Links updated April 2022
Dear Sis,
Before Timberdoodle
At the start of September 2019, I began using my homemade preschool curriculum. We had a wonderful first three weeks of preschool. We were enjoying the reading, activities, snacks, and quality time together. Then, baby sister arrived. Homeschooling came to a screeching halt for the next six weeks. We attempted to rekindle the magic of our first three weeks, but we just couldn’t get the balance right! I didn’t have time to do the necessary prep work, and balancing other motherhood responsibilities, so we could get to school time! After three less rewarding, very forced weeks, we stopped completely.
About a month later, Josh came to me to ask what we planned to do about school. My quick fix while I did more research was Learning Through Science – Colors Unit by Paige Hudson of Elemental Science. You can read the review of that experience here.
Timberdoodle Preschool
Timberdoodle creates curated curriculum kits that blend many products into a robust 36 week program. The preschool program is recommended for children ages 2-4 and includes, Pre-Reading/Language Arts, Math, Thinking Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Social Studies, Science, STEM, and Art. Additionally, kits are customizable, so you don’t have to re-buy items you already own or things you aren’t interested in. This review is for the 2019 curriculum. There are some changes in the 2020 kit. We are on week six of the program. Here’s what we think so far…
Pre-Reading/Language Arts
Big Letter Bananagrams
The handbook contains eighteen suggestions of simple games to increase letter awareness, and schedules this activity twice each week. We did not purchase this item, because we already own it. By week two, gave up using this item. William was very resistant to this learning tool, so we’ve found other ways to practice letter awareness.
Crepe Foam Alphabet Puzzles
This item is scheduled once for weekly play and exploration. We opted for a wooden version that has pre-writing strokes beneath each letter piece instead of the foam with picture underneath.
The Usborne Illustrated Alphabet Book
This is one of the items dropped from the 2020 curriculum kit, but William really loves it! The handbook suggests reading an alphabet book each week. We often read it more than once:)
Set of Three Wimmelbooks
The handbook suggests one spread each week, going through the series twice during the 36 week program. This was our first experience with Wimmelbooks. William loves them!!! They also grow with your child, as their skills develop. William is still at the seek-and-find stage, but I can see how this could be a fun narration activity later on. We switched up the titles a bit. We replaced At the Construction Site with Animals Around the World. They will be releasing an Airport themed book in the fall and we can’t wait to get that too. If you choose nothing else from this review, this is what you should try!
Set of Three Usborne Picture Puzzle Books
Set included: Jungle, Under the Sea, and Zoo Picture Puzzle Books
This set was trimmed in the 2020 kit down to two books: Under the Sea and Zoo. Ironically, those are the two we chose to buy. I don’t regret not buying the third book. These are great, but William gets worn out with just two scenes a week. I can’t imagine trying to fit in three!
The Reading Challenge
This challenge is detailed in the handbook. It has several levels of intensity: The Light Reader (13 books), The Avid Reader (26 books), The Committed Reader (52 books), and The Obsessed Reader (104 books). We love to read, so we went all in and obsessive:) I love how it is diversifying our book choices! There is another section in the handbook that has 637 title suggestions, a list for each challenge, if you get stuck and can’t find something that fits the parameters of the challenge on your own.
Early Mathematics
Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1 Workbook
The handbook recommends completing seven pages weekly. We usually do the allotted weekly work in two separate sittings. So far, only one or two of the weekly activities require any type of writing tool. We use the rock crayons (also part of the kit) to complete those activities because they naturally encourage proper grip. This book is spiral in approach and a good fit for our 3-year-old. I’ve decided to photo copy the pages that require marking, to save the book for future students.
Farm Land Math Bundle
This active math story book is actually written by the folks at Timberdoodle. It was a slow start, but William has come to enjoy it very much! There is one lesson for each of the 36 weeks. Some weeks we do the lesson twice because we need more practice or because we want too:)
The Usborne Big Book of Things to Spot
This book can be a bit overwhelming, so we usually do half a scene at a time. We also use ten glass counters to use as place markers. We count the correct number of counters before we begin looking for the animal or item, so that it is self correcting. William knows he has found seven when all the counters are gone. We struggle to get our two scenes in each week. We probably won’t make it all the way through the book by the end of the 36 weeks, but I’m okay with that:)
Thinking Skills
Building Thinking Skills Beginning Workbook
This book is by the same folks that created the Mathematical Reasoning Workbook Series, The Critical Thinking Company. It is scheduled, we use it the same way, and we like it just as much as the math workbook.
