I hesitated posting this today. I don't want anyone to think that what we're doing with our 4-year-old for school this year is what they should be doing with theirs. Neither do I want anyone to feel as though I'm trying to "cover my back" so the powers that be know we're doing "enough." Nevertheless, homeschool Moms love to glean from each other and it's good to do due diligence and be aware of the various teaching methods and curriculum available. So here's a general idea of what I'm hoping to work through with our four-year-old daughter this year.
Our number one goal in our children's education is to stress the importance of their salvation and the development of Christ-like character. We consider this more crucial than academics (notice I didn't say academia is not important!) because, as Douglas Phillips said:
"If you try to give people knowledge, and you haven't trained them in character, based on faith, they will become intellectual reprobates."To that end, you'll notice a heavy emphasis on Scripture memorization through different methods, Bible-based curricula, and classical read-alouds that reinforce life principles from Proverbs.
Memory work.
Our goal each week is to memorize 1 Psalter, 1 verse from Proverbs for Parenting, and 2 Q&A's from The Mother's Catechism.
Proverbs For Parenting. This is a wonderful tool put together by Barbra Decker to aid in the discipling of our children. She has categorized the Proverbs into chapters that deal with particular sins like selfishness, lying, anger, ungratefulness, etc. If we notice our children are struggling in a specific area, we focus on memorizing proverbs that correspond to their behavior and learning what God says we must do about it.
A Mother's Catechism. I wish I could reference this resource for you, but these ancient Presbyterian catechisms are nearly impossible to come by. However, I'm giving away 15 copies (yes, you read that right) at the end of this post so be sure to enter! It's the Westminster Shorter Catechism made even shorter so that our 2 and 4 year old are perfectly capable of memorizing the questions and answers. This is a great way for them to learn sound biblical doctrine that we pray will stick with them for life.
The Psalter. The Psalter, simply put, is the Book of Psalms for singing. It's a tremendous way for small children to memorize the Psalms. They are set to choral music and we sing the same one after each meal for one week. By then, it is memorized and Charity is allowed to choose two or three to sing again before bedtime. This is the same book we use in Church and our children love it when the pastor has chosen one they are able to sing along with.
Rod & Staff Preschool Curriculum
I absolutely love the Rod & Staff Preschool Curriculum. My mom used it with me two decades ago and I was tickled to see the workbooks hadn't changed at all in the last twenty years. I have fond memories of coloring, cut and paste, and singing jingles to help remember how letters and numbers are formed:
A straight line down and then you're done. This is how to make a one! Around and back on a railroad track! Two, two, two! Around and tree and around a tree; this is how to make a three!
Charity is a typical girly-girl and loves doing crafts, so this curriculum is perfect for her since it involves a lot of crayons, scissors, and glue-sticks! I've heard from other Moms that generally speaking, boys don't do as well with this curriculum because they lack the patience, interest, and fine motor skills at this age to find enjoyment in using all those things.
The set includes six workbooks and a Bible Story book complete with questions and answers. For $21.95 you can hardly go wrong!
1) Adventures with Books: This book aims to teach neatness and carefulness, how to follow simple directions (match with lines, circle, underline, cross out or mark with an 'X'), recognize colors and how to color correctly, practice cutting and pasting, drawing with lines and circles, regonize shapes, and practice words meanings (alike, different, left, right, big, small).
2) Bible Pictures to Color: This book includes 60 coloring pages that correspond to the Bible stories in Bible Stories to Read. Each story includes three questions and answers and a short memory verse.
3) Counting with Numbers: This book teaches your child to identify and write the numbers 1 to 10 and explains what they mean. It also teaches number sequence and basic math concepts like more (greater than) less (fewer than), same (equal to), first, last, empty (zero), full (whole), and one-half.
4) Do it Carefully: This book teaches discriminating shapes, letters, a few sight words, writing letters and your child's name, as well as several consanant blends.
5) Everywhere We Go: This book is basically a review of what has been taught in the previous four. It also introduces character concepts like personal responsibility and courtesy and observations about animals, birds, plants and children that live in different parts of the world.
6) Finding the Answers: This book concentrates on developing critical thinking skills through rhymes, sequence, understanding sentence meanings, making comparisons and associations, learning to follow multiple directions, considering the senses, and gathering supplies to make or repair objects.
Read-alouds One of Charity's favorite things to do is curl up next to me on the couch and have a story read to her (I guess that's probably on the list of every child's Favorite Things To Do, isn't it? :-). We're working our way through the Miller Family Stories, also published by Rod & Staff.
I love these books because the stories are so relatable and each one emphasizes a biblical principle or proverb in a way a child can easily understand. The four Miller children grow up in a Christian home and have experiences very similar to ours. They struggle with obedience, slothfulness, bad influences, lying, snooping into other people's business, gossip, and several other battles we face daily. Each situation is ultimately resolved with an experience that brings sobering consequences or the direction of a parent that leads the children to choose what is right in God's eyes.
Charity is fascinated with pioneers at the moment, so we're reading through Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Series. Once we are finished the set, we plan to dress up and pay a visit to a pioneer heritage village in our area.
To help expand Charity's vocabulary, I like to read her old English classics such as the stories by Beatrix Potter. This is a fun way to discover big words like "presently," "twitched," and "puzzled," and understand their meanings based on the context in which they are written. A Beatrix Potter Treasury is a fantastic collection of her most famous stories including the tales of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-duck, and Benjamin Bunny.
Copywork
Charity's fine motor skills aren't quite where they need to be to begin learning cursive, but when she gets there, we'll start by using the set of printables I developed earlier this week based on the 1777 New England Primer.
The 1777 New England Primer Cursive Printable Alphabet Set includes 26 Scripture passages to correspond with each letter of the alphabet as well as the biblical ditties used by the Puritans to help enforce the Gospel message in the tender hearts of our children while they learn to write. You can purchase the entire volume for $2.99 here.
If you have any questions about any of the materials or where to get them (I've included links to most of the resources), feel free to ask! If you're interested in receiving a copy of A Mother's Catechism, enter below for your chance to win 1 of 15 I have available to give away.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
In the interest of full disclosure, I was not compensated in any way for my review of Rod and Staff Curriculum The opinions expressed are strictly my own. Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission. I only recommend products I use personally. Your purchases through these links help support Growing Home. Thank you for your continued support!
Linking to: Raising Homemakers, Deep Roots At Home, Raising Arrows, Time Warp Wife, Far Above Rubies, A Wise Woman., Hip Homeschool Moms, Living and Learning at Home, Walking Redeemed, The Better Mom, The Modest Mom, A Mama's Story, The Focused Homemaker, Home Grown Learners, iHomeschool,
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