Curriculum suggestions?

[Needingdirection]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but I would love a bit of guidance in curriculum?

 

I'm a single mom, and in the area I live it would seem I could pick about any program I like (almost) and have it be cheaper than preschool. That said, could someone help me a bit in curriculum selection?

 

I really wanted to homeschool her but my ex has joint legal so it basically will not happen. But here is the background:

 

Daughter has a fall birthday so I'm looking to do preschool and a k program (she is pretty bright and probably could do early entry to know but I'd like to keep her out of public school as long as possible).

 

I work from home and set my own schedule so I know I can pull it off.

 

I've always found charlotte mason style appealing and that seems like it would be a nice relaxed way to do preschool/kindergarten. I know the method advises no schooling until age 6, but maybe doing storytime and spending time outside, etc. It would be pretty laid back, which could be good? But I don't know if that would give her enough of a foundation for formal kindergarten?

 

I also find moving beyond the page to be an interesting option? And I've seen in suggested that you could do individual units at a slower pace to supplement public schooling?

 

A little about my daughter is that she is quite high energy-even next to her peers, but has a pretty good attention span, just in constant motion. She also has done quite well in learning a lot of concepts via educational movies-baby signing time, treeschoolers, leap frog movies, disney learning adventures. Given a good, engaging animated dvd and she thrives (which makes me think cm may not be the way to go?)

 

And she is great with technology. She works her tablet great andfree games that focus on skills I notice she is struggling with has been quite useful as have real life learning toys/manipulatives. And she has taught herself from a young age to do quite a bit in the way of operating things like dvd players, video game systems, etc. So pretty technologically inclined.

 

Could someone help point me in the right direction? I don't mind having to heavily alter a curriculum, but I need a guiding hand that will play to her strengths and give her a solid foundation for public school.

[Jackie]

What are your goals for her before entering kindergarten? Instead of finding a curriculum first, it might help to think about what you want her to know. For example, in some areas the vast majority of kids enter kindy with some letter recognition but any reading is rare, and in other areas kids entering kindy knowing how to read is common. If you specifically want to develop this skill, you would want to choose materials that work toward that goal.

 

If my child were to have entered kindy, I would have focused much more on self-help goals for her - tying shoes, zipping her jeans, not waiting until the last moment to announce she needs to use the bathroom, how to ask for help appropriately instead of melting down, things like that. At home, we can work on these things slowly and with as much patience as I can muster, but a teacher with a roomful of kids really needs them able to be as independent as possible.

 

Fine motor skills. Could be writing if a child is ready and interested, but also developing hand strength with modeling clay, learning to use scissors, working on coloring... Also, some districts do testing on computers as early as kindy. If yours is one of them, then knowing how to use a computer mouse becomes an important school skill.

 

I have an "in motion" kid. One that is also very, very distractible. It's outside of the norm, and if we were doing regular school, I would have her evaluated for the ADHD that I'm pretty sure she has. There are some simple accommodations that can help, but often you need an official diagnosis before schools will employ them. If you suspect a diagnosis would apply, labels can be helpful when dealing with a system.

 

Oh, and a quick suggestion: since she does well with videos, look at the LeapFrog ones if you haven't already. A couple viewings of Letter Factory had amazing results for us.

[Syllieann]

I second the fine motor and self-help skills mentioned above. If your DD is ready to read, I really like all about reading. I was able to use it with my oldest, who was very wiggly. We used the cards in an on the go fashion. You can set them out in a stepping stone pattern, do a relay race, etc. Reading opens so many doors, and so many public schools do an awful job of teaching it, so this would probably be a priority for me. If she's way ahead of the other kids when she gets to school, she can just use reading instruction time for independent reading. Even a super busy teacher should be able to make that happen.

