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We know that some of you will want to follow the lesson plans just as they are written and others will not need everything that is included. Here is the good news: There is no right or wrong way to teach. Make it work for your individual circumstances. We have heard about lots of different ways working beautifully.
Illustrating that perfectly is Kirsten Adams, a member of a My LDS Preschool co-op that has recently completed her preschool year. We interviewed her about her experience and thought you all could benefit from her hands on insights. Notice how she and her group found what worked for them. We love it. Read on for our interview.
Some background on Kirsten’s group: They had four moms teaching and five children in the group, two older three-year-olds and three children that were four-year-olds. Preschool was held Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning.
Q: How did you adapt the curriculum to meet your needs?
A: We wanted to meet for two hours instead of three, so we set it up a little differently than it is outlined. Generally this is the schedule we followed, but each parent did it a little differently:
– Free play: We spent the first 45 minutes in free play
– Scripture lesson – sometimes for our three-year-olds we shortened the lesson and only did a few of the questions.
– Table Time: We chose to do math and/or art and snack.
– Movement: We did one or both of the suggested movements.
– ABC Time: We also used this time to practice writing.
I loved that there was so much to pick and choose from so our preschool varied from week to week. If we didn’t get to everything we wanted to in the lesson during our two hours, we did some of the activities later on at home as individual families.
Q: What did you do for supplies and what supplies did you make sure you had?
A: We had a box that rotated from house to house. In our box was: a white board for signing in, crayons, smocks, scissors, glue sticks, liquid glue, paint tubs, individual water color boxes, pencils, dot markers, calendar, classroom rules written and laminated, birds with their nests, and a few things from the lessons that we wanted to reuse.
Q: How did you communicate with the other moms?
A: We made our own facebook group and made a group text. This was really helpful if we needed to do trades.
Q: How did you handle it when someone got sick or couldn’t teach last minute?
A: We were pretty flexible. Usually another mom would just trade, but we did end up cancelling one week because the mom teaching was due with a baby soon and was moving.
Q: When did you prepare and how long did it usually take?
A: Usually I spent 30-60 minutes the night or day before. Earlier in the week, I would look at what supplies were needed so I could pick them up. But because of our shorter schedule, I could pick and choose what activities I was doing and if I didn’t have time or didn’t want to pick up some of the items, I would just not do that activity. I still had so many great things to choose from.
Q: What did you do for discipline problems?
A: We didn’t really have problems. We just used positive reinforcement and offered lots of choices. I would send my own child to his room though. He was welcome to come out and join us when he was ready to follow the rules and participate appropriately. I trusted everyone to handle problems that came up fine.
Q: Did you have any siblings around that were too young for the group? How did you make that work?
A: Three out of the four moms had younger children including me. I took my younger child to my sister’s house at first, then I put my younger child down for a nap during preschool and then eventually my younger child kind of joined the group. Another one of the moms had a half-day kindergartner who would help entertain the youngest child, a 1-year-old, but sometimes they would join the preschool group as well.
One possibility for moms with younger kids to consider is trading babysitting. While one teaches another babysits. Or instead, they could have two moms teach at a time so that one mom is available to help with the younger children. You can make it work with younger siblings.
Q: What do you think made your co-op successful?
A: I think having your curriculum helped us to keep going. If we had to come up with everything on our own each week, we probably would have only lasted until Christmas. We appreciate all of your hard work.
Q: Do you have advice for co-ops just forming?
A: Be flexible and adapt things to meet your group’s needs. I love that there are so many high quality ideas and materials to use. If I had to do my own research to come up with this quality of materials, it would take me forever. I just look at the ideas for the week and pick and choose what I want to do and I am done. There is always plenty to choose from. The other thing I would say is, if you have younger kids, keep your group on the smaller side. There is a developmental difference between three-year-olds and four-year-olds. If you have younger kids it would be helpful to keep your number to three or four kids. One more thing, I loved teaching only once a month, so four moms was perfect for me. If you can get a group of four moms I would consider that ideal.
Q: What advice do you have for mom’s teaching their child alone?
A: I think flexibility is also the answer. They might want to a little each day rather than one sitting. Maybe they might want to do the scripture story on Monday and continue to do a different activity each day. Or if they want to do more in one day, and don’t want to do it all in one sitting, break it up into a couple small time periods. Look at what works for your child.
We want to thank Kirsten for her time to talk to us and share her helpful hints and insights.