Mommy_of_4 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I am researching prek curriculums for my 3 1/2 yr old for the fall. She will be over 4yrs old when we start but I plan to buy it with the tax return. I would like something literature based. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I like Five in a Row. I know she'll only be 4, but I think it'll be fine. There's a book list on the site that you can look at before you buy. You can google to search for some projects that other people have done with it. With my 4 year old, I don't necessarily do everything. But it's a start. Hth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHASRADA Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Moving Beyond the Page 4/5, or Memoria Press Jr. K with the literature enrichment supplement (or only use the supplement). Oh, I almost forgot Timberdoodle Pre-K! It's not literature-based, but is excellent learning fun, to which you could add your own lit. For example, Wee Folk Art's Simple Seasons curriculum. It's free! It is only a scheduled book list with corresponding activities (no discussion questions, etc.), but it's free! Check out my sig. and feel free to ask me about anything else we are using this year :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Ambleside Online is awesome. Literature, picture study, music appreciation, nature study... Spell to Write & Read phonogram cards got my son from reading "cat" to "breakfast" in a week. We also like Starfall. We don't really do math yet, but I just purchased Making Math Meaningful because I intend to use Miquon. I'd like to start Sonlight 3/4, but they keep wanting me to pay for it first. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Another vote for Moving Beyond The Page level 4-5. Love it and wouldnt use anything else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 My little guys and I have very much been enjoying the Wee Folk Art lists this year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 You could do P3/4 DIY. The books are classics so they are easy to get using the library and used stores. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DhanyaCali Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I love Sonlight P4/5, me and my 4.5 year old are more than halfway through it now. I, personally, wanted something a little meatier than 3/4 but now I'm ALSO going back and trying to add those books to our collection because they just seem to good to miss. Super literature based! And easy. I like the BFIAR manual and think it's charming but it just didn't work for me and my son. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Yeah, we've been enjoying P 4/5 too. One thing I've noticed is that the good books have made me less tolerant of drivel books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DhanyaCali Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Lol, right!? Glad you guys are enjoying it too. I really feel like it's enhanced my sons (admittedly already great) listening skills and really BROADENED his taste. I mean yes, we still check our a Lego Ninjago book each week when we go to the library, but what I take great joy in is that he takes EQUAL enjoyment in sitting down for Uncle Wiggly, or Brer Rabbit or any of the other long sometimes old fashioned format books that are included. You know? Like he's gonna be entranced with Spiderman no matter what, but it's awesome that he is ALSO entranced with Milly Molly Mandy a little girl from the 20s. Who'dve thunk it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 We even got her the Uncle Wiggly board game for Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DhanyaCali Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 No freaking way! US TOO! He loves it! I also bought him a second slender volume of Uncle Wiggly tales because we went through the Sonlight one like way way faster than scheduled, even with reading some of them multiple times. Love that Bunny Rabbit Gentleman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Oh my! We also got a slender volume of Uncle Wiggly for Christmas! I was a little disappointed it was so skinny. I love how the spaces are numbered on the game board. It makes it easy for me to see if she moved the right number of spaces and she gets a tiny bit of math in too. Uncle Wiggly was our biggest find in Sonlight. Half of P3/4 was my childhood library that my mother had saved, and many of the others I would have wanted if I'd seen them. But, if I'd seen Uncle Wiggly in a "Free" box at a garage sale, I wouldn't have taken it home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAttachedMama Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 For 3.5 year old, I would do these subjects..... READ-ALOUD: I would do a mixture of Sonlight P3/4 and P4/5. (The books in P3/4 are WAY, WAY, WAY too good to miss. My 6 and 8 year old STILL dearly love these books. Instead of getting the 'big compilations' that sonlight sells, we bought the actual books used on amazon.) I would also add in some of the books from Simply Charlotte Mason's early years list and Peak with Books. (There is a lot of overlap in these reading lists, but that should give you lots and lots of great books to read.) That would be my "read aloud" subject. It would cover, science, social studies, poetry, literature, art appreciation etc. I implemented our read aloud using my "infamous book basket" approach at 3 years old. They had a special basket in our living room filled with a few of our 'school books'. I scheduled a read aloud session every day. I tied it to an activity that we did everyday that way it wouldn't be skipped. (Example: Do it during Snack time everyday, or right after breakfast, or before nap/bedtime, etc.) Then, I would allow them to go to the book basket and pick any story they wanted me to read. (Kids this age NEED choice.) I would then read them 2-3 stories. If for some reason they didn't pick a particular book, I would get to choose a book and read it to them. (Some covers don't look all that interesting, but they are really good.) After awhile, I would put those school books on the shelf and fill our book basket with some more 'school books'. Around 4 year of age, I start working on slowly increasing their listening ability. I make a transition to reading books with more text and less pictures. (BUT, I still include lots of picture books because I think they are really, really important and wonderful too.) We read a few of the beginner "chapter books" from P3/4 (some of their 'stories' are actually chapters from short chapter books.) Then, a few of the chapter books from P4/5 and SCM's list. I also start scheduling more read aloud sessions into our day. In our house-- we did these