Our 2014-2015 Curriculum (Part 2): Pre-K

Yesterday I shared what our curriculum looked like for Little Britches and his third grade year. But he's not my only student this year...Baby Britches is doing "official" school this year and I wanted to share what kind of program I have set up for him!

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Last school year I attempted to do Pre-K work with Baby Britches (then age 3) but that really didn't take off into anything that was organized. This year I AM attempting to put together a regular curriculum for him to use and follow. I am rather excited about it and hope that it will work out for us! One thing that was suggested was that I incorporate some K4 work in for him. Why? Well because he's already accomplished a lot of things that are taught in Pre-K and in Kindergarten and is ready for more!

I spoke with my brother-in-laws girlfriend in depth about his skills. She is a special ed teacher for the K-3 here at our local schools, so she knows what is "normal" and she evaluated him just for fun using Kindergarten and 1st grade level materials. She was shocked at some of the things he could do and says that he is way advanced for his age and she encouraged me to to move forward with teaching him reading and language skills. She said that she thinks he's definitely better fitted for homeschooling so he doesn't have to hold back what he's capable of. That made me happy because that is what I think all children need...to not be held back from what they are capable of...

But I digress....LOL!

Pre-School

Before Five In A Row (B4FI♥AR) 

I am the most excited about this. Baby Britches loves books. He adores them. He can be found just sitting in a corner with a book on his lap going through the pages. It was pretty much a no brainer to be using FI♥AR, because we loved it the first time we used the program back when Little Britches was in Kindergarten. I knew I wanted to use it sooner with Baby Britches. Once I made the decision to use this program as our core, everything else just sorta of fell into place and I knew it was the thing to do. We should be able to complete about 16 of the books in the collection thanks to owning some, buying some and the library having several.

With the B4FI♥AR I will be using the programs Fold n Learn books and some lapbook resources I've found on various sites including Homeschoolshare.com. We love lapbooks at our house and I am confident that Baby Britches will enjoy putting them together.

The books that are part of the B4FI♥AR program are some a few of my favorite childrens books (especially Corduroy and Goodnight Moon) so I look forward to reading them again. I am in the middle of printing off materials and planning our rows. I am using these great forms from Mud Puddle Soup to organize our activities.

I even have a FI♥AR Pinterest board set up where I am adding anything that would go with something from B4FI♥AR or anything else in the FI♥AR volumes. I do plan on continuing to use them as I own Vol 1 and Vol 2.

Follow Lisa @ Farm Fresh's board {Five in a Row} Curriculum on Pinterest.

I am looking for a few other pinners to be a part of this board...so if you are a FI♥AR user and would like to be invited to pin on my board with me, just leave me a comment here on this post with your Pinterest profile name and I will send you an invite! The more minds seeking out cool things, the merrier!

UberSmart Math Facts
As I mentioned in my review of this downloadable software, there is some beginning practice that I will use with Baby Britches this year. He is able to already identify the numbers, but now needs to match a quantity with them. This program will help him do both.

Essential Skills Advantage
Baby Britches really enjoyed using this program as I mentioned in my recent review. I believe that it is something he will continue to be able to work with and I plan on allowing him time to work on it. This will give him continued practice on his reading and language skills.

Blue Manor Education Christian Preschool Curriculum
I reviewed this last year and then I set it aside for later when Baby Britches was older. I am thinking I might try pulling this out again and seeing if there is anything that I can use this year to encourage the early reading. It's a good program. Just one I need to examine again.

Workbooks

I have three workbooks that I want to incorporate into our year this year. I will be seeing how they can fit in with B4FI♥AR and then also using them for busy work when I need Baby Britches at the table, but he needs to work independently.

I snagged these at either Target or Wal*Mart and spent like maybe $6. I love that for Pre-K you don't have to spend a lot of money to help teach them some basic principles.  The two on the left are coloring books because he loves to color. One is for numbers and the other is for letters. Because he already knows all his letters, we are focusing on his numbers.

Things With Little Britches
There are also going to be several things that Baby Britches will do in conjunction with his brother. History is an online course and Baby Britches enjoys sitting next to him and watching it. Latin is going to be another one for them both. Bible Study each morning will be for everyone as well. I forsee Science to be definitely one where Baby Britches listens to the lesson and joins in the experiments.

Our Goals

*Identifying numbers and matching them to the word form and the quantity
*Reinforcing letter sounds
*Begin early reading of two and three letter basic words
*Learning color words
*Reinforcing shape identification
*Putting the letters of his name in order and writing his name

I think that with the curriculum I have chosen we will easily meet and probably exceed the goals that I have set. We will be doing so much more as part of our B4FI♥AR program that I will enjoy re-evaluating our goals as we go along.

It's going to be a great year and I will do my best to give you posts checking in on our progress monthly at the very least!