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 we’ve chosen for our pre-kindergarten curriculum 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 it’s been 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. It’s basically 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.
The set includes six workbooks and a Bible Story book complete with questions and answers. For $21.95 you can hardly go wrong!
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.