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lovebeingamom
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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I wanted to get some opinions on what type of "curriculum" I should use for my DD come this '09/'10 school year. I use the word "curriculum" loosely as she will only be 3 yo - I do not want anything that will be really regimented just yet - again, she will only be 3.
A little background on DD - she absolutely loves to learn: already knows her alphabet by sight (working on the sound each letter makes), knows her numbers up to 11 (we try to learn a new number each week), basic colors and shapes, and loves to read with help.
We currently use a little of Before FIAR, the Letter of the Week program, and some Montessori materials (i.e. rice pouring, beans, practical life - helps me keep house, tactile letters, etc.). We do puzzles, nature walks, etc.
Here is what I was looking at by way of "curriculum" material - All from CHC:
* CHC Lesson Plans for Preschool-Kindergarten
* Montessori on a Shoestring: A make-it-yourself Guide to 101 Hands-On Learning Activities
* Mother's Little Helper Cookbook
* Catholic Children's Treasure Box
* Religious Coloring Books
* Pre-Reading: Introductory Letter Practice
* Who Am I? Series - Preschool Workbook A
* Home School Family Fitness
I am wondering who uses (or has used) any of these and your opinions/advice. Should I get it all? Only some to supplement what we are already doing? TIA!!!!
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AndieF
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 11:20am | IP Logged
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I haven't seen Montessori on a Shoestring, but I've heard good things about it.
My gut says to just keep doing what you are doing, although that isn't what I did with my first child when she was 3.
I stumbled on to Montessori when she was 2.5. I got the Hainstock Montessori at Home and David Gettman's Basic Montessori. It overwhelmed me, and I didn't use any "authentic" montessori materials that first year, but gradually started adding things, and now 6 years later, I have most of the "core" Montessori materials that I have either made or bought. My children (and I teach preschool in my home in the mornings) enjoyed using the materials, I'm a fan of the method, and everything.
However, I also think that just doing unstructered, reading, playing, practical life/chores, nature walks, pictures and stories about your faith, and just letting children be a natural part of your day is honestly probably enough education until they are in Kindy or 1st grade.
Andie, mom to dd 9, dd 7, ds 4, and home preschool teacher to 3.
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lovebeingamom
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 1:23pm | IP Logged
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Would anyone use the All Things Catholic: Montessori 3-part cards for teaching a 3 yo?
http://www.chcweb.com/catalog/AllThingsCatholicMontessori3Pa rtCards/product_info.html
What would you recommend by way of "teaching" religion - a way to help me explain and her to understand more about the Catholic faith?
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Mattie
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 2:15pm | IP Logged
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I have used the CHC curriculum with my 2 dds then 3 and 2 and it was great. It help me get at least something done with my dds.
The catholic Treasure boxes are wonderful to read and you can spring from them in so many directions. I just love them!
I did not use the little helper cookbook as much as I thought I would, it was still a little over their heads.
You can't go wrong with coloring books!
The pre-reading and early number books were great, I only used them with the then 3yo and took it very slow.
I was very disappointed in the Who Am I series, it was very tawddlish and more geared to a class setting, in my opinion.
And we still use the Fun Physical Fitness book and have lots of fun with it!
I hope this helps a little bit...
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Mattie
Maman to 4 beautiful mountain kids in CO
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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It sounds we used everything you have listed here (or very similar) - except BFIAR and Letter of the Week - though we did lots and LOTS of reading and exploring things on our own, such that when I finally got my hands on BFIAR, we really did most of it already.
* CHC Lesson Plans for Preschool-Kindergarten
For preschool, I didn't find these too helpful (some activity suggestions), but they have been great as a guide for kindergarten. I did enjoy that the preschool section contains lots of space to fill in what we did do, but I could have put that part together myself. I loved all the extras, and again, the K-en portion is useful now.
* Montessori on a Shoestring: A make-it-yourself Guide to 101 Hands-On Learning Activities
I used Hainstock's books and online Montessori resources. Now I have the AMI training and I don't have any regrets about how we did things before I had the training, even though now I would do things different just because of the training - if that makes sense 
All of the Montessori items have been very helpful - and when my son was the age of your daughter, I had a family day care with whom I did Montessori and I tutored elementary children using both Montessori and CHC.
* Mother's Little Helper Cookbook
We have this and my son loves to make recipes from it. It's on thicker paper, lays flat, etc.
* Catholic Children's Treasure Box
We only have the first few copies of these (picked up at the local Catholic bookstore secondhand) - but they are interesting. I've heard mixed reviews, but my son loves to be read to and the more Catholic content the better!
* Religious Coloring Books
We have several of the St. Joseph ones - along with St. Joseph picture books. My son's favorites are the ones that match one another - he will then sometimes color the same colors and sometimes change things up.
* Pre-Reading: Introductory Letter Practice
I used Little Stories for Little Folks from CHC, supplemented by homemade sandpaper letters. I adapted the CHC instructions and only taught the sounds of the letters rather than the names. (He learned the names later)
* Who Am I? Series - Preschool Workbook A
As someone else, the crafts are twaddly. The teaching however is very very solid and it is the ONLY preschool religious education published curriculum I accept. My son does the workbook pages for fun and some of the craft projects - but he just likes to do those sort of things. Generally what I do is to look online (or on this board!) for different ideas that fit each of the topics. We keep some of the craft projects and just adapt them; others we toss and do something else entirely. You could get the teacher book for this one and NOT the workbooks (which are quite twaddly - and the artwork is terrible). The teacher book is used for preschool A, preschool B and for Kindergarten - so you can adjust it as you see fit.
