Let’s look at the way many preschools/daycares organize themselves and discuss how we can not only do these things at home with our children, but do them better(!) than someone else can do in an artificial setting. Most of the following categories were taken from a teacher resource site offering signs for the various learning areas in their classrooms. Since this could get lengthy, I’ll put this into a few posts.

1. Magnet board: You can definately handle this one. Let your children arrange magnetic letters, numbers, animals or other homemade magnets (made with magazine pictures reinforced with cardboard and stuck on pieces of magnetic strip) on the refrigerator, washer, dryer or cookie sheet. Obviously, this will happen while you work where the “board” is. This can be a free-play activity or you can suggest some type of learning game. “Let’s sort these food magnets by food group.” or “Can you put these letters in ABC order? Sing the song to help you.” or “What comes after each of these numbers? Stick them on after each one.” Keep it fresh by rotating the magnet sets and making the children put them back in a zipbag when you leave the area.
2. Puzzles: If your puzzles are getting boring, borrow some from one of your friends. For an added challenge, you can take the pieces out of two or more puzzles and have your child sort them into the correct puzzle. Make your own puzzles with magazine/catalog pictures glued onto cardboard and cut into age appropriate shapes. Keep your puzzles in a place where they can be used regularly near you while you do something else. For example, you could put a puzzle shelf in the living room (for the little ones to use while the rest of the family watches videos or reads aloud), or by your computer, or in the kitchen to be used while you cook. Puzzles should be easy for your little ones to transport to a flat surface without dumping them or they may tend to avoid them all together!
3. Cooking: Let your children join you in the kitchen! I know they make messes, but you’ll survive. Talk the whole time: tell them what you’re cooking, why you chose it (“Daddy loves this casserole.” “These beets are so great! They even fight cancer!”), what ingredients you are using, what they do (“This baking soda makes the biscuits rise.”), what utensils you’re using, etc. Let them dump ingredients, stir, and anything else they can handle. Even a two-year-old can cut some raw vegetables with a regular table knife. My kids love to do this. Today my four-year-old stood near me in the kitchen and helped peel carrots for lunch with a peeler. She did great!

When my oldest was three, I read a fantastic homeschool catalog that had lengthy segments to train newbie homeschool parents and provide thoughtful recommendations on many products. I was captivated and bought many things that they recommended. One of those was a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which was very basic and affordable. The author laid out a great plan on how to teach “preschool/kindergarten” simply and easily in the home. I was pumped! Unfortunately life set in. I would start boldly with each new preschooler, and meet defeat every time!

Now, I would recommend this book to anyone. It wasn’t the book’s fault. It was mine. When I only had two kids (close enough to do the curriculum together), I wasn’t organized and disciplined enough to do it regularly. As we added more children, just doing life and keeping the older ones learning always seemed to prevent me from carrying out a regular preschool time with the preschool-aged children.

I felt so bad! My shelf full of cool preschool supplies and activities seemed to mock me. When would I ever fit it all in?

The rigors of teaching a large family at home cannot be understated. In my house, the older children often eat up almost all my teaching time. Now, I know there are large families out there where the Mom schedules 30 minutes or so with her littlest members for a “school time” to get their little love tanks filled before she switches focus to the older kids. I have tried this, but I’ve never been able to keep it up.

So, are my little ones deprived, empty-hearted and way behind when they enter kindergarten or first grade? No! I’ve learned to make “preschool” more of a lifestyle. That’s in no way a put down for the Moms who clear time for it on the schedule. I applaud them. But if you are like me, I want to encourage and inspire you on how to accomplish the same things as you go. Be sure to come back for the next installment of Lifestyle Preschool.

It is an important character trait to be able to stay focused and persevere in the tasks we do. And yet, we as parents have to balance our task list with the never-ending task of nurturing other humans. I could often use a little of my kids’ ability to set aside the task at hand and just focus on the people around me for a minute. How about you?

