I have used early elementary math curriculum in the past from AOP and we enjoyed it so we were excited to see just what their Preschool Curriculum entailed. When first opening the package, I was overwhelmed at the amount of curriculum that we received! What all was included was:
-2 student books (over 300 pages each!)
-2 teacher manuals (again, over 300 pages each!)
-large loose leaf packet of resource materials and lesson resources (286 pages)
-an audio CD of 17 songs
click on photos to enlarge
The 2 student notebooks contain 180 lessons worth of workbooks pages that are on perforated pages that can be torn out. Many of the pages are printed in bright, full color and involve activities such as tracing, coloring and cutting just to name a few.
The 2 teachers manuals spell out a ton of activities that can be completed each day. I will state that it was obviously from the beginning as I looked over the curriculum, that this set seems to be geared towards a Christian preschool moreso than a single child homeschool. That doesn't mean it can't be used in a homeschool setting, it's just that there are a few things you would need to adapt and do a little differently.
An excerpt from the teachers manual (click on to enlarge)
The teachers manual lists a schedule for each day based on whether you do a full day of preschool or a half day. Either way, there are SO many activities to complete there was just no way we could do them all but this gave us variety and plenty to choose from and the ability to switch it up. Each day varied the generic types of topics covered. Some of these involved:
- Bible Lesson
- Social Studies
- Language Arts
- Phonics
- Reading
- Writing
- Math
- Colors
- Story Time
- Arts & Crafts
- Gym
- Homework
- Music
- Memory Verse
- Health & Safety
The neat thing is within each lesson, the different topics all connected and flowed between each other. The curriculum is broken down into 5 days of lessons each week. On days 1, 3 & 5, new concepts are presented with days 2 & 4 being review days. This worked out well for us to just do 3 lessons a week as I didn't want to overwhelm my daughter. Each day detailed what workbooks pages to have the student complete as well as what lesson resource pages to have ready to accompany the lesson.
During the review period, my daughter worked on learning her letters and tracing them (though this was a review for her as she is already writing most of her alphabet) as well as counting, learning shapes & numbers, matching objects, etc.
The resource packet came in loose pages. Many of these cards would be great to laminate to use as flash cards for the student. I wanted to keep them all organized so I 3 hole punched the pages and put them in a binder. I would've liked a tab to separate the resource material and lesson resources so I stuck a sticky tab between the 2 to make it easier to find. Sometimes when lessons called for a certain page, it was hard to find and would've been made easier if the teacher manual had included a page number to locate the page faster.
A few pages from the lesson resource pages
How we used it:
Because there is just SO much material to cover, I picked things out each day that I knew my daughter would enjoy. We read the Bible lesson and then worked on a few activities, making sure we did each lesson student workbook pages as that was important to her. Sometimes we referenced the extra resource pages but it all depended on what it was covering as some of the lessons were more review for her.
Olivia working on a lesson (notice she already knows how to write her name!)
I really did appreciate how the teachers manual had SO much laid out for you in the beginning. It stated which songs you would use with each lesson, several pages worth of reading book suggestions as well as a list of supplies needed for each week. Also listed at a glance was the memory verse for each week and the lyrics to all the songs on the CD.
This preschool program is well thought out and has exceptionally detailed lesson plans as well as prep plans. It more than enough for a homeschool preschooler and would be full of plans for a traditional brick and mortar preschool program!
No comments
I enjoy hearing from each & every one of you! Thanks for taking the time to comment. :)