Homeschool Curriculum Guide – Pre-School to Grade 3

Many young moms, new homeschoolers and even some ‘thinking-about-homeschool-ers’ ask me about curriculum. And it’s a really big question!

There are so many curricula available today that you could try a new kind for every subject every year and still never try it all. So what I’m going to do is spend a few homeschool posts letting you know what I’ve tried for various age/grade stages, what I liked and why, and what I didn’t like and why.

Feel free to leave a comment sharing what you’ve used, what you’ve liked, and what you haven’t liked.

Your comments will be helpful to others checking this post as a resource too! We can use this as a place to give new homeschoolers some idea of where to start as they thumb through those thick, and very stimulating homeschool resource catalogs!

Other posts in this series (so far)

• Homeschool Curriculum Guide – Grades 4 to 6

Pre-School – Grade 3

Let me start by saying the Early Elementary Years should be fun. Learning should be fun. This is the time when you set the stage for their learning for a lifetime. Go on lots of field trips. Stop on a walk and check out what’s in the cracks of the sidewalk. Look at the weeds and bugs. Go to concerts and plays, read story books out loud, make messes and have fun. Pre-School especially should be about learning how to learn. Ask your children lots of questions and encourage them to ask questions too. That’s how they learn.

Remember – life skills is part of learning. Chores, cooking, cleaning, helping and working are all part of their education. Not everything worthwhile can be found in a book! Don’t forget that building their character is just as important as grounding them in solid academics. Nobody likes a genius who is lazy, irresponsible, indulgent and rude.

I haven’t included Bible curriculum on purpose. I didn’t forget! I’ll write another post on why I deliberately do NOT use Bible curriculum. If you choose to and want to share about it, feel free to do so in the comment section.

Unit-Based or Mastery?

A quick note before we get started. There are big differences between unit-based programs and mastery programs, and you’ll want to keep those differences in mind.

Unit-Based: Many math and science programs, and even most spelling programs, are unit-based. The children start a unit (like fractions) and for the whole unit all they work on is fractions. They get really good at fractions, and then they move to the next unit (like measurement) and do just measurement type things. They continue this way. But when they get to the end they have often forgotten everything they learned more than 2 units ago. I do not prefer unit-based programs.

Mastery: Mastery programs slowly introduce a concept in step by step fashion. Each lesson the children work through covers everything they have already learned. It might take them 4 months to learn about fractions, but they will have been building up their understanding all year, and they will continue to do fractions until the year is over. There are no units. I like this because they work at the same concepts every day giving them a strong foundation in every aspect of the course, and they never forget what they have learned.

 

Math

Horizons Math: I like how colorful it is. I love that is it a mastery program. For kids it is easy to know exactly how much to get done in a day. The tests are as simple to give as the everyday work. The pages can be torn out for marking or left in the book. The mastery technique of teaching is so slow and gradual they hardly notice they are learning! It is also advanced. That means when they finish Grade 3 Horizons math they are ready for Saxon 5/4 (grade 5 math). (I do not like any Horizons Math above grade 3. More on that when I discuss upper elementary.)

The cost of this program is also minimal.

It is a workbook, meaning no other books or papers are necessary.

It is consumable.

It is not teacher intensive.

Teacher books are available, however I never bought them. Most parents can figure out the answers in their heads, and the questions are easy enough for a child to understand.

I highly recommend Horizons math for K – Grade 3.

 

Math-U-See: It is fun! There are videos the kids and you can watch together. There are blocks (manipulatives) the kids use to help them visualize the math concepts. I used this in some early grades for 2 of my children.

The cost of the system is quite high. There are manipulatives and videos to buy as well as workbooks.

The workbooks are consumable, but the videos and manipulatives are reusable for future students.

I found it teacher intensive at this age. I had to run the video, help with manipulatives, and I did need the whole system to figure out the marking.

Teacher books are available, and you will likely need them.

I recommend Math-U-See if you have the funds for it, you are willing to clean up the tiny little blocks, and you have time to learn and understand the program.

I would not recommend this program if funds are an issue or you want more independence in your children at this age.

 

Abeka: I used Abeka for 2 years. I did not like the program at all. I found that the student books relied heavily on the teacher book. I had to read the teacher book to understand the question being asked, often. Although the books are not black and white, they are not nearly as colorful and friendly as Horizons. I found the style to be more conducive to classroom style teaching than homeschooling.

The cost is medium high due to the fact that the teacher/solution books are necessary for purchase.

It is consumable.

I found it teacher intensive.