 

I probably wouldn't bother doing math with a bright preschooler going into public kindy unless your school is awesome and offers differentiation at kindy level. If you really want to, Saxon k math and right start a are both manipulative based. Mep reception is a nice little free program online. It is really more of a preschool level than kindy imo, but if she breezes through it you can call her prepared for kindy and move on to other enriching things that won't be likely to be duplicated in public school. Nooms is an awesome app for building number sense.

 

Take a look at memoria press enrichment. They offer a nice mix of things at a much lower price than mbtp. They are a Christian (in the general sense of the word) publisher, but the guide is for the parent so if that doesn't jive with you it probably wouldn't be a deal breaker. I kind of dislike the mbtp social studies scope for the lower grades. It is the same as public school, but man, it would just be so hard for a kid to not learn that stuff. I can't imagine trying to formalize it and set it to a schedule.

[Jackie]

I kind of dislike the mbtp social studies scope for the lower grades. It is the same as public school, but man, it would just be so hard for a kid to not learn that stuff. I can't imagine trying to formalize it and set it to a schedule.

Oh, yes. They made me cringe, too. But I have to say that the age 4-5 level is much better than the elementary levels for me. It's more book-based and something akin to a more structured/progressive nature of FIAR.

 

Totally agree about not doing formal math before traditional kindy. In addition to the programs Syllieann mentioned, I would consider getting the Stuart J. Murphy MathStart series from the library and reading through them with your child. From levels 1-3, they cover an introduction to most topics from pre-k through about second grade.

[Needingdirection]

Well as far as goals I do want to work with her on independence and we do a lot of crafts and the like for fine motor. She has gross motor covered without guidance.

 

I had my former step daughter reading before K and it was very beneficial to her, so I would like to do that as well for my daughter. The leap frog movies are AMAZING for her. I wish there was a full curriculum done in that style because that style really works with her.

 

I would like to expose her to science. I think at this age she is quite inquisitive and stuff like that is fascinating. But I like it to be kinda laid back, and hands on. She's active so letting her play with magnets or mirrors or colors. But maybe something that has a little more direction to it than me miscellaneously pulling out random things when the mood strikes? What we really lack is structure

 

I'm not super concerned about social studies, although im not opposed to exposing her to them. I think I'm more interested in STEM (although I've started to build up some history-world and american-books in our library we can read).

 

And I forgot to mention she is naturally inclined towards math. She taught herself to count before age 2 and loves numbers. The school doesn't differentiate until 3rd grade, but I had been looking at rightstart a. I will also look into those library books though!

[Needingdirection]

And I'm also looking up memoria press now (sorry I don't see how to edit or quote so I may not hit on every topic you guys brought up, but I'm looking up every suggestion now)

[Needingdirection]

On memoria press-that sounds very cm (not a bad thing). How different would it be from following AO or mater amabilis (we are lightly catholic over here)? Is it basically ao/ma with different book choices, but all laid out?

[Needingdirection]

1 more question for a curriculum. Would a year of playing skillfully be a better preschool I? I have homegrown preschooler (book) and enjoy the ideas in it. Is the year of playing skillfully curriculum basically they book but with a more detailed outline of what to do each day?

 

I'm sure I would want something a little more than that for K, but how would that look for preschool?

 

(I found edit on the full version. I guess I can't edit on mobile, but now I can stop having to bump my thread for every question)

 

Edit to add: in all actuality I probably have all the resources I need to make a preschool program. Between homegrown preschooler, tinker lab, leap frog movies, disney learning adventures, I have several other activity books, I have a ridiculous amount of books for her that we can read, and several buys from lakeshore learning, lots of craft supplies as well. I think I have everything necessary for a fully rounded preschool including foreign language (continuing sign langauge).