Day and Night Logic Game
William has always loved stacking activities so I suspected it would be a favorite:) The schedule suggests doing just two puzzles each week. We redo old puzzles because we enjoy them so much! This is another great buy for a preschooler even if you don’t choose to purchase the curriculum.
Set of Three Gakken Play Smart Workbooks
I consider these books to be more in the category of pre-writing than thinking skills, but we like them just the same. My son is very resistant to pre-writing, but he enjoys these. Each page has a place to place a reward sticker when it is complete. I think that helps push him through:) The schedule suggests doing 4 pages of Brain Boosters each week, working through the age 2 book before the age 3 book, and 2 pages each week of the Skill Builders. These are unavoidably consumable, so you will need a set for each student.
Bunny Peek-a-Boo Logic Game
Like the Day Night Logic Game, the schedule suggests two challenges weekly. These puzzles work on visual perception. The challenge card is a 2-D image that must be created with 3-D pieces. As I talk my son through the puzzles, we also use a lot of placement language… over, under, behind, inside, left, right, etc. William enjoys free playing with the pieces after he finishes his challenges.
Tactile Matching Maze
This item is scheduled for once weekly use. We customized our kit and did not choose to include this item. It is not included in the 2020 kit either.
Emotional Intelligence
Feeling Flashcards
I was drawn to the fact the Emotional Intelligence was included in this curriculum, but I have mixed feelings about these flash cards. I love that they are two sided with emotions that are opposites: happy/sad, proud/ashamed, etc. However, some of the images are hard to discern and others seem redundant. Do we need happy, cheerful, and delighted? Although the artwork is cute, I think seeing expressions on actual human faces would be better. In any case, we only use them once each week, and William seems to enjoy them.
Social Studies
What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry
Yes, it’s dated, but it is still a wonderful children’s book. We struggle to only read one chapter each week! We reread old ones to keep from cruising too quickly through the whole book:) This is a great book for young children to start thinking outside the realm of their household, curriculum kit aside.
I love that a stay-at-home mom is included!!! Opportunity for women to do as they choose outside the home is wonderful, but some of us are happy throwing our whole selves solely into motherhood and housekeeping. Many of us even add home educating to our daily tasks:)
Science
The Human Body PlayTabs Boardbook by Setphanie Babin
I feel this book is a bit beneath William’s understanding of the human body, but he enjoys the book all the same. The pull tabs are delightful:) We read it once each week as suggested in the handbook. This book is not in the 2020 kit.
Primary Science Set by Learning Resources
William gets very excited about science lab. I limit him to repeating his experiment just once each day. The experiment changes biweekly, adding more excitement.
Color My Bath
These are included to teach primary and secondary colors. They can be used for science in test tubes or in the tub at bath time:) We enjoy these a lot!
STEM
ThinkPlay Preschool
This building set is compatible with LEGO DUPLO, but contains a larger variety of unique blocks. It comes with a very good building manual. The instruction pictures are true to size, so your new builder can lay the pieces on the pictures to see exactly how they go together. The handbook suggests building one model each week. The model goes together in minutes, but William usually free plays after the lesson for about half an hour.
Plus-Plus Big
These blocks have such a simple design. They go together with just enough resistance to challenge children without frustrating them. The building template cards are actual size, so children can build directly on top of the instructions. There is a great extension for this building set in the handbook with a weekly template and a second building idea. I have to build the idea for him first, so he can use it as a pattern, but he really enjoys it. He enjoys free play with the set, when we complete our weekly models.
Art/Fine Motor
Rock Crayons
I bought a 16 piece set, instead of a 32 piece set. With little kids, sometimes less is more! We use them for all the marking required in our workbooks. The shape of these crayons demands a tripod grip, to help form good habits before writing ever begins. In the five weeks we’ve owned these, we haven’t taken out our old crayons, markers, or colored pencils once! We were so crazy about them, we got Evelyn a set too:)
Do-A-Dot Bundle
The bundle includes: Play and Learn ABC, 123, and shapes, Discovering My World Book, and two, five piece sets of shimmer Do-A-Dot markers. We only bought one set because each pack is $16.99 and one set will do. We picked this one with all the basic colors: Do-A-Dot Metallic Shimmer. If I would have realized the second book was just a thick paged coloring book, I would have picked one to suit William’s interest.
