curriculum round up

Preschool for Eve, age 3-4

Dear Sis,

I’m sure you noticed by now that I love homeschooling, from the time on the couch reading with my little humans, to the selection of the actual curriculum itself. This compilation for Evelyn is the best of what I’ve stumbled upon in the past three years! Many of these items are curated by the folks at Timberdoodle. We have purchased both their preschool and pre-k kits in recent years. You can see those reviews here: Timberdoodle Preschool Review & Timberdoodle Pre-K Review.

We focus on play-schooling and read-alouds, so this list is pretty light on workbook suggestions:) The workbooks that are suggested are very gentle and require very pencil work. Individual lessons take 5-15 minutes to complete! I’ve included printable checklists for a 36 week program that can spread out over the course of a full calendar year, if desired. I’m able to lend you many books and materials, all the items that are consumable… or my kids won’t part with, are linked so you have a shopping list of sorts. 

Curriculum by Subject

Art / Fine Motor

Any set of lacing cards will do, but if you haven’t invested in these yet, this Wooden Alphabet Double-Sided Lacing Cards by Melissa & Doug are a great pick!

Any set of geoboards will do, but we will be lending you this set by Guidecraft, which pairs well with the geoboard letter patterns provided in the Pre-K Curriculum Handbook, 2020-2021 Edition by Timberdoodle.

Please order this pair of cutting workbooks: Let’s Cut Paper! & Let’s Cut Pater! Amazing Animals by Kumon.

Please order this guided drawing book: Little Children’s Drawing Book by Usborne.

We purchased these as part of Eve’s birthday gift! Play and Learn ABC, 123, and Shapes and Under the Sea by Do-A-Dot Art! with this set of “dot” or “dauber” markers.

These Tri-Finger-Grip Writing Tools are a must! We are giving you our old set of crayon rocks (since yours were chewed up by little people) and a Write Size Pencil with a Tri-Hold Pencil Griper. You will need to purchase your own Kum 4-in-1 Pencil Sharpener, that can sharpen wide pencils, and a chunky eraser.

A play dough mat set by DJECO. They swap out the kits periodically, this list includes what is on Amazon at present. You can choose from the following depending on what skills you think need practice: Prints and Shapes Dough Craft Kit (practice flat rolling and cutting) and/or Dough Circles Shaping Kit (practice rolling balls). We had another one that focuses on rolling long skinny strips, if you’d like to borrow it!

Emotional Intelligence / Health

We have these illustrated Feeling Flashcards by Todd Parr you can borrow. For those who don’t already own a set, it might be better to choose a set with real human faces:)

My Very First Body Book by Usborne

Language

 

Any Alphabet Books! We are lending you three of our favorites A is for Apple, Montessori Letter Work, and The Usborne IllustratedAlphabet.

Any Alphabet Puzzles! We are lending you a pair of Upper Case and Lower Case puzzles with the writing strokes beneath each piece.

Please order this pair of alphabet workbooks: PlaySmart Alphabet, Ages 2+ & Ages 3+ by Gakken Workbooks. I’ve scheduled each one workbook for each semester.

Wimmelbooks, set of 4: we are lending you Animals Around the World, Cars and Things that Go, and On the Farm. You will have to purchase a fourth book because William is not giving up Dinosaurs! There are several others from which to choose.

Picture Book Activities: Fun and Games for Preschoolers Based on 50 Favorite Children’s Books by Trish Kuffner (Try to get through 20-25 books this year! That will save 25-30 books for your Pre-K year!)

Mathematics

Any counting/number games! We recommend Count Your Chickens and Snug as a Bug in a Rug by Peaceable Kingdom, Uno by Matel, and Dominos by Melissa and Doug. This domino set only goes from 1-6 and is color coded to help little ones. An adult set goes to 12 and is black and white. We put three games in your loan pile!

Any counting/number manipulatives! We are lending you our Montessori Bead Stair and Wooden Number Peg Boards.

