Home Preschool

Starting a play based home preschool with an emphasis on literature for a 1 year old might sound ridiculous to some. I'm not one of those people. Of course, I do not expect my 1 year old to learn her colors, shapes, numbers, how to spell her name, or do simple math. That is ridiculous. Instead, it just needs to be kept simple. Fun. Exploratory. I call this "Book School". Follow me down the rabbit hole of children's books and activities to do with them! Mind you, my only child is merely one year old, so most of the activities I do will be focused on the really young toddlers, but I will offer ideas for those with older tots too.

I started off wanting to use Before Five In A Row (BFIAR), but quickly decided that although their curriculum was good, it was lacking in other great books that I have experience with as a preschool teacher. So, I created my own curriculum with the books that I loved to teach in my classrooms. Basically, I just take a book that I want to "row" and make that my "theme" for about a week. The following week, I pick out another book- sometimes it's based on the same general theme (I.E. Brown Bear, Brown Bear for one week, Corduroy for the following week. Both are bear themes). I typically let my child lead the way for this. Whatever her interests are, that's the direction we go. The point is to keep it relaxed and fun.

I will post a book list in the tabs for anybody who would like my opinion on good books. Also, please let me know if you have any other suggestions. There's no such thing as too many books. My 13 month old currently has over 150 books in her personal library. I might be addicted. Might.

My 1 year old's book shelf. There's literally not enough space for all of her books, so I have a box in her closet that contain the rest of them. I rotate them out as wanted.