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Considering Preschool for my three year old in August!
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We are finishing up our first year of homeschooling with my son who is seven and doing first grade work. While it has been wonderful and rewarding at the same time it has been extrememly stressful. The reason is has been stressful is because of my three year old who just turned three in February! I feel he has been left out since I give so much time to my oldest so I try to include him. He just doesn’t want to cooperate and causes alot of distraction, etc for my oldest son. They fight constantly and I thought giving it some time it would get better but it has gotten worse. My three year olds behavior has gotten progressively worse and worse over this school year. He is very smart but also EXTREMELY headstrong and strong willed. I feel like I have tried to bend over backwards for the both of them but im starting not to cope well due to the fighting, behavior issues with my three year old. I know he needs habit training, etc and I feel I just don’t have much time to devote to him right now with working two days a week and homeschooling. We do read books at night, etc. He is a very energetic and outgoing child and needs things to do constantly and very dependent on me to entertain him. He has resisted potty training as well and is still in diapers. We are hoping to finish up our school year in may and take the summer off. Im hoping to spend alot of time with him this summer, habit training, POTTY training and just helping him get through the three’s. I do want to homeschoo him but at the same time we are not gonna do anything structured until kindergarten and im really leaning on letting him go to a christian preschool in August. What would you guys do? Any advice? I was hoping to keep him out of preschool but I feel he needs alot of interaction and playmates right now! HELP! I feel like im gonna have a nervous break down but don’t want to give up homeschooling because I really do love it! It’s just so hard to deal with the strife!
I find that if I do my preschool activities with my littles ones first, while my others do independent work (reading, copywork, etc) our day goes better. I think it fills up their need for attention and makes them less clingy and more willing to do somethings independently.
How much time are you spending with the 7yo? Could you shorten some of his lessons in order to make the little one some time through out the day?
Does you three year old nap still? It would be great if he did and you were able to work your lessons around his naps. That might mean doing most of your work in the afternoon, but you could do nature study and outdoor activities in the morning.
Not an easy situation. I’ll be honest, sending him away to preschool is not going to fix any of the issues, it will just have him out of the way for a period of time each day(and may bring new issues to deal with). You’ll have to make that call. No judgment here!
Personally I would keep him home. I think my focus would be two-fold. First, habit training (obedience, attentiveness, and learning to play independently for short periods of time). Second, while you may not want structured learning for him yet it sounds like he needs structure to his day. I’m talking a routine that includes different kinds of activities that may or may not have learning aims. A simple example:
Breakfast
get dressed
Do a chore with mom
Read a book or do a game with mom while older sibling does copywork or other independent work.
Play with toys near mom (legos, puzzles, playdoh, blocks, wooden train) while mom helps 7yo one on one
Switch activities to something active (indoor trampoline, playing in the yard, hopping on homemade hopscotch board, etc)
Then do activity with mom and 7yo (science, read aloud, nature study, art?)
You get the idea. It is a mix of activities that give his day predictability during school hours. And it is a way to wean him from needing you to entertain him to playing on his own some of the time.
Sheraz,
I have been looking at some preschool curriculums. We do ABC mouse online sometimes but it seems whenever I try to spend time with the three year old the older one gets jealous or they want to take over what the other is doing. It’s a constant back and forth struggle between them. They are jealous and contentious with each other ALL the time. What is a good preschool resource I could use? I need something that is laid out for me. I didn’t really want to start anything structured until later but I will try anything at this point!
Sheraz,
To answer your question about the time spent with the older one…I usually spend two or three hours a day with him. The Grandmother comes over a few days a week to help but he will not let her do anything with him and wants to be with us! So really she’s not helping at all!
4myboys,
My three year old doesn’t nap anymore! He stopped napping about two months ago. I found that if he had even one short nap a day he would stay up late or not be sleepy until way late. He goes to bed around 9pm and up by 8am.
