The normal day in my homeschooling life is full of little kids running underfoot and trying to juggle their needs with those of my older homeschool students. Preschoolers and Peace gave me the opportunity to review the ebook Preschoolers and Peace: Homeschooling older kids with success while loving the little ones at your feet. This ebook retails for just $2.99 and is available for your Kindle or Kindle Reading App.
I read this ebook while I was soaking in the tub. That’s one of my only me-time indulgences, which is so necessary for me to recharge after an exhausting day. I do it at least twice a week and highly recommend it. 🙂
The author, Kendra Fletcher, is a homeschooling mother herself. She has a total of 8 children. For years, she’s been blogging about finding peace and joy in homeschooling with preschoolers. Her book gives the best of the best tips and ideas for the mom that wants to do this for her kids but isn’t sure where to begin or how to get refocused. Now she’s an author and a speaker that is dedicated to equipping other moms with the knowledge, tips, advice, and confidence to take on the challenge of homeschooling with a preschooler!
My Favorite Parts
Near the beginning of the book, the author mentions creating a prayer binder. In it, she showed how she divided her weekly prayers between the days of the week and assigned each day a different focus. Examples included family and friends and pressing needs. I think this is a great idea and would be a nice way to simplify and focus during moments of prayer and reflection.
Also, I love that she talks about comparing your homeschool to those of other moms. She stresses that your home is unique and shouldn’t be criticized or scrutinized based on the needs of other people in completely different families. She suggests praying about your schedule and also talking with your spouse about what should be getting accomplished. She also mentions using schedules as a TOOL (and not as a steadfast rule). This is an important point, because I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed when nothing is going according to plan. Through the years, I’ve relied much more heavily on routine rather than schedule. It makes things so much easier for me, and I end up getting a lot more satisfaction from my days.
There were dozens of very practical suggestions on how to keep toddlers and preschoolers busy during a typical day. I liked the long list that littles could do right at the table while the older kids are working. There were also many suggestions that included things little kids love like stickers, water, toys, and even screen time. These would require very minimal supervision, but could fill a large amount of time in a meaningful and fun way for them.
Bottom Line?
I feel like the main theme of the whole book was to be prepared (through lists, observation, evaluating goals and how to achieve them, and so on), but to also allow a certain amount of grace and flexibility into your homeschool days. Kendra Fletcher seems to be a laid back realist, which is precisely how I feel I’ve become in my 5 years of homeschooling my littles as well!
This book is a great resource, particularly for new homeschooling moms trying to find a little peace in their days. It is possible to homeschool with preschoolers in the mix without pulling out your hair every day!
Gena says
This was encouraging. I might need to read this. My three year old loves to work right alongside my 5 year old, but when he gets tired, he is free to go play with blocks or puzzles or whatever his heart desires. My struggle is the 10 month old who very rarely naps alone!
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Ashley says
Great work!! this would be really useful for many of the homeschoolers. Homeschooling multiple ages is going to be great task and if it is planned perfectly then that would become pretty easier to homeschool and get successful.