William has never had much patience for coloring, but he enjoys painting, so I was hopeful that this would be the perfect hybrid to hold his interest. The schedule suggests doing a concept page and art page each week. We did just that for the first two weeks. Then, the shine wore off. Now we only do the concept page. Honestly, William would be happy to forget about these and move on to sometime other way to practice his letters:) He mustn’t have been the only kid that felt this way because this bundle is not part of the 2020 kit.
Djeco Modeling Dough Funny Faces
This is a use as desired item. William really enjoys play dough and we use it as a light activity between heavier lessons once each week. This kit was replaced in the 2020 kit… I’ll like it at the bottom of the post.
He recently asked me for more school dough, so I got him the Djeco Letter Dough Kit. We tried it for the first time this morning. My only complaint about it, is that the animal art behind the letter template doesn’t actually start with that letter. …a flamingo behind Z? … and a tiger behind P? It’s misleading because most kids come to expect that the animal by the letter starts with that letter! I wish I would have noticed before we opened it, because I would have exchanged it for the Djeco Prints and Shapes Dough Kit.
Kumon Let’s Cut Paper Books
The schedule recommends doing 2-3 pages each week. We had a slow start. We had to practice on construction paper for four weeks before he was able to complete the first activities in the book. He is so proud! and absolutely loves the vibrant cutting prompts in these books.
Mad Mattr with Brick Maker
We opted out of this item. I felt that between play dough and a sandbox in the back yard, we could probably didn’t need this too.
Kwik Stix
These look neat, but we have no qualms with pulling out real paint, so we decided to omit these as well.
Overall, as a parent I am very pleased with Timberdoodle’s Preschool Curriculum. I was looking for open and go, with more hands on that book work. I love the focus on thinking skills! I also appreciate the reading challenge, which I didn’t realize was included until after we got the curriculum:) I make a checklist each week, so we stay on track with everything and finish up in the allotted 36 weeks. That being said, this curriculum is very easy to tailor to individual preference and timeline.
William is grateful to be schooling again. He loves learning and the quality time that comes with it:) He potty trained just the week before starting this curriculum. It came at just the right time. He was so ready to embrace this flexible independent approach to schooling! It’s a great fit for our family and I hope our review helps your family decide if it would be a good fit for yours:)
Love,
b
P.S. 2020 Curriculum Kit Additions
I discussed what items were dropped in the 2020 kit, in the review, but I wanted to include all the new additions to the program.
Create A Story Cards
These narration cards are now included in the Language Arts portion of the curriculum. They look like a fun swap for the third picture puzzle book that was in the 2019 kit.
Little Memo – Memory Game
This is an addition to the Thinking Skills portion of the curriculum that looks like a fun parent child activity!
GeoSmart Deluxe Magnet Set
We already own two different magnet shape building sets, so we probably would have passed on this. If you don’t already own a magnet building set for your toddler it is well worth the investment!!!
My ABC Busy Box
This kit replaces the Do-A-Dot Bundle. It that contains a craft for each letter of the alphabet. I ordered one for William on Amazon this week! We are very excited to try it:)
The Usborne Little Children’s Drawling Book
A gentle drawling prompt book for small children. I’m debating getting one for William. He doesn’t love drawling and coloring because he wants it to look better than it does. Maybe this book can help him create more satisfying results.
Djeco Beadazzled Dough Kit
This is the replacement for the Funny Faces Dough Kit in the 2019 curriculum package. I’m sure it is equally fun:)
Threading Animals
A set of lacing cards was added to the 2020 curriculum. We already own a Melissa and Doug set so we probably would have omitted this if it had been an option in the 2019 kit. That being said, if you don’t have a lacing kit for your toddler, I recommend getting one! Its great for fine motor development and hand eye coordination. Plus, for those of us who’d like to teach our kids to tie shoes one day, it is a great prelude.
Ok… I’m done for real this time:)
