Memorizing the Moments: Pre-K Homeschool Choices

So I always struggle with what to call these posts. My kids have never fit nicely into a grade band and I've always just tried to do activities that fit their current skill level. Pre-K just seemed closest to his current abilities.

Not quite typical Pre-K Curriculum Choices for homeschool. Could apply to some homeschool preschool or kindergarten as well.

Pre-K Schedule

These are the core of our school. Below I'll list more specifics. Number of lessons is my rough outline. We'll do more or less depending on how he takes to them. For instance, I can see him asking for math daily. I still want the vast majority of his day to be free play. Also, I did not include all of the "normal" 3 year old things like play dough, coloring books, stickers, etc.

Handwriting (2-3 times a week)
Spelling (2-3 times a week)
Math (2-4 times a week)
Music (2-4 times a week)
Heart Lessons (2-4 times a week)
Bonus (as we have desire)

Books, Books, Books!
Board Games
Learning Apps
Science Activities
Artist of the Month
Composer of the Month

Handwriting

Archer has shown a big interested in writing (some letters, mostly numbers). To run with the interest Handwriting Without Tears Kick Start Kindergarten. We'll do as much as he's interested in.

Spelling

We are going to start All About Spelling Level 1. We started it with my oldest at around not quite 4 years old (see post here about adapting curriculum for a toddler) and Archer is only 3, but he love letters and talking about their sounds, so I think he will really enjoy this. I haven't 100% decided if we will use strictly their magnet tiles or if I will also use our Classroom Magnetic Letters. We will also go at his pace. If it takes us a couple of years, no big deal.

Math

Math was a tricky one for me. Archer is a math kid. He will almost always pick a math manipulative over another toy, he loves math books, he loves math apps and he loves math shows. He can add pretty well and is starting to subtract. A kindergarten curriculum is probably too easy as a whole, but I don't think he's ready for some of the abstract thinking that could come with 1st grade. I've decided that we're going to end up doing a mix of things. My goal is hands on math that builds great number sense that he will ENJOY doing. (It looks like a lot, but he usually requests these kinds of things).

Math Activities: this will be the bulk of our math! He loves math manipulatives like base ten blocks, math cubes and Cuisenaire rods. To give him more variety this year I ordered a Geoland Mirror Activity set and some Geoboards too.
Cuisenaire Activities
Occasional lessons from Kindergarten Math with Confidence (just the teacher's book) - a lot of this is too easy, but I am interested in the lessons on money and measuring. I think it might also provide some review "games" for us. I have no plans/expectations for how quickly we will move through it or how much of it we will actually do. When we feel ready (and if I like it), I'll move on to 1st Grade Math with Confidence.
Some activity pages from Miquon Orange. I got a copy of this second hand and it has some great activity pages. Others will be much too hard for him. We'll use what I think he'll like and skip the rest.
Apps: SplashLearn, Dragonbox Numbers and Dragonbox Big Numbers. - Archer likes these and they're great for building mathematical thinking.

Music

Last spring we started used Prodigies Music Lessons. Archer seems to really enjoy them. We have the Rhythm Band Bells and plan to also start using the stickers with for the piano. I'll also try to include some books about music and instruments.

Heart Lessons

I have decided to call Social Emotional Skill lessons "Heart Lessons". It is much much easier for a 3 year old to say and understand. I want to include things like being kind, mindfulness, gratitude, manners, self regulation, good behavior and both identifying and handling emotions.

Books - Mostly I plan to read a bunch of books and talk about them. I put together a big list. Some we own, some we will buy (if I can narrow it down!) and some we will get from the library.
Daniel Tiger - the creators do a great job of tackling emotions in a way kids can understand. We will play with the app, watch some shows (if I can get him to) and read some books.

Books, Books, Books

Archer is a great little reader and we're past teaching him to read (mostly he wants to read independently, but he will still let me read to him, especially if he is doing something like playdough). I have worked really hard on our homeschool library, so he has lots to choose from. Here is some of what I bought or hope to buy specifically for this school year (not counting social emotional books listed above). As you can see, Archer really likes the Usborne Lift-the-Flap books. I ended up with so many of them ones on my wish list, I literally became a UBAM consultant for a discount! (Shameless plug: shoot me a Facebook message if you 'd like a 10% discount on Lift-the-Flap books or have a party to earn free books).