School time! Since COVID-19 cancelled all of our plans for the year we decided to start a bit of homeschooling to fill our time. This is his homeschool curriculum for the year.
Math
We decided to go with Singapore math this year. We’ve heard A LOT of great things about it from other families. Choosing the curriculum was easy but deciding which level to start with was a little more challenging.
William’s math skills seemed to be at level KB but because of his speech delay he didn’t know a lot of the math vocabulary words (heavy, light, big, small, bumpy, smooth, etc.). So, I decided to start him at the very first level Pre-KA so we could slowly work on those vocabulary words.
Reading
2 months after William turned 3 we realized he was able to read. William is hyperlexic, meaning he’s taught himself to read on his own at an early age. I wasn’t going to formally start working on his reading until I noticed that he was learning sight words crazy fast but his phonics was really lagging behind. I wanted to make sure he had a balanced approach to reading so we decided to step in
Sight Word Readers
To introduce him to reading books (instead of just reading random words) we started with the Sight Word Readers book series. He really enjoys these. We initially went with Bob’s Books but he really hated them. I hoping we try them out again in the future. **Update** He decided he will read Bob’s books! So that has been added into our rotation.
Kindergarten Spelling flashcards
These are the cards we’ve been using to teach him phonics. I’ve tried a few other resources but he just wasn’t able to focus. These are super simple so he doesn’t get as distracted.
These are meant for spelling but I find that these have been helping him understand how to blend. Again, becuase of his speech delay I can’t actually instruct him so I to teach him by doing. I make a little game of it. I’ll read the word but make a big deal that one of the letters is missing and we have to figure out what the letter is.
An Elephant and Piggie Biggie
This is a super simple read that repeats a lot. I think the thickness of the books makes him feel like a big boy!
He’s always asking for it and he’ll say “No, William!” *points to himself* (translation: “I want to read it by myself.”). He then proceeds to read the page numbers from 1 to 100.
Foreign Language – Portuguese
We are using TalkBox.Mom for our foreign language curriculum. I wanted to create a immersive environment for William and this curriculum is doing just that. Each Box is by topic, so this month we are learning about snacks and the kitchen. Right now we are using Portuguese whenever we talk about food. Since William is young the best way to teach him Portuguese is to simply speak to him in Portuguese. Being that I’m not fluent I need to learn as fast as I can. He is learning so much faster than I am.
We are also reading, listening, and watching shows in Portuguese. The two main books we are using are both from the Mônica TV show. They are filled with short stories, songs, and simple illustrations. Brazilian Portuguese books are super hard to find so I’m glad I found a series that has so much packed into 2 books.
Everything else (science, art, motor skills, literature)
I fell IN LOVE with the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling. It’s a literature based approach to homeschooling that:
- uses living books
- spends a lot of time outdoors interacting with nature
- develops an appreciation for art and music
- utilizes journalling, narration, dictation, and copywork
Since William is hyperlexic, and learns by reading, I think this is the best approach for him as of right now. Plus he LOVES books.
Unfortunately for us, most of the secular preschool curriculum out there is way too advanced for William becuase of his speech delay. He can’t understand books with more than a few sentences per page. What he needs are simple books that we can supplement with hands on activities so he can learn the concepts for himself.
So I went ahead and made my own curriculum.
This is the setup (per week):
- 4 living books + readings from a “spine” book
- 2-4 vocabulary booster exercises
- 4 pre-writing/scissor skills activities
- 2 art activities
- 2 sensory activities
- 1 science activity
Example of Month 1 Week 1 |Topic: Rain
The first month we learned about the weather with the underlying theme being climate change. The first week was all about rain and we covered the following:
Books:
- Little Raindrop
- Rain Makes Applesauce
- Come On, Rain!
- Singing in the Rain
- National Geographic Kid’s first big book of weather (Spine)
Vocabulary booster:
- 4 matching mats to go along with the book the Little Raindrop.
Art Activities:
- Stain glass raindrop
- Crayon Melt Project
Prewriting/scissor Skills:
- Playdough Cutting activity
- Paper cutting activity
- Tracing activity
- Drawing activity
Sensory Activity:
- Rain Sensory Bin
- Rainbow in a Bag
Science Project:
- Grow an apple tree
Conclusion
Thats everything that we are doing with William for his first year of preschool! Now, we don’t do all of these things everyday. We usually only do a few subjects a day. He is only 3 after all! The most important thing for us it to maintain his love of learning.
What does you preschoolers curriculum look like this year?
