I saved my favorite method of homeschooling preschool for last. I love seasons and holidays, so a Theme of the Week is a fun way to organize the school year.

I use my monthly planning notes to schedule out our themes and activities for the year. (Free planning notes for the 2014-2015 school year will be available next week!) We love the routine of living by the seasons, and I usually expand the week’s theme to fit all my kids. We call it Funschool. My weekly Funschool posts have been on summer break but will be starting back up in August. I only schedule a couple of activities for the older kids, but it adds a bit of whimsy to our week.

Celebrating seasons and holidays is not the only way to plan with Theme of the Week. It is open to whatever you dream up. You could do a different animal every week. It would be fun to pair that up with Letter of the Week – A is for Alligator, B is for Bat, etc. There is no need to stick with one type theme for a whole year. Pick a topic, work through it until you are done, and then choose another.

A few ideas for non-seasonal themes:

• animals
• bugs
• transportation
• weather
• colors
• shapes
• food
• countries/cultures
• children’s books

Get some preschool theme inspiration from these fabulous sites:

• The Perpetual Preschool
• Everything Preschool
• Alphabet Soup
• The Virtual Vine
• Teaching Toddlers
• Kinder Korner
• Step by Step
• Little Giraffes
• First-School
• Preschool Plan It
• The Activity Idea Place

This week we’ve covered several ways to homeschool preschool for free. Most of them involve a decent mount of planning on your part. If you are not interested in creating your own plan, there are a few options on my list of Free Preschool Curriculum that already have the year planned out for you. There are also some on my Free Complete Curriculum page.

Coming next week: I actually use an eclectic method for preschool and pull a little from all of these styles. I am going to put together a post showing exactly how I planned out our preschool last year. Sign up to receive my post updates by email so you don’t miss any future Homeschool for Free posts!

Has this series given you some direction for your preschool plans?
Do you have any questions I can help answer?

You might also like my:

• Trace Through the Year Book
• ABCs & 123s Pinterest Board
• Preschool & K Printable Packs Pinterest Board

Read all of the days in this series:

Day 1: Learning Lifestyle
Day 2: Nursery Rhymes 
Day 3: Printable Packs
Day 4: Letter of the Week 
Day 5: Theme of the Week 

Keep up with this series by receiving my posts in your email.

See all of the topics in the iHomeschool Network Summer Hopscotch Series

This post contains affiliate links.

Letter of the Week is one of the most common ways to homeschool  preschool. Simply choose a letter and then build your activities around it.

There are two main views on Letter of the Week. One is to start with A and continue through the alphabet in order. The other is to work through the letters in a pattern that teaches pre-reading skills. Reading the Alphabet is an example of the second method.

The idea behind Letter of the Week is to theme everything around that letter. Here are a few of the categories you could include:

• Writing practice
• Letter sounds
• Snacks
• Crafts
• Books
• Bible Lessons
• Animals/Nature Study
• Songs
• Poems
• Lapbooks
• Puppets

You can find links for all of these activities in my list of Free Alphabet Resources for Preschoolers.

Since there are only 26 letters, you will probably have a few weeks left until the end of the school year. You can use them to review the letters, or to do covers numbers 1-10. Another option is to slip in a few themed weeks throughout the year around holidays.

You can find more alphabet ideas on my ABCs and 123s Pinterest board

You might also like my:

• Links to Free Preschool Curriculum
• Handwriting Pinterest Board
• Preschool & K Printable Packs Pinterest Board

Read all of the days in this series:

Day 1: Learning Lifestyle
Day 2: Nursery Rhymes 
Day 3: Printable Packs
Day 4: Letter of the Week 
Day 5: Theme of the Week 

Keep up with this series by receiving my posts in your email.

See all of the topics in the iHomeschool Network Summer Hopscotch Series

This post contains affiliate links.

Printable preschool packs are all the rage! I am so amazed at the quality and quantity of the sets being offered. Most of the bloggers I know who offer these freebies are giving from the heart and truly have a passion for helping people educate their children.

