Homeschooling Preschoolers Happens Organically With Day-to-Day Activities

“What curriculum should I use with my preschooler?” This is a common question I hear from other mothers of preschoolers. What am I using for my kids? Mostly life. Here are some of my favorite preschool resources.

Online lesson plans for preschoolers–I love using online resources, which are easy to access in an odd moment, and through them I can glean plenty of ideas and inspiration for activities.

Crafts and art supplies–The craft section of your local dollar store is a bounty of possibilities for preschool activities. Pipe cleaners, puff balls, sequins, glitter, glue, foam pieces, tissue paper, paint and more can all be used for a wide variety of art projects and crafts.

Papers–lots of papers. My kids like to spread out and cut and glue and color and fold and paint… For this, we need PAPER! We use old newspaper beneath any painting sessions, old magazines for practicing cutting, and of course, construction paper and scrap copy paper for coloring projects.

Housework–Housework? How is housework learning for preschoolers? Oh, in so many ways! The simple act of creating matches from your odd sock basket encourages eye coordination and fine detail recognition. Helping to set a table place setting to make each person’s place look like your sample improves a child’s reasoning and memory skills. Learning to hold a dustpan while you sweep encourages motor skills. There are so many ways to include a child in your everyday activities, helping them develop skills that provide a base for learning later in life.

The Local Library–Library books are a must–children’s books of all kinds! Many children’s books can be used as the basis for additional learning activities. For example, one of my children’s favorites, Curious George, can be used to talk about the principle of floating and gravity when George the monkey floats away holding onto a bundle of helium balloons.

With these inexpensive and easily accessible learning resources in your home, your preschooler will learn more than you realize. It’s often in the unexpected moments that you see your children shine, especially when learning is a part of everyday life, instead of something with lots of pressure and structure attached!

Angela England lives in rural Oklahoma with her husband and soon to be four children, where she works as a professional blogger in addition to homeschooling, doing childbirth work and massage therapy. England is the founder of The Untrained Housewife – a social site for homemakers, mothers and homeschoolers to exchange back-to-the-basic tips and tricks.