Tis this season for Homeschool planning am I right? While most of us are happily drawing a close to another school year, we are also happily planning the next. A little known secret about homeschool Moms is that they don’t stop planning or educating over Summer break. True Story. Or maybe that’s just me.

That joy of educating being established, I’m still not the Mom teaching my babies to read. Kids only get one childhood and while the rest of the world rushes them through, I will be the one slowing them down to savor where they are at. Learning is always happening in our home but I have learned to prioritize and gain some perspective on what a preschooler learning really means.

Lately I have gotten a lot of questions about curriculum and what I used for Preschool and would find myself thinking, I am not even fit to give advice on this! However I realized my 3rd child is about to finish Preschool and I only have one more kid to go. I guess I am older than I thought!

Some of these things I had to learn the hard way. Honestly I used to let the opinions of others drive where I thought my kids should be at on their learning journey. Sometimes I would crack under the pressure and even allow myself to feel disappointed in Dreaming Daughter for not learning her ABC’s by the end of Preschool. No more! I have seen my worries be whisked away as quickly as they came and my children blossom.

What I want to share is not only what we have used for our Preschool curriculum but also a few tidbits my kids taught me along the way. Because let’s be honest here, they are the ones teaching me. Anyone can crack open a book, learn anything they desire & teach it with the proper motivation. This leads to what the beginning of our kids education is really all about. Instilling motivation in them to learn! So put down the preschool ABC & 123 workbooks and let’s get started!

Focus on Relationship – This is the beginning of you teaching your child. Relax. Allow yourself to build their confidence and not their “show off” capabilities.

Be Young & Play – Such an incredible depth of learning happens when you allow preschool age kids to play. Something I have noticed when I allow them to have this time is that their attention span actually grows. It is incredible how long a young child will spend playing restaurant, entering the world of Playmobil toys, driving cars on the carpet, dressing up to dance to music or play princesses. That kind of self motivated concentration is one of the best skills they could carry over to Kindergarten.

Inspire Imagination – Read, Read, Read! I cannot emphasize that enough. Imaginations will take off at the hands of a good book and when that happens they begin to wonder about the world around them.

Music – This not only adds fun to your preschoolers schooling but it improves memory and motor skills! Whenever possible, sing and dance!

Get Hands Involved – As much as possible add an activity to the story you read. This helps them make connections between imagination and their own world. Play games with pattern blocks or counting bears. Design! Count! Sort! Have Fun!

Habit Training – This is the perfect time to begin to instill good habits as it relates to school time. Consider what you want your school time to look like and focus on habits little by little!

Sonlight curriculum has made all of this easy going learning come naturally. The information guide is called Fiction, Fairy Tales & Fun For Little Learners and it inspires exactly that.

Sonlight Preschool Information Guide

Here are some of the books included: Mike Mulligan & More, Eloise Wilkin Stories, The Usborne Flip Flap Body Book,  DK A First Book of Fairy Tales, The Tall Book of Nursery Tales, Haper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics, The 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury, Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, Make Way for McCloskey & Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day.

These books are the platform for many great conversations, fun times and learning just happens by accident. I only add workbooks when my preschooler begs to have one and so far my older kids can read and write!

It’s a homeschool miracle!