Any counting/number puzzles! My kids are still using ours so you will have to source your own. We like these by Melissa and Doug: See-Inside 0-9 Wooden Peg Puzzle and Self-Correcting Wooden Number Puzzles, 1-20.

The Usborne Big Book of Things to Spot by Gillian Doherty

Please order: Mathematical Reasoning, Beginning 1 by Critical Thinking Co.

Please order: My First Sticker by Numbers Book by Price Stern Sloan.

Preschool Math at Home: Simple Activities to Build the Best Possible Foundation for Your Child by Kate Snow

Science & Engineering

“Koala Crate” monthly subscription from Kiwi Co.

My Very First Our World Book by Usborne

Nature’s Wonders by Alejandro Algeria and Gustavo Mazali

Primary Science Set by Learning Resources

Plus-Plus Big building set with weekly model patterns in the Preschool Curriculum Handbook, 2019-2020 edition by Timberdoodle.

ThinkPlay Preschool building set by Morphun

Social Studies

A Street Through Time by DK (Second Semester History)

Any Globe and World Wall Map! Yes, the inflatable Globe from Dollar Tree and the quilted map of the world wall quilt I made for Grant’s room count!

Any U.S.A. and World Floor Puzzles! Simple puzzles, without a bunch of graphics crammed on each landform are best, but harder to find!

Great Buildings by Mack van Gageldonk (Second Semester Geography)

Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney (First Semester Geography)

Montessori Map Work by Bobby and June Goerge (First Semester Geography)

My First Atlas of the World by National Geographic Kids (Second Semester Geography)

Now and Then by Peter Firmin (First Semester History) I purchased this out-of-print Osburne book on Bookshark.

Preschool Tips & Clips: Neighborhoods: Community Patterns and Activities by Marilynn G. Barr

What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

Thinking Skills

Please purchase Building Thinking Skills: Beginning 1 Workbook by Critical Thinking Co.

Bunny Peek-a-Boo puzzle game by Smart Games

Day and Night puzzle game by Smart Games

Please purchase this pair of workbooks: Play Smart Brain Boosters, Ages 2+ & Ages 3+ by Gakken Workbooks (One for each semester)

Please purchase this pair of workbooks: Play Smart Skill Builders, Ages 2+ & Ages 3+ by Gakken Workbooks (One for each semester)

Now that you have rounded up all your curriculum and materials, its time to pace everything. I like to work with 36 checklists. Sometimes the checklist is done is done in a week or so. Sometimes it takes a month. I don’t care as long as we finish within a calendar year!

Printable PDF Weekly Check Lists

These checklists are by 9 weeks, because that is the shortest book cycle. Print a new list each week and circle the week number to stay on track.

Printable PDF Book Cycles

This printable includes book cycles as follows: What Do People Do All Day? 2 (18 week cycles), My First Atlas of the World 2 (9 week cycles), Then and Now 2 (9 week cycles), Great Buildings 1 (18 week cycle), and Out World Book 3 (12 week cycles).

I cut these lists out and tape them inside the respective books so I always have quick access to our weekly reading portions.

Happy Homeschooling!

Love,

b

P.S. New This Year from Timberdoodle

Each year Timberdoodle updates their curriculum kits in April. I just received the new catalogue and placed our kindergarten order for this coming school year. In any case, I thought I’d add the updates below incase any look like something you and Eve might enjoy:)

LANGUAGE

A-Z Magnatab, also available in lower case. This learning tool replaced the alphabet puzzles, of recent years.

MATH

“Farmland Math” has been updated to “Town and Farm Math” by Timberdoodle in a new edition. 

Bata-waf card game by Djeco

THINKING SKILLS

Little Match card game, also by Djeco

I Can Do That! Sticker Superstar by Gakken

Animal Playground game by Djeco

SOCIAL STUDIES

Jumbo Puzzle Map of the World by Mudpuppy

The ART kits are new too, but they often are from year to year!

