Homeschool preschool curriculums are a wonderful way to help littles learn about their world. Three-year-olds are at this magical age where they want to learn everything, question everything and get into everything. Their brains are developing rapidly, and they are ready for some early learning. If you want to provide some structured learning for them, remember to always put joy first. Joy in learning and joy in parenting. If a curriculum does not bring you and your child joy, then it may not be the right one.
Over the summer and this next year, I will provide a preschool plan Beautiful Summer Preschool Program Invitation for other parents to follow. You are welcome to join us as I post the details weekly, but you may not want to join us or can’t for one reason or another. Here are some other options for preschool curriculums that you can consider.
Joyful Preschool Curriculums to Consider
The first curriculum I would recommend is the one I am primarily using. This is Oak Meadow’s Preschool Play: Seasons of Wonder Coursebook | Oak Meadow. It is packed full of songs, stories, verses and art projects to create a beautiful homeschool preschool curriculum. This curriculum is full of process-based art and learning. The early science and math are integrated within the songs, stories and verses. They focus on animals and the seasons, as well as counting from 1 to 10. The stories engage children and are wonderful to act out, while the songs and verses inspire dancing. But the downside is that it is not fully planned out, rather it is organized by season and month, so parents would need to decide exactly how they would use it. It is also a bit pricey but can be reused for multiple years.
The next homeschool preschool curriculum I would recommend is Early Years Vol. 1 — Blossom and Root . This is a secular Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum that is very affordable. It focuses on hands-on learning and is developmentally appropriate. Its nature study and art projects are wonderfully planned out with an emphasis on the process of learning. I would ignore the picture and composer studies though, as these are better suited for older children. I particularly love the kitchen science as it encourages parents to bake with their young children and learn through being in the kitchen. The other categories it covers are literature, early math, science, kindness and community. The math focuses on counting to 100 and using basic measurements but misses some important preschool concepts. Overall, this is a solid, well planned out curriculum that should be engaging for most young children.
A Preschool Curriculum with Mixed Reviews
The third curriculum to look at is Preschool Language Arts Course Set – The Good and the Beautiful which is an open and go Language Arts curriculum. This curriculum covers letters and their sounds, counting, shapes and colors. It is also worksheet heavy, involves sitting at a table and uses a question and response format for much of its learning. Question and response formats are used extensively within regular schools. It requires children to learn through listening and to respond appropriately with formatted responses. It does not work well in schools and works even less at home. This curriculum is not suited for any age children.
Of interest, The Good and the Beautiful does have separated curriculums with other subjects. They have Handwriting Workbook: Doodles and Pre-Writing for Littles Part 1 – The Good and the Beautiful which is a well thought out and beautiful handwriting option that would be a wonderful option for 4-year-olds. If your child is almost 4, or already 4, this would be a great option.
What I find they have done quite well is their science curriculum for preschool. Butterflies & Beetles Flip Books – The Good and the Beautiful and Mammals Flip Books – The Good and the Beautiful are wonderful for 2- to 4-year-olds. They are engaging and nicely introducing young children to different animals and the concepts of mammals, similarity, differences and matching. Their I Can Spy Mammals & Nature – The Good and the Beautiful is another wonderful science book for 3- to 5-year-olds to learn facts about animals and have fun finding the different animals on the pages. Insect & Spider Mazes – The Good and the Beautiful is perfect for 3- to 4-year-olds who need to work on fine motor skills and visual tracking before starting formal handwriting. I would highly recommend all four books.
The Good and the Beautiful also have 5 science sets for young learners that are very well done. Nests and Burrows: Course Set – The Good and the Beautiful would be ideal for 3- to 5-year-olds and would be the first one I would do of the set, while Fields and Flowers, as well as Bones and Stones, would need some adaptation to work well for younger 3-year-olds. These science books use stories, beautiful pictures and hands on activities to learn about science.
Standard Preschool Curriculum
I would like to look at the Playing Preschool – You are your child’s best teacher Homeschool Curriculum next. This is another affordable, secular curriculum, but it lacks joy. Many homeschool and school preschool curriculums are similar. Every day has a song and an art project or experiment to engage in, but they are very simplistic and focus on product, not process. Younger children are often not ready for this step and still need to engage their sense through art. The literature study has parents read, or reread, a story every day to their child, which is great. Unfortunately, the book choices are poorly chosen, with over half being non-fiction. Books can engage and expand young minds, or make reading seem uninteresting. The math in this curriculum would be better suited for 4-year-olds and progresses too rapidly. This curriculum overall lacks playfulness and parents may struggle with keeping their children engaged. This curriculum is very similar to many preschool curriculums found in daycares and preschools. It is designed to be easy for teachers but is not best for children.
Wrapping Up
Overall, these are three preschool curriculums’ parents may consider for their preschool year. But all three fall short with their math curriculums. Oak Meadow only touches upon math. Blossom & Roots math is not sequential enough and children may struggle to retain the information at this age. The Good & the Beautiful is worksheet based. Playing Preschool moves too fast and is not suited for 3-year-olds. I would strongly suggest following my math curriculum for preschool that will be posted monthly for this upcoming school year. It will use songs, movement and manipulatives to teach preschooler’s math in a meaningful and imaginative manner that makes math fun to learn. Math is fun and should be fun for all ages and abilities.
Buying a preschool curriculum for home use is a wonderful idea for engaging young children and provides parents a plan for how to expand their child’s learning. Buying the correct preschool curriculum makes all the difference. If there are any other preschool curriculums you would like me to review, please feel free to reach out and I will be happy to look into them.
Happy learning!
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