In pre-school, K and 1st grade, the differences in children's abilities are great. We recommend working individually with each child on reading, writing, and math skills. Children in preschool will benefit from 15 minutes of one-on-one parent time working on these skills preparing for K. Children in K and 1st grade will need 30-60 minutes of individual parent time to work on reading, writing and math. Specific skills will be addressed in each child's age appropriate curriculum. We recommend God's Creation from A to Z kindergarten and Learning God's Story for first grade deluxe packages along with our Preschool package. Please see How to Teach How to Teach K and 1st Together for more information about using these programs together. All children can join together to enjoy lesson activities and read alouds. School can be completed in 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours each day for all three children.

Please see How to Teach K and 1st Together

My Father's World believes that there is more to being ready for Kindergarten than early reading. There are many developmental areas that most 3-year-olds will not be ready for, even if they are ready in one area. Fine motor skills, attention on a single task, obedience, visual discrimination, etc. are all important factors. 

We would also suggest keeping the long view in mind. If you start your child in K at 3, how old will they be when they graduate?  At 3, we recommend that one of the most important things they can do is play. Academically speaking, learning colors, numbers, letter sounds, shapes, counting, puzzles etc. are all valuable pre-reading activities. We recommend using the My Father's World Preschool Package to help prepare your child for Kindergarten readiness as well as having a wonderful time with Mom.

At My Father's World, we like to say that toddlers and preschoolers need several things:

Involved - Toddlers and preschoolers need to be welcomed into our homeschool.  My Father's World has great programs with many hands-on, engaging activities and your younger students can join you.  My Father's World believes in the "Family Learning Model" and encourages parents to include their younger students in as much Bible, history, science, music, and art as possible.  For that reason, we recommend getting Student Sheets for the upper (Adventures through 1850 to Modern Times) program that you are in for each of your children ages 3 and up.  

Educated - Your youngest students need to develop necessary pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-math skills.  My Father's World believes that this can be done while "playing."  To this end, we have two packages for that age range.  The Toddler Package is a wonderful collection of safe, educational Lauri toys for 2 and 3 years old.  The Preschool Package has six Lauri educational toys for 3 to 5 year olds and also includes preschool activity cards with 65 different activities to build necessary readiness skills.

Occupied - We, at My Father's World, only very rarely want to encourage you to occupy your youngest students, however, we also recognize that it is sometimes necessary.  We recommend occupying during the times in which you are teaching a math or language arts lesson with an older child. Both packages mentioned above will work very well for this.  We encourage parents to keep these toys available only for "school time."  Parents can also utilize things like paint chips to work on color matching or color sorting. Coloring books, magnets, puzzles, etc., can also be placed in a "school box" to only be used during those times that you find it helpful.  Older children can also help occupy a younger sibling by reading a story, building a puzzle, or using one of the Preschool Activity Cards and toys.

My Father's World has a CD called Occupying Preschoolers While Teaching Older Children which speaks to this issue as well.