Face masks in school. Hybrid schedules. Covid tests for littles.
These are just some of the phrases that have brought other parents and me some serious stress these last few years. ESPECIALLY when preparing for this current school year.
Last year brought lots of anxiety, quarantines, and social distancing, and I knew coming into this Pre-Kindergarten year for my little 4-year-old, I didn’t want to add any additional stress to his little brain.
And so, the idea to homeschool for Pre-K was born…
After settling on homeschooling, I set out to find the right program or curriculum for him. We tried several different curriculums that had workbooks and readings, but something felt missing.
For being the middle child, he is very… I mean VERY independent (see below) and loves to do things on his own. So I set out to find a program that would teach him while still allowing his little 4-year-old self to do it by himself.
That’s when I discovered Especially Education and the Made For Me Literacy program! (Thank you, teacherspayteachers.com <3 )
I was happy to find that Made For Me Literacy makes a beautiful and uncomplicated supplement to the Pre-k homeschool curriculum.
But what I REALLY fell in love with were the task boxes and boom cards.
Task boxes allow your child to take their assignments and learn the curriculum hands-on through matching, clipping clothespins on the next shape in a sequence, or tracing with dry-erase markers.
My little guy can take his box, complete the contents, put it back in the box for me to check later, and then move on to his next assignment.
He also loves chatting about the topics and putting his own unique twist on the assignment as well. In this picture, he used a car to tell me which letter matched on his MFML worksheet. (Oh yeah, they have those too! MFML monthly units have everything you need!!)
The MFML curriculum helps build your learners’ knowledge through mastering concepts at 3 different levels. The errorless level helps introduce the topic, and I’ve often found it allows me to easily review the lesson with my little one, which can save printer ink and time.
Level 1 adds a challenge by just having cues to help the learner discover on their own what the answer is but might need a little bit of help. And finally, level 2 provides little to no prompts, so the concept is fully mastered.
Made For Me Literacy also provides these magical things called Boom Cards. Boom Cards are interactive and allow little learners to use technology to master the same material they’re working on in their task boxes, just in a slightly different format.
This is super helpful for us when we have doctor’s appointments or need to run a few errands, and I want Liam to be able to do some independent school work still while on the go.
Homeschooling can be so daunting, especially when you are trying to find the right curriculum. But alternatives like Made For Me Literacy from Especially Education change the game. Big time.
Instead of just using only workbooks, this program provides such a beautiful alternative using task boxes, boom cards, file folder activities, and much more.
Check them out!
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