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I take a very relaxed approach to how we homeschool. I really don’t want to rush anything and squash any natural desire to learn. We have been focusing more on learning through playing rather than using structured activities. Lately, though Squeaks has been asking for some activities more than others, so I thought I’d share what homeschooling looks like for us these days. We only do school maybe two days a week. On other weeks we do maybe half an hour a day. I leave it up to her and try not to push her to do more than she can focus on. If she starts getting impatient, I know it’s time to stop for the day. It is only preschool after all and she’s only three so there’s no need to push it. I also try to structure most “lessons” around an interest she has. For example, one week I asked her what she wanted to learn about and she said octopuses so we did a lot of ocean-themed activities that week. She’s more likely to retain information if she’s interested in the subject.

Aside from the themed activities we do, there are three learning tools that have been consistent hits that I’d like to share. I’ll share each one in its own post because each one is so fun and full of great activities.

Most homeschool days start out with calendar time.

Both Squeaks and Little Dude love calendar time. Although I think LD mostly likes it because I sit on the floor with them and he can crawl on me. I try to include him as much as possible though even if his little two-year-old brain has the attention span of a gnat. I made our calendar board from a foam presentation board I got at Walmart. The Calendar itself was from Target and the activities on the board are a mix of Pinterest finds and my own creations. I laminated everything and attached it to the board with TackNStick so it can be easily reconfigured. In addition to the links listed below, I include a number and letter we focus on for the week and the current week’s Awana Bible verse. (She just started Awana a few weeks ago and she’s loving it. Plus she looks crazy cute in her little vest.)

Our Calendar Board:

Days of the week wheel– Squeaks loves turning this wheel while we sing our days of the week song. (See my songs board here.)

“Today’s weather” wheel– We sing a weather song for this too. We live in California so we don’t get a huge variety of weather, but if we visit the mountains this winter we’ll use the “snow” option.

Season Wheel-Yet another song for this one.

Rainbow Colors– I literally just Googled “rainbow”, found an image I liked, opened it to PicMonkey and typed in the color names. Easy-peasy.

Shapes– I cropped it to fit everything on the board, but aren’t these little shape people cute!?

Numbers 1-10 poster– I offer this one free! Just sign up for my newsletter to get access to my FREE Printables Library.

ABCs chart– Squeaks loves pointing to each letter and singing her ABCs.

The kids love adding the new day to the calendar using velcro dots (I found the calendar at Target), turning all the wheels, and singing our songs. I also use a mini white board (Target dollar spot) to let them practice writing the letter and number of the week. I don’t get to strict with penmanship yet though. We always end saying the Bible verse and praying together for the day. Altogether, calendar time takes about 20-30 minutes depending on how many times we sing each song (there could be multiple encores of the ABCs) or how much time we spend with the white board. So fun!

Up next in our homeschool routine: Busy Binders!! You’re going to love these!

How about you? What’s your favorite way to start your homeschool day?

Comments

Jennifer says

November 2, 2022 at

Hi there!

I love the months of the year banner on your board. I saw something similar in your shop, however I really like this one. Do you have a posting for it?

Thanks for all of your wonderful work!

Jen

- Arrows & Applesauce says
  
  November 3, 2022 at
  
  Hi Jen, the banner in this post is an old design. The one in my shop is the new design! You’re very welcome, thank you for following along.
  
  - Jennifer says
    
    November 3, 2022 at
    
    Thank you so much! Do you have a posting for the old design?
    
    - Arrows & Applesauce says
      
      November 8, 2022 at
      
      Unfortunately, I do not. I don’t even have the old PDF file for it anymore.
      
MaggieO says

April 15, 2018 at

This is all so cute! Thank you for making these available. It would be great if you had a combo pack for sale that included everything on your board. 🙂

- Kristen says
  
  April 16, 2018 at
  
  Thanks Maggie! The items on our board that I designed are for sale in my Etsy shop. I have been thinking of making them a bundle though. 🙂 http://www.etsy.com/shop/arrowsandapplesauce
  
Mirjam says

January 17, 2018 at

I am so inspired by this that I am making something similiar for my toddler who just turned two. We live in the Netherlands so I am searching Pinterest for dutch printables. Homeschooling isn’t a thing here unfortunately, definitely not supported by our government. Luckily my older son attends a wonderful Christian school.

Preschool activities fir my toddler are a great way to keep him busy abd occupied while learning amazing things, thank you so much, you are really inspiring to me. God bless, -Mirjam

- Kristen says
  
  January 18, 2018 at
  
  I’m so glad this was helpful to you!! That’s too bad that homeschooling there isn’t supported. Good luck on your search, I hope you find some useful tools!