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Teaching Reading at Home

Dear Sis,

There are numerous wonderful reading/language arts curriculum available to purchase. We already own Language A by ShillerLearning and Foundations A by Logic of English.

A friend recently asked me if I felt a big boxed curriculum set was necessary for teaching reading at home. I quickly told her, “NO!” This post is for her, but hopefully it will help other too:) 

As the core of an at home reading program, I suggest one of two books shown below. Both options hang around the $20 price point. Use the “Look Inside” option on Amazon. Read and or watch YouTube reviews to get an idea which book would be the best fit for you (the teacher), and your child (the learner.)

The Reading Lesson: Teach your child to read in 20 easy lessons

Each lesson is broken into a phonetic grouping and will take more than one sitting to complete. For example, lesson one covers letter sounds c, o, s, a, and t in 20 plus reading/workbook pages. 

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

This one really looks like 100 lessons that can be completed and/or reviewed, if your student hasn’t fully grasped the concept, in a single sitting. Before starting, there is a section for the parent  to study so they can understand exactly how to present the information to the child.

You can absolutely stop here and use the public library system and pre-reading toys you likely already have at home!

This is a list of some of our favorite pre-reading and reading supplements. Many of these suggestions are actually toys, games, or music. I think most parents would agree that learning through play is a great option for young children. 

Any Alphabet Book(s)

Don’t forget to check the local library! Here are some we recommend!

We happened upon A is for Apple trace and flip board book published by Tiger Tales at a yard sale. Since then, it has become our most used alphabet book!

Our second favorite book is Montessori: letter work by Bobby & June Gorge. It is sequence by pre-writing stroke instead of alphabetically. It would probably be our absolute favorite if the texture or the sand letter was a courser and it had flaps…lol.

Early Readers

Our public library has some early readers titles form these two series. Check yours!

These Bob Books: Set 1, Beginning Readers published by Scholastic in our shopping cart for next school year because they come so highly recommended by so many parents. It appears that the original series is sold in 5 books sets, in 5 levels. There are many supplementary sets and even a workbook series available.

These First Little Readers, Level A are also published by Scholastic. I don’t plan on ordering these right away, but these sets come with 25 readers per level, in levels A-D! More advanced levels are sold in 16 book sets in level pairings: E&F, G&H, I&J. 

Any Alphabet Game

My kids really enjoy Alphabet BINGO! by Peaceable Kingdom. There are countless other brands and printable versions of this learning material.

A good set of uppercase and lowercase letter flash cards can be used to play games like memory and go fish. 

We also use these free printable Beginning Sound Game Boards by 123 Homeschool 4 Me along with our plastic magnetic alphabet letters to create a game of alphabet soup. To keep the printout dry, place it in plastic page covers or laminate them. We fill a mixing bowl with a bit of water, drop in all the letters for that game board, and use a slotted spoon to scoop them out. We use a piece of candy as a place keeper and William enjoys eating it when the game is complete. 

We have made letter pairing sensory bins with Bananagram tiles and rice or lentils. Pinterest is a rabbit hole of wonderful ideas and free printable!!!!

Perhaps our most used, and most understated learning game/tool is an alphabet poster that hangs low on the wall and the Dollar Tree pointer that hangs above it. We use it in a variety of ways. Sometime I say a letter name or sound and William identifies it with the pointer. Sometimes we run around the house pointing to things that start with a specific sound. The options are only limited by the size of human creativity.

Any Alphabet Puzzle(s)

If you don’t have alphabet puzzles yet, here are some we really like and recommend!

This Wooden See-Inside Alphabet Peg Puzzle by Melissa & Doug is a great first puzzle that will grown with your toddler/preschooler.

These ABC Double-Sided Picture Boards by Melissa & Doug are particularly great when a learner is working to pair lower and upper case letters.

These Self-Correcting Wooden Alphabet Puzzles (52 pieces) by Melissa & Doug can be presented in small groups, so a child how is just learning to match a letter to a sound isn’t overwhelmed.

