Charlie 2009-2010 Preschool Plans

I'm starting to look ahead to what we'd like to do next year. Charlie will turn 5 just as we begin our new lessons and I am in no rush to begin hitting the academics with him. I will focus mostly on reading great books with him, playing with numbers and letters, and watching him enjoy being a little kid. Here's what I have in mind so far...

Read Alouds-Between daytime and bedtime reading, I'm shooting for at least an hour of time specifically geared towards Charlie's interests and listening level. We'll have a few books going at once with varying themes. There will be picks from classic children's literature, nature and science topics, poetry, and geography books. I'll be choosing some favorites from our own bookshelf which include many recommendations from Ambleside Year 0 as well as from Sonlight's Core 4/5 for Preschool, plus whatever sparks interest at the library.




Phonics-If we both feel comfortable with it, I may begin Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. Charlie is already savvy to all the consonant and short vowel sounds, and loves to sound out 3 letter words. I have been having him read from the Nora Gaydos Playful Pals books recently and will continue that through the summer as long as he is interested. The moment reading becomes anything but fun for him, I will back off. I would not feel the least bit worried or disappointed if no formal reading instruction happens this year. I can't stress enough how important I think it is to be relaxed and gentle in my approach during these early years!!

Pre-handwriting-We have a really cool sand-tray that everybody around here finds soothing to use. I'll let Charlie play and experiment with drawing letters and shapes with his fingers or sticks or whatever looks good to him. We also have a set of Lauri crepe rubber letters which he can trace with his fingers to get the feel of the letter shapes. This idea is along the lines of Montessori sandpaper letters. I also saw a fun idea somewhere of using large sized foam letters that Charlie can drive his matchbox cars on to "feel" how the letters are formed. I just happen to have some of those big foam letters so score there.


Early Math-I'm going to be on the look out for some living math books that Charlie may enjoy. Some good ideas are at Living Math. We will use some counting/manipulative math games that I've had since Ben was little, and this Playful Patterns as well. I have a bunch of games, I guess, and that will really be our focus for math; counting, sorting, exploring and playing. If he wants to write something for math, I would consider the Singapore Earlybird workbooks. Very cute, very simple. I'm going to do my best to to incorporate baking into our days, too, so that he can get the concept of measuring. Besides, what little person doesn't love mixing and making in the kitchen just for fun, anyway?! I have a good kid cookbook called Pretend Soup to help accomplish this.


Picture Study- A Child's Book of Art


Poetry-We have a regularly scheduled tea-time around here and our focus/goal for this special time has always been to just enjoy each other's company while listening to poems. We don't expect deep interpretation or critique, rather we comment on which was our favorite, share how it made us feel and maybe read it again. Just because. This makes our tea time perfect for all ages. Have a snack, listen to some poems. No stress, no wrong answers. This year Charlie will enjoy selections from Animals, Animals, Favorite Poems Old and New and Poetry Speaks to Children.


In a nutshell, that's how Charlie's PK 5 year will go. I'm sure we'll find new books to add in along the way, field trips to take and plenty of fresh air and sunshine to run around in. These kiddos are only little for a short time so I really want to keep the focus on fun.