Preschool Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Preschool Homeschool Curriculum Choices after homeschooling preschool with five different kids over ten years.


I'm launching into my fifth and final round of preschool. After this year, I'll have no PRE...just school. And that sad reality, like all of life's lasts, makes me pause and reflect.

The first time around the preschool block found me ordering all the stuff and checking all the boxes. Like most first-time homeschool moms, I wanted preschool to feel REAL. I wanted it to mirror the "school" that I was used to. I found validation in "formal."

But with each preschooler, I slowly tossed all the fluff and started gathering the things that really mattered. You'll find no printable worksheets here because I'm not after a cut-and-paste education. On my fifth time around, my list of great resources has grown. And yet, QUALITY always rules out over QUANTITY.

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In the end, all my preschooler really needs is a firm grasp of the alphabet and good books. The end. And to be honest, even the whole "alphabet" thing is negotiable.

So here's my list of the best preschool "curriculum"...ten years in the making.

Family learning

Because we choose to HOMEschool, a lot of our learning is done family style. While my four-year-old will not always understand the books we read together for history, science, or even Bible, he'll always be welcome to climb up into my lap and listen. In doing so, he'll be learning. Here's what we'll be using for family learning>>>

Personal Devotions

  • See With Me Bible- He can't read yet. But, other than a few chapter titles, this Bible has no words. It is strictly pictures and tells complete Bible stories frame-by-frame.

Phonics/Alphabet

While I use the ABeka K-4 book, I only use it for phonics. And even then, I use it very loosely for a skeletal scope-and-sequence. For the most part, I prefer to make my own lesson plans by combining hands-on activities and living literature books.

For that, we will use the following materials:

Cognitive Development/Learning Skills


(Apart from phonics/alphabet learning, I don't ever separate preschool into subjects. It's just simply not necessary. At this age, children do not have the cognitive skills needed to compartmentalize topics by subjects such as "science" or "history."  But, I realize that most people feel more comfortable keeping everything in a neat little box. So, from here on out, I will list out resources by "subject." Please note, however, that this is mostly just a glorified book list of wonderful resources that I will intentionally read with my son throughout the year.)

Literature


Social Studies 


My son is a snuggler. If he could be super glued to my lap, he would be. With lots of books at our side, we'll be carving out plenty of snuggle time this year. No curriculum needed!

2 comments:

  1. This is amazing! Thanks so much for compiling this list! I’ve spent the last few weeks researching preschool options. As kids added on, we couldn’t do all of it, but just compiling those books is a great idea.

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