 

I just don't know how to pull it all together to plan it.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Needingdirection

[mamamoose]

Preschool is really just a lot of play with a little letter and number recognition, fine motor control, and basic skill learning. My oldest had next to no learning prior to kindergarten and didn't even know all her letters upon entry and she is 10 and reading like an adult. I wish we had had more formal preschool for my son because he's dyslexic and I think we would have picked it up earlier, but looking back, his lack of interest in all things school really was indicative of his disability. I could not get his school to agree, however. My youngest is just now finishing her kindergarten year, and we used Horizons preschool last year and she was more prepared than either of the first two, and we did AAR, explode the code (she likes workbooks), and right start math. She will go into first grade already reading and her math skills are astounding. I'm already trying to figure out how to "hold her back" a little, lol. She is the only one who hasn't been in public school. I can't say enough about right start math. We absolutely love it here...

[Syllieann]

On memoria press-that sounds very cm (not a bad thing). How different would it be from following AO or mater amabilis (we are lightly catholic over here)? Is it basically ao/ma with different book choices, but all laid out?

They include more detailed plans than ma. That is the main thing. They also have the vocabulary pulled out for you and a coordinating craft book. We are Catholic too, and Memoria Press should be fine for you. You might also look at Catholic Icing. It gets lots of accolades from other homeschoolers, but I haven't used it as is. However, I have used some of their activities with great success in a faith formation class I teach. We also like Making Music Praying Twice, a music and movement program.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Syllieann

[MamaTX5]

Since you like hands on and STEM, you might like this: http://www.timberdoodle.com/Complete_Homeschool_Curriculum_PreK_p/999-0000.htm

 

It's a schedule and a variety of several publishers's curriculum for Pre K that is very hands on, and if you already have some of it, you can just buy the schedule. Hope it helps! :-)

 

ETA: We love RightStart Math too!

Edited May 10, 2016 by MamaD4

[Needingdirection]

Since you like hands on and STEM, you might like this: http://www.timberdoodle.com/Complete_Homeschool_Curriculum_PreK_p/999-0000.htm

 

It's a schedule and a variety of several publishers's curriculum for Pre K that is very hands on, and if you already have some of it, you can just buy the schedule. Hope it helps! :-)

 

ETA: We love RightStart Math too!

This seems perfect for us! Thank you so much! It's pricey, but I'm playing around with the customize tool now! If nothing else I can always buy according to interest as we go to cut down on price, but so far I like want I see!

[Guest]

Play play play play play play play

 

Not even skillfully. Just play. Outside as often as possible, if you really want yo go the charlotte mason route.

 

Make bread together (code for make whatever you eat) teach her how to fold dish towels and pound a nail into a board. Solidify the habits of brushing her teeth and hair and cleaning up after meals.

 

Then let her play some more.

 

Read books together often.

 

Then play.

[Needingdirection]

Play play play play play play play

Not even skillfully. Just play. Outside as often as possible, if you really want yo go the charlotte mason route.

Make bread together (code for make whatever you eat) teach her how to fold dish towels and pound a nail into a board. Solidify the habits of brushing her teeth and hair and cleaning up after meals.

Then let her play some more.

Read books together often.

Then play.

  

 

 

I cannot do cm long term. My ex has joint legal and would never agree to it. So I need to semi focus on getting her ready for traditional school unfortunately....

 

They include more detailed plans than ma. That is the main thing. They also have the vocabulary pulled out for you and a coordinating craft book. We are Catholic too, and Memoria Press should be fine for you. You might also look at Catholic Icing. It gets lots of accolades from other homeschoolers, but I haven't used it as is. However, I have used some of their activities with great success in a faith formation class I teach. We also like Making Music Praying Twice, a music and movement program.

  

 

 

Thank you for your suggestions. It was very useful. I did look into catholic icing (after your suggestion) but it looks like it is quite region intensive. I kinda am drawn to teaching her a little lighter focus-mostly bible stories and Saint stories, so I'll probably be best keeping it seperate, but thank you ;)

 

Preschool is really just a lot of play with a little letter and number recognition, fine motor control, and basic skill learning. My oldest had next to no learning prior to kindergarten and didn't even know all her letters upon entry and she is 10 and reading like an adult. I wish we had had more formal preschool for my son because he's dyslexic and I think we would have picked it up earlier, but looking back, his lack of interest in all things school really was indicative of his disability. I could not get his school to agree, however. My youngest is just now finishing her kindergarten year, and we used Horizons preschool last year and she was more prepared than either of the first two, and we did AAR, explode the code (she likes workbooks), and right start math. She will go into first grade already reading and her math skills are astounding. I'm already trying to figure out how to "hold her back" a little, lol. She is the only one who hasn't been in public school. I can't say enough about right start math. We absolutely love it here...

