Homeschool Planning....

I am asked often what resources I use to plan my littles school activities. When I tell of things we've done, I always try to site my sources, but I think having them all in one place will be nice. Instead of e-mailing you all individually, I decided to do a huge post on what resources I use when planning my home school activities.. Hopefully this will answer all your questions and maybe inspire you as well. This was originally written for a friend, who is starting to do preschool with her littles, but I still use all these resources today. Let me know if you have any other questions...

I am a really BIG fan of the BFIAR method. Before Five in a Row  is a curriculum you can buy, but I hate buying what I don't have to, so I googled the list of their books. Here is a link to that. Pretty much all these books can be found at your library. Basically Before Five in a Row focuses on learning through literature and repetition. Children learn the best when they are taught something over and over again. I absolutely noticed that when I started preschool with my kids. I was amazed at what they could learn and retain. They were and still are constantly blowing my mind. They are literally sponges, just soaking up the knowledge of the world around them.

So here is what I would do when following BFIAR. I would pick a story and that would be our book to read every morning, everyday. I usually started at breakfast time. Everything would be set up/ Meaning plates and books would be out. We had our one book we would read and then other books to compliment our main book. For example...If our main book was Going on a Bear Hunt, then oher books I would choose would be bear themed. I then would read to my littles while they ate and we could talk about the stories. This was a great way to also eliminate countless time spent infront of the TV watching cartoons each morning. After we were done with reading and breakfast I would have them do some fun activities based on our reading for the week. There are so many things you can do. Here are a few of the sites I used that have awesome themes to go with BFIAR books.

Make Learning Fun

Preschool Post

DLTK Teach.com

Here are some awesome blogs, where I find constant inspiration when it comes to home-schooling. Just search for ideas on their blog or go to their home-school labels on the sidebar.

the homespun Heart    ---Monica has great BFIAR activities and themes. She is who inspired me to home school. Just go to her post from like 2008
One Day at a Time

Sandbox Scholars

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

The W* Family   

-Allison isn't a homeschooler, but she is so dang creative with her kids. I always get great ideas from her blog.

I basically followed to a similar schedule as posted Here in Sandbox Scholars. This was a typical Preschool day for us.

It is crazy how fast our days went by when having something constructive to do. My children were so much happier and I loved that I got to have fun and learn with them. Remember to have fun while you are planning things for your kids. Remember to be creative and look at other blogs. See what other moms are doing and get inspired. Look around your part of the city and find fun free things to do. Picnics are always awesome. The library always has story-times and awesome activities for preschoolers. Take advantage of it.  I have a HUGE home-school section on my blog. check it out for ideas. Most of these activities can be for preschoolers as well.

Here are some books I love to go to to get great ideas.

We used the core knowledge series as well. --all of these books can be found at your library as well

What your preschooler needs to know is awesome. It is full of songs and all kinds of teaching topics. --this one I actually bought off ebay and still use it today.

The Daily Preschool Curriculum

The Encyclopaedia of Activities ---This is a great series for various age groups

Rookie Readers- These are great. They have them themed for science, biographies, geographies, and holidays. These can all be found at your library.

Rookie Geographies- We started these in kindergarten last year. These rock!

Rookie Biographies  --I started suing these last year. We would read the book and then color a picture of that person.

I also love to use my church's the nursery manual to teach scripture lessons. Those already have lessons planned out and great crafts for the kids.

Here are some other tips I follow for when picking stuff out for my homeschool curriculum oh and here.

Oh and for reading we have used Hooked on Phonics, and the BOB books.

We did purchase these, but they can be found at your library also.

So I know that is alot I am giving you and I hope it does not overwhelm, but inspired. All of these things are my go to resources and beign a homeschool three years veteran now, these have greatly helped me.

Don't underestimate your kids and remember to spend little. Libraries are great and you can pretty much request everything, which makes library trips with littles a lot easier.

I hope this helps and if anyone still has questions please send them my way. Also if you have some resources, that maybe I didn't list, please share. I am always looking for new places to be inspired when it comes to school.

Hope you all have a fabulous day!