The beauty of these packs is that they are print & go. The hardest part is choosing which to use, because it would be impossible to complete them all. I like to do two a week – one alphabet and one themed (usually seasonal). Remember that you do not have to print the entire pack. Select the ones for the skills needed, or the activites that your child will enjoy. Slogging your way through every page is wasting time doing busy work!

If you have the funds, invest in a laser printer. The colors are so vibrant, and the cost-per-page is lower than an ink jet.

You can find FREE printable preschool packs on these lovely sites: 

• 1+1+1=1
• 123 Homeschool 4 Me
• 3 Dinosaurs
• A Teaching Mommy
• All Our Days
• Confessions of a Homeschooler
• Educational Creations
• Gift of Curiosity
• Homeschool Creations
• Lawteedah
• Lovely Commotion
• Oopsie Daisy
• Over the Big Moon
• Royal Baloo
• Spell Out Loud
• This Reading Mama

Be sure to follow my Printable Packs board on Pinterest
I hope to have hundreds of packs on it by the time I’m done!

Read all of the days in this series:

Day 1: Learning Lifestyle
Day 2: Nursery Rhymes 
Day 3: Printable Packs
Day 4: Letter of the Week 
Day 5: Theme of the Week 

Keep up with this series by receiving my posts in your email.

See all of the topics in the iHomeschool Network Summer Hopscotch Series

This post contains affiliate links.

For the first time in fifteen years, I don’t have a preschooler. *sniff**sniff* It is my favorite age to teach! I love seeing little eyes filled with wonder, and there is freedom to learn without some of the restrictions that we tend to place on the upper grades.

There is no need to purchase a curriculum for your preschooler (unless you want to). There is an abundance of free preschool curriculum from which to choose. The question I get the most is –> “How do I make a plan for the year using free preschool curriculum?”. This week, as part of iHomeschool Network’s Summer Hopscotch, I am going to show you five different ways to plan out your homeschool preschool. 

We are going to start with the most basic plan. I call it a Learning Lifestyle. It doesn’t involve worksheets or sitting at a desk. It is simply teaching concepts to your child as you live out your day. Count the socks as you pull them from the laundry basket. Name the fruits & vegetables at the grocery store and talk about their colors. Count the sides of a book and point out that a rectangle has two longer sides and two shorter sides. Watch a squirrel bury food in the yard and talk about how animals store up for the winter.

I know some of you are uncomfortable just winging it, so I made a simple list of basics to cover. It could go on & on, but at least you will have a starting place! I’m including a printable of the list in case you want to put it in your homeschool planner.

–> DOWNLOAD YOUR PRESCHOOL SKILLS CHECKLIST <–

Preschool Skills Checklist

{Math}

• counting objects (cereal, toys, crayons)
• counting from 1-20 or higher
• number recognition (knowing what the #s look like in print)
• shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval)

{Beginner Phonics}

• say the alphabet
• recognize letters in print
• recognize name in print
• letter sounds (A says a as in apple)
• read LOTS of books

{Bible}

• read Bible stories (I recommend this book)
• God made… 
• simple memory verses 
• religious holidays

{Science}

• observe nature, draw in a nature journal
• talk about the weather in different seasons
• explain how things work
• explore hot, cold, wet, dry, textures

{Basic Skills}

• right & left – practice while putting on shoes
• cutting practice – safety scissors & scraps of paper
• learn colors
• do puzzles
• manners- please, thank you, wait your turn
• chores – let them work alongside you

What questions do you have about homeschooling preschool?
I would love to hear them!

You might be interested in my Busy Bags board on Pinterest

Read all of the days in this series:

Day 1: Learning Lifestyle
Day 2: Nursery Rhymes 
Day 3: Printable Packs 
Day 4: Letter of the Week
Day 5: Theme of the Week 

Keep up with this series by receiving my posts in your email.

See all of the topics in the iHomeschool Network Summer Hopscotch Series