I'm considering taking my daugther out of preschool and teaching her at home. Does anyone have a curriculum/materials they would recommend? I would like to see if I can put something together before I seriously consider this. I figure I could give her the same or better education during my 2 year olds' 2 hour naptime. My preschooler spends 3 hours at school. Snack and outside playtime are included in that time.

Why I shouldn't take her to school:
Spending more time with mommy & her sister
Individualized attention
Drain on my youngest to spend 2 hours out of every day in the car
My preschooler also gets tired of riding in the car
Learning bad habits
EXPENSIVE - $310 a month plus snack fee, gas, clothing and fundraisers

Why I should take her to school:
Social interaction with the children
Variety of educational materials
Experience of the teachers

Any ideas or thoughts would be helpful. I realize this is an individualized decision that I have to make but I would appreciate any experience or ideas. Thanks!

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Kindergarteners here need to know how to write, know their colors, numbers, letters, letter sounds and shapes so that would be a good thing to work with. The Dollar Tree believe it or not has good preschool workbooks. Borders also has some. As for the socialization part, is there a park near by that gets good child turnout? I have a couple near me. Also, Meetup.com is a good place to find playgroups. Yahoo groups is another. A mother's day out program is another option if you have one near by and that is reasonable. I pay 145 a month for my dd's and she goes 2 days a week from 9-2.

She is 4 1/2 and already knows all those things. I'm working with her on reading and addition. I'm so proud!

Another option may be to drop her back to 2 or 3 days and pick up with homeschooling the other days. That would be a good blend.

Thanks for your suggestions!

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A great web site with links to other educational websites with workbook and crafts is

DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids

For great printable books and worksheets for all reading levels (awesome site only $50 a year)

Reading A-Z: The online guided reading program with downloadable books to print and assemble


Another great reading site

Learn to Read at Starfall - teaching comprehension and phonics

Jen

We loved Sonlight's Preschool Program, with Singapore's Early Bird Math level 1A and 1b when my dd was 4. (that is equivilant to a K math really but mine is ahead too like yours so I figured I'd mention it) I recently found out about winterpromise and they have a nice looking pre-k program (we are currently using their Animals and Their Worlds Program with my 5 and 3 year old) Welcome to WinterPromise Publishing. I would go to WP and Sonlight and request their catalogs. For the price of one month's preschool tuition you could get those programs, plus the math program and art supplies. Also, if you are working on handwriting , I suggest Handwriting Without Tears.

If you go to the school age forum there is a sticky thread full of great homeschooling websites.
Sites like Learn to Read at Starfall - teaching comprehension and phonics and Brightly Beaming Resources are free and great for 3-6 year olds!

Obviously as a homeschooler I'm biased, but you can easily have fun and learn with your child in the preschool years! Even if you don't want to continue when she's older. Park days and extra fun classes/free kids activities like Library story times, etc make up for any socialization issues. My kids have a better social life than I do so I'm not worried there!


PS, you can find the WP and Sonlight for sale much cheaper used on ebay and homeschool boards. I do know someone that was selling the WP Pre-k for half price, but she might have sold it already. You can pm me if you have any questions.

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

Thank you for all of this information!

I'm having trouble convincing my husband to let me keep her at home. He thinks she should go to preschool then supplement at home.

Like you, I do make an extra effort to take them out to parks, etc. I get offended when people say my children aren't socialized because they are not in daycare.

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letteroftheweek.com

starfall.com

Search for free preschool worksheets on whatever search engine you like.

I agree--check out Dollar Tree for preschool-kindergarten workbooks.

It sounds like your dd might me more advanced then other kids in preschool. If you are interested I think it would be nice to homeschool her for preschool. You can get the social interaction elsewhere (play groups, MOPS groups, library story time, park, gymnastics, etc)