New Preschool Curriculum for Lindsay!

One thing I’m excited about is that I bought an ebook from Mary Robinson at www.preschoolplanner.com. I know – I cheated!! The truth is, I just don’t know how mothers of 2 or more children find enough time in their days to sit down and think of creative and fun things for their preschoolers to do while they are also homeschooling the other children, not to mention all the household obligations!! I also still have another child in public school, and I find myself having to work around that schedule too.

I used to be a Pre-K teacher in Little Rock years ago, and since I’m a visual person who needs to be extremely organized in order to function, I found myself spending hours (that I didn’t have) just PLANNING on what Lindsay and I would be working on for Tot School. I already knew what she should be learning and at what approximate age, but I was really struggling with ideas of how to teach those skills in a fresh/creative way. (It's been about 10 years since I had my Preschool Teacher hat on). I know a lot of this has to do with my recent blog reading. While they are EXTREMELY helpful and I wouldn’t trade them for the world, sometimes it can be a little humbling!! I started to compare myself to other, more creative moms and, although I know I shouldn’t do that, I began to experience some frustration with myself.

So this ebook has definitely been worth it for me. It was relatively inexpensive, and it includes everything you need to teach a preschooler for a year…even snack and circle time instructions. It does NOT, however, include the actual worksheets, etc. that some of the ideas suggest. You would need to gather those on your own. But now I can just spend a few extra minutes on Saturday afternoon (when I’m working on Trey’s Lesson Plans), and gather all the worksheets (if any) needed for Lindsay. The Planner gives a daily list of instructions for Circle Time activities, Arts and Crafts, etc., as well as a Materials List of items you should gather to complete the different activities...down to the snacks! Of course, I already have a snack planned for the kids on our 5 Week Menu Planner, but I'm thinking of working those into the plan. I'll have to see how that goes, though!

Now, if you know me at all, you know that I always TWEAK things to suit my own needs. Many of the ideas listed for our Tot Reports will be my original ideas. Some will be adapted from Mary’s Preschool Planner. In any case, out of respect her, I will not go into major detail in future posts about her ideas – I know everyone will understand! I will tell you that if you buy the ebook, you will also receive emails from her periodically with new ideas to add to your collection. And since Lindsay won’t start Kindergarten until she is almost 6 (IF she starts public school – we still haven’t decided), I am 100% happy with my investment because I’ll be able to use these ideas for quite a while!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, but please be mindful that I will not share details on her ideas…I just don’t think its right. The ebook is worth the fairly listed purchase price. Please visit Mary’s website above, or her blog: Preschool Planner 101.