I bought Princess her own homeschool curriculum. She loves sitting at the table when her brother does his school work so I thought she would love having her own school work to do. In the past I've let her color, do puzzles, and we'd read books if it wasn't too distracting. My son and I LOVED My Father's World Kindergarten when we went through it a few years ago. If my son didn't attend a part-time private school, we would probably be going through 1st grade this year.
My Father's World (MFW) has a new curriculum for 2s and 3s called All Aboard the Animal Train. In December I was able to get it for 10% off but wanted to wait until she turned two to begin. We bought the deluxe package and I hope to buy new student sheets and go through it again when Blue Knight is older.
When we got the curriculum in the mail, Princess was so excited to see everything in the box and wanted to start reading some of the books right then! She was happy to see a few books we already own as well such as Goodnight Gorilla. After we read a few books I put it away until I was ready to start. I'll be documenting our units.
MFW recommends this program for older 2s and 3s unless your child is able to sit through stories and is at a certain developmental state. Princess is. She is already comprehending longer books and can color pretty well for a newly turned two year old. I think having an older sibling helps. Also this program is very basic, it only goes up to number 5 and she can count to 10 consistently and has counted higher than that. She also knows some letters and all of her colors. So again, this is mostly for fun adding some educational and character traits in there.
A few reasons I decided to buy this was that I LOVE how each unit focuses on a character trait, color, and an animal. There are four different activities you do each day. (1) Clean Up and Together Time; (2) Story Time; (3) Surprise Time; and (4) Outside Time. It includes spiritual growth, cognitive development, reading and math, science, music, and physical development.
This is how I organized My Father's World All Aboard the Animal Train 2s and 3s. I had an old stand alone filing folder that I emptied out. I put each until in a separate folder. There are two units. We will go as fast or slow as we need to. I stored the teacher's manual in the front and will add some construction paper in the back along with scissors, the paint, and crayons. I'll also add the books for each until before we start and gather other ones that have to do with the unit in there as well.
Since I homeschool Caden, three days a week, it seems like a good portion of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is made up of doing and getting school work done. Grace has wanted to participate. She's enjoyed coloring and reading books. However, I wanted something more to do with her. I discovered that My Father's World had a new preschool for 2s and 3s program. It's call All Aboard the Animal Train. While they suggest it more for older 2 and 3 year olds, it is perfect for my newly turned 2 year old. She LOVES books, retains the information well, can sit and pay attention for a good amount of time, and has a willingness to learn. I wanted to wait until after her birthday to start it and have found it to be perfect! Also I loved going through My Father's World Kindergarten with Caden when he was 4. He still has memories of some of the fun activities we did.
There are 12 units that are part of the All Aboard the Animal Train. Each unit takes 3 weeks to complete if you are going straight through it. We do not do school everyday, so it will probably take us a month to complete each unit. There are four different activities to do each day: 1. Clean Up and Together Time; 2. Story Time; 3. Surprise Time (she gets to pick one surprise activity/game each day); and 4. Outside Time.
