Name: What Curriculum Should I Use For My 4 Year Old?
Brand: thehomeschoolmom.com
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What Curriculum Should I Use For My 4 Year Old?

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Recently on TheHomeSchoolMom's Facebook page someone asked for recommendations for her soon to be 4-year-old. It took me back to when I had a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old and had recently decided to homeschool.
I. Was. So. Excited.
What curriculum should I use? (I bought KONOS and timeline figures and a gazillion Usborne books.) How should we schedule our days? (I carefully scheduled every moment of our days and then proceeded to never once use the schedule.) I made lesson plans and felt organized and believed that my kids were going to get the best education ever. And honestly, we had great fun with some of the activities - but none of it was better than what we could have done by just living and playing.
So after all these years (my kids are now grown and flown), what curriculum would I suggest for a 4 year old?
None.
The work of a 4-year-old is play. Studies show that play is how children learn. Take this time to engage your child. There will be plenty of time for setting and meeting goals later should you choose to do that (unschoolers look at goals differently), but now is the time for play.
Jump to:
Here is my suggested "curriculum" for a 4-year-old (or 5-year-old or 6-year-old) that will help them develop vital skills, build your relationship with them, and give them the hooks that they need to hang later learning on:
Jeanne shared this in response to a question that we commonly see in homeschooling groups on Facebook.
New homeschooler of littles this fall. What school supplies will I need to stock up on?”&nbsp;
Responses poured in on the Facebook group, from notebooks and #2 pencils to laminators and laser printers.
I love school and office supplies as much as the next person, but my mind went elsewhere.
Here are the “just starting out” school supplies I wouldn’t want to do without for preschool through early elementary:
After twenty years of homeschooling, I can safely say that would get me through a few grades. What “less common” school supplies would you recommend to new homeschoolers? Make a list and post it on your homeschool group on social media. Save the children from a monolithic avalanche of #2 pencils!
~ Jeanne
Let Bernie "Blue" DeKoven's free ebook A Playful Path inspire you to embrace playfulness with your children. As game designer and fun theorist, DeKoven created a book that is "jam-packed with awesomeness" says Laura Grace Weldon. "It's made up of tools and ideas to inspire the possibility-building, wide-open glory of playfulness."
The free ebook is available from DeKoven's website; a paperback copy can be purchased through Lulu.
Defending the Early Years and Alliance for Childhood have issued a report "Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose" showing that there is no scientific evidence that early reading makes for better readers in the long term. You can find a summary of the report in this PDF file.

Recently on TheHomeSchoolMom's Facebook page someone asked for recommendations for her soon to be 4-year-old. It took me back to when I had a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old and had recently decided to homeschool.
I. Was. So. Excited.
What curriculum should I use? (I bought KONOS and timeline figures and a gazillion Usborne books.) How should we schedule our days? (I carefully scheduled every moment of our days and then proceeded to never once use the schedule.) I made lesson plans and felt organized and believed that my kids were going to get the best education ever. And honestly, we had great...

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Mary Ann Kelley

thehomeschoolmom.com

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What Curriculum Should I Use For My 4 Year Old?

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