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There are so many preschool curriculum options out there; how do you decide on just one?

Honestly? It depends on your family, how much time you want to devote to your homeschool, what homeschooling methodology you subscribe to, and a lot of other factors.

In my family, K is constantly asking for “homework.” She is eager to learn and always pointing out interesting things she sees. Although I admit that her screen time is barely limited, she tends to watch shows that are teaching her things and will often try to replicate the crafts that she sees. With this experience, I try to give her a variety of options for her “school time” or “homework.” I thought that we’d be more eclectic when it comes to learning, but currently we’re heavy on books so we may be more inspired by Charlotte Mason. I guess that’s something we’ll continue to explore in the years to come.

Long-Term Preschool Curriculum

The main preschool curriculum we’re using this year is Rabbit Trails through Literature Preschool. This is a 28 week curriculum based on the works of Eric Carle. The main reason I seriously looked at this curriculum was that I remember my older sister making beautiful artwork a la Eric Carle. I absolutely loved it, but I somehow hadn’t read much of his works. Using the Rabbit Trails through Literature Preschool Curriculum would remedy that quickly.

The thing I liked about this curriculum is that there is a clear lesson shared from each book with a related Bible verse, but then there are additional books, resources, and activities (like painting clouds!) suggested based upon the featured topic (object/animal) of each book. Although there are 14 books by Eric Carle that make the lessons of this curriculum, each lesson is a unit that is intended to last two weeks.

Preschool Curriculum for Reading

A secondary curriculum we are using this year is Reading Better Together, a 32 week program that simplifies learning to read with quick wins and short lessons. During week two, your child is reading side by side with you and sharing in the excitement of reading.

Reading Better Together appealed to me because it isn’t just a program you buy and you hope it works out. The creator, Sarah Miller, is a homeschool mama and former teacher. As I write this, she has been extending this program and she is willing and able to supply resources and support on your child’s reading journey.

Preschool Curriculum for History

We haven’t started our history curriculum yet, but it too has 32 lessons which I plan to cover in 32 weeks. The book Bede’s History of ME has a simple premise: what better way for kids to understand the concept of history than by learning about and creating timelines?

I immediately purchased this book after seeing a friend share a reel from a few years ago of her daughter using this book to create a timeline of her life. This book includes personal timelines, timelines for geography, events in history and religion, and more. Considering my daughter is currently saying that anything in the past happened last year, I think the timing of this book is perfect. I don’t expect lessons to take a full week, but I like the idea of adding it in weekly.

Bible and Devotions

Last week I reviewed Katie J. Trent’s book Recipes for a Sweet Child. My plan is to also include that or Katie’s previous book, Dishing up Devotions, as a way to add devotions with complimentary baking activities. I’m not sure how often we’ll use it though. Based on K’s age, one chapter per month may be plenty.

I’m also planning to continue reading through the Catholic Children’s Bible, and possibly reading stories from 5 Minute Bible Stories or The One Year Bible for Children in order to reword/reinforce the lessons. Since I’ve never practiced Bible study (reading the Bible in a year doesn’t count since it was reading, not reflecting), I think this is a way to create a Bible study practice for me and start my kids young learning to have their own as well.

Additional Preschool Curriculum Resources

Somehow, since sharing all of the resources we used at different points last year, we ended up accumulating even more workbooks and activity books, and other resources. I’m excited for the handwriting practice books, though I’m happy my daughter can’t read yet because the text of the books was definitely not produced by a native English speaker/writer.

We added a ton of Little Golden Books to our personal library and the kids each receive free books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library nearly every month. (Note – I recommend you check out that link! If there’s a program near you, they will provide your child with a new book each month FREE of charge from birth to age 5.) We’re also going to our local library every week or two and checking out books. I’m looking forward to checking out Storytime Lessons from Hope in the Chaos soon. I like the idea of adding this in because it has a different focus than our curriculums, but would teach fun, complementary lessons.

Daily Bins

Several months ago, I watched this video from Blessed Homeschool. Although I chose not to purchase curriculum from My Father’s World, I LOVED the idea of daily bins! I purchased this cart from Amazon and labeled the larger drawers 1-5. Each day, K randomly chooses a bin so she goes through all 5 each week.  Currently it’s sitting in my kitchen to provide less temptation to my 13 month old who enjoys getting into EVERYTHING.

We’ve been using the daily bins for 2+ weeks and the drawers include:

• a write and wipe workbook (I switch each week)
• building blocks (with a note I leave to challenge her to build something specific)
• dot markers (with a dot marker page)
• a paint by sticker page (the same page each week since she hasn’t finished it yet)
• a Letter People book (I switch each week)

My plan is to change out the bins each month so she’ll have new activities/challenges.

That Sounds Like A Lot, Kristen

You know? It does sound like a lot. Especially when I’ve heard that you should multiply 2-5 minutes by the age of your child to determine the maximum amount of time they should be working/attention span. But, again, it depends on your family. When we disperse a little at several times throughout the day, interspersed with playing and eating, it really doesn’t feel like much at all. Plus, K doesn’t take off on weekends. It doesn’t matter the day, she’ll still ask for homework. By having a lot of options for her preschool curriculum, it means she doesn’t get bored and she keeps asking for more.

And it might be a lot. It might be too much. Or it might be too little. We really won’t know until we add everything in and really get into a groove with it. The one thing that I’ve heard time and again since I first looked up how to homeschool is that there is no “one size fits all” curriculum that fits every family. There’s not even a “one size fits most” curriculum. Every family is different, every child is different. What works for K might not work for O when he starts school. And things she rejected might be things that make him thrive.

I look forward to sharing reviews of our preschool curriculums and an update on how the year is going in the coming months! Thanks for joining us In Our Homeschool.