The schedule for your DAY- WEEK- MONTH and YEAR is very important.
So when you pick a lesson plan program, it might provide for you a week by week program that provides all your themes for the year , your crafts, your workbook pages, etc. however what it might not do for you is put it into a time format.
What to do where essentially. You have to think about your kids. A friend of mine ( the inspiration for this entire website) has two boys who she can’t get to sit still for two minutes to learn anything.
There is a reason for that. Preschoolers and PreKers 2-5 year olds have an attention span of like 3-5 minutes on anything. Unless you have them cornered in a car seat and have them all to yourself ( like my mother in law does with my daughter with the reading program I mentioned before) they aren’t going to sit for you to learn.
So the answer? Block out your days into 3-5 minute lessons, then redirect them to do something else for 3-5 minutes and then get back to it. I know that seems tedious but wait till I show you my schedule . You’ll understand. Just remember when you were in school. Your teacher would stop learning for a bit and get you up out of your desks to play a game or sing a sing, or dance. Just to get your blood flowing. Same principle here .
The average everyday preschool or enrichment day care program usually has the same schedule that I will be using. You can copy mine, or create your own, based on your environment.
9:30 start your day with music and open centers
10:00 – 1015 everyone to the learning wall for circle time. Circle time is on the floor and you conduct the welcome song, the calendar with the song that you can use ( and I will have a whole circle time post next) and weather stuff.
1015-1020: you talk about your day and what the theme is and tell stories.
1020-1030 : you get up and do music and movement ( I will have another post about the best songs for this. Based on experience the kids love anything you do, as long as you do it with them)
1030-1045 snack time
1045-11: centers again for 15 min give them a break. Or if you have a big living room ( like I do) turn it into a PE area and do something physical. Yoga, dance, or if you remember what PE was, all that stuff.
11:1115- learning board ( chalk or white board) and do work pages.
1115-1130- play time ( outside or inside)
Pretty much a preschool is only half day. And like I said you can break it up based on your own kiddos.
Now let’s talk about your week. You should only do preschool 4 days out of the week. Not a full week. So you can do it Monday, Tuesday, Thursday Friday, or Monday, Tuesday’s Wednesday, Thursday. Or some people do it Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday. It’s up to you.
For the month and year, you need to space it out. You can follow your local schools districts schedule with fall winter and spring breaks. Or you can do your own thing. Three weeks on and one week off. Your call again. Your in charge. Just need to set a schedule and stick to it.
Should be fun.
Good Luck!!!!!
The TAWL Mom 