Spousie and children NEED us to be able to stop sometimes and really focus on a new discovery, misplaced item, trick on the trampoline, problem needing a solution, reinactment of a scene from “Curious George”. . . or whatever. When I am being talked to in the middle of something else I’m doing, which is often, I try to LOOK at the person talking to me and give eye contact. I’m not perfect at this, by any means. But this simple tool accomplishes so much in the way of communicating genuine interest and love to the person talking.

This is not to say that children should come to expect that they will be the center of your attention at any time for any reason. No one enjoys children or adults that try to dominate every conversation or situation they are a part of. Teach your children to interrupt respectfully and discreetly if Mom or Dad is talking to another person. But when you are doing something like peeling veggies, or using the computer, unless you’re on a time deadline, you probably have the minutes necessary to connect with the person desiring your focus. Put down your book, look up from the laundry pile, pause at the dishwasher. LOOK at the person talking to you and focus. Show genuine interest in what they say and when appropriate, make your eyes sparkle and smile really big.

• Groceries, soaps and paper products: Within the constraints of your budget and good planning regarding expiration dates, etc., it’s practical and useful to have extras of food, all kinds of soaps and paper goods. We have had way too many close calls on toilet paper. You know, when you go to rob a couple rolls from one bathroom to supply the other and realize you are holding the LAST PRECIOUS ROLL. Enough said. There are lots of people these days storing up food and the like for various reasons. You can adopt some of their techniques or create your own strategy to begin creating a surplus on your own garage shelves. Practicality, not fear, can be the motivation.
• Diapers, wipes, baby care essentials: Same as above except trade the LAST PRECIOUS ROLL for the LAST PRECIOUS DIAPER! Yes, dampened paper towels can replace wipes in a pinch, but wipes are undeniable handy. Also, make sure you have an extra of your favorite diaper cream or you and spousie are going to be deciding who holds the crying child with miserable bumster while the other makes a run to the store (usually when it’s dark or raining).
• Vitamins, medicines: Our family has a cabinet stocked with vitamins and natural supplements the way some people have a full medicine cabinet. When sickness strikes, our immune-boosters are ready to go.
• Bandaids: We have six kids, three are boys, and we allow running in the house. Any other questions?
• Hairbrushes and nail clippers: This may just be a personal quirk of our family, but we are always looking for hairbrushes and nail clippers. “Don’t you people ever put anything back after you use it?” you legitimately ask. I’ll be honest, sometimes yes, sometimes, no. We’re working on it. If one of the girls brings me a brush and I sit in the kitchen or living room and fix 1-2 girls’ hair, I sometimes lay it down so I can begin school or whatever right away.
• Silverware: Dishes are like laundry and sometimes even the best homemakers get behind. An extra set (or two, or three) is not hard to store and can be such a blessing when the last meal’s dishes didn’t get cleaned and dried for one reason or another. And how are you going to host a gathering with your favorite large family if you don’t have a huge amount of silverware?
• Bowls and Plates: We have ceramic tile in the kitchen, so we lose a bowl or plate about once a month! Even if this is not the case at your house, having extra dishes on hand can be so nice! My focus has been on acquiring extra bowls because we regularly buy paper plates. If there are no real plates clean, paper is always there. But disposable bowls are more expensive, and so we rarely buy them. If we eat cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, and soup for lunch, it’s really nice to have a double set of bowls. I have Corelle dishes in a beige color so I can buy extras for about $3 each at the store and replace them when needed. Your taste may not be suited to any Corelle styles, but if it is, I highly recommend them. They are lightweight, resist breakage (except on my ceramic kitchen tiles!) and can be replaced piece by piece.
