7 Tips for an Easy Prep, No Stress Preschool at Home (from a Mom of 3 under 4)

I can still remember coming down the stairs in Christmas of 1991 to see that all of my dreams had come true! Santa brought me my very own teacher desk, chalk with chalk holder, chalkboard, gradebook, and basically all of the things in order to play “school” . A couple of years later, when I was in 3rd grade, I would host “Reading Club” each afternoon and teach my brother and his best friend (who were 5 at the time) their letters and eventually how to read. As I grew, I often helped tutor peers who were struggling. For as long as I can remember, I have LOVED watching others learn. I am one of those people who is a nerd at heart, and I thoroughly enjoyed school. It was my happy place and a place I excelled.

No surprise after a brief stent as a Chemical Engineering major (my freshmen year), I transferred to Mathematics in order to one day teach High School math. As someone with a background in education, I could not wait to begin to teach my kids. We read to C in the womb. He heard me teach Calculus for a good 5 months in utero. We have the book Introductory Calculus For Infants. I just could NOT wait to do “preschool” with him at home. But, I had no idea how hard it would be to become a mom. And we had no idea God would bless us with so many babies so close together. Having 3 hard, colicky babies in just over 3 years has made most days feel like I am just trying to keep my head above water. So when it comes to schooling, I often battle feelings of failure. And although I had 7 years of classroom experience, they were all teaching high school, which is quite different than teaching preschool. To be honest, I felt -still feel at times- very overwhelmed because I knew close to nothing about teaching littles.

But, then I remember doing something is better than nothing. I don’t have to do everything, but I can choose to do one thing. Even if I haven’t been intentional for the last two weeks (the tv has been on more than normal, we’ve gotten into some bad habits), it does not mean I cannot start being intentional tomorrow. “A bad moment doesn’t make a bad day” and a few off course days don’t mean that tomorrow is destined to be the same. Tomorrow is a new day, full of hope and possibility. His mercies are new every morning. I have a habit of pinning a ton of things on Pinterest and never doing them, or maybe doing one activity and then a month later doing another one with no real set plan. With nap times to juggle, meals to cook, errands to run, morning commitments a few times a week, it can be really hard to know where to fit any type of formal “schooling” in and more importantly the planning of it. I have so much respect for all of you homeschooling Mamas out there, and if we go that route, I will be asking tons of questions! So if you are a Mom feeling guilty or like a failure for not being more intentional in this area, I 100% understand. Also, we do not need to live in that shame. We are all wired differently, and we do not have to carry all.the.things (preaching to myself here).  My goal with this post is to show you some easy activities that you can do with minimal prep time. In fact, I often don’t prep until about 10 minutes before we do our lesson for the day.

So here are my 7 most practical tips:

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1. Find a curriculum to help guide you. You don’t need to recreate the wheel. My favorite is Leigh Ann Dutton’s from Intentional By Grace: Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum. If you haven’t ever read her blog, you need to go there now. It is packed full of helpful information. We’ve loved her curriculum, her link on how to do family devos and even her 20 minute meals cookbook. God has used her ideas to greatly impact my mothering. Her curriculum is broken down into just 18 weeks. Each week there is a passage of Scripture or Bible story to focus on, a verse, a letter (or letters) of the week, a number of the week, shape, color, as well as a fruit of the Spirit and life skill to focus on (my favorite- her peace making role-play activity has greatly impacted the way our boys solve their conflict). I love how easy it is to follow her set up. She literally has it divided  into days and gives suggestions for what to do and say each day (for 3 days a week), suggested crafts, books, songs (I’ve found most of them on spotify), and a whole printables ebook. For me, this was the easiest thing to do with C when he was about to be 2 and D was 6 months. We worked slowly- it took us the whole school year to get through it once. And when we did activities, we usually only spent maybe 10-15 minutes per day doing them. If you’ve never had a toddler, let’s be realistic here. C was also a little young. I would get D down for his morning nap, look at the plan for the day, take about 10 minutes to get it all prepped (I always meant to do it the night before, but D didn’t sleep for the first year of his life so I was exhausted) and then have intentional “school” with C. It was one of my favorite parts of the day. And because of the set-up, I actually followed through and we got through all of the weeks (well most of it- she suggests tons of books each week, and we definitely couldn’t find all of them at the library, but we worked with what we had). We did get the book for the first week: Jesus in Me (My Favorite Verses). My plan this year is to go back to this curriculum and  supplement some on my own, or use some suggestions she has in her printable section I didn’t use when C was 2. I hope to cater it to both my almost 2.5 year old and my almost 4 year old. There are many additional activities in her printable section that we haven’t touched yet.

