Preschool teaching materials (2+ thru 4)

[antsinmypants]

Howdy :hat

I was wondering if any of you lovely homeschool parents know of some good materials I can get my hands on for DH and I to encorporate into our daily routine in the future to help better prep our little one for school?

I found out school here is mandatory by age 5, and preschool is reccommended - but considering I am staying at home with little him or her, I can't see putting them in a half day of preschool when we can be doing stuff hands on and teaching them German and English.

I'm already doing reading flashcards for myself in German and English for my language course, so I can see some of them being used again, and me having to make new ones as well...

Coloring books are hard to come by, so when I find ones with clear large pictures I tend to snap them up.. and I've already started getting things like cookie cutters so I can prep to 'help mommy make cookies' and us have shapes to play and learn with as well as count how many we made (We'll do the same with other finger foods)...

I know where to get most K-12 prep books (though school is structured differently here, I just want to make sure we get the basics in the time they are at home with us etc), but I draw a blank with the Pre-K other than the educational aisle at Walmart which I have no access to when I'm here in Germany other than asking someone to kindly go and snatch up some items for me :heh


I've started thinking of going to Ikea and getting the mini bakeware items (rolling pin and cake/tart pans) for the 'helping mommy cook' time... and we're getting books already to start reading now.. (All in German thus far)

Any tips/hints are greatly appreciated, since I found out I can do some teaching at home with it going under the radar.

[lisaann]

used Five in a Row with my kids. It is a very sweet introduction to good literature for little children. It has activities for Monday through Friday covering science, art, music, literature ect. The only things it doesent cover are phonics and math. I'm not sure how available these books would be to you in Germany though :scratch .
http://www.fiarhq.com/

Something else that really helped prepare my kids were computer games like Reader Rabbit and Jump Start. My kids knew how to use a mouse almost before they could walk! :lol2
This link is to Reader Rabbit. It has several toddler and preschool games:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-3023704-8243163?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=reader+rabbit&x=14&y=22

Jump start has them as well: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-9658228-5980837?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jump+start+computer+games

I can still hear the Jump Start Toddlers theme song in my mind from when my kids were little. :)

[MidnightCry]

A book called "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready" is what you're looking for.

http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Steady-Get-Me-Ready/dp/159160236X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199119857&sr=8-1

It might even be at your local library.

[Sealed]

Bob's Books are great readers. My dd loves them. http://www.bobbooks.com/bobbooks.htm

ETA: Rod and Staff has neat preschool stuff. www.rodandstaff.com

[antsinmypants]

cool! Thank you!

I have a friend here that has graciously offered to help me get items here, as well as being able to receive packages from my parents. I just have to be careful with items that actually come from companies being further taxed and paid for by customs.

With us not being military, it does make getting English early starter items difficult, but it is not impossible as English is now being as taught as early as second grade - so there are the first bi-lingual dictionaries and some readers that can be procured (but these are far and few between).

I still have some golden books, and my brother in law and sister deal in used books so I may be able to find some early reading material through them as well.

Does anyone know if there is a book such as the "What every ___th grader needs to know" that is geared towards preschool or K so I can start getting supplies ready and set aside to 'play with' before actual instruction so they aren't foreign concepts?

I did see that our disney channel has shows like "Disney's Little Einstein" and I figured if I could have shows like that and Sesame Street and maybe Mr Rogers on DVD we'd have a good start for the "down times" during the day when we aren't so busy to watch.

I've started looking for early development puzzles and to see if they have the soft-cloth books like we used to when I was little here, or if I will need to make some felt books myself (without words) to sew and 'play with' at the beginning.

Thank you all again for your reccommendations!

[wife]

Does anyone know if there is a book such as the "What every ___th grader needs to know" that is geared towards preschool or K so I can start getting supplies ready and set aside to 'play with' before actual instruction so they aren't foreign concepts?





there is a K book. I have an old copy. the website is www.coreknowledge.org

[antsinmypants]

Cool, thanks!

[Green Darner]

Here is a free online curriculum that might be of use to you:

Brightly Beaming Early Learning
http://letteroftheweek.com/

[antsinmypants]

awesome! thanks!!

Did you guys see that this one has a link to teaching baby sign language? I thought that is really cool! That would come in super handy!!

[wife]

awesome! thanks!!

Did you guys see that this one has a link to teaching baby sign language? I thought that is really cool! That would come in super handy!!

I taught my kids sign language as babies. It is really handy. My kids knew the signs for drink, eat, yes, no and others as I say a need. It came in really handy because my youngest talked later and he used a lot of signs.