Pre-K Box Day!

We are still doing informal homeschooling and have not enrolled to a provider yet. By "informal", I mean that nothing is really required at this point. We are just homeschooling as Shiko likes and enjoys it. We only do "school" for maximum of 15-20mins and still spend most of our day just playing and reading stories.

Our box should've arrived from U.S last January, but because of the pandemic it took longer than usual. Last Sunday, after three months of waiting, it finally came! The kids and I were very excited for our second homeschool box day!

So what's in the box? In this post, I am sharing with you the books/materials that I've chosen for Shiko's Pre-K Homeschool year.

Some of Sonlight's Pre-K Books:

We have enjoyed the Sonlight Preschool Picture Books that we purchased last year. Literature-Based learning seems like the perfect fit for our family, because Shiko and I enjoy learning by reading great stories. I decided to go with their Pre-K curriculum "Exploring God's World" this year, only this time, I didn't purchase the entire package but have only chosen mostly the History/Bible/Literature books. I am trying to minimize worksheets for Shiko because  I prefer for him to do more play-based activities, so I didn't get the Developing The Early Learner Workbooks which were included in the package. I was also hoping for Shiko and Shiloh to have more time outside with nature so I also didn't get most of the Science books in the package too. Here are books that I have chosen from Sonlight:

This Children's Bible is actually from the Kindergarten package. I chose this because I see that Shiko is ready for longer texts and deeper discussions. I love that it has more Bible stories, including those that are less popular for younger kids and also a Psalm every week.

These are the books for Nursery Rhymes / Poetry, Read-Aloud, and Art. His favorite among these so far is the  Uncle Wiggily Story Book (we started reading the ebook version of it before the package came). 

These are the books for History and Worldview. These books will introduce Shiko to different cultures through beautiful stories and tales from different countries. Some of these books are also true-to-life stories written by missionaries which will introduce Shiko to people who have committed their lives to sharing the Gospel of Jesus in some of the remotest parts of the world. I am excited to read to him stories of how God is at work and how He uses ordinary people just like us to reach out the lost and to proclaim His Gospel to the world.

I believe that Preschool Homeschooling can be done without a formal curriculum. But in my case, having a guide to follow helps me to not feel lost especially that I am very new to homeschooling. The Sonlight Pre-K Instructor's Guide is a huge help for me because it already provides the schedule readings and optional activities for us to follow for the entire year. It doesn't mean that we need to strictly follow the schedule though, I still follow Shiko's lead more. Having this guide just gives me a sense of direction.

Delightful Reading Kits from Simply Charlotte Mason:

Shiko has been showing signs of readiness in  learning how to read. He knows the letters and  most of their sounds before he even turned three, sometimes he tries reading on his own too. I plan to follow Charlotte Mason's method of teaching a child to read so I chose these Delightful Reading Kits by Simply Charlotte Mason. This reading curriculum is very gentle and is entirely play-based. Level 1 is "Playing With Letters and Sounds". Level 2 is "Words I Can Build". Shiko is very much ready for Level 2, but I figured out that I can use Level 1 for Shiloh in the future so I might as well get it and use it for Shiko to have a more solid foundation in letter and sound recognition before we start with Level 2.

Some nice books from Max Lucado and a Jesse Tree book from Ann Voskamp that we will read for Advent.

Uncle Wiggily Board Game -- because Shiko is  very obsessed with Uncle Wiggily! He asks to read the book and to play the game every night! 😂

And of course, some books for the Mommy Teacher too to keep her sane! 😂 We are really leaning towards the Charlotte Mason method because I strongly feel that it fits us in many ways, but there are still so many things to learn and explore about it. So this year, I commit to immerse myself in the method as we prepare for Kindergarten next year when we will officially enroll Shiko to a Homeschool Provider for accreditation.

I enjoy seeing my children get excited with books every year! I feel that a love for reading and learning is being cultivated in their hearts at a very young age. ❤