Yes, I’m partial to Melissa & Doug. Wooden puzzles last longer then cardboard ones that dissolve when your baby/toddler puts them in their mouth! I also like the sturdy storage wooden trays that don’t collapse when a kid stand or sits in them. Learning Resources and Educational Insights make high quality materials too! Also, if you frequent thrift stores, they are a great place to look for low cost learning materials!!!

Alphabet Songs

For auditory learning and FUN!

We really love this isolated portion of the Logic of English program. It can be purchased separately and used independently form the rest of the curriculum. These beginning letter sound, phonogram songs with an optional corresponding picture books are wonderful! You can try these listening samples on their official YouTube playlist.

Pre-Writing Letter Formation Activities

ABC Playdough Mats by All About Reading are one of many free downloadable resources for activities and games for teaching pre-reading and reading! We printed them on card stock and laminated them for weekly use. William enjoys using them with homemade play dough and Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty. 

In the same vein of thought, Wikki Stix offers an Alphabet Card Set to use with their wax cover bendable yarn strips. These are a fun deviation form routine for use.

A dry erase letter tracing tablet. We have the Trace with Me Pre-Handwriting Tablet by Carson Dellosa Education. I like this book in particular because it sequences letters my stroke instead of alphabetical order.

Printable DIY versions are available all over the web. You can slip them into plastic page covers or laminate them to make them dry erase ready.

A Montessori sand tray is a great DIY projects. Ours is made with a lidded container and green sand from Dollar Tree. Alternately, you can use quinoa or rice.

Check Pinterest for more ideas. I’ve seen variations with flour, sprinkles, shaving cream, etc. Some parents switch it up on the regular so their learners stay interested.

Inexpensive Workbooks

Can be found anywhere!!! dollar stores, Target, Staples, Walmart, etc. My son really likes the ones that incorporate the use of stickers like those published by Gakken Workbooks and Kumon. That being said, we’ve used countless other workbooks too. Just flip through to make sure the workbook looks like a good fit for your learner’s level and preferences to avoid frustration.

That completes my list of suggestions for teaching pre-reading and reading without an expensive program. These also make great supplements for those who are using a curriculum bundle or reading program. If I missed any of your tried and true favorites, please add them in the comment section!

Happy Homeschooling!

b




Our Full Pre-K Curriculum

Dear Sis,

Although the bulk of our pre-k curriculum materials come from either the Timberdoodle Pre-K curriculum kit or are components of Torchlight Pre-K: Curiosity and Character, we have added cooking, folding, music, sewing, an additional math curriculum, history, and geography too. Here is how we’ve blended everything together:

PreK Curricula & Learning Tools

Timberdoodle, Torchlight, Our Picks

Art, Cooking, and Music

  1. Adventures in Veggieland, activities and recipes by Melanie Potock
  2. Art Lab for Little Kids, art study and projects by Susan Schwake
  3. Draw + Learn Animals + Places, workbook by Blue Apple Books
  4. Let’s Fold!, workbook by Kumon
  5. Music is…, narration, music history, and listening samples by Stephen T. Johnson
  6. My First Sewing Kit by Alex Toys

Emotional Intelligence and Health/Fitness

  1. A Whole Bunch of Feelings: What do they mean? by Jennifer Moore-Mallinos
  2. Breath Like a Bear: 30 Mindful Moments for Kids to Feel Calm and Focused Anytime, Anywhere by Kira Willey
  3. Look Inside Your Body by Usborne
  4. What’s Going On Here? conversation cards by Eeboo

Language Arts

  1. Activities:  Alphabet Bingo by Peaceable Kingdom, Montessori Sand Tray, Wikki Stix Alphabet Cards, etc.
  2. Doodling Dragons:  An ABC Book of Sounds and songs by Logic of English
  3. Literary selections from level pre-k Torchlight literature based secular curriculum
  4. Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature, poetry by Nicola Davies

