Playground - The Schoolhouse Network

Glad you’re here! I’m Julia Lewis, the co-Director of the Preschool Playground, which is part of the Church Schoolhouse Network in the TRI-Cities of East Tennessee.

Most if not all of the area church Schoolhouses will hopefully offer a preschool program during community days, so we need to get a head count for each, and determine where to place these parents and their little ones. I personally will be spending the bulk of my time teaching and directing at the Tri-Cities Calvary Chapel Schoolhouse. or the Parker’s Chapel Schoolhouse. If you would like to enroll at either location, you can do so by clicking one of the two, above.

Need to see the Preschool Schedule and all the little sessions and summaries for Calvary Chapel Schoolhouse? Find it HERE.

Please email me: Julia Lewis, if you are an existing member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, will be joining a local Schoolhouse, and have (child)ren who will be enrolled in a local Schoolhouse’s Preschool Playground. There are no fees to join if you are are a member. If you are not yet a member, I have a discounted coupon code for you – just click the red box at the bottom of this page.

As a Mama of a preschooler in the program, because this is a homeschool co-op, you will want to either teach a “class session” (these are 20 minutes long) each day OR assist in other areas like helping in the Nursery, directing the snacks/cleanup, monitoring, tag-teaming with the Parent-Teacher leading any given session, or even handling the art and music area or assisting during rest and recess times. There will be plenty for us to do! We moms will all work together to help our children learn in community, play kindly, practice new skills, and build friendships with each other. I know too that we Mamas will become very good friends with each other and create new and lasting memories.

So let’s build our schedule and put together the best preschool program we possibly can for our little ones.

We will start by naming our “classes” – and I think this part will be very fun and creative for us Mamas, because these are going to be “mini classes” or “sessions” which cover short, bite-sized learning-times the kids can handle and will really enjoy. Spending too much time on one subject can become tedious at that age level, and we want to keep it both fun and steadily moving along so that these little students associate learning with PLAY and DISCOVERY.

Name your class and fill out the TEACH form I’ve linked to below if you would. Keep in mind that a preschool session should be 20 minutes tops. For instance, a 20-minute session listed by theoretical classroom names might look something like these, and I would LOVE for you to choose one or two of these to make your OWN as the teacher:

Manners & Sharing (give a summary of what this might look like on the TEACH sheet)

Shapes and Colors: Recognition (give summary)

Little Publishers (maybe this class summary could cover “writing stories” where the kiddos are narrating the story they have while the Mama writes it out, creating their own book)

Math Wigglers (perhaps learning numbers and basic math concepts through movement)

American Sign Language for Littles (use the ASL course at ST to create a version for younger learners)

Or how about a couple of these?

Exploring the Seasons and Weather

Animal Safari & Creepy Crawlies

Manners & Healthy Habits

Opposites, Matching Patterns & Sets

Fairy Tales, Folklore and Fables

Machines, Trucks and Movement

Donkey Ollie Videos: Character Building & Bible

Differentiating the Sciences: Chem, Bio, Physical, Geo, Earth Science, Astronomy

Preschool Presentation (Public Speaking)

Beginning Handwriting

Creative Storytelling & Narration

Animal Science

Those are just a few examples of unique preschool “classes” we could design, then publish, which will make up our preschool day. We will need a good 6-8 or more of those 20-minute sessions, ready to go, which should be easy to come up with, or choose from any of the above. Keep in mind we’ll have cleanup and rest periods between each mini-class, plus there is lunch, recess, and other activities which will take up time throughout the four hours we have each day we are together.

As you think of other potential “class names” and their descriptions, do not forget to peruse the membership site in the Preschool section.

ST is primarily the main source where we are looking to find and create our own unique sessions for our preschoolers.

I think this new school year is going to be very fun for the Mamas as we plan out what our Preschool Playground program looks like in Colonial Heights or surrounding area Schoolhouses. Be sure to list which one in which you plan to enroll.

So let’s do it! Fill this form out for EACH 20-minute session you are willing to teach. The worksheet was actually made for the Elementary-High School classes at the Schoolhouses so feel free to modify your answers. For instance, in the section that talks about length of class being either 60 or 90 minutes, just put “20” in that space. You don’t have to fill out every field in the form; let’s just get a basic start on potential class sessions and we will use this TEACH sheet to do it.

I look forward to seeing these come in! And I’ll be in touch as we consider which ones should make up our program. Fill out as many as you’d like and hit the submit button and I’ll get them right away. Can’t wait to get started! – Julia

If you desire to sign your student up at a Local Church Schoolhouse to take part in as many classes as your children need as well as nursery and the Preschool program as well as take part in the field trips, you must have a current membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Need a discount? A full year membership which covers every child in the family is normally $269.97. Click the red box below for the discounted price of just $189 for a full 365 days.