My husband and I have decided to take our 4 1/2 year old daughter out of day care due to the cost. We are both working full time jobs and still do not seem to be able to afford it. I started working to help out with bills and have extra money but it seems all we pay for is child care. My question is~ Are there any web sites that have fun learning activities and lessons I can do with her? Also if there are any moms that have been in this situation and how it was when you introduced them back into school for kindergarten??
Very Truly!
Hello Wonderful Ladies!! Thank you so much for all the responses. It’s our first week into the new scheduled and it seems to be working better then I thought. She's even excited to be spending more one on one time. I've been telling my husband about all the great websites. He gets back in to town on Monday and wants to sit down and go over them so we can create a fun day to day routine for her & ME!!
Again thank you so much for all the support~
Very Truly
The E. Family :)!
This is one of my favorites... Type in what ever you are looking for in the serch engine and they have it.
www.learningpage.com
www.worksheetworks.com
www.lapbooklessons.com
Some websites from my friend
http://oldfashionededucation.com
http://simplycharlottemason.com
http://amblesideonline.org
The first three are my favorite. But if you do a google search for free preschool lessons you will find a lot. I also search for crafts and coloring pages. There are a lot of resources online that are free.
I stay at home myself because what I would make would not cover care for my little ones. Since your daughter will be used to a structure, I suggest a schedule of sorts. You have a basis from what she does at day care and you can modify it to suit your needs.
I hope that helps and wish you well.
Hi there..... Im sending you a link to my site as we homeschool... and we have several resources linked there... ;) Im pretty sure you will find something of use there.. ;0) www.oddnjess.blogspot.com
Good luck and have fun!!
There are a lot of great sites I have used for my Preschool class. Some of my favorites are starfall.com, Gayle's Preschool Rainbow http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/ and Preschool Learners.com (has a lot of free printable's).
Also google A to Z Teacher Stuff, Preschool by Stormie,
DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kid's, The Idea Box, PreK Central and akidsheart (this one's Christian). Sorry if that was too many, but this will give you resources for most anything your looking for. Good luck!
Hi P.,
A few friends and I have just started up a small preschool group for our little ones (because it's much cheaper than paying preschool costs)...
Here are a few of links that are very helpful:
http://www.coloringbookfun.com/
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html
http://www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/color/cpletter.shtml
http://alphabet-soup.net/dir6/alphacolor.html
I hope these help. They are loaded with great ideas and themes... Perhaps you can get together with some other moms from your circle of friends or church group and create a small preschool group to take your daughter to...We rotate homes... this way our kids learn something, plus we get a small break...
Have fun! Enjoy this time with your child. They are eager to learn at this age... so, take advantage of their willingness to learn and their thirst for knowledge... Making learning fun may seem like playtime with mom...
I do many reading games with my 3 1/2 yr old...He now knows the letters of the alphabet and their sounds and can rattle them off to anybody who'll listen... I am now teaching him how to put the sounds together to make simple words... We play this game everyday...and read most of the (easy) signs that we run across on our walk around the neighborhood...(Ive done this with all of my kids and they all have started out kindergarten ahead of the game because they enter knowing the basics and knowing the concepts of reading...
Oh, another idea is to buy a season of Electric Company from Amazon.com... My 3 1/2 yr old just LOVES to watch the Electric Company shows and learns each time... (Sesame Street is for younger children who are just learning the letters, but Electric Company is for older children who already know the letters and are ready for simple words)
Anyway, I'm bragging now... have fun with your daughter... Good Luck with this endeavor. You will do well. :-)
--L. Williams
a little about me: My husband and I have been married for 12 years and have 5 wonderful and active children. They all love to read... We've been in the military and have lived in Japan for 8 years...and are now in AZ...WE are expecting our 6th child in the spring. :-) (I hope it's a girl because we have 4 boys and one girl now)
I was also going to suggest starfall.com Check out brainpopjr.com (although this a a pay service). I just learned about first-school.ws that has lots of activity suggestions and print outs.
Hi P.,
I have a third grader and one in pre-k. I understand your situation and wish you the best of luck. Here is website that is used in the school that my kids attend.
I'm doing the same with my 3 year old son and using a Montessori approach. Check out the book "How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way" for some good ideas on activities. There also website with some online learning games, and there are just TONS of ways to teach a child at home in ways that are intriguing to the child. I think his learning experience will be much more enriching this way, plus it saves us money. Not only will he be learning, but also bonding with me. I was surprised to realize that most people I know consider preschool as a necessity these days. I never went to preschool and I excelled in school and always loved learning. I love spending time nurturing and teaching my children, and I'm putting off the time he's gone from me all day as long as possible. I may put him in preschool 2 mornings a week to ease the transition the year before Kindergarten and I will do everything I can to find a half-day Kindergarten.
I am a member of MOMS Club (www.momsclub.org to find your local chapter) and I really enjoy it, and it helps ease my concern over my son socializing and interacting with other children since he won't be attending preschool.
One more thing, an extremely similar "request" on mamasource was posted recently on August 12, 2008, so I suggest looking back in the archives to see the responses that mother received. http://www.mamasource.com/request/2182583617505460225
I know this is a little late in response but here are few that I use:
playhousedisney.com-there is an annual fee of 50.00 if paid in advance
I bought the book The Busy Preschoolers Busy Book which has great craft and activity ideas.
Go to Best Buy and they have several software programs to choose from that a four year old can use for preschool. I'm currently using JumpStart and the Dr Suess series. You can purchase Disney software from the disney site.
My four year old will put the discs in himself to play 'school'
I am a stay at home mom of a 2 year old boy and a 4 year old boy. We have a toy room/school room that we do our lessons and crafts in. My husband I do not have any plans to enroll our children in the schools in Flagstaff.
Hope this has helped you.
T.
i love the pbs.org website. my son is a december baby so when he really needed to be in school he was not eligble due to his age we did the pbs.org and pbskidsgo.org and they were amazing also fun brain.com. he started kindergarden this year and he is doing amazing he teacher said that he is testing for 1st grade i highly recommend these websites.
www.fisher-price.com is a good web site for growing and learning with your 4 year old.