Teacher books are available and you will likely need them.

I see no reason to recommend this program. There are others that offer much higher quality for less cost and that provide students with more independent learning experiences.

 

Reading

Bob Books: Bob books are fun!! They are great reading for young, beginning readers.

Pros: They are easy to read. Small books for little hands. The stories are fun. The covers are boldly colored. Easy to take along.

Cons: They are very expensive. They are easy to lose. The illustrations are not colored. It is very easy to get through all the books quickly making the cost seem even higher.

 

Color Phonics: A computer program for young learners and learners of English who are speakers of other languages. This program teaches sounds in color. All the long ‘a’ sounds (ae, ei, eigh, ay, ey, ai) are all grey. All the long ‘o’ sounds will be a different color, and so on. This teaches the child to recognize the sound combination rather than the individual phonics rules. The program is fun, like a game, and the difficulty can be changed. Marks are awarded and the teacher can access them. Available from ChristianBook.com, Amazon and various other places on the web used.

Pros: Fun. Lots of fun. The colors make it easy to read and provide a quick sense of accomplishment. Not very expensive.

Cons: Computer requirements. Lots of time needed in front of the computer. Quite noisy unless you allow your child to use a headset. May be difficult to transition to paper-reading until the program is completely mastered.

 

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons: I tried to use this with 3 of my children. It only worked well with one. But we found it boring after a few lessons and I never finished the program.

Pros: Reusable. The concept is simple. The script makes it very, very easy for the teacher. Can be very useful for workbook-oriented children. Very inexpensive and often available used.

Cons: Can be boring. Very, very stressful if you have a child with any learning disabilities such as dyslexia or dysgraphia. Assumes 100% co-ordination from the child and previous knowledge of alphabet.

 

Barton Reading & Spelling: I found this program when doing research for my severely dyslexic son. I wish I’d had this with all my kids. It is the most thorough teaching of reading and spelling I’ve seen, including vocabulary and all the rules (even those I’d never heard of before), right up to and including foreign and latin roots. Wow! I love this program! The program is highly tactile and very colorful.

Pros: Extremely thorough. Instructional DVD’s for the parent/teacher make it easy to understand before you teach each level. Every lesson is scripted telling the teacher exactly what to say. Colorful tiles make the learning fun and help the visual learner to grasp the sounds and concepts. Is a whole language program (teaches reading, spelling and vocabulary, as well as word analysis). Will teach pre-phonics all the way up through Grade 12 reading.

Cons: Extremely expensive if purchased all at once. Can be ordered level by level. Requires a parent/teacher for about 45 minutes a day for 3-5 days a week. Can be cumbersome to store the pieces and take them out every session. Additional easy storage is available for purchase.

*I cannot recommend this program highly enough for the dyslexic reader!!

 

The Library: I cannot stress this enough. Read books and books and more books!

Make use of every library book you can. Read to your children in as animated a voice as you can! Have them read to you. Read, read, read… about anything and everything that interests them! Once they really get going with their reading, you can throw away the learn-to-read curriculum and just have them READ!

 

Progeny Press: This company has fabulous reading lists and study guides. I would very highly recommend using 2-4 study guides a year at this stage. Then find the rest of the books in the library for ‘fun’ reading.

 

Sonlight: Has a great literature program. The reading list from Sonlight is worth looking at. You can buy the books individually from them or elsewhere, or from them as a whole package. Most books are available in the library too so I suggest using it as a guide. Your choice.

 

Writing

At this stage I recommend buying cheap and simple printing and handwriting tablets from WalMart or any book store. You can also simply have them write on loose-leaf or in a note book.  Have them do lots of copy work. They can copy Bible verses, words to songs, addresses, their names, their birthdate, and lists of whatever you are eating for dinner!! It doesn’t matter, just get them writing and printing every day. This part of their day should be fairly easy for them. Unless they have dyslexia or dysgraphia…  in which case you may need to give them paper with wider lines, and with lines that are much bolder than most papers have, and with dotted lines in the middle.

As for creative writing, this is the best stage to begin to get those juices flowing! Creative writing at this point is simply coming up with what to say. Let them focus more on the creative part, and you can do the writing part. Have your student tell you a story, or help them think through a book report (you do the writing remember), or come up with a poem or song, a letter or thank you note, etc. You can give your child 3 to 5 words they must use to help expand their vocabulary and challenge their thinking. You can have them illustrate whatever they’ve “written”!

