Pre-K or no Pre-K? That is the question!

    Last July or so is when I decided to try my hand at becoming a work at home mom.  It was something that I had wanted to try for a while and circumstances made the opportunity available to me.  I was very much looking forward to spending more time with my three children and being able to be a part of their every day lives.  The one thing that gave me pause in this decision was the concern about taking Mason out of daycare and how he would do without the benefit of Pre-K. 

    I began with Pinterest, and researching and compiling some boards that had some learn-at-home and Pre-K curriculum type information.  What a HUGE amount of materials I found!  I also looked into the website for the school system to find out what Kindergarten curriculum looked like in my area.

    With my research done, I decided that I could effectively teach Mason at home.  Learning at home, with Mommy as the teacher can sometimes be a difficult road, so we had to make it fun!

      We started with the basics:  colors, letters, name.  One of the great web sites that I found for working on letters is A to Z Teacher Stuff.  On this site, you can type in any words, or letters, and it will print them on the standard Kindergarten handwriting worksheets.  I also found a lot of resources that I bought.  The Target Dollar Spot held lots of fun stuff:

I was able to get all of the things above for $1 or less!

 

 

    We have worked on all of these and so many more.  To help with 'sight' words, or 'word wall' words, we review, write, and post them.  I found a really great way to get Mason to practice writing his words:


    Most teachers will tell you as well, to READ, READ, and READ some more.  This is something that we have done from birth with Mason.  We make sure that this is a daily occurrence and now I am able to have Mason read some of the words himself.  Most public libraries have story time and this is a great resource for preschool children.  Frequent trips to the library are always fun!   

There are also things on the county's kindergarten readiness list like tying shoes, independence in the restroom, zip and button pants, these are all things that I let Mason do any time the opportunity arises.

    Much to my delight, when I went to register Mason for Kindergarten a couple of weeks ago, he is capable of each of the tasks that are on the list for Kindergarten Readiness and knows a lot of the skills that they will teach him in Kindergarten! I am so excited for Mason's Kindergarten year, and feel like he is MORE than ready!  With this, I will give myself a pat on the back, "Good job, Mom, you did it!"