First Day! Homeschool Pre-K & Tot School
What changes in the fall?
This is when I like to start themes. Since we are now following Playing Preschool by Busy Toddler, our first two-week unit theme is apples. Over the summer, we still did circle time, a read aloud, and skill-based activities, but it was not always daily and I did not follow a curriculum.
We used Playing Preschool last year, as well, and I found that Elani needed more of a challenge so I will also be using Preschool Fundamentals by Let’s Play School, Get Ready for the Code, and Math K by The Good and the Beautiful (free). Playing Preschool has all subjects within it, but I also picked up a super inexpensive science book that has easy activities that we can choose to do.
I will still be using our Habbi Habbi books and the occasional Hola Amigo box for the Spanish.
What will Emi do?
Emi will be right there beside us. She has been participating in circle time with our foldable Circle Time Board for a long time now. I did not start tot school with Elani until she had already turned two, but Emi is interested because she sees what her big sister is doing. I will include her in the Playing Preschool school day, even though it is meant for 2.5 – 5 year olds. It is a very easy to make adjustments. For example, while Elani is working on counting 18 apple mini erasers for her apple tree task cards, Emi can be working on counting 3 apples from our First Orchard game. I appreciate that the curriculum is easy to adjust for my girls.
What does the schedule look like?
We do not have a schedule, but I loosely follow the order of things from the Playing Preschool curriculum. I do not try to accomplish everything back-to-back, but sometimes we are able to. Other times, we do circle time in the morning and do not get to the planned activities until the afternoon. We frequently visit family, set up playdates, and schedule activities (both girls are currently in soccer) throughout the week so our schedule can look different every day.
Here is an example:
– Breakfast + Free Play
– Circle Time
– Outside Play + Activities
– Lunch
– Naptime / Quiet Time
– Free Play + Activities
– Dinner
– Free Play + Family Walk
– Bedtime
This is generally what it looks like when we are home, but I’m sure that things will shift now that it’s getting cooler and we can be outside even more. Elani gets quiet time in her room, but she will fall asleep if it has been a busy day. Emi is getting better with her naps and sleeps for about an hour.
I will continue to do updates as thing change, but make sure you’re following me on Instagram to see the activities that we do within the different units.
