Education :: Complete Preschool Curriculum

This is our second year as a homeschool family. I have a preschooler who will be going into kinder this fall and a second grader. Last year I didn’t do anything formal with my three year old since figuring out homeschool with my first grader was hard enough. When she wanted to participate I gave her manipulatives, things to color, sticker books, or our wipe-clean books to help her practice pen control.

This year I was more structured and always had something available for her to do that counted as “school work”. She likes learning, so it’s important to me that I always have something for her to do. As we progressed through the year, I found that she was looking for more than just coloring pages and mini books. I wanted more for her. To be able to provide her with educational materials and crafts and activity ideas that are appealing and fun and easy for us to do together.

I don’t like to spend a lot of time researching activities and topics and piecing together supplies for projects. Once in a while I do it for certain things, but for my sanity, it’s easier to have things put together for me so I can easily dive into the lesson.

I started researching preschool curriculum and a few experienced homeschool parents passed along some options. My Father’s World, Before Five in a Row, Mother Goose Time and Learning Box Preschool were the top four contenders.

Before Five in a Row features mini-units based on popular literature selections like Courduroy, Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. It emphasizes everyday skills. It looks like a good program, but I kept looking.

My Father’s World is a complete year-long program but I thought it looked like it heavily emphasized religion. I wanted something a little more secular. We practice our religion through other programs that we already have and I wanted a little more variety.

Learning Box Preschool was my runner up. I was torn between this and Mother Goose Time. It is a monthly themed box with (in the big box) 20 days of lessons complete with instructions and materials to teach a specific topic related to your box theme. They also have a small box program for 3-day per week programs, and a little box for toddlers. The only reason I didn’t purchase this one is because my daughter was asking about specific themes that were not available here.

Mother Goose Time was our pick and we have been happy with it so far. We are on our second box and we are currently discovering the desert. We’re learning all about camels, horses, the Sahara and Mojave Deserts, and much more. I love how each day is laid out for me in the teacher guide and most of my materials are packed in a bag to be opened and used when we are ready. I use what works for us and add things here and there. I also love that it comes with manipulatives, a book, and a CD with each box. This month we got purple and yellow horse counters and linking cubes. While this one is a little pricey, we only plan on using it through the end of the school year and we skipped one month to cut costs. We can’t wait for our next box!