You made it! This is the final post in the How to Teach Homeschool Preschool series. You’ve focused in on your home preschool routine. You’ve chosen the lesson plan format and style that meets your needs, and you’ve gotten started with preschool at home. There’s just one final step. In this section we’ll monitor how things are going and we’ll explore how to track academic progress if you choose to do so during your home preschool journey.

Once your home preschool routine is fully implemented give yourself a few weeks to get into a groove. Then you’ll want to spend a little time considering how things are going and making slight tweaks where needed.

Start by asking yourself questions like:

• What’s working well?
• Are there any parts of our routine that are not going smoothly?
• How are our lesson plans working out? Am I planning too little/too much?
• Is my child enjoying our time together?
• Does my child have ample time for free play and exploration in addition to the adult-led activities I plan?
• Am I enjoying our time together?
• In addition to home preschooling and household responsibilities, am I taking a little time for myself to do something just for me? (Healthy, well-rested mamas make better teachers!)

If you find there are areas you want to modify, spend some time reflecting on the changes you want to try first. And if you get stuck, hop on over to the Home Preschool Help Facebook Group. We’ll be happy to troubleshoot with you.

A Note About Academic Progress

You may notice that I haven’t included a lot of information about testing or monitoring your child’s academic progress. I did that intentionally. While I am an advocate for introducing children to academic content balanced with free play opportunities, I don’t want you to get too fixated on testing your child.

As you work with your child you will see that she learns letters, numbers and more, probably at a pace faster than you expected. That definitely happens in a relaxed, play-based environment.

Once parents start to see this growth, they instantly feel a pressure to move on to the next measurable academic topic.

My advice is to go slowly.

This isn’t a race.

It’s a journey.

It’s wonderful to be prepared for kindergarten. But there are many nonacademic experiences and skills that can be nurtured at this stage instead of continually moving forward with academic curriculum.

Just because a child “can” do something early, doesn’t mean he or she should.

Explore nature, experience art, visit places you won’t be able to once formal schooling starts.

Let your child show an interest in a topic. Then spend time investigating it.

Build a small world and engage in story telling and pretend play.

All of these skills will be beneficial for your child. I dare say they’ll be more beneficial than memorizing sight words early.

That being said, I know you’ll want to have some tools to monitor your child’s progress. I think this is best done through informal observation where you watch and record your child during play-based learning and then make notes about skills mastered.

In the free printable home preschool skills assessment below you’ll find the following basic checklist formats in case you’d like to use them:.

• Alphabet
• Numbers
• Shapes and Colors
• Generic Template

Do use this for informational purposes only to help you plan upcoming activities, but don’t forget that these are just some of the measurable aspects of home preschool.

I did not create checklists for other areas like science, gross motor development and more because I don’t want you to get bogged down in paperwork.

However, if your child struggles in an area and you develop specific goals to help, then use the generic template included in the free printable to keep track of progress in that area.

You Did it!

Give yourself a huge pat on the back.

This series included a lot of work and some intense thinking about your personal vision for home preschool, but you stuck with it.

Now you’re ready to soar!

Stick Around

The home preschool journey is a long one. As you get started check in with the Fun and Learning for Kids Facebook Group often to share about your successes and challenges. We’re looking forward to cheering for you and helping troubleshoot as you move forward with home preschool.

This is Unit 5, Lesson 3 of the Guide to Getting Started with Home Preschool Special Training. Return to the main How to Teach Homeschool Preschool page.