2 Simple Homeschool Lesson Plans
In light of widespread school closures, Montessori Educator, Christina Clemer shares two lesson plans to help you encourage your child’s learning at home.
Even if you never imagined yourself homeschooling, you may be forced to in the short-term while parents across the world face school closures.
Don’t panic! You don’t need to be a teacher to help your tot learn and thrive at home.
Easy Homeschooling Lesson Plans
Here are two simple lesson plans that any parent can implement at home to encourage learning during these uncertain times.
Sample 1: Lesson Plan for 3 – 6 Year Olds
For our youngest tots, the most important thing is to establish a routine so they feel a sense of normalcy. You can absolutely work with them on letters and numbers, but also take advantage of this time when they can just play for longer.
Since you are working one-on-one with your child, they will move through lessons much more quickly. You can likely fit in plenty of academic work in the morning and give them the afternoon to play or do special projects with you.
Monday:
- Language – Read Aloud: Use this time to choose a book your child might not choose on their own. Make sure to ask your child questions after you read. What happened in the story? What was the character feeling?
- Math – Practice Number Recognition: Play simple games to help your tot practice learning what the numerals look like. Write some numbers on small pieces of paper and say “I wonder if you know which one says ‘3’”. Make sure to keep the pressure off and keep it fun!
Tuesday:
- Language – Practice Vocabulary & Letter Recognition: Vocabulary doesn’t need to mean flashcards! Choose an alphabet puzzle or pretend play toy and name the objects or pictures for your child while they play.
- Math – Practice Counting: Lay out some number blocks and invite your child to help you put them in order. Then send them on a mission to find 1 red object, 2 buttons, 3 blocks, 4 crayons etc.
Wednesday:
- Language – Practice Writing: If your child isn’t yet writing letters, encourage them to do some art work with crayons to hone their fine motor skills. If they are writing, have fun practicing writing spring-themed words!
- Math – Play with Patterns: Understanding patterns is a foundational skill for later math. You can use blocks or a shape stacker to create a simple shape pattern. Invite your child to copy the pattern and then to create their own.
Thursday:
- Language – Create A Story: Work with your child to create a story. You can go back and forth, each thinking of a sentence. Write down the story and invite your child to illustrate!
- Math – Practice Number Writing: If you have a patio or uncrowded sidewalk, take some sidewalk chalk outside and practice writing numbers together. Try introducing hopscotch to make it more fun and get some movement in!
Friday:
- Language – Work on Visual Discrimination: Learning to see little details helps young children recognize letters and learn to read. Luckily this is super fun to practice with things like memory game!
- Math – Talk about Shapes: Young kids love learning the real or scientific names for things! Get out a set of blocks and share with your child the actual names of the shapes (think cylinder, rectangular solid, pyramid, etc.). You can also challenge your child to make different shapes: “I wonder if you can make a big rectangle out of these pieces…”
Sample 2: Lesson Plan for 6 – 9 Year Olds
Older kids will also benefit from a little math and language every day. Kids this age also LOVE projects so consider adding in a weekly project or theme they can work on based on their interests. A bird project is included below but other great themes for springtime include butterflies, flowers, gardening, and rainbows!
Monday:
- Language – Read aloud: After reading to your child a bit, give them a writing prompt and ask them to write a few sentences about what you read.
- Math – Practice Addition: You may have worksheets or a textbook from your child’s class but if not, don’t be afraid to get creative to practice addition and subtraction. Use simple toys like these acorns to practice math operations. Just give your child an equation (e.g., “4+5 =”) and show them how to use the objects to add two numbers together.
- Project – Read about Birds: If your child is reading, give them a simple book about birds to read. You could also read it together. Help them write a list of questions of what they’d like to find out about birds this week.
Tuesday:
- Language – Practice Vocabulary: Choose an interest of your child’s, whether it’s castles vehicles, or animals, and teach them some new words around that theme. Explain what the word means and ask them to use it in a sentence.
- Math – Work on Skip Counting: Skip counting (e.g., counting by two’s) is easy to practice with objects at home. Get a bowl of dried beans and lay out two at a time on the table. Write a number on a little square of paper to label each pair as you count (e.g., 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.).
- Project – Bird Watch: Give your child a notebook and help them find a spot by a window or in the backyard that will be good for bird watching. Ask them to write about or draw all of the birds they see.
