[Wild Lupine]

I got a catalogue for Oak Meadow with a sample of the preschool curriculum in in. The sample was a couple of pages long and seemed rather vague, more their educational philosophy and approach than actual activities. I like their philosophy and approach, but need more information before I commit the fund to buying it

I have some questions for those of you who have the entire curriculum for preschool,

1) Does it has descriptions of actual activities in it?
2) How is math taught? (I tutor in math and am pretty picky about how I would approach it). Do they use manipulatives, for example?
3) What literacy skills does it tend to focus on at this age?

Thanks!

 

[clovermom]

Hi there! I have never heard of Oak Meadow before but saw that you are in NH and have children roughly the same age as mine. We have just committed to homeschooling and are researching philosophies, methods, curriculums, etc. I would love to chat sometime about what you decide and if you are joining any hs groups in the area. Good luck!

 

[skueppers]

I don't have this curriculum, but since you haven't gotten any answers from people who do have it, I thought I would try to answer some of your questions.

Math: I do not believe that they introduce anything that most people would think of as math in the preschool years. For example, numbers are not introduced until K.

Literacy: My impression is that Oak Meadow focuses on having the child listen to stories at this age. They definitely do not introduce the alphabet until K.

I hope that helps in some way!

 

[Wild Lupine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skueppers I don't have this curriculum, but since you haven't gotten any answers from people who do have it, I thought I would try to answer some of your questions. Thanks! Math: I do not believe that they introduce anything that most people would think of as math in the preschool years. For example, numbers are not introduced until K. Maybe I'm a math geek, but it seems like so much can be done at this age, measuring while cooking, finding patterns in nature and making them out of shapes and blocks. I can see not introducing numbers recognition and formal arithmetic until K or later, but I'd like to introduce the ideas of quantity, size, and patterns long before then. Literacy: My impression is that Oak Meadow focuses on having the child listen to stories at this age. They definitely do not introduce the alphabet until K. I also got the idea they had the child tell stories, too, and listen to poetry. This works very well for me. I hope that helps in some way!

Yes, thanks. I might need to think about and detail what I am looking for and see if anyone knows of a curriculum that might fit the bill.

 

[CariOfOz]

I've used Oak Meadow grade 1, so I can give you an idea what they do at that level and it might help a little.

In grade one they introduce letters via 'fairy tales' until later in the year when they start with letter blends. Math is done via gnome stories on a very basic level in grade one, so I wouldnt' expect to find much other than maybe shapes/patterns in preschool/k lvls.

 

[Zuzu822]

I owned this briefly and did not use it for long, basically because it's mostly an idea book (well one is methods and the other is the actual "curriculum" book). It talks about the importance of rhythm and help to establish one and IIRC, the other chapters involve the other various activities a preschool aged child should be engaged in throughout the day: sand play, water play, outside time, painting, music, what types of toys, etc. Oak Meadow has Waldorf foundations and therefore the "preschool" is very gentle and non-academic.

ETA: We are Waldorf inspired and I like the non-academic approach, but I have plenty of similar books which is why I didn't keep Oak Meadow. Just to clarify.