Last year, I decided to change things up and use a curriculum many girls recommended at church: ABC Jesus Loves Me. This is a great resource, full of TONS of ideas. I mean, tons! You can find most of it online for free, or order her books to be sent to you so you don’t have to print everything yourself. I was so excited to do this, and prepped BIG time last summer before E was born. I went to Half Price books and found most of the books on her list, went to Target and Walmart and gathered all of the necessary supplies, and made my own tactile letters. However, with our move I kind of got thrown off and then newborn hood has a way of throwing our family for a loop as well. We never really got into a good flow with it. The set up was a little more involved and a little harder for me to follow than Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum, so at times I got overwhelmed. But, there was also more here to do- book of the week, song or rhyme of the week, verse of the week, craft ideas, snack ideas, themes, fine motor, gross motor, pretest and post-test. This is definitely more of a rigorous curriculum, but I ended up giving up because for me it was just too much. I did take away a few great tips:

• Rather than trying to do the letter, story, verse, number, all in one sitting, she suggests teaching through out the day. This was a really helpful piece of advice for me- I don’t have to do all of these activities at one time! We can do the Bible story at breakfast, the verse at lunch, and the book before nap. We can practice letter sounds in the bath tub and work on our number by counting our snack, etc. This works really well with little ones who have a hard time sitting still for any decent amount of time.

• To add to the tip above, she recommends having a sheet protector cover over your weekly agenda-a focus for what you are teaching that week (you can see it in the picture of my materials above). I used that idea last year, but this year have adapted it to a {pretty-looking} cork board that hangs at the boys’ eye level just above their little Ikea Table in the kitchen. It is amazing how much more I remember to talk about the skills we are learning for the week when they are in front of me. This way, my husband is able to jump on board-no pun intended- and can help reinforce things when he plays with the boys in the evening.

• She encourages buying this Small Deluxe Flannel Board Felt Bible Story Set to do Bible story. When we did this, my boys LOVE it. Granted, it is huge and tons of fabric needs cutting out, so I didn’t do nearly as many stories this way as I wanted to, but I plan on using it again in the future. I love how interactive it is for the boys and how they can use it to retell the story. We also have this Bible that comes with a DVD to watch the stories. For some of our favorite gospel centered resources, check out this page here.

• I love that she suggests making tactile letter and number cards. This is helpful for kids who are not yet ready for handwriting, but can practice tracing the letters and numbers with their fingers. She even has great number chants- example, around the track and back, two, two!

The Measured Mom is my new favorite! I just recently found her website. I love the way she encourages practicing handwriting on a chalkboard- parent writes the letter, child uses water and a paint brush to paint over the letter, they can then dry it and try it themselves. She has a page for every letter on her website, with tons of free printables. Seriously, I can spend hours there looking for things. She also has great early readers for sight words, hundreds of math ideas, and the most extensive group of free printables I’ve seen. I plan on using her material to help supplement the Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum this year with our 2 and 3 year old.

2. Redeem all that social media time by following the “experts”. Instagram has recently become my favorite (does anyone else have an obsession with stories?!). I love following Busy Toddler for easy, low cost toddler activities. She recently came out with a play based curriculum I may try in the future, and if so I will come back and update this post.  I also love Happy Tot Shelf ‘s ideas for theme based learning, something I may incorporate more this year. And the Dad Lab has great science experiments for his toddlers I want to try more of, as well.

3. The following are a 12 really easy ways I have learned to help reinforce letter recognition:

• Google is your friend- this is my go-to source for the letter crafts we have made. Y’all, if I want to supplement to the week and looking for a quick craft idea, this is a way to keep things super simple. For letter of the week- you can google D craft ideas, hit the image button up top and instantly you have tons of construction paper-made Ducks, Dinosuars and Dogs looking back at you. We have made many of these type of letter crafts and most of them only require construction paper, glue and maybe some googly eyes. I’ve also googled youtube videos on letters and numbers for short videos and catchy songs.

• Dab or color the letter sheets. You can find these for free on teachers pay teachers, or if I am really lazy or short on time, I just make them really quickly by hand. The Measured Mom  has some for free on her website, too.

• Dot the letter- Leigh Ann has some included in her printable pack. It is a way to practice the letter for pre-handwriting aged kids.