Wednesday:
- Language – Practice Writing: If your child is just learning to write, write some words for them to trace. If they’re already writing, give them a writing prompt like “Write a description about our dog.”
- Math – Play with Patterns: Create a simple number pattern and ask your child to try to crack the code and continue the pattern. If this is too advanced, make a color pattern or sticker pattern and let them continue it!
- Project – Make a Bird Feeder: Help your child research what local birds eat and make a simple feeder.
Thursday:
- Language – Create a Story: Let your child find a picture they love in an old magazine, cut it out, and use it for inspiration to write a story. Alternatively, ask them to write a story with the new vocabulary words they learned earlier in the week.
- Math – Practice Word Problems: Write a simple word problem for your child using math skills they’re currently practicing. For example, “Jack had 3 cookies but his friend Sam ate 1. How many does he have now?”
- Project – Learn the Parts of a Bird: Draw a simple bird and label the parts. Ask your child to draw or trace their own and write the labels.
Friday:
- Language – Practice Handwriting: You can make this fun by asking them to write a letter to Grandma in their very best handwriting. Help them practice any letters they need help with. Invite them to write in cursive if they know how!
- Math – Play a game: Celebrate the end of the week with one of the many games that encourage kids to use their early math skills. Math really can be fun!
- Project – Make a book about birds: Invite your child to use all of the knowledge they’ve gained about birds and make a little book. Let them lead the way, using whatever craft supplies they like to make it their own.
These lesson plans can be adapted to any academic level. The thing to keep in mind is that a little goes a long way and your child really can learn at home using simple things like books, toys, and art supplies. You’ve got this!
Online Homeschool Resources
If you are struggling to work from home while also supporting your tot’s learning, don’t hesitate to turn to quality screen time. Screen time doesn’t have to be bad. There are some excellent educational resources out there. Here are a few of the best:
- K5 Learning: A great resource featuring online lessons and loads of free printable worksheets for kindergarten to grade 5 kids for reading, writing and maths.
- Khan Academy: This is perhaps the best resource as it offers high quality, free online learning on a wide variety of topics for kids from 4 years old all the way to 18. If you don’t have time to gather a lot of individual resources, start here!
- CK-12 Foundation: Another versatile resource, CK-12 offers science, math, and even photography for kids in 1st through 12th grade.
- National Geographic Kids: If you’re looking to encourage your budding scientist, this is a great resource with videos, articles for kids, quizzes, and science experiments. How Stuff Works is another good one for science.
- StarFall: This site offers both paid and free math and language resources for Pre-K through 3rd grade. It has interactive games, free lesson plans, and worksheets.
- Writing Legends: If you’re looking to help your child improve their writing, this is a great resource for 3rd – 6th graders and is currently free during the school closures.
- BBC History for Kids: Your tot can learn about history through fun videos and games!
Our Picks For Homeschooling Essentials
There are a few essentials you need to begin homeschooling your child.
They are:
- Learn to read set
- Maths set
- Alphabet tracing board
- Numbers set
- Educational clock
- Crayons
- Developmental Milestone Activities + Educational Toys
- Books
- Wooden Blocks
- Games
- Craft materials
- Desk
- Outdoor mud pie kitchen
eeboo Learn to Read Educational Set
$44.99
Exclusive
eeboo Math Educational Set
$59.99
Q Toys Capital Letters Tracing Board
$29.99
Zephyr’s Nest Play & Learn Tray
$95
EXCLUSIVE
by ASTRUP Educational Clock
$45
Goober Crayons – Pocket Crayons – Seasons
$29
The Tot Play & Learn Set 3-4 years
Developmental Milestone Activities + Educational Toys
$150
The Tot Play & Learn Set 4-5 years
$150
Little People, Big Dreams Black Voices
$39.99
Q Toys Rainbow Blocks
$69.99
Grapat Bowls & Acorns Sorting Game
$52.30
Mindful & Co Kids Yoga Memory Cards
$34.50
Kid Made Modern Arts & Crafts Library
$39.99
Habbi Habbi Spanish Starter Set + Reading Wand
$109
Habbi Habbi Chinese Starter Set + Reading Wand
$109
Franklin + Emily Desk Set
$320
EXCLUSIVE
Plum Discovery Mud Pie Kitchen
$399
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