the printables. There are 7 total: a binder cover, general activity ideas for each developmental focus, a calendar, monthly and weekly activities, daily lesson plan sheet, and a supplies list.
Jessica Dimas is the author of the book "Sacred Self-Care for the Highly Sensitive Mom." Follow along on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with future posts.
Tiffany (A Touch of Grace)
My child doesn't hump anything, but one of my friends' little girls used to hump things. Not just for little boys I guess. 🙂
I love that you made it super simple day by day. Kids can get overwhelmed with too many activities. This way they can focus better I say.
Jessica Dimas
I totally saw a little girl do...something similar...she didn't hump anyone's leg but she was doing SOMETHING lol. I mean, it makes sense!
Yeah I really wanted to make it simple after seeing how difficult it was to try and do more than an hour of activities, especially back to back.
Chelsea @ Life With My Littles
Jessica, these are amazing! It made me want to do something like this with my son, too! And I love all the monthly themes, I would definitely pick similar ones. I want to do homeschool preschool I think for my kids, too. Maybe next year we'll start with something like this! But you have made me want to do one small thing a day to help my son learn!
Jessica Dimas
Thanks Chelsea!! I was so excited coming up with the plans and "lessons", I'm looking forward to it so much. Yes, this is going so much better just focusing on one small thing a day, especially for this age and for little boys!
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom
LOL - I caught myself giggling. You certainly love the printables don't you?!
This is awesome Jessica. Very well thought out and helpful.
Pinning this on my Deliberate HOMESCHOOLING board.
xoxo
Jessica Dimas
Yes, a little too much. Like seriously everything in life I think to myself "can I make this into a printable..." ?? it's sad. Thanks for pinning Jennifer, I appreciate it so much xo
Cindy Hasko
I love your ideas and goals for the boys. I can't wait to see more. Great post!!
Jessica Dimas
Thanks Cindy! I hope to see you sharing preschool stuff too since I know you've already been doing that with your little boy 🙂
Christie
I love this and can't wait to build my own plan using your printables! I did have a question about how you made your goal list? Did you use any resources or just want you want them to learn and know? I also LOVE the heading font you use and was wondering where you got it from!?
Jessica Dimas
I'm so glad you like the printables! I did do some research to find a lot of those goals. I was googling what to teach your toddler/preschooler by age, etc. And then the font I used was Folktale. It's on Picmonkey I believe, and I also downloaded it for free off of 1001freefonts.com 🙂
Kahea
This is definitely a good start to what I want to do for my daughter who is 3. She has a whole year before she gets to go to school but I want her ready and she already has a speech delay. We're only doing like half day schooling though.
Mylene
Where can I buy these plans??? They look great! Thank you so much!!!