Preschool. Whoa. It seemed so far away and yet now here we are, our first official preschool post!
In my normal fashion, I had to reinvent the wheel so it would turn the exact way I desired it to for my little guy, so I have something brand spankin’ new to share with you…
Yup, it’s a whole new preschool program for Krash {and for anyone else who wants to tag along}. I have spent months preparing it not only for Krash but also for you, as you will see from the website. The website itself will explain the many basics, which I will highlight here briefly. You can start here if you are interested in reading more about what it is, why I did it and so on. I also started a FAQ page here, which I began by answering some basic ?s I know I am sure to receive.
Why did I need to reinvent the wheel? In a nutshell, I had certain goals in mind for preschool in my home. I wanted something simple to pull out each week, while also being sure to expose the basics, with a strong Biblical foundation. I wanted our program focused not only on preschool skills but on Christian character values and God’s Word. I wanted music as a integral part, Christian music! I wanted to highlight Christian character qualities every single day, not just as a side note. I wanted our books to be focused on this idea rather than a general theme {like I had been doing}. I brought these together in the best way I knew how and this is what God brought out of my many thinking and brainstorming sessions!
Each week I will share the unit we are on, and also make the printables available for you, free of charge. I am also almost done with a members only section of my website which will offer interactive Power Point shows to go along with these units. I am not done with this part yet, so even though it talks about that on the site-the links are not available yet as I iron out some last minute details. I promise more to come on that soon!
We completed the first unit of our program about a month ago as I wanted a test-run before I worked on upcoming units. I ironed out kinks and added what I wanted. I am finally pleased with the format!
Unit 1…
This is the main board, which will be changed out for each unit. I needed something simple to mesh well with my teaching style as well as K’s learning style. I explain each component of the board in DETAIL here on the Sample Lesson Page, which is based on this particular unit. I am also working on getting some videos uploaded to show different parts in action, for you visual/auditory learners!
Krash jumped right into preschool-mode and knocked my socks off with his pre-writing skills…
He did well with his mini book, reading it to me every day. Some days he wanted me to be more involved, which was fine. He didn’t quite grasp the concept of his sight word {see} but that’s completely fine. He DID thoroughly enjoy reading on his own though and has since had a heightened interest in learning to read.
He colored his verse… 
He cut most of the beginning sound cards out himself {again knocking my socks off}… 
He worked on a few L’s each day…
He loved cutting his long verse out…
and using TAPE by himself… 
We measured the verse next to him! 
I cut out the cut, color & glue craft and he colored it.
We stuck it on together. 
Krash DID memorize the entire verse, which actually shocked me. I figured I was expecting too much, but apparently I had my expectations a tad too low.
After we finished our unit, put it all into our RRSP notebook {photos of this coming soon} and K enjoyed looking through it all together. It took us about 2 weeks to complete the unit, I imagine that will change from week to week depending on his attitude 😉 and our family schedule. I am going to be flexible with this.
In addition to RRSP, we will be using many preschool learning tools, including store bought toys and also printables. I hope to plan for a theme each week {like the types of themes we have been doing}, but who knows-I am not putting pressure on myself in that area. If we have a theme great, if not…oh well! I am making new preschool printables but mine are focused on concept rather than a theme so they can be used over and over again at any time {also reducing the need to print and laminate new items each week}. We will still do some theme printables, I am sure, but not as many as we had been doing.
Starting next week I will share about our preschool workboxes also, along with our RRSP unit!
If you find something wrong on any of the new preschool webpages, please let me know. I tried to proof everything one last time, but I just know I probably left something unlinked or spelled wrong! There were so many pages to create and I have been working on them for months!
More Preschool Links…
- Raising Rock Stars Preschool Home
- Raising Rock Stars Sample Lesson Page
- Preschool Printables
- Preschool Tools Store
- Behind the Scenes ~ Preschool Workboxes
Be sure to visit Preschool Corner to see all of the other amazing home-preschool moms!