Simple Pre-K and K at Home

If you’ve read anything else I’ve written or posted, you’ve probably seen me stress simplicity. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and think you need to keep up with every Pinterest craft you’ve pinned if you are going to keep your kids home. Who has time (or the energy) for that? Not me.

I love crafts and they have a great place in school — especially for learning more about art or special holidays. But, the really important thing for early learning is to focus on the basics. In preschool, you want to really focus on learning the basics. You can read my post about 5 Ways to Start Preschool for a breakdown on what you want to cover.

I always look for books that don’t try to overdo their lessons. Too often a book will not just focus on one letter or number at a time, getting bogged down in the activities. Some workbooks waste a lot of space. Target had some great $1 workbooks last year that I ended up using for both kids. Here is my overview:

My husband (the math teacher) didn’t like the chaos of having several small books. He really wanted to get organized books where everything was in one place. This year, we are going to be working on Brain Quest Workbooks. Here is an overview of those:

That’s the basics! After you complete this first step and select your workbook(s), you can make homeschooling more complicated. I have a favorite book to teach reading that I will talk about, along with other classroom tools to enhance your experience. Start simple. Build slowly. You can definitely teach your child at home.