My family finally came to the decision to home school my oldest for VPK this school year. It might seem trivial, but this was a really big decision for my family. There are the obvious risks of going to school during the current coronavirus pandemic, but we didn’t want to feel like we were failing my daughter’s early education in some way or that she was missing out on big life events. 

You see, I still work full time (thankfully I can telework) as well as run this awesome sauce printables shop + the million other things that go along with being a mom, wife, and homeowner. So I was concerned about being able to wear all the hats and do them well. 

We have two littles who have been home from daycare since the middle of March. Their daddy is generally home with us during the days and works evenings. 

I talked with my dear friend Liz, who was a teacher for years, and she helped reassure me that I was probably already teaching my daughter the things she needed to know - and let’s be honest, at four years old it’s still a lot about learning through play. 

What should a 4-year-old be learning?

Liz said, for now, some of the skills and milestones to work on with our 4-year-old are:

• Practice counting to 20
• Learning ABCs
• Understanding time better (for example, morning, afternoon, night)
• Matching letter to sound
• What words start with that sound 
• Sight words
• Practice writing her name
• Read to her every day
• Recognize colors and shapes
• Understanding the concept of same and different, smaller and larger, less and more

So now I’m feeling pretty confident because out of those things we just need to work on recognizing more sight words, phonics, and reading every single day! I am so excited to see the progress in her and watch and help her learn. 

We practice a lot trough imaginative play but of course, when I can work in my printables, I certainly do!

Printables for Practicing Early Learner Skills

I’m sure you know by now I LOVE creating printables! So if I can create printables that make it fun for my daughter and me to work on these skills, then you can bet that’s what I’m doing!

Here are some of the early learning printables I’ve created for my children. I trust you’ll love them as much as I do!

• Color Sight Words & Handwriting Practice Sheets
• Animal Sight Words & Handwriting Practice Sheets
• Early Learners Binder
• Cute Unicorn Stickers
• Cute Construction Zone Stickers

Bonus!! Use discount code EARLYLRNGATHOME15 to get 15% off any of the early learning printables when you spend $15 <3 

So… was this decision a no brainer for you or did you have to really think about whether or not to send your kid(s) to school as we did?