When beginning my research about 6 years ago into “how to homeschool preschoolers”, I began with “what are the objectives?” Having a formal teaching education background, with extensive lesson planning and background building experience, I knew to begin with the end goal and work backwards into individualized lessons. Therefore, to plan a child’s school year, one first needs to know what the objectives are.

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The Importance of Objectives 

Objectives are the goals set for a child’s development. These are usually set by the average child’s capabilities and range from their behavior to their academics.

How seriously we should take these objectives in preschool varies from source to source but it is very clear that you fall into one category or the other. There seems to be no gray area here.

Some say that preschoolers should be able to do x, y, and z for this, that, and the other thing. Very measurable and specific goals. This is great for cognitive development (the academic objectives). While others pointed to integrating learning naturally into the preschooler’s world and not pressuring them into unwanted activities -perfect for creative development (the enrichment objectives). 

There are merits to each method of learning. It’s important to allow young children to learn from regular life experiences: read to them, cook with them, play games, include them in chores, and more. By all means, integrate learning into their environment because they will be well off in their creative, social, emotional, and language development. However, we cannot forgo defining what a typical 3 or 4 year old is able to do in their cognitive development for two reasons:

1. If we forsake cognitive milestones,  we lose the ability to track struggles. If your child is at risk in a specific area, the quicker you catch it, the quicker you can get the extra support. If you think your child might be behind, the Child Mind Institute has a specific list of developmental delays you should be aware of.
2. This is the age where the learning foundation is set. For homeschoolers, this will also be where your child familiarizes themselves with the look, feel, rhythm and expectations of a standard school day at home. It pays off when they begin formal lessons for kindergarten, as I’ve experienced with my eldest. 

What your 3-4 year old should know. 

Now that we’ve looked at why preschool is an important time to define objectives and incorporate formal learning time, let’s see what those objectives are. 

It’s important to keep in mind that by including your child in regular daily activities and engaging with them they will be learning social, emotional, and language development. Also, by meeting a lot of the cognitive and creative development objectives that are listed you will see improvement in the other areas of a child’s development as well.

Cognitive Development

• Number sense (count 0-10)
• Identify simple patterns
• Sorting by colors and size
• Understands same and different
• Identifies shapes
• Conduct simple science experiments
• Reason and critically think through problems
• Have a better sense of time pertaining to morning, afternoon, and night
• Asks questions about the world around them

Creative Development

• Engage in imaginative story-telling
• Participates in pretend play
• Creates art
• Sings and dances

Language Development

• Tells stories
• Forms sentences
• Answers simple questions
• Identifies simple rhyming words

Social & Emotional Development

• Cooperates with others
• Shows affection for family
• Follows 3-step commands

• Demonstrates a wide-range of emotions
• Shows fear of imaginary things

Fine & Gross Motor Development

• Use safety scissors correctly
• Trace lines and objects on paper
• Hop and stand on one foot
• Dresses and undresses self
• Ride a tricycle
• Walk forward and backward easily

All children progress at different rates in different areas. My eldest, Marty, has always been advanced on his fine and gross-motor skills. However, when he was younger, he was behind in his language development. I never worried and he now speaks at the same level or better than his peers. My second kid, Mick, has been average for his cognitive development but flourished with his social and emotional development. 

Keep reading if you want to learn about how you can help your preschooler meet these goals before kindergarten. 

Do not buy a tedious and expensive curriculum.

Preschool does not need to be boring or costly but there should be lessons and goals in place. 

Playing for Hours’ Letter of the Week sets clear goals to meet objectives by blending academic and enrichment based learning. Exactly what a 3 or 4 year old needs and desires. 

For the parent, it’s all there. Lessons are set-up in a week-by-week format that are flexible for your schedule and ready to use. You can choose activities you know your child will enjoy, learning objectives you want to meet, and/or ones that will fit your schedule. You can check it out here.

I did not want a tedious and boring book for my 3 year old’s formal learning time. I desired something rich with hands-on activities, living books, and fulfilling experiences. I desired a curriculum my child would be excited to participate in. The only way I was able to do this was by creating my own and now I’ve made it available to you, at no cost.

I hope it helps reassure you that you’re preparing your child to meet all their developmental objectives before kindergarten. And most importantly, doing so in an engaging and delightful way. 

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