[kittie313]

Before I go ANY further, I need to say this. I am ONLY buying a program for her because she sees her two biggest sisters doing daily schoolwork and SHE wants to do it too. She's starting to learn her letters and such through play and activities, but she doesn't see that stuff as "schoolwork" because she wants worksheets like her sisters. So the H told me that I can take money, as much as necessary, to get her something that will satisfy her need for worksheets for the school year. I plan to add it to our Sonlight cores P3/4 and P4/5 that we already have and are doing happily with her and her 2yo sister, so I don't want overwhelming. Here's the programs I'm considering for her:

Horizons preschool
A Beka K4 (manuscript)
Calvert pre-K
LifePacs K (I've seen how basic they are)

I also fully intend to add Handwriting Without Tears pre-k level to the mix for her and her little sister (little sis will do copies of the aim and scribble pages plus the motor development activities until she is ready to start tracing, probably at least 6 months) The HWT is NOT negotiable, we love the program so much after having awesomely mind-blowing results with it with our dd in K (motor delayed child who was unable to finger-feed herself at almost 4yo is now learning to tie her shoes at 5 1/2yo and has mastered riding a bike this past summer, major improvements) So, that's where I stand. I am open to other ideas as well if you have any (and we are considering HOD's youngest level as a daily "circle time" to warm up our 4 kids all to daily lessons for fun instead of doing Sonlight)

 

[Momma Aimee]

subbing

 

[philia]

We are doing Abecka 4 year old manuscript and other Abecka books, Berry Best preschool program, Handwriting Without Tears( but not the mat man part), Reading Eggs, and I am purchasing the K kit from Memoria press in a couple of months to have for next year because it is at a low rate right now. I am using their book list for K but getting a few at a time through Amazon or the library. I bought some of the books that were on the Sonlight list. I use printables from preschoolexpress.com. I mix it all up because I get bored doing the same stuff. Berry best is great to have on hand and I use it with my three year old also. You can try it for a month. I was not impressed with Calvert by looking at their site. I am always looking for the next new best thing but what I have mentioned are the one's I like best. For classes we take, Tennis, Music Together, Spanish, art class at the museum, and preschool story time at the library. le tme know if you try anything different and like it a lot. I am looking for a spanish computer program for Prek if you know of any. I love readingeggs.com above everything. it is worth every penny.

 

[cappuccinosmom]

We liked Calvert.

If she is already familiar with her letters, and has basic writing skills, I'd skip K4 and do K5. More worksheets and stuff to do.

 

[onyxravnos]

personally i'm not thrilled with Calvert pre-K for my ds at 2 1/2 he either already knew everything in it or it was group games or such which we just couldn't do. there are a FEW things that we used that were challenging for him but really nothing we couldn't of done without the program.

i rather like sonlight as well and if you want to add in some worksheets berry best is ... okay but there is also Carol's Affordable Curriculum which is similar but i prefer.

 

[kittie313]

She is just starting to learn her letter names and sounds, and we've not started writing at all yet. I was planning on both of those skills being mastered this upcoming school year, along with maybe beginning reading. She can count to 10 but doesn't know her numbers by sight, although she can do rhyming, colors, shapes, and left/right. I don't want anything too rigorous for her, I would rather build her confidence at this age and introduce beginning printing and such since she is only 4. We'll be following it up with the k12 school probably with her just like her big sisters are doing now (we want to go independent but realize that financially it just isn't going to happen most likely, and the k12 school works well for us) so anything at all that we do with her this school year will be just getting her ahead of the curriculum, she doens't need to know anything at all (the curriculum starts from the very beginning)

 

[kgianforti]

I think I typed about Horizons PreK before. It's a very nice and full package. You don't need to get the multimedia package of you don't want to. It definitely starts at the beginning (Letter A and Number 1). There are a variety of actitivies to do and some that you complete in one lesson and will need a few lessons down the road. Depending on the amount of activities you want to do decides how much prep work. It's very colorful - the workbook pages. And it covers every subject.

We also used Carol's Affordable Curriculum when we first started out (we used the Son Shine package). We started it half way through the year so I had to double up numbers and letter lessons on my own - it still wasn't enough for my dd. I had to supplement like crazy with it. I think it's a fun "beginner" curriculum that really helped me get used to home schooling though. But I don't see how a 4 year old will get very much out of it.

Good luck and let us know what you go with!!

 

[ariekannairb]

I wouldnt purchase a curriculum unless you are just really wanting to. I think maybe sticking with stuff you can find on the internet or small books like a Pre-K bridge book, dot to dots, mazes, color by numbers, and so on is a good idea. My 4 year old was the same as yours, very eager to start, and doing those things satisfied that for her. We did Abeka and the Abeka PreK looks very similar to the Abeka K so it seemed a bit of a waste to me to buy the preK.

 

[AAK]

My four year old is currently using Singapore EB A and Explode the Code's earlier set. "Get Ready for the Code". I ordered them simply so she had "school" to do while her sisters were doing their stuff. We also have a kumon book that she uses to practice cutting skills--she cuts four squares out of a paper and then rearranges them to become a picture. Kind of a simple puzzle. So, it isn't a curriculum, but it wasn't expensive and it satisfies her need/desire.

Amy

 

[Reebekah]

just want to share what i'm doing with my 4 yr old:

• sonlight p3/4 (soon to start p4/5)
• explode the code (ready set go for now)
• singapore earlybird math (a, then b soon)
• handwriting without tears (pre-k...and i have k waiting for when he's ready)
• lots of library books
• kumon workbooks (cutting right now)
• i also liked the Curriculum of Basic Skills workbook (bought on amazon)..he worked his way thru that thick book and learned a lot
• if i need a worksheet or a simple craft, there are tons online...a fav. is the dltk website

 

[kgianforti]

Check out your Dollar Tree...there are all sorts of workbooks there for a $1 - they are 32 pages long but all sorts of different characters (Sesame Street, Disney, etc).