Originally Posted by Play Care:
This is how I do it as well. My kids LOVE their "school" time and always ask when we are going to do it. When I first started providing child care I did not offer any formal preschool activities - it was free play with teachable moments through the day. But I noticed there was a natural lull at a certain time in the AM and it was perfect for having a more formal story time/theme discussions. I also have ADD tendancies so when I wasn't offering formal preschool activities there were many days I felt that I got so overwhelmed with diaper changes, potty training, preparing meals, cleaning up from meals, etc. etc. etc. that I wondered if I had even talked to the kids at all, much less had/took the time to recognize and capitalize on teachable moments. 
My formal learning time is based on the children, their ages, interests and maturity level. I don't use worksheets or flashcards. If the color "red" is one of our themes we color/draw on red paper, have a variety of red blocks in the sensory bin, paint with red paint, etc. Out of a 10+ hour day our formal learning time is tops 20-30 minutes of it.
This works well for me, because no matter how busy the day gets, I *know* that we had a set time to do certain things. It also takes the pressure off me trying to remember at the end of a long day what I did with the kids
I always thought about documenting what I do and now I kind of do but it kind of happened by accident. I don't do a preschool program but, like others, do a lot of educational things everyday just in the course of life.
I noticed I was documenting because I have my phone camera and take pictures of the children cause they are so cute doing things. I send them daily or almost daily to the parents...just one or two pics not a ton. They love it and going through the photos gives me a visual reminder of how much stuff we really do.
Laurel