Pre-K at Home

As I am committed to the Charlotte Mason method for our home, I was so excited to find a Pre-K curriculum that is literature-based and includes many living books and hands-on materials and activities to build a strong foundation.

This is a sponsored post for Sonlight. I was compensated for this review, but wasn’t required to share a positive opinion. These are all my honest thoughts about this product.

When looking for a curriculum for our homeschool, there a few very important factors for me that fit into what I believe aligns with a Charlotte Mason at-home education.

Sonlight’s Pre-K Exploring God’s Word program offers all of that criteria in my opinion. That would be:

• Living Books
• Short lessons ( to help with the habit of attention)
• Hands-on activities
• Readiness Skills

In the early years, I don’t want a curriculum that is too long, hard to put together, or difficult to plan. The Sonlight Pre-K curriculum comes with a box of all the living books needed PLUS complete lesson plans and teaching tips.

I believe it’s important to not only have the right curriculum but to also build a relationship along the way. Sonlight curriculum offers the opportunity to learn right next to me in a fun, relaxing way.

This program is perfect for homes that want to incorporate short lessons to build the habit of attention. This Sonlight program only took about 20-30 minutes of our day for 4 days per week. We used the 5th day for a nature/outside day.

A Complete Curriculum

There is nothing else needed to add when you use Sonlight Pre-K. The full kit includes:

• A Teachers Guide
• Literature
• Language Arts ( beginning phonics, which I love!)
• And hands-on math beads, sensory letters, and numbers on a textured surface

Once I received my box, I had everything I needed to open and go.

I put the included instructor’s guide into a binder, it was already 3-hole punched and ready to go.

Literature-Based Curriculum

The literature in the Pre-K curriculum is what I love the most. From Dr. Seuss to Berenstain Bears, we loved it all.

Being a Charlotte Mason home educator, I put a lot of value into the quality of books we read. I want the subject to come alive to my child and offer them excellent ideas to ponder through literature.

Sonlight’s Pre-K program offers a whole stack of books through the 36-week program to give children a feast of ideas all year.

Quality Content

Each book included is rich in stories, vocabulary, and ideas.

For instance, “The Children’s Book of Virtues” is a storybook adapted from Aesop’s Fables to Native American and African folklore and combines timeless stories and poems from all over the world. These stories inspire good character like: Faith, courage, discipline, loyalty, and friendship.

In the early years, it’s important to introduce reading as a delightful activity, this early introduction helps children develop the habit of reading. Charlotte Mason said:

“The most common and the monstrous defect in the education of the day is that children fail to acquire the habit of reading.”

Charlotte Mason

Reading quality literature to children at a young age gives them a great opportunity to learn to love reading and build the habit of reading. Sonlight’s Pre-K program gives you everything needed to build the habit of reading into a child’s life.

Early Phonics Introduction

With each new letter of the week, we learned the phonetic sound. Also, the alphabet letter tiles included in the kit are textured to make a hands-on connection with each sound. This method is inline with Montessori’s philosophy: “What the hand does, the mind remembers” ~ Maria Montessori

So when we learned the letter ” J” my daughter would trace the “J” tile with her finger and say “Juh” at the same time. We love this about the program. I noticed my daughter had an easier time paying attention when using the textured tiles and having fun going through them.

This early phonics instruction is fun… exactly what it should be at this age.

Lesson Plan Layout

We enjoyed the 4 days per week lesson plans. Instead of feeling like we were behind if we missed a day with a typical 5-day per week schedule, the 4-day plan works out wonderfully.

In a typical week we did the lessons Monday-Thursday and used Friday as a nature study day. This works extremely well for a Charlotte Mason-style homeschool. My daughter loved this schedule as well, and looked forward to her lessons in this format.

For busy families that want an easy, open, and go curriculum without losing quality, check out Sonlight’s Pre-K Exploring God’s Word program.