* Home School Family Fitness
We have "Fun Physical Fitness for the Home" which it seems CHC no longer carries. It's been worth it!
Technically my son should start k-en this coming fall, but he's already started on some components of kindergarten just because of his Montessori experience and his interest level. We finished Who Am I a few months ago and have switched to using "My First Catechism" and "Catholic Mosaic" in addition to our other St. Joseph picture books for religion purposes. Also, my son attends a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium (usually taught by me - we used to have this at home too).
Wow! that sounds like a lot! But it really wasn't as much as it sounds.
I do like the 3-part cards that you mentioned, but I wish they had more items (always my wish!).
Another set of cards to look at is through Living My Faith - Arma Dei.
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Garden of Francis
HS Elementary Montessori Training
Montessori Nuggets
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Rosesinsummer
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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Hello,
I have a 2.5 year old and an almost 5 year old and will be using CHC for Kindergarten with my 5 year old dd this fall! I did look over CHC as a preschool program possibility and decided to go with Little Saints instead, which is a preschool curriculum with a somewhat classical approach.
One caution about Little Saints is that it is a bit labor intensive, as it requires some prep work for the crafts and games. I loved the weekly themes, the fact that it incorporated a letter/number of the week, classical music, and book suggestions for each theme, most of which are available at your local library.
The best way to use Little Saints, in my experience, is with a co-op of a few Catholic families. We did that this past year and it was a great success! The children loved it!! What we did is we had 4 families involved (our children all happened to be 4 years old, but you can use it for 3 year olds, too, with a bit more hands on help from the teacher-parent). We had class for about 1.5-2 hours once per week for all the kids. As parents, we only had to prepare and teach one class per month, which was quite do-able and so much fun!! The kids looked forward to their homeschool "preschool" class with their friends. We also included a montessori type snack activity at the end of the class as a practical life part of the preschool program.
When my dd was age 3, I tried to do Little Saints on my own and wasn't very successful, other than using it as a reference for great children's picture books. Someone more organized and crafty would like to do better with it on their own. I only offer my experience with the small group homeschooling co-op because it was such a success for our group! I would love to do it again (a Little Saints co-op) with my younger dd when she is 4 years old, as it was a really nice "preschool" experience.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 12 2009 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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This is just me, but I would just keep doing exactly what you're doing now! Sure, add the treasure box books (they're a favorite here! - and I use them as the spine of my preschool/Kindergarten religion...I don't buy any other spine or textbook), maybe some more delicious picture books to your collection. But, I wouldn't purchase ANY curriculum at this point. Ok, so just want to underline that this is only my 2 cents. You might really want to try your hand at some of the other stuff/curriculum, but really, if it's working - why change? At 3, they're still so little. Yes, give them some purposeful work to do via Montessori if you're already using that. But beyond that, I find that lots of reading and creative play - painting, cooking, drawing, play-dough/clay, cutting, gluing - is all they need. Too much table time usually equals a frustrated 3 yo in my house.
Think of each year as a natural extension of the one before it. Reflect on what worked just as you did at the beginning of this post. Think about what didn't. And then just extend what you're already doing a little at a time. Extending too much (trying a bunch of new stuff in one fell swoop = frustrated and overwhelmed mommy and 3yo with frustration and boredom waiting for mommy to catch up  I know of what I speak here! )
So based on your list above (and this looks a lot like the year I have planned for my 4yo):
:: Religion - Treasure Box books and Catholic Mosaic if you can swing it.
:: Picture Books/Read Alouds
*****Before FIAR/FIAR - I'd just keep using this great program if you already have it and haven't finished it!
*****Picture Perfect Childhood by our own Cay Gibson . This is a great resource for making your own themes with picture books!
:: Math - lots of counting and sorting with items around the house. Maybe start memorizing days of the week, months of the year. Any 3-6 Montessori work would be great. Write the numerals 0 - 10 on individual index cards and set them out and let her gather the number of items on the card in a little basket...that sort of thing.
:: Language Arts - Consider a moveable alphabet (make your own, or purchase one and starting work with the pink, blue, green series. Just move gently and at her pace. Sometimes little 3yo hands aren't ready to write their letters yet, but little minds already recognize the letters. Using a moveable alphabet allows for manipulation of "a letter" without having to write it in a workbook.
:: Lots of creative play and practical helping...which I'm sure you're already doing. Keep doing it.
Good luck and have fun planning!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 12 2009 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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I'm just going to echo Jennifer. I wanted to "do" more when my son was younger, but really what ended doing was just concentrating on having fun and lots of reading.
Don't sweat it -- enjoy this time!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Lisa in WI
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| Posted: June 16 2009 at 4:55pm | IP Logged
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I had plans to use Little Saints and Saxon K Math when my dd was that age and none of it happened. What we did end up doing was reading lots of good books, teaching dd practical life skills, doing real life math activities, and doing activities from Montessori Read and Write. We also like the Little Acts of Grace/Just Like Mary/The Mass Book for Children series. That was a big hit. DS will be that age this year and we'll be doing the same, though he gets the added benefit of tagging along with big sis.
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Lisa,
mommy to E (9/04), O (3/06), C (1/08), & Baby (due January 2010)
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Preschool Curriculum Advice
