Home School Ideas

For Your Home School Preschool

Fresh home school ideas are always welcome whether you're new to homeschooling or a seasoned veteran. When mine were little, I was constantly on the lookout for something new to spark life into our daily routine.

Let your Homeschooling Preschoolers
Use Their Imagination!

Ditch the worksheets and just let them play. It’s amazing what those little ones can do when given a few simple tools. I mush emphasize simple here. That will leave room for their imagination, which translates into more learning and playtime!

My children would rarely fight. Oh, they would disagree from time to time, still do! ;o) But when they were left to play together, especially with Playmobil, they were quite happy in their own little world(s) of make-believe.

Here is a list of home school ideas that will allow your little ones to pretend to their heart’s content:

1. Playdough - Playdough really gets their creative juices flowing! Sit down with your homeschool children and just have fun. Dig out the cookie cutters and make all kinds of things. (We got to the point where we just left the cookie cutters in the playdough box!) This easy Play Dough Recipe makes the best playdough.

2. Paper/Pencil/Scissors - There is no end to what you can do with simple paper and pencil. Colored pencils are fun, too. Better than crayons, in my opinion.

When Laura was two, she found that Grandma's table was perfect for reading, coloring, or playing.

3. White Board - We just recently put one of these up and should have had it when they were young. You can easily tape their creations to the board without having to worry about pulling paint off the wall. I call it my Pride Wall and we still use it. Be sure to have a collection of colored dry erase markers handy and see what fun pictures and comments show up!

4. Sidewalk Chalk - Trace around their little bodies while they’re in a funny position. A tub of colored chalk goes a long way. (Don’t worry about the sidewalk, the rain easily washes it off.) Oh, and while you’re out there draw a hopscotch. Be creative, anything goes!

5. Costume Box - My girls, especially, loved playing “dress-up”. Yard sales and Goodwill are great places to find dresses, hats, flowers, shoes, etc. You never know when you’ll be invited to a “wedding”!

6. Building Blocks - Blocks of any kind will do. We happened to have Lincoln Logs. You would not believe all of the creative things they made (houses, tables, chairs, fences, even pulpits!) to use with the next set of toys.

7. Playmobil - These were our all time favorites. (I’ll be hanging onto these for the grandkiddies!) The children would play with them for hours. They would each have their own house (an area with rooms made flat on the floor with string or popsicle sticks) with a family consisting of a number of children and animals. I think we had close to a hundred people and they each had their own name. We still use them on occasion to decorate cakes!

8. Empty Box - There is no end to what you can do with a box, even if it happens to be the dog kennel! A large one can be used to make an apartment building for the Playmobil people! (Well, that’s what we did.) Toddlers will have fun just going in and out of their very own box and pretend that it’s a boat, or tree house, or even a plane. Make sure they take their pet along!

Annette and Liberty on another adventure!

9. Felt/Flannel Board - This was another thing that the children really liked to play with. An activity book comes in handy when you need to keep the children quiet, like in church. We kept it only for special occasions like that to keep their interest. The flannel board made for a great way to teach the Bible stories.

10. Read - Books take your homeschooling preschoolers on so many fascinating adventures. And reading will give them a head start to reading on their own. But, don’t overlook the picture books, reference books with pictures, or books on tape. Take a trip to the library and bring home a stack! Favorites will make a great birthday gift!

I recently came across an excellent program to teach your very young child to read. It's called Children Learning Reading. He has wonderful tips and ideas for not only teaching young children but also turning your child into a lover of reading! I highly recommend it!

Now here's a nice, quiet spot!

Discover the five timely ways for you to enjoy homeschooling toddlers. You'll find more home school ideas from spending time with Mom and siblings to the entire family. How about spending time alone?

Live in Wisconsin? Check out the Wisconsin Homeschooling page.

From Home School Ideas to
Homeschool Preschool

From Home School Ideas to
Homeschool Rewards Home Page