When you’re brand new to preschool at home, it can be helpful to see how other families structure their day. Enjoy this peek into our homeschool preschool with our precocious 4-year-old.
Keep in mind that every child is unique. What works for our family might not work for your family.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of our homeschool preschool, I’d like to mention that K is an ISFP (Introverted, Sensitive, Feeling, Perceiving} and an auditory/kinesthetic learner, which both factor into how she learns best. If you want to learn more about how personality styles and learning styles factor into learning, be sure to check out these two books at your local library!
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A Day in the Life of our Homeschool Preschool
7:30 a.m. K is awake and hanging out with her sister in their room. She wakes up grumpy (like her mom) and needs a few minutes to acclimate to the new day.
8:00 a.m. Dad is ready for work. K recites her memory work before he goes out the door.
8:30 a.m. Both girls are ready for the day. K has help making her bed, but picks out her clothes, gets dressed, and brushes her teeth independently. We leave to run errands with a bag of dry cereal “to go.”
8:45 a.m. We park in the library parking lot so I can check my e-mail. I have a few things that need to be dealt with, so both girls eat their cereal and read a book in the backseat while I finish up. (We’ve just moved to a new town and our home internet isn’t set up.)
9:15 a.m. We walk to the local optical shop recommended to us by a neighbor. K has a broken nosepad on her glasses that needs to be replaced. While we wait, we actually run into the neighbor and her daughter and all three girls play with the Duplos in the waiting room.
9:30 a.m. K’s glasses are repaired, and we walk a block to the post office. We drop off two letters in the mail slot and buy a book of stamps. We run into our neighbor and her daughter again, so the girls giggle and twirl together before we head off in separate directions. (#smalltownlife)
9:50 a.m. We’re back at the library, waiting for the 10:00 a.m. opening time. Both girls have returned a book, so they fan out in the children’s section to pick out something new. While we’re at the library, my husband texts and asks me to check out a DVD and drop it off at his work.
10:15 a.m. We pull up outside my husband’s job (a retirement village community) and deliver the DVD. While we drive home, K reads her new library books.
10:30 a.m. The girls have been awesome on our errands, so they are given 20 minutes of free time to play in the basement. K asks if she can listen to music on the family iPad, so I log in for her.
“Preschool ISFPs are usually very fond of music and enjoy listening to tapes or making music. They are often little songbirds, humming tunes to themselves as they play quietly with their dolls or stuffed animals.” Nurture by Nature, p. 256
11:00 a.m. The “school” alarm beeps, so we all meet up together on the button rug down in the basement. We talk about the calendar together, and then record the weather. K participates in the discussion, but chooses to keep playing rather than “do schoolwork” at her desk. (At this point, I keep all paper and pencil work strictly optional for K. I pushed A much too hard when she was in preK and really regret it now.)
11:15 a.m. A and I are going through her math lesson together. K is listening to every word I say while alternating between her transportation tot trays, jumping on the trampoline, and playing with her dolls. She listens to her “favorite songs” playlist, which includes music from Signing Time and Rachel and the Treeschoolers.
“Young ISFPs are usually happy to play with whoever is around and especially enjoy playing with their parents and siblings. But they are also happy to play alone for long periods of time…Curious explorers, they learn best by hands-on experimentation; touching things is how they come to understand them.” Nurture by Nature, p. 255
11:50 a.m. K joins me in the laundry room to take clothes out of the dryer. She helps me hang up shirts, match up socks, etc. We talk about colors of the clothes and count items.
12:00 p.m. LUNCH! K helps me make sandwiches and set the table while A finishes up her independent practice pages. We turn on a Sesame Street CD while the girls eat and giggle together.
1:00 p.m. We finish cleaning up lunch, and K settles down for her nap. She still sleeps a good two hours each day, so we give her the time to recharge her batteries.
“ISFPs also tend to need plenty of time to play or rest in their rooms and will not be hurried or rushed from one activity to another. When they are overly tired, they usually cry and fall apart.” Nurture by Nature, p. 257
3:30 p.m. K is awake (and grumpy), so she has a little transition time in her room before she joins the rest of us.
4:00 p.m. K cuddles with me on the couch for read-aloud time. Even though she is now reading independently, she still likes for me to read her favorite books to her.
4:30 p.m. We go outside to enjoy the sunshine. The girls ride their bikes while I do some yardwork.
5:15 p.m. Dad arrives home. Our official “school day” is over.
It’s been a perfect day for K: she has been able to run, jump, and ride her bike, she ran into a friend while running errands and got to check out books at the library, she experienced sensory play while listening to her sister’s math lessons, she spent time helping me with laundry and lunch, she sang along to all of her favorite songs and memory work, and she took a nap.
Eventually, K will be interested in “table work.” Right now, our play-based approach is working for her learning style, personality style, and temperament.