Mathematics

  1. Activities:  GeoBoards, Junior GeoStix, Tiny Polka Dot Game, Sticker by Number Book, etc.
  2. Literary selections and activities from Monthly Math Inquiry Tables from level pre-k Torchlight
  3. Mathematical Reasoning: Beginning 2, workbook by The Critical Thinking Co.
  4. Math 1: Book 1, lessons and songs by Shiller Learning, Montessori at Home
  5. Moebius Noodles, natural math by Yelena McManaman
  6. Socks Are Like Pants, Cats Are Like Dogs, games and puzzles by Malke Rosenfeld

Science

  1. A Little Bit of Dirt: 55+ Science and Art Activities to Connect Children with Nature by Asia Citro
  2. The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature by Stan & Jan Berenstain
  3. Look I’m an Engineer, projects by DK
  4. Look I’m a Scientist, experiments by DK
  5. Nature’s Wonders by Alejandro Algarra
  6. PreK Smart Start STEM, workbook of stories, activities, and challenges by Evan-Moor
  7. Show Me Science: 30+ Experiments to do with Children by Timberdoodle
  8. ThinkPlay STEM Junior Extra, building set and model manual by Morphon

Social Studies

  1. A Street Through Time: A 12,000 Year Journey Along the Same Street by DK
  2. My First Atlas of the World by National Geographic Kids
  3. My Very First Our World Book by Usborne 
  4. Spot the Differences All Around the Wold by Genie Espinosa
  5. Things People Do by Anne Civardi and Stephen Cartwright
  6. World Map Puzzle by iPlay iLearn
  7. World of Wonders: Great Buildings by Mack van Gagelonk

Thinking Skills

  1. bambinoLUK, self correcting puzzles, Sets A and B
  2. Camelot Jr., logic puzzles by SmartGames
  3. Developing the Early Learner, four workbook series by Simone Bibeau
  4. Lion in My Way, problem solving cooperative game by Eeboo
  5. Three Little Piggies, logic puzzles by SmartGames

Our Picks

Art, Cooking, and Music

Adventures in Veggieland: Help Your Kids Learn to Love Vegetable–with 100 Easy Activities and Recipes by Melanie Potock

The book is broken into sections by season. Each section is broken into chapters by vegetable. There are recipes and a fun activity for each vegetable, because playing with food helps get kids more comfortable with it! 

William and I built an asparagus log cabin. He didn’t enjoy the first recipe, but he tried it without complaint because he helped make it.

We scheduled one vegetable per month and broke it into three lessons: one activity and two recipes. 

Let’s Fold! by Kumon

We did both the cutting workbooks in preschool. William has folds on occasion when he is doing art, but he isn’t very good at it and always asks for help. We do a page each week to help his folding skills grow.

Music is… by Stephen T. Johnson

We signed this book out at the library last year sometime. William enjoyed the playful narration, I appreciated the music history and listening samples. The book is one big fold-out, so I photo copied it, for easier page turning. Our reading and listening schedule:

  1. Classical: Narration & Sample 1
  2. Classical: History & Sample 2
  3. Classical: Strings & Sample 3
  4. Classical: Woodwinds & Sample 4
  5. Classical: Brass & Sample 5
  6. Classical: Percussion & Sample 6
  7. Country: Narration & Sample 1
  8. Country: History & Sample 2
  9. Country: Instruments & Sample 3
  10.  Country: Sample 4-6
  11.  Electronica: Narration & Sample 1-2
  12.  Electronica: History & Sample 3
  13.  Electronica: Sample 4-6
  14.  Metal: Narration & Sample 1-2
  15.  Metal: History & Sample 3
  16.  Metal: Instruments & Sample 4
  17.  Metal: Sample 5-6
  18.  Hip Hop: Narration & Sample 1-3
  19.  Hip Hop: History & Sample 3-6
  20.  Jazz: Narration & Sample 1-2
  21.  Jazz: History & Sample 3
  22.  Jazz: Instruments & Sample 4
  23.  Latin: Narration & Sample 1-2
  24.  Latin: History & Sample 3
  25.  Latin: Instruments & Sample 4
  26.  Latin: Sample 5-6
  27.  Pop: Narration & Sample 1
  28.  Pop: History & Sample 2
  29.  Pop: Sample 3-4
  30.  Pop: Sample 5-6
  31.  R&B: Narration & Sample 1-3
  32.  R&B: History & Sample 3-6
  33.  Rock: Narration & Sample 1
  34.  Rock: History & Sample 2
  35.  Rock: Sample 3-4
  36.  Rock: Sample 5-6

