How I am Homeschooling my Preschooler for *Almost* Free!

There is a ton of curriculum out there for preschoolers, these days, and trying to figure out which one to do can be a daunting task (as well as an expensive one!). Last summer I started planning out what an ideal year would look like, and figuring out exactly what I wanted to do. I knew a few things already; I wanted it to be fun and mostly free! With those things in mind, here is how I went about getting ready for my 3 year old's preschool year.

Goals

I feel like this is an important first step, in figuring out what you want to do with your preschooler. Every kid is at a different level, and my little boy was about to turn 3 when we first started. Here were my goals for the year:

• Shapes: recognize and begin drawing
• Colors: recognize and sort
• Numbers: recognize number symbols up to 10
• Tracing practice
• Cutting skills

I didn't make the Alphabet a priority for this year, although we are going over many of the letters.

After that, I could make a plan. Since I knew I wanted it to be cheap, I went on the lookout for inexpensive things I could use for preschool.

Let the Hunt Begin!

I had an inkling about what I wanted to do, so I started getting a collection of preschool-ly things. My husband's aunt was getting rid of a lot of things from a private school that was closing down, and this blessed us a lot! An alternative, and something we did do, was ask for things for Christmas/Birthday, that would go along with what I was going to do (once I figured out what that was).  

I went shopping at the Dollar Tree-Seriously y'all, there are a lot of neat things down the school isle. I found some really cool Sesame Street workbooks, along with some sticker colors, shapes, numbers, ect. books as well. By this time I knew that I was going to do unit studies, so I took the workbooks, and tore all the pages out. I then organized everything by color, shape, number, letter, etc. so that when we were going over the color blue, I had all the blue worksheets together for him to do. 

Now for what I am using!

The Beauty of Unit Studies

About a year ago, I discovered a unit study from Simply Learning, for The Little Blue Truck and I fell in love! As I discovered more on her site, and also researched themed units, I made the decision to work in 2 week unit studies. So far this has worked beautifully for us. For the books I already have, or can get from the library, we are using Simply learning literature studies, and for the other weeks, I am supplementing with some of my son's favorite topics, like: transportation, dinosaurs, space, etc. Like I said before, the number 1 goal is fun! He is 3 and still a pretty good ways off from kindergarten. I am not trying to make sure he can read and write before the age of 4 or anything. I am looking for focused playtime, that results in learning skills that will prepare him for life, whether that be using scissors, or being able to sit still and focus for longer than 5 seconds. Remember, don't stress (leave that for high school years ;) 

So, did I mention all of the units I am going to share are free??!! You do need supplies (mostly from around the house) and a printer. Because printer ink is expensive stuff, I did sometimes just pick and choose the things I wanted to do, and supplement with things I found on pinterest, or related games/puzzles that I already had. She also recommends these books, but I found them on a swap site for $10 off. These can be a birthday wishlist item, or supplemented with books from the library(however, the illustrations in these books are gorgeous!) 

Here are the unit studies we have done, or are doing this year (some have clickable links to complete unit study, or simply ideas):

 August:

Space

Shapes study

September:

The little Blue  Truck

Things that go+Zoo

October:

Goodnight construction site

Pumpkins

November:

Bear Says Thanks

Out for Thanksgiving

Montessori Christmas Crafts

December:

Christmas activities

Out for Christmas

January:

The Snowy Day literature unit

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?

February:

Rainbow unit study

Out for Winter break

March:
Bugs study

Dinosaurs
April:

Very hungry caterpillar unit

Out for Spring Break

Gardening

May:

Weather study

Ocean

Out for the Summer!

Unit studies have worked so well for us, and doing them for two weeks, means I don't sweat if something comes up on one of the days and we don't get to do preschool (It also means that my little man can really get the concept down). I actually have Friday planned as a special day that can be a catch up day. Stay tuned, since I am planning to write a 'Day in the Life' where I look at how I organize Little Man's preschool day and papers, and area. I'll go through my weekly and daily plans. I hope this helps someone! Preschool doesn't have to be expensive or extensive, but it should be fun!