MOSTLY around meal times because that worked well for us with two preschoolers. (It was hard to keep them both quiet and still!) But you do it whenever it works well for you! We did "Bible for Breakfast" where we read a bible story every day and memorized bible verses. We did "Poetry for morning snack" where we read nursery rhymes and other beginning poetry books. Then, for lunch, I rotated science readings with social studies readings. Then, I would read their longer chapter books before bed. (I always found that around this age, kids start to realize that if they listen quietly---they get to stay up later. I would use this to my advantage.) PLAYFUL LEARNING/MONTESSORI WORK: I would also add in lots of time for playful learning. The IDEAS on timberdoodle's curriculum packages are wonderful for this. However, I'm not sure that I (personally) think they are worth the money to buy. I like to pick and choose my own toys and decide when and how we will use them to play. Sometimes I would try to get my hands on some of the montessori sensory products. I would sort of rotate these toys from time to time and allow the child to pick and choose what they want to do. After age 4 (or whenever the child was ready)....... Once the child started to show signs of being ready to learn, we would add in some actual "lessons". I am a huge proponent of some of Charlotte Mason's theories when it comes to this. We worked on the habit of attentiveness at this age. (I do believe that attention span can be taught and learned to a certain extent. Of course, all people have different personalities. Paying attention to things is easy for some personalities, and VERY challeging for others. The key is to meet your child where they are at and work from there.) I would have a VERY (VERY!) short lesson in the beginning, and our goal would be to pay attention during the WHOLE VERY SHORT lesson. So, we might only do an 8 minute lesson--but we would work very hard to make it a habit to pay attention for the whole 8 minutes. :) Once that became easy, we might add in another very short lesson....OR....make that lesson a bit longer. These habits were super important though. And now that my kids are older, our school days are SO much less stressful. We all enjoy school because of these good habits. Here were some of our preschool lessons..... MATH: Once the child is ready, I would also add in some playful math fun. I think the first several lessons of RightStart A are great for this. They require VERY, VERY little writing. Plus, they are all hands-on and fun. Pre-READING: We really enjoyed All About Readings Pre-Level 1 for this. It was SO much fun! I didn't love the other levels of AAR as much, but I really liked this! Pre-WRITING: We did the preschool HWOT with all of the fun manipulatives: The song CD, the wooden pieces, the dough letters, the magnet letters, etc. We actually used these activities in conjunction with AAR...and got into a "letter of the week" routine. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 SL P3/4 FIAR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DhanyaCali Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I know what you mean Shawthorn, about books you never would've known about, UW, the sciencs book... Also I just bought the golden book treasury used on amazon ($4!!!!) and I can't believe how wonderful the stories are!. I mean of course we have a few of them but the vast majority I've never heard of. 46 stories for $4. It's made my month :) DS4's too, it's our bedtime book atm and he always asks to read it again in the morning. Sorry to go OT Mommy of 4, I hope you find a curric/school method that you love as much as we love ours! And I can't help but commenting on how well thought out your school is attachedMomma. I love these "peeks" into other peoples school lives :) ETA that's crazy you got one too, we are UW twins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I've been using the Memoria Press enrichment guide (K level) and loving it! I got K because I have a 4 and 6 year old. I check the books out from the library and find the music selection on spotify for free. I did purchase their art cards and also the two poetry books. It is well-rounded, rich and enjoyable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy_of_4 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Thank you! It looks like I have a lot to research. l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 We are absolutely loving our pre-k year. We are using All About Reading pre level, Singapore essentials (though I am going to mix in some RS A at this point as I prefer many parts of it), HWOT Pre K, and FIAR. The MP enrichment looks like a good alternative to FIAR and with the music and art focus I am considering it for next year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 We did a few workbooks (Developing the Early Learner, Explode the Code primers, Get Ready for School HWOT) and the rest was just tons of reading great books. We also memorized poems, did simple science experiments and lots of art projects. Definitely want to emphasize reading, reading, and reading! Seriously, even if ALL you did was read a lot, you'd be golden! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Oak Meadow Kinder works very well for a PreK year. I would never use it for actual Kinder. Memoria Press has a nice JrK, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschoolmom3 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Another Memoria Press fan here for Pre-K! Loved the literature portion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 The way I do it at preK stage: any seat work has to be child-centered, voluntary, and we are allowed to quit whenever the child feels like it. I let my youngest two get ABC Mouse subscriptions, not because I thought they were learning a ton, but because they both want/wanted to do school work and it was something they could start and stop themselves easily. But really, they weren't ready to work hard at school work. They wanted to play at school work. The moment I took control and said "you have to do this" or "you have to finish this first" it left the realm of joy and entered the realm of chore. I made the mistake with my sweet-natured oldest of pushing to complete things and it took some effort to recover the joy and willingness to try. Mostly we read, start phonics if they are ready, play games, make patterns, do puzzles, build fine motor with dough and beading. I do have a collection of "school" things that can only come out during school (the ABC Mouse app, certain books, the Kumon cutting activities, counting bears, etc) so that they are still novel from other play things. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.