• Coloring sheets with the letter and items that begin with that letter

• Think of things that start with that letter and draw them or print them up.  I usually draw them on our chalkboard and we discuss them that week anytime we are at the table.

• Salt or sand tray- practice drawing the letters with a straw on a plate full of salt.

• Sidewalk chalk. You can write several letters and have your kids color them, circle them, use a water bottle to spray them.
• Letter Magnets (Melissa & Doug 52 Wooden Alphabet Magnets in a Box – Uppercase and Lowercase Letters ) and Magna-doodle (Fisher-Price DoodlePro, Slim (Blue) ) or some other magnetic surface like a cookie sheet, the dishwasher or refrigerator. I usually pull out our letter, shape, number of focus (we have magnets from the target dollar spot) and they can play with them through out the week. My boys discovered themselves it’s fun to “write” on their magna-doodles with the magnetic letters.

• I have been recently working on a card match with letters and their favorite characters (they are fans of Cars, Nemo, Daniel Tiger, Curious George, Sesame Street and Thomas). It always helps to make learning personal to your students, but you can also just find letter flash cards at the dollar store or in the dollar spot in Target.
• Have a treasure hunt where you go around your home and look for things that start with the letter you are learning (or alternatively, the color you are working on that week).
• Eat snacks that start with the letter of the week, or better yet, make you food be in the shape of the letter you are learning.

• Roll out play dough in the shape of the letter you are learning that week.

4. For number practice, count any and everything (their blueberries, cheerios, cars, number of things in a book you are reading, etc). You can buy small bears or other counters. I honestly haven’t worked a ton on “math” yet other than number recognition, patterns, shapes, counting (with one to one correspondence). I found some helpful worksheets online for free here. One of our easy go-tos is to simply put the number of star or dot stickers on a print out of the number itself. We have also done some matching type worksheets with our 3 year old with a picture of a certain number of items on one side of the page and the numbers on the other. He is able to draw a line to connect the correct number with the picture. For other great more hands-on math activities check out the Measured Mom website’s math page. She has so many wonderful resources! But again, my tendency with too much is to get overwhelmed. Remember, show yourself grace. Choose something, anything (but not everything) and try it.

5. Make fine motor fun with these fine motor ideas: play dough, cutting, painting, stringing necklaces/lacing, sorting with fruit loops or any colored food (can do patterns, too), sliding cereal onto pasta in play dough

6. Make use of media (wisely). While we attempt to have a pretty low-tech home due to some major concerns we have with how too much technology affects developing brains, I do play music often, and we like Sesame Street: Do the Alphabet for learning the alphabet, Daniel Tiger for learning all sorts of amazing social skills and empathy, and the  Leapfrog: Letter Factory. I also often play our “learning” or “bible kids songs” playlists from Spotify when we are out and about or sometimes while they are just playing at home (when I can tolerate kids music- side note, making music playlists is not in my skill set. You should follow my sweet friend, Blaire (TexaFlora) on instagram. In addition to sharing all sorts of beautiful and yummy things, sometimes she shares music, and it’s always so on point). Music is such a powerful tools for kids, and can even be used for training. We have yet to expose our kids to the whole world of apps yet, as we  are intentionally waiting a little longer, but I know there are a zillion educational ones out there.

7. I know you’ve most likely heard this before, but READ, READ, READ to your kids. We have books in nearly every room in our house so they are always easily accessible. It is so good to read, and ask questions. Some of our favorite gospel-centered books can be found here. And, I hope to write another post full of some of our favorite kids books in general, soon. Some of our favorite books are the look and find books. They have ALL kinds! We have Disney Pixar Finding Nemo Disney Pixar Finding Dory Little First Look and Find, Elmo and Cars. They are full of learning opportunities.

Don’t forget character training is arguably more important in these early years than academic work (this book, My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts is a great resource). In the months just after our 3rd was born, with a lot of at-home time and many brother squabbles to settle, the Lord reminded me the importance of teaching them to obey, learn how to make peace, repent, ask for forgiveness, share, etc. These things, of course, we are still constantly working on, but I feel like if I had to choose between teaching them their ABCs or taking the time to do true discipline, it is much better to choose discipline over whatever awesome activity I’ve planned or dreamed of planning for the day. The important work is disciplining your children. It’s not something to be rushed through in order to get to what you have scheduled (again, preaching to myself).

