Preschool for those who can't afford it

Thank you to my dear friend Evelyn for the inspiration for this post.
Like my own new little family, hers is one that values education, but may not be able to afford the best for the moment. That brings me to the topic: how to educate your pre-schooler by not necessarily taking them to pre-school.
Here in California, we have state funded pre-school. It's called Head Start (Orange County, Ca). I haven't really looked into it because the thought of sending my child to public school in a state that values the movie industry over education scares the bejeebers out of me, but that's kind of beside the point. I believe that the program requires you meet the Federal Income Poverty Requirements. Unfortunately, we do not qualify.
So, that brings us to what to do if you don't qualify for state pre-school and you can't afford private pre-school.
There are many many websites out there with educational activities and ideas. I used Starfall to help with literacy when I was working in my Kindergarten Intervention class. They have printables as well as online games.
 Tips for Homeschooling

1. Learn- A Google search will yield overwhelming results and many of the free resources are Christian based. A good place to start is learning what skills/development you want your child to achieve. California has state standards for every grade level, but I would start with the Kindergarten standards. That is what students should be doing by the end of kindergarten. It is written in educator speak so interpreting it might be a little difficult. Try to seek out a teacher of the age you are trying to work with and ask for help/ ideas. Alternatively, some home daycare teachers have websites.
2. Plan- Once you know what skills you want to develop, you need to plan how you will develop them. That's where the web search comes in handy. Many sites have themes, free worksheets, etc. Design your activities around the skill and use different topics to reinforce the same skill. One resource I found in response to my friend's request is A to Z Kids Stuff, which has free materials. Keep in mind that you need materials, but you also need to know how to use them. Childcareland.com has some free resources and some paid materials, but most importantly, it tells you how to use them
3. Schedule- Once you have your ideas, you need to build a schedule. This is not just a daily schedule, but a schedule of topics. The websites you encounter should be able to give you some ideas. The important thing is try to plan what you are going to do before you do it. 
4. Teach- Now that you have an idea of what you want to do and when and your materials, you can actually start to use them. Watch your child to see what works and what they like, but don't be afraid to scrap what they don't appear to enjoy.

Please share your ideas for educating your little one at home.