Thinking Ahead

So I know I'm at least a year or two off from needing any sort of formal "curriculum" for home-preschool, but I wanted a place to compile my ideas and findings in the meantime. So, like our family recipe blog - which is really just a place for me to store our most-used recipes efficiently, I'm going to store curriculum and lesson ideas here on this blog.

The top two preschool curriculums I've found so far are

Little Hands to Heaven

and

ABC Jesus Loves Me

Both are Bible-based complete preschool curriculums, filled with lessons on letters, numbers, colors, etc., and Bible. Many of the other "subjects" are taught from the Bible story. What I really like is that these have all the instructions and ideas for crafts, activities, music, and give a list of recommended books. I love that all the ideas would be listed right there for me. Little Hands is a bit more basic and one review said it had less activities. It ranges from ages 2-5, so I think there would be a lot of repetition over the three years, but of course you could build on it each year, according to the age. ABC seems a little more exciting and has more ideas to choose from. It has a separate 3 and 4 year old curriculum, but can be adapted for younger toddlers. It's also completely free online, though you can purchase a book form as well.

Another thing I found today that I can use with Norah even now is starfall.com. It has fun online flashcards and activities about the alphabet, reading, math, etc. Norah loved watching the flashcards for A and B and kept making the letter sounds.

First-School not technically a curriculum but could be used as it. List of weekly themes with activities for each and printouts. Great resource!

*Update - found another curriculum on Growing a Godly Girl for age 2 to 5, called Hands on Homeschooling. Another Bible based, simple, play-based curriculum. I'm going to add this to my list to consider for when Norah turns 2.

Letter of the Week for Preschool, on Confessions of a Homeschooler. Costs $10 to download. Each letter (each week) includes: a memory verse, reading time, song time, letter tracing, letter crafts/activities, counting activities that tie in with the letter, activities to teach fine motor skills or patterns, puzzles, sorting, matching, writing, coloring, collages, games, and crafts - etc! All activities tie in with the letter of the week. How fun!

ABC Twiggles preschool. About $22 per year. It's a multi-sensory abc letters curriculum. The curriculum helps kids use all their senses to learn the letters. Seems a bit unconventional and something that may deserve some further study. They have some samples on their website that I've used for Norah to watch videos and online books. I'll keep it in mind.

Joyful Heart Learning for 2's and 3's. Looks fun, though maybe not complete. Has ideas for monthly themes, including a monthly playdough recipe and sensory bin! Ties in Biblical concepts and memory verses as well as a theme each month.