Home Schooling: Pre-School

I am kind of dipping my toes into this somewhat. My toddler isn't in pre-school yet due to the birthday cut off, so I decided to start doing pre-school at home. I didn't want to waste almost a full year at home with no education. I do find 36 months+ a great starting age, some of these things I feel are possible to be done at 24 months too. 

Supplements

ABC Mouse

One of the things we are doing is an online pre-school curriculum: www.abcmouse.com. You do have to pay for this one after a free month. So far we like it and paid for it. ABC Mouse has a short cut for the desktop that goes straight to the website. (Plus our parent controls prevent access to internet sites except for ABC mouse on a custom setting especially for my toddler.)  It has its own lessons, learning games, books that are read out loud, coloring pages, songs and so forth.  Before: My toddler could not use a laptop or a laptop mouse before we found it. After: In just 2 months, with some help my toddler can turn on the computer by herself, click on her computer user name (based on the picture) and find the ABC Mouse logo on the desktop. She can do the  toddler and preschool lessons mostly by herself by just following the computer directions and moving the laptop mouse by herself. This is nice, because it can get time consuming if you have to move the mouse for your child's answer each time which really makes completing the lessons longer. 

Cheap Work Books

I've also found some pre-made school work books at local stores, such as the Dollar Store. I have  also seen them in other stores too, such as Target. They are separated by school groups, such as Pre-K and Kindergarten. 

Extracurricular Activities 

We feel a structured activity will help teach her a new skill and learning to take direction from another teacher / adult. We chose for her to be in ballet. It also helps burn alot of energy too.

Play Groups

One of the stereotypes of homeschooling is that the children are awkward socially. This is why I take my toddler to a playgroup once a week with other like minded moms and children are the same age. It gives her the chance to meet and interact with other children. 

My Curriculum

These other things listed I consider to be supplements for my Learning Time at home. It is based on my toddler's needs. Such as we are trying to get her completely potty trained. So some of the material for example are books related to potty training. We also are working on basics, such as colors, numbers, songs.  We kind of go by a schedule we try to stick to each day - different things we do for different times of the day. Like morning time she gets free play, snack and 1 educational show such as Dora. Afternoons are learning time and play groups.