I’ve been doing “Sound of the Week” with my 3 and 4 YOs, but you could also do “Letter of the Week”. It doesn’t take much time. I just print out a few coloring sheets for them (or plan a few crafts) and grab a few books off our shelves (or at the library if we happen to be there) to reinforce what sound we are learning. What others said is true – if you can spend some time with your younger one first thing in the morning I think you’ll find he’ll be much more cooperative when you are working with your older one.
Tristan,
That is my concern about preschool….him being exposed to things that I don’t want him exposed to even though it is christian based. My plan for this summe was to try to get more organized, potty train the three year old and do some much needed habit training. Also, wanted to try and put together some preschool stuff for him. What are some good resources as you know of? My oldest is always crying and telling me he wants to go to Grandmas house to get a break from my three year old. It’s getting where he wants to go all the time to escape his brother. This makes me so SAD! The three year old really drives him crazy!LOL!
jawgee,
thanks for the resources! I think you guys might be right and it’s worth giving it a try. I just need to organize some time in the morning just to spend with him!
Here is what I use: http://store.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70_71 I got the download and it has totally planned activities for the letters, for fine motor skills, math, and more. She includes Spanish and scripture memorization. Love that it is print and go!
I printed out the lessons plans and then use those at the beginning of the week to print the activities for the week – then I just look at the plans and use that on a daily basis. My older kids sometimes like to play with the tanagrams, color blocks, etc. I allow that but insist that they are quiet and respectful while we listen to literature. If they are not, they lose the priviledge. (They don’t do it often, but when we do that’s the rule or they leave the room.)
I have two doing this and it takes them about 45 minutes to an hour – because I added reading stories aloud and a couple of activities to help with dd’s speech therapy. This dd is strongwilled and likes me, too – and this really helps her feel like she is having personal time with me.
What about some team building projects or games to get your two kids having fun together instead of being adversaries for mom’s time and attention? I’m thinking easy stuff like baking or cooking together (turns on ingredients), washing windows with spray bottles of water, making homemade playdoh, etc.
Good preschool stuff depending on what you want:
The Letter of the Week stuff from Confessions of a Homeschooler is fun but tons of color printing and gets repetitive. Read through her blog and you can download it all free, it just is separate links. I would print off a few different letters/activities from her free before buying. See if your 3 yo likes it.
With my oldest I did the original Letter of the Week (Brightly Beaming Resources) and its still free online. You take a letter for the theme of the week, read books, practice a number, color, shape, etc. While she has ideas for each you can adapt to your child’s interests. So if I were doing one for my just turned 4 year old I would do A is for Airplane, while his younger brother would love T is for Trains and my oldest daughter liked A is for Aligators. It’s really simple, no printables really.
With my current preK range boys I just read good picture books with them, give them specific fun activities, etc. So I have boxes with things like:
Wooden pattern blocks
Melissa and Doug magnetic fishing puzzles
Counting bears
Toy clock
Playdoh
Puzzles
scissors and glue
Dry Erase books on letters, numbers, mazes, etc.
Attribute blocks
Then they get a different thing to use each day or every half hour if we’re doing concentrated table time.
These are all great ideas guys. Thanks for the resources. Another concern I have with him is that he is very aggressive physically. Imnot blaming my husband but he does tend to wrestle and rough house quite bit with the three year old and now he thinks it’s ok to be aggressive with everyone. This gets quite annoying! He can be pretty strong and overpowering for a three year old.
Wee Folk Art has a very CM style prek program based on seasons. We’ve used it in our CM co-op with preschoolers and enjoyed it. It’s literature based and free online.
Five in a Row is another option.
By far, the most important thing is working on behavior and habits. There are several resources that may prove helpful. My favorites are Raising Godly Tomatoes and Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining & Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids.
These ladies gave great advice; I just wanted to chime in and say that I remember my first year of home schooling with my DD6 at the time and my other three were 4,3, & 1. It was very stressful but I kept going and the next year was easier. I had more things planned out for the others to do while we did school and it went better.
Blessings, peace and patience!
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