Preschool Homeschool

I'm a stay-at-home mama. My daughter, Millie, will turn 3 in January. (So old! How does that happen?!)

Before I had kids, I laughed and shook my head at parents who sent their kids to preschool. School for three and four year olds? Ridiculous!

Then came my beautiful, hilarious, genius of a daughter! Suddenly I can't believe she's NOT in school (and she's only 2). This is such a wonderful age. Her brain is this never-ending sponge, and I feel a responsibility to fill it with something. everything. anything other than the names of TV characters and plot of movies and what color dress each Disney princess should wear.*

But where do I start? How do I begin? I feel so overwhelmed at the very thought of all the research I should probably do. The books I should read (does anyone have time to sit and read anymore?), the activities I should make, the "spur of the moment" craft ideas I should always have on hand (I'm thankful for Millie's patience, as she is always made to wait while I search and print and cut out whatever project we decide to do. Prep is generally longer than the actual process of crafting).

Many of her friends (2 and 3 year olds!) are heading off to their first days of preschool this year. And although I never considered it for Millie (and we really can't afford it), I suddenly feel guilty that she's not going. That we can't send her. So I'm making a point to focus more on teaching her at home.

I spend most days feeling like I already have too much on my plate. I have an Etsy store (underduck.etsy.com), I run a local parenting blog (Raising Madison), I'm a Barefoot Books Ambassador (KidsReadBarefootBooks.com). So the mere thought of figuring out this whole homeschooling thing often seems like just ... TOO MUCH.

But this is my daughter! and of course she takes precedence over anything else. So I'm really going to try my hardest to commit myself to this. And I'm going to post in this blog, so I can keep myself on task and keep track of what we're doing.

And I'd love to hear from you! How do you and your kiddos spend each day? How do you incorporate learning into daily play? What resources have you discovered that are the most useful in making the most of these early years?

*we do watch TV and enjoy movies, and playing princess is a daily activity.