After months of agonizing and much research, I finally decided on and ordered a Pre-K curriculum. Not that a child really needs a curriculum for Pre-K or even Kindergarten for that matter, but I personally need a little more structure and creativity in our day.
Before I ordered anything, I read
The Three R's by Ruth Beechick. I would HIGHLY recommend that anyone with small children (even children under the age of 3 years old) read this book. It is a very quick and easy read. And it calmed my nerves on questioning my own beliefs that a child shouldn't be taught to read until later on in life (until 5, 6 or even 7 years old). Today's society is under the assumption that a child is behind if they aren't reading by the time they are 5 years old. And many people believe that early readers are actually ahead of their peers. Ruth Beechick actually notes an experiment on this specific topic. According to Ms. Beechick, "The 'reading' children, by starting earlier, used up a lot of learning time on the skills of reading, while the 'science' children spent the time learning real stuff. And when they did begin reading, they were older and knew more and learned in a fraction of the time that the others took."
And another point from Ruth Beechick's
The Three R's, "This research and others like it are compelling. They drive home the fact that each child has only a limited amount of time in his early years. That time can be squandered in trying to teach reading before the "optimum" time for it. Or it can be used wisely in teaching "real stuff" that the child is ready for."
So, that being said, I have calmed my nerves a bit, and we are going to enjoy the next few years by exploring and experimenting and playing games. Annabelle already knows her letters and most of her letter sounds. I will probably approach this differently with Sophia assuming she doesn't want to keep up with her big sister.
As for Annabelle's
Pre-K curriculum, we will be using the following:
Little Hands to Heaven by
Heart of Dakota. This is "a fun, complete, hands-on, Bible-based Preschool Program written for 2-5 year olds to enjoy.
Little Hands to Heaven is a collection of 33 units based on children's favorite stories from the Bible. Each unit has a theme centered around Bible characters." Heart of Dakota uses a Charlotte Mason approach. If you aren't familiar with a Charlotte Mason education, "her concepts focus on short lessons and readings; selection of 'living books' read purposefully over time; exposure to poetry, music, art, and nature; and her approach to language arts through narration, copywork, dictation, and memorization." Also, she has a "personal belief that knowledge of God and His word is foundational to all learning."
Has anyone ever thought about how well educated and informed we would truly be if we had been taught to read and write using the Bible? The vocabulary used in the Bible is amazing! I need a dictionary beside me when I read it because I wasn't taught to read and write using the Bible since I was government educated, so I obviously didn't score as high on the English portion of the SAT! LOL!
I struggled between using
Little Hands To Heaven and the next level up titled
Little Hearts For His Glory, but I finally decided on
Little Hands To Heaven after reading this blog post from
Psalm 127:3. I was already having reservations on using
Little Hearts For His Glory based on the depth of history, and she drove home this point in her blog entry. I was on the fence between the two because Annabelle is technically Pre-K based on her October birthday, but she is obviously more on the advanced end of the Pre-K spectrum since she is an older Pre-K. So, I was trying to decide between a Pre-K curriculum versus a Kindergarten curriculum.
Right now I am leaning towards using
My Father's World next year for Annabelle's Kindergarten curriculum. It looks super fun, and one of my favorite blogs,
Mama Jenn, that I have followed for awhile for homeschool activities uses it with her five children. I almost used it this year, but I changed my mind at the last minute after reading that someone waited to start their younger child on this until they were older because the curriculum was so wonderful and had so many awesome points to drive home with the kids.
Included with the
Little Hands To Heaven curriculum is the following:
- The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth N. Taylor - This is an excellent Bible for children!
- My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt - We haven't reached this portion of the curriculum yet, but I am very excited about the concepts it teaches.
- The Singing Bible - We've only heard one song, but it is super cute! I am looking forward to using this on a daily basis.
In addition to
Little Hands To Heaven, I have opted to add in some of the Kindergarten options from
Little Hearts For His Glory as follows.
Rod and Staff Do It Carefully Workbook
Rod and Staff Finding the Answers Workbook
A Reason for Handwriting K - I haven't purchased this yet. I had decided to move forward, but now I am on the fence with this one for the same reason I don't believe that reading should be taught early. On the other hand, Annabelle has excellent fine motor skills, and she is very interested in handwriting. I'm just not sure a formal handwriting program is necessary at this age.
The Reading Lesson - This was recommended by Heart of Dakota, and it has gotten high reviews. I actually purchased the book and the companion CD-ROM because Annabelle enjoyed so much the free activities they have posted online. Though I'm not sure that it is the "optimum" time for teaching her to read. So, I may put this book aside for awhile and enjoy another year of reading to my sweet little girl. If anyone has any insight on this, I welcome your comments!
I also found a magazine titled
God's World News through the
My Father's World website that I have ordered. Annabelle and I sat down one morning and looked through the most recent issue online. She truly enjoyed it! The
God's World News magazine is specific to Pre-K - Kindergarten, but they have magazine editions to take the children through high school! Very cool!
And last, but certainly not least, we are planning to "row" with
Five in a Row. This is a "technique of reading the same story for at least five days in a row." During and after reading, the children learn about science, math, and history from discussions and activities recommended in the Five in a Row volumes. They also have a Before Five in a Row that I wish I had known about when Annabelle was younger. I purchased it so I can row those books with Sophia when she gets to be 2-3 years old. Here is an example of rowing with
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman completed by
Delightful Learning with her younger two children. She also has great examples for using
Before Five in a Row.And, if time, interest and the financial budget allows, I may add in a little time for some online piano lessons by
KinderBach recommended by
Our Family for His Glory.
I am super excited about our endeavor into this homeschool journey, but I am praying for A LOT of patience and endurance!!! I also hope and pray that we will ALL grow spiritually together as a family through this journey.
Also, if you have small children, I would highly recommend looking into the Little Hands To Heaven guide, the Before Five in a Row book, and the Five in a Row volumes. Even if you are not planning to homeschool, these are great resources for just having a bit of fun with your kiddos. And they are especially awesome guides if you want your family's life to revolve around our Heavenly Father.
And I must add that I cannot thank those other homeschoolers I have met along the way enough! These families are truly amazing! These are the type of people I have longed to meet along the way during the early child rearing years. They are so willing and open to providing much needed assistance and advice. If we haven't already met with some of these families to discuss any and all of our questions on homeschooling (as we have already met with some), there have been offers without our even asking. And just for the record, so far, I haven't found these children or families to be weird and unsocialized!
And the advice from complete strangers through curriculum forums and homeschool websites is also completely amazing! They also find the time to homeschool their children and respond to your questions as they have such strong beliefs in homeschooling and want this to work for others. I am astounded by the support from fellow homeschooling families! Praise God!
