Needing a Preschool Type Schedule/routine

S., I daycare infants to pre-school and mostly for teachers children that hold back their kids until they are older for pre-school and kindergarten.
we start themorning with breakfast snacks and playtime but then we have learning time for the 3,4 year olds and what I use is the "Hooked On Phonics" program. The younger ones learn with the "Jumpstart" CD games. I have had such good luck with the "Hooked On Phonics" program. All of my little oneshave learned to read by the time they go into pre-school and it is a fun way for them to learn. I love it because it shows you exactly what to do and guides you through it. I have the reading and the math set. It is a little bit spendy but well worth it. They have charts that show each of their progress and they love that.
I hope that this helps.
Don't forget that the best way that children learn isthrough play. It is amazing the development of each child by interactingwith eachother. They all have very good social behaviors by the time they are here for a couple of months. Social behaviors are the only thing i am concerned about when the kids are started later because these are sometime neglected. I would have regular play dates for her. L.

I think it is wonderful you are able to spend so much time with your child! What a blessing. I do agree with the suggestion that you visit a Montessori preschool, depending on where you live and what type of Montessori school, as there are many. The best are AMI and AMS schools with certified teachers. What you and your child need is a space set up for activities. A designated shelf with materials such as puzzles, fine motor activities (weaving, spooning grains from one dish to the next) sqeezing sponges, folding cloths etc. Some simple math such as beads for counting, number cards 0 - 9 to begin number recognition, blocks and spacial materials, letter recognition work, and single color cards to work on naming colors. Because your child is only three don't stress academics. Work on routine, such as always putting work away before moving on, keeping a consistant schedule of "preschool" time, but allowing the child to choose what she's interested in. And of course lots of art and creative craft projects. Remember, you don't have to have every single activity or toy out at once, put out one or two puzzles for example and rotate them. Any chance you have to get outside and do a nature lesson is great too. The three year old child is developmentally in love with langauge, they love to learn the names of flowers, trees, parts of an insect, machines anything, as you know!
Most of all have fun. This time will go by so fast. Just take it in, don't overwhelm either one of you. I think it is important too that you set a time every day, a few hours or so just for your child's learning, then you won't feel stressed to get the house clean or dinner made. Have fun!

I wrote mine out on small poster board and stuck it on the wall. With all stay at home moms do daily it helps me stay on track.
My favorite sight for activity pages is Kid Zone, they have everything split by age groups.
At 3 my kids were working on colors( they new them by name but not by sight), numbers, alphabet( identifying and writing), shapes, cutting, and writing their name.
We split our day by waking her at 7:30, she( my 2 yr old) watches Barney or Sesame Street until I get the other kids out the door at 8:20 ( breakfast happens during the rush to get kids to school) Tv goes off and we clean house( she helps), by 9 house is good and we read a book to kinda settle down- while reading I ask what pics are, colors are etc... She colors/ draws etc..Then weather permitting we play outside til lunch, And her older sister gets home from kinder.After lunch we all sit at table- 5 yr old works on writing well or reading sometimes basic math, 2 yr old learns shapes, cutting, coloring and whatever else I can come up with. With my 5 yr old I turn everything into learning-- If she wants to help cook, we learn math etc. If it calls for one cup, I split is up and ask her how many half cups to make aa whole or how many quarte to make whole. I ask her to get can of whatever and I try to get stuff whith no pics of whats inside so she has to sound out the words. I also bought place mats with presidents, us, and world maps on them. The US map is her favorite. She can name and put in correct place about 15 of them and on world map thanx to daddy being military she can point out every place he has been. We also keep a coin jar that belongs to the 5 yr old. Every couple of months we take it out and I cheat using coinstar and cash it in. It is hers to do the shopping with- she tells me what we need from the store and I help her write it down and we try to figure out how much the list will cost, make adjustments as needed then off to the store, where she does the shopping. Many times we will see something she really wants LOL, but we have the can you afford it, is it on your list etc... I do not focus on what they need to learn in school, but what they need to learn in life.

Our daily routine is to eat breakfast at 8 o'clock. and go play until about 10am. have story time and talk about the book and do an activity from it. then go outside, lunch around noon. nap at 1pm.

"Early Education at Home" is a great preschool book! Easy weekly lessons and they are easy to incorperate into mommy dom with stuff you have around the house anyway.

Hello there! I happen to be a preschool teacher, and I would recommend the website www.enchantedlearning.com For about $24 a year you get access to nearly endless resources for teaching. There are many printable pages for preschoolers, as well as art project ideas. I hope this helps! Please feel free to ask me about any more specifics if you like.

We always do craft time after lunch. I use different themes so they can learn about different stuff. Last week we worked on ocean creature projects, this week is bugs. :)

I would go visit your nearest Montessori School. They let you sit in and watch. I love how they have everything set up for independant learning, they have order and not chaos, and the kids are happily working away.....
The BEST thing I got from that visit was the way they teach the kids personal boundaries. The child takes a rolled up mat from a basket. Puts it on the floor, chooses their "work" to bring to the mat, can play by themselves or invite someone to join them, does the work, when done, rolls up the mat and puts it away. I taught my preschooler the same routine at home and guess what? He did it! I never had a mess of toys laying around the house and still at 15, he keeps his room and the rest of the house mess-free! I can't say the same for myself(LOL), but he respects our spaces. We were lucky enough to go to a Montessori Charter school until 8th grade- they are free with lots of parent volunteers (something Washington State doesn't have unfortunately).
But try it- it is so easy. The "work" is usually in a clear box with a lid, placed on a shelf that is labeled so they know where to return it. Have fun!

Reading is the most important thing which you already do. You could get a preschool book from the store with some activities to introduce math, science, vocab, and such. Another idea is to look online for activities. Some good ones are: nickjr.com and familyfun.com

I hope this helps.

I am a homeschooling mom with a seven-year-old, a nine-year-old and one-on-the-way. I began homeschooling during the preschool years and LOVED it!! What I have found is that the very best thing you can do with a youngster is to read, read, read to them. Some mazes and connect-the dots are fun for learning those fine motor skills, but the real "goodies" in learning come from reading. There are literature-based guides for all ages at FIAR.com (Five In a Row). I would suggest the book "Before Five in a Row" for your little one. These books take quality children's literature and draw lessons from them. It is a good introduction for mom into using literature for real learning, and the literature selections are great. Sonlight.com also has a good literature-based preschool curriculum (a little spendy, but you can find some of their book selections at your local library).I have found that keeping it light during the preschool years is best, as the goal is to develop a love of learning. Please feel free to email me at ____@____.com if you would like any more resource suggestions . Best of luck to you!.