• Children’s books: We LOVE books at our house. We love all kinds of books, but I want to focus on children’s story books here. We have some that are almost a part of the family because they have been read and reread to our children. Now our olders can read them to the youngers. We usually acquire our books at garage sales, used homeschool curriculum sales, used book stores, or for gifts. The department store, Kohl’s, has been selling some amazing hardcover books for only $5 each! If you go there anyway, look for displays near the front doors. Books are instant cuddling and interaction tools. Grab one or ten, whatever you have time for, and call some or all of the children! You can read word for word, or improvise with silly additions. You can pause and ask questions, or use dramatic voices. We have almost always had a daily reading time with our little ones before their afternoon naps. When children are older, they love to hear chapter books read aloud. A good story is just as good as a good movie, and the whole family can sit in the living room and do things with their hands (like sew, sketch or color) while one person reads.
• Peelers, hand-held can openers: Peeling goes a lot faster with more than one person doing it! Employ your eager helpers in the kitchen and let them join your peeling or can opening party.
• Salt and pepper shaker/napkin holders: If you serve your food or part of your food from the table (vs. buffet-style on a counter or bar) meals will go much smoother if people can reach what they need quickly. In addition to 2 sets of salt and peppers, you might consider putting out multiples of condiments or butter.
• Large stainless steel mixing and serving bowls: I couldn’t function without my 2 huge bowls. I mix in them, wash veggies and fruits in them, and serve in them. We try to avoid putting hot things in plastic bowls, so these are perfect for mixing my hot rice with other ingredients to create a casserole.
• Toasters: I’m sure you’ve already thought of this, or have had to resort to the old-fashioned cookie sheet and oven method.
• Cloths for kitchen and bathroom: You’ll never have to do without, no matter how behind on laundry you are. You could always dry off on a clean pillowcase or sheet. (Yes, I’ve done this! Will you still be my friend?!) But there’s no easy replacement for a cloth!
• Undies and socks: This is the same thought as the cloths above. When the going gets tough, having extra undies and socks means that even if most everything else is staring at you from the dirty laundry mountain, your family members can at least bathe and put on clean undies, even if their outer wear could use a wash. (Can anyone else relate to having the laundry get that bad? For us it usually follows days of everyone being sick and Mom and Dad just trying to keep everyone comfortable and hydrated and “vitamin-ed”.)
• Pillow cases and sheets: Children provide us a host of opportunities to change sheets: bed-wetting, leaky diapers, sickness, etc. Be prepared with extra sheets and cases, even if they don’t match! In a perfect world, we would strip all the beds, walk straight to the washer, wash and dry all the sheets, and replace them on the same day. I don’t live in a perfect world, and maybe you don’t either.
• Pillows: Bed-wetting has not been a big problem on the whole, but one thing I’ll tell you. Pillows often ended up getting wet when the sheets did! I never could understand how this happened, but we were glad to have clean, dry pillows waiting in the wings. We won’t even talk about all of our bouts with stomach flu or bloody noses. . .
• Blankets: See above. These are also great for tents and impromptu picnics on the living room floor.
• Crayons: Siblings color together better when they don’t have to grab for the only red, or orange, or black, etc.

Buy your extras a little at a time. Your budget and your spousie will react less strongly.

Less is more:

• Clothing – you do laundry constantly anyway. Save some of the brain juice you’ve been using trying to store all those extra clothes your kids don’t really need. Give the extras to other families, sell them, or donate them at a local charity. But what about saving them for hand-me-downs? I feel your pain. You look at a shirt or dress and say, “Suzie doesn’t need this but Janie may when she gets to this size.” My best advice is keep a few things over and above Suzie’s needs and give the rest away. Even if Suzie ruins a few things, you’ll still have about the same number of items left that you dressed her in for Janie to use later. You will have forgotten about the item in question when Janie gets to this size anyway. And if you have a network of caring friends and family, you’re likely to have more stuff coming your way for Janie in the future too. Don’t get confused here. I’m not saying we don’t save clothes to pass down later. We have lived with an army of plastic storage containers filled with waiting hand-me-downs in our garage for years. I’m saying that it’s helpful to trim down the quantity of clothes you maintain in the closets for the current season for each child.
• Toys – figure out which ones have true play value and get rid of the rest. I’ll write about our enduring favorites in a later post. Find some friends to trade toys with to brighten up your supply without spending money. When your children tire of them, just sanitize them and send them home!