 

Easy Grammar and Daily Grams: I really like this program for incredibly easy and fast grammar. Even the kids like it because it is over so quickly… and it’s fun! The materials come in graded workbooks and teacher books are available.

To see a sample page from the Grade 1 book click here.

 

Spelling

Except for rare situations and unless you are using the Barton System, I do not recommend teaching spelling at this stage. Spelling is the ability to write out what one wants to say and then be able to read it at a later time. The trouble with most spelling programs is that the children are not yet reading at the level the spelling lists are at. I (and many other educational specialists) have seen that most young students write about 2-3 grade levels lower than they read.

So you should not begin to teach spelling until your child is comfortably and smoothly, with full comprehension, reading at at least a Grade 3 level, preferably Grade 4. The better the child can read, the better they will spell. Words will look ‘wrong’ to a strong reader, and he/she will have learned through reading that some words may look the same but mean something different, etc. The best spelling course you can give your child at this stage is to have them read.

 

Spelling Power: If you are truly uncomfortable with leaving your formal spelling until later I recommend this program. It is thorough, easy to use and goes from K through Grade 12. One book. Not consumable, and very motivating. The teacher parts are right in the manual. Extra helps are available for purchase but completely unnecessary for a quality program. Cost is about $85 and it will be the only spelling program you ever need.

 

Social Studies

Library books: Pick up books about your country, your town, your city, people of other lands and cultures, etc. from the library. Cover safety and the people who keep us safe (police, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, dentists, etc.). Find some books about occupations. Expand your child’s horizon and teach them to learn to love all about learning!

Maps: Get a few maps of your town, and help your student learn to find places they know on it. Find places on a map and/or a globe. Make maps of your house, your town, and how to get to the store or to grandma’s house.

 

History

Library books: Yes, we’re back to the library! It’s a great way to cover history at this stage. When choosing books select some that cover aspects of your history, your country’s history, the history of the world, etc.

 

Mystery of History: This is my favorite history program of all time. It brings together secular history and Bible history and combines it so you can learn it all chronologically. It teaches from a Biblical worldview and begins history at Creation.

This program includes 4 texts that you purchase separately. You will go through each level 3 times if you start at grade 1 (which I recommend). Each lesson has an activity for ‘Younger Students’, ‘Middle Students’ and ‘Older Students’. For this age group you would naturally use the ‘Younger Students’ activities. These activities are fun and will give the kids a solid and happy experience of history. Here’s a link to their Younger Students FAQ.

 

Science

Library books: There is so much to learn at the library!! Learn about bugs and whales, planes and machines, dolls and trucks, birds and snakes. Take out books that have kitchen experiments. There are all kinds of fun experiment books at the library – some for indoors, some for with water, some for with cars, some with food – all kinds.

Go on lots of field trips. Go to the museum! This is the time to set the stage for science for the rest of their lives. Make it FUN!

 

Art

You can buy art books, or you can get art supplies and let the kids go at it. If you want more serious art there are lots of great books available (at the library). You can also register your child for art classes at your local Art Center or through a local school or artist. Your homeschool group may want to bring in an artist to work with the kids for a few sessions.

 

Music

Music for Young Children: I love this piano and theory program and can’t recommend it highly enough. I taught music for many years and ran a very successful music studio. This is, in my opinion, the best way to start children in music between the ages of 3 and 10.

Suzuki: This is also a great program. However, this program teaches much less theory at this stage than MYC does. But this program does offer lessons in a wider variety of instruments such as violin, cello, guitar, etc.

Private Lessons: These are available all over through private teachers. You can usually find a good teacher by word of mouth or by calling a local music school.

There are music curricula available too. But at this age, unless you plan to give your child lessons, you may find them a little over-the-top.

 

Phys. Ed.

May I say it? Go for a walk. Go outside to play. Jump on a trampoline, skip rope, go swimming, run races and kick balls!

If you want something more formal consider swimming or skating lessons. Get a few families together for a gym night every week or two. As seasons come and go you may want to consider hockey or gymnastics, dance or baseball. Whatever sport you are willing to invest money and time into.

 

And that’s it!

There’s a lot of room to move and wiggle. I’m an eclectic homeschooler by choice (that means I don’t follow just one curriculum, but take a little from here and a little from there). I like being able to choose the best materials for a given subject and materials that suit my family best. I also choose some materials because they support our belief system (Christian and biblical worldview) and allow me to better enjoy my children as I homeschool them.

So… what do you use?

• What do you like and what don’t you like?
• Is there a curriculum you have questions about?
• Any concerns you have for these grade levels?