Our Preschool Curriculum

Last year, I included Isaac in as much of our homeschooling as he could handle. I was amazed at how much he learned just by being around, listening to books, and going on field trips with us. Now, not all of it has been retained. For example, I asked what it is called when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly in the car the other day. Isaac's reply was, "Consecration?" He used to know the word metamorphosis but is now confusing it with Mass terminology.

Anyway, I had always worried that he would get left behind in his level of learning while I was busy with the big kids. This, of course, did not happen. He learned all his colors, shapes, numbers, letters and sounds, and all that with out formal teaching. Plus, he can say the days of the week or months of the year or memory verses or poems since that was what the big kids were doing.

Isaac is 3 years old now, and he enjoys having more formal and individualized "learning time." So because he is able to keep up with the big kids, I wanted something challenging for him. I chose the Five in a Row program. They have a Before Five in a Row curriculum for preschoolers, but it seemed that would be too easy for him based on what I read. The length of books that go with the Five in a Row curriculum are just right for him.

This curriculum, if you are not familiar with it, goes through classic children's books and draws out lessons in all subjects with some activities here and there to do. Some of these lessons are above Isaac's head, but there are so many to choose from that I am able to pick ones within his range. We tried one of these out this summer, reading Madeline, which was a book we already had. The girls joined in and were learning right along with him. It is super easy to do multiple levels for this curriculum. The first week of homeschooling this year, we read The Story about Ping. I had never read this book, and I so enjoyed it that I may buy it (we borrowed it from the library.) The reason it is called Five in a Row is that you read the book for five days in a row talking about a new lesson each day and reviewing old ones. There is usually a geography lesson where the kids can look up on a map where the story takes place which is one of my favorite to do since I am so bad at geography. Hopefully, my kids won't be!

This takes 30 minutes or less and he really has enjoyed it so far. I am also singing songs with him before we read. After we read and do the lesson of the day from the Five in a Row book, he has been choosing one of the bins with an activity in it to do on his own. At some point, I plan to start The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading with him and see how that goes. I am in no hurry, so if he doesn't like it, I will put it away for a while. It seems really slow and easy, but we will see.