And kids need a lot of time to just play, unstructured play. They need time to run and play outdoors and think and create. That’s why I love blocks, tracks, cars, boxes, stuffed animals- all sorts of toys that they can imagine and play with. I don’t want to rob my kids of their childhood by being too forceful with them. I really hope to create a sense of awe and wonder in them when it comes to learning. As they continue to grow and show interest in various things, I hope to start theme based learning around what they are passionate about.

Basic Supply list:

Crayola 96 Ct Construction Paper, Assorted Colors

Fiskars 194900-1001 Pre-School Training Scissors, Color Received May Vary

Do A Dot Art! Markers 6-Pack Rainbow Washable Paint Markers, The Original Dot Marker

Darice, 80 Piece, 5 ¾ inch, Jumbo Natural Finish Craft Sticks

Avery Removable Print or Write Color Coding Labels, Round, 0.75 Inches, Pack of 1008 (5472)

DECORA 500 Pieces 6mm -12mm Black Wiggle Googly Eyes with Self-adhesive

Crayola 52-0389 Crayons Jumbo

ELMERS All-Purpose Glue Sticks, Large, 0.77 Oz Each, 3 Sticks Per Pack (E5022)

Bryco Goods White Kraft Arts Crafts Paper Roll – 18 inches 175 Feet (2100 inch) – Ideal Paints, Wall Art, Easel Paper, Fadeless Bulletin Board Paper, Gift Wrapping Paper Kids Crafts – Made in USA

Caydo 240 Pieces 1 Inch Pom Poms for Hobby Supplies and DIY Creative Crafts Decorations, Assorted Colors

Crayola Washable Watercolors 8 ea (Pack of 2)

Crayola Washable Kid’s Paint (6 count)

I also have began to use this book with our oldest (and by begin, I mean I’ve maybe sat with him 4 times and done a few lessons): Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Calendar for Calendar time- my goal is to this with the boys this year, but for now I do this little felt board when I remember.

We usually sing: “Whats the weather, what’s the weather, what’s the weather like today? Is it sunny? Is it rainy? Is it cloudy, out today?” I want to add in a space for Yesterday was:________, Today is:_______, Tomorrow is:______, and a real calendar so they can see all of the dates in order and begin to get a concept of time. We also sing the Days of the Month song and Days of the Week song each day, and by each day I mean the days that I remember, lol.

Although this post may look like we “do” a lot, really we do maybe 10-20 minutes of intentional activity time 3 times a week. And then I try to look for opportunities to teach them through out the day- all sorts of things: about God, the world, people, and yes letters and numbers, too.

To be honest {as is always my goal}, there are times where I don’t update this board for weeks. There are other times when I am good about changing it weekly. As with most things, life sometimes gets in the way. For us, preschool at home comes and goes in waves, depending on our schedule and my ability to be intentional. Sometimes other things need to take priority for a season.

I’m one of those people that thrives on routine, so I love having a couple of planned activities each week. For me this has usually been some sort of combination of the following: Bible Study (BSF, CBS– both amazing if you haven’t heard of them they are all over and I am happy to answer any questions!, or a study at church), MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers- also all over, and such a gift), Story time at the local library, weekly playdates. All of these things help equip me to be a better mother, and honestly keep me sane. God uses them to fill my cup so that I have something to give because being a stay at home mom to 3 little boys is definitely hard work. But, at the same time, I have to be careful to not be too planned, or even almost selfish in my planning. I love having at least one morning a week where we don’t have to rush to be anywhere. It is good to leave some margin for the unexpected, for the opportunity to serve others, and to rest. I also want to be careful that we aren’t so busy that my boys never have time at home- time to interact, play and yes, even argue SO THAT we have an opportunity to shepherd their hearts by teaching them how to handle conflict. My husband and I want them to grow up loving and enjoying their home. When they grow up (which isn’t our goal to launch our children one day?), we want them to WANT to come home, and in a small way I feel like that culture starts now, by living life inside the home and not always just busy with activities outside of it.

Be encouraged Mama, there are some days when I feel like just keeping them alive -basically fed and clothed- is enough work (Do the Hard Things, Even when it seems like you deserve a medal for keeping everyone alive for the day). The house is a wreck, they’ve fought all day, and I feel like I’ve “done” nothing of any value. But, just BEING with them is valuable. Your presence is such a gift. Let’s just press on to do what we can do with the time we have. I’m so thankful each day is new.

 

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