My son has been like that... He knew his letters and sounds before he was 2, from watching SuperWhy! (while I was collapsed on the couch dealing with morning sickness.) So when he was 3, and "reading" everything he saw letter by letter, I wanted something a little more structured for him. We were also just bored, since we stay at home every day.
After doing tons of research, I made the plunge and started our "official" homeschool journey. Here's a summary of what we have tried, in the order in which we tried them.
1. Sonlight P3/4
I love books so I wanted to get this for my son! I tried to cut costs by purchasing about half the books in this core, but now I wish I had bought them all (since I think that if I ever purchase the rest of it, I'll end up spending much more in the long run).
These are the books/materials we purchased: 20th Century Children's Book Treasury, A First Book of Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics, The Usborne Flip-Flap Body Book, What Do People Do All Day?, Mighty Mind, Teddy Mix and Match
What we liked: We love all the story book and fairy tale collections! (but... see below). Teddy Mix and Match and Mighty Mind are also a success, although Mighty Mind requires adult supervision if it's not to be eaten by a younger sibling, become projectiles, or become lost.
What we didn't like: I don't like the ending of the Little Mermaid story in the First Book of Fairy Tales (I edit the ending), and the Harper Collins collection is a HUGE book and not easy for a child to carry around and read (although I'm happy with the full sized illustrations!). The Flip Flap Body Book seems more appropriate for an older child (perhaps 4 or 5 year old?).
Verdict: Success! (although we didn't try ALL the books)
2. My Father's World Toddler Package
Since I wanted to try My Father's World in the future, I decided to try out their toddler package which I hoped would help my son with sorting, classifying, colors, shapes, and motor skills.
What we liked: These are fun! Even I like to sit down and play with them. These toys are sturdy, colorful, and educational.
What we didn't like: The activities were too simple for my son. Although he enjoys playing with the toys, he loses interest after a few minutes. I wish we had gotten the preschool package instead, although now my almost 2 year old loves playing with these!
Verdict: So-so (my son could have used the preschool package instead, but this is excellent for a 2 year old!)
3. Heart of Dakota: Little Hands to Heaven
This looked like such a sweet program! But it was WAY too simple for my 3 year old! We were both bored with it and ditched it after I made us go through with it for about two weeks. I still think this is a good program, but I think it would be better suited for a 2 year old.
What we liked: The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes and Big Thoughts for Little People (I had these when I was a little girl! Maybe that's why I love them so much!)
What we didn't like: Most of the activities and The Singing Bible. This music drove me crazy. I didn't care for the music, the lyrics, or the voices. Yep. That pretty much sums it up.
Verdict: Failure (for our 3 year old)
4. Rod and Staff Preschool ABC books
I had heard a lot about these workbooks, and they were cheap so I decided to try them. There was only one problem: my son didn't have the fine motor skills to do workbooks yet. We spent a year working on the first book, doing a page over several days. I also learned that my son got frustrated when his lines weren't "perfect." So these books showed me what a little perfectionist my son is, and how in the future I'll have to watch that he doesn't give up when something becomes too tough.
What we liked: My son just wasn't ready to use these to the fullest, so we just pulled them out whenever he asked for them. As the year progressed, my son learned to hold a pencil correctly (when reminded frequently) and he became so excited when he was able to draw a line "all by myself!"
What we didn't like: My son became frustrated whenever we tried to do too much (we could only do about a page every couple of days). But that was because of his maturity level.
Verdict: So-so (for my 3 year old's motor skills)
5. Sonlight P4/5
After our failure with Heart of Dakota and success with the Sonlight books, we decided to try more Sonlight books and go with the next core!
What we liked: I loved most of the books.
What we didn't like: These books were over my son's head! The suggested age range is 4-5, and I think that's about right! My son couldn't sit through these books at the beginning of the school year, so I sold the set I had purchased. (By the end of the school year he was sitting through long stories, so I repurchased the core for next year, and I'm excited about using them!) There are also a few stories from Stories from Around the World and one story from the Children's Book of Virtues that I'm planning to leave out (due to references to gods/goddesses and North American Indian spirituality.)
Verdict: So-so (Failure for a 3 year old, but I'm planning to try again in the fall with a 4 year old)
By mid-year, I had finished with my experimenting and stuck with what worked: reading lots of stories, listening to fun music, coloring, and playing with play dough.
Do you have any initial homeschool curriculum failures?
Love this! We have the MFW toddler pack and the preschool pack, and I agree, the first one is best suited for a 2-year-old. Perfect for younger siblings who need some of their own school while their older sibling has some one-on-one attention.
ReplyDeleteWe own some Sonlight books from the first two levels and some books we flat out didn't like, some I didn't think were appropriate, and some were good. I previewed several from the library from the 4/5 core, and just didn't like them enough to want to pursue Sonlight for this level.
I had a similar reaction as you did to the HOD preschool. I borrowed the guide from a friend and while I liked some of it in theory, in practice it just wouldn't work for us. But then I decided that I didn't WANT to do anything formal-ish like that with my 2yo. Just being 2 is fine with me!
I own Before Five in a Row and Peak With Books, but we haven't done much with these yet. I'd like to give them another try soon.
Might be too late for your oldest child, but my son really liked the Kumon First Steps workbooks. They were a perfect introduction to the fine motor skill workbook activities, and we started them very gradually. He still has pages in most of the series to do as he'd like, and since time has elapsed and he's had practice with these skills in other areas, it's a big confidence boost.
We have some of the toys from Timberdoodle, and some were hits and some were misses.
For us, too, just plain reading stories without attached activities, coloring, playing...these were the winners. I *knew* that from the experts, but of course I am a compulsive curriculum junkie and had to see that for myself :)
We're also doing MFWK and in theory I will start later this year when he's 4.5-4.75 or so? But with a baby due this fall that may go flying out the window. We'll see.
I'd like to do MFWK, and then perhaps HOD, and then either back to MFW for 1st or staying with HOD depending on how we liked them.
I love your reviews!! It makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not the only one that has jumped around a lot! In the beginning of the "school year" (August) I had a 4 year old that we were doing preschool with and I had bought this program that I thought would be awesome. The problem was, it was SOOOO time consuming! I had not time to sit and do everything with him (I also have a 2nd grader, and a toddler). So that quickly went out the window and I began finding things online to print for him to work on along with Kumon books. And then in January I began doing a totally separate program! :) Next year thought its MFWK for us!!
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