My First Sewing Kit by Alex Toys

I love to sew and William is inspired to try to learn hand sewing. We’ve done a half dozen project together over the past year. I thought this kit would help us continue learning.

Mathematics

Schiller Learning: Montessori at Home Math Kit 1 Digital: Pre-k through 3rd Grade

Schiller Math One is a scripted, hands-on math curriculum loaded with opportunities for learning through play, movement, auditory, and visual techniques. We will only cover about 100 lessons this year.

Social Studies

A Street Through Time: A 12,000 Year Journey Along the Same Street by DK

Each spread is a different era. It’s just the right balance of pictures and words for a young person. Although the text takes only a few minutes to read, we spend much longer exploring and discussing the entire scene. When we finish, we try to spot the time traveler. It’s a very cute way to end the lesson. Our reading schedule:

A Street Through Time

2 (18 week) cycles

  1. The Story of a Street (page 1)
  2. Stone Age 10,000 BCE (page 2-3)
  3. First Farmers 2,000 BCE (page 4-5)
  4. Iron Age 600 BCE (page 6-7)
  5. Roman Times 100 CE (page 8-9)
  6. The Invaders 600 CE (page 10-11)
  7. Viking Raiders 900 CE (page 12-13)
  8. Medieval Village 1200s (page 14-15)
  9. Medieval Town 1400s (page 16-17)
  10.  The Plague Strikes 1500s (page 18-19)
  11.  Under Attack! 1600s (page 20-21)
  12.  An Age of Elegance 1700s (page 22-23)
  13.  Grim Times, Early 1800s (page 24-25)
  14.  From Town to City, Late 1800s (page 26-27)
  15.  The Street Today (page 28-29)
  16.  Street of the Future (page 30-31)
  17.  Timeline 10,000 BCE – 900 CE (front spread)
  18.  Timeline 1200s – Today (back spread)

My First Atlas of the World by National Geographic Kids

This introductory level geography book, is a gentle way to introduce the whole world. We like to use it in conjunction with a globe. Our reading schedule:

My First Atlas of the World

3 (12 week) cycles

  1. Earth, Globe, Map (page 4-7)
  2. Land and Water (page 8-11)
  3. Where People Live (page 12-13)
  4. North America (page 14-15)
  5. United States (page 16-17)
  6. Canada (page 18-19)
  7. South America (page 20-21)
  8. Europe (page 22-23)
  9. Africa (page 24-25)
  10.  Asia (page 26-27)
  11.  Australia (page 28-29)
  12.  Antarctica (page 30-31)

The Usborne Book of Things People Do by Anne Civardi

We read Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day? in preschool and fell in love with it. William wanted something similar. This book contains a bit more information, and features characters that are human instead of fuzzy cute animals:) There are countless plays on words. My four-year-old doesn’t catch them, but I get a good laugh with each spread. This book contains 17 different topic/spreads we will read through twice this school year.

That’s a wrap! …or rather a review for all the curricula we are using for pre-k this year. See you next spring for our end of year pre-k reviews and start of year kindergarten reviews series.

Timberdoodle Pre-K Kit Start of Year Review

Torchlight Pre-K: Curiosity and Character Start of Year Review

Happy Homeschool!

Love,

b