Preschool Workbook: Brainquest, Critical Thinking, or ???

[Honey Bee]

We do a ton of reading, playdoh, puzzles, being outside, etc.

 

But I need a WORKBOOK for my daughter who is 4yo. Next year is her official Preschool year. I want to do just 1-2 pages a day with her and we may only do this 3-4 times a week. We might start now and we might just wait till the fall.

 

Any of you ladies used Brainquest or Critical Thinking Company? I've only seen Brainquest in person and it looks fun. By other kids did Rod and Staff Workbooks, but I think I want something different. I've heard a lot of people petering out on the Critical Thinking Books. So I would need some good recommendations for her. I'm really just looking for something to put in front of her so she feels like she's doing "school" and is fun.

 

We plan to use Righstart A and Phonics Road Level 1 closer to Kindergarten.

 

Thanks Ladies!

[ALB]

Well I haven't used either but have done the Rod and Staff workbooks, some Kumon and others. Our favorites by far were the Developing the Early Learner vol. 1-4. They are pretty varied in concepts and increase in difficulty as you go. We had lots of fun using them and I feel like they were great "critical thinking" books.

[skueppers]

My son uses the Brainquest Pre-K workbook when he wants to feel like he's "doing school."

 

I find it heavy on learning to write letters, and light on everything else. It also has a glaring error in it - "xylophone" is given as a word that starts with the same SOUND as "X-ray."

 

I preferred the "Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills" workbook from School Specialty Publishing we had for my daughter when she was that age. It had more fun activities involving cutting and pasting, which also have the benefit of taking up more time. It also had more pages. I remember it had one or two things in it that didn't really make sense, but overall I thought it was more fun and provided more hours of entertainment. My daughter also used the K workbook from the same series when she was a preschooler.

 

I bought all of these workbooks at Costco during back to school time.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

I like the Developing the early learner better. It actually works on processing information more than any other workbook series. All basic skills necessary for school success.....auditory memory, visual memory, figure-ground, eye-hand coordination, tracking.....

[SilverMoon]

My little ones who wanted their own school pages loved the Comprehensive Curriculum books for preschool and K. Costco usually carries them in the summer and fall. They're full color, sorted by subject, and are much cheaper than the ream of paper and an ink cartridge it'd take to satisfy them with internet printables.

[MissKNG]

We loved books from the Critical Thinking Company. Brainquest books are really on the "easy" side, so I would consider the K book for your dd.

[mom2denj]

We used Rod & Staff preschool and The Critical Thinking Company's Beginning 2 Mathematicl reasoning. We also used thier Can you find me books. My dd loves these!

[Honey Bee]

Thank you ladies for all your comments and recomendations. I'm glad I asked because I had only seen the Brainquest in person, so I was leaning towards that. I have been using the Early Learner series with my Kindergartener, but since we started PR we stopped. Now, I will definitely order some more of those for my 4yo daughter.

 

I'm still open to more comments, especially those on Critical Thinking Co. I've ruled Brainquest out, my thanks to you!

[3littlemonkeys]

I just bought Comprehensive Curriculum book for preschool for my DD who will be 4 in Oct. We wont do much with it until the fall but by skimming through the book, I think she's going to LOVE it. It's full color and lots of fun activities! (And it was only 2$ at the Goodwill bookstore)