Yeah I find the concept of right start to be quite appealing. I've been looking at that one for quite a while.

 

So far dd seems to be drawn to hands on. I like that hands on feels a little more like the play play play bit you described above :) Im strongly leaning towards tinker doodle now. I might take out their math in the customize feature and sub in right start though :)

[Guest]

I cannot do cm long term. My ex has joint legal and would never agree to it. So I need to semi focus on getting her ready for traditional school unfortunately...."

 

Then i redouble my advice!

 

This is her time to play allllll day.

 

You said she is bright. She will do fine in school.

 

But she will never get this time to JUST have fun back.

[Kiara.I]

I would also focus on TONS of outside time, playing in the mud, investigating insects, clambering over logs, climbing up piles of scree.... That's the stuff that will get sharply curtailed in school.

 

And it's some of the same stuff that provides a strong foundation for academic success.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Kiara.I]

 

I cannot do cm long term. My ex has joint legal and would never agree to it. So I need to semi focus on getting her ready for traditional school unfortunately....

 

I think it's important to critically what getting her ready for traditional school IS.  To my mind, getting her ready for school means giving her the things the school CANNOT give her.  Give her the whole-body development that will allow her to sit straight in a chair, that will allow her to eyes to develop properly and track properly for reading, that will allow her to hold a pencil, that will allow her to develop both sides of her body.

 

It means giving her the exposure to the natural world and an innate understanding of weather, seasons, natural elements, her local flora and fauna.

 

It means giving her a rich imaginative background.

 

It almost sounds like you're focused on advancing her in what the school CAN give her, and I don't think that actually prepares her for school.  Do you see what I mean?

[Needingdirection]

I cannot do cm long term. My ex has joint legal and would never agree to it. So I need to semi focus on getting her ready for traditional school unfortunately...."

Then i redouble my advice!

This is her time to play allllll day.

You said she is bright. She will do fine in school.

But she will never get this time to JUST have fun back.

 

 

 

Which is why I want it to be fun. But I do enjoy teaching and doing activities. Albeit I like doing things that kinda feel like games

 

 

 

 

I would also focus on TONS of outside time, playing in the mud, investigating insects, clambering over logs, climbing up piles of scree.... That's the stuff that will get sharply curtailed in school.

And it's some of the same stuff that provides a strong foundation for academic success.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

  

I think it's important to critically what getting her ready for traditional school IS.  To my mind, getting her ready for school means giving her the things the school CANNOT give her.  Give her the whole-body development that will allow her to sit straight in a chair, that will allow her to eyes to develop properly and track properly for reading, that will allow her to hold a pencil, that will allow her to develop both sides of her body.

 

It means giving her the exposure to the natural world and an innate understanding of weather, seasons, natural elements, her local flora and fauna.

 

It means giving her a rich imaginative background.

 

It almost sounds like you're focused on advancing her in what the school CAN give her, and I don't think that actually prepares her for school.  Do you see what I mean?

 

I want to establish those things as fun. I've seen public schools thwart kids' love of learning at record speeds. I taught my former step daughter to read pre-kindergarten. She used to grab books u prompted and sit and read and by the end of K she hated reading.

 

My daughter is particularly interested in numbers, math and technology. I want to give her as much of that as I can, and I think schools do kinda crappy jobs at teaching, and reading seems a critical skill for any subject, so I would like to be the one to teach her that as well.

 

(We also play a lot. Trust me her days are very unstructured)