I’m a firm believer of learning through play and have always tried my best to engage and play with my littles. I have also fallen for the shiny picture worthy pinterest crafts and activities for quite a while. I pushed myself harder each year to make all those accessible for my kids and I was successful in some way. But at the end all we had was some overwhelming and tiring days and a drained out mom.
So to put an end to that I want to try a different learning approach. As I’m experimenting minimalism in my life and possessions I wanted to try something simple and practical lessons for her too. I’m also tired of searching and figuring out which activity to do each and every day. So my best bet is to invest on a curriculum that won’t break the bank but will have all the lesson plans laid out for me. After much thought and search over the internet we found out The peaceful preschool curriculum which I thought might be a good fit for us. They offer letter A week trial to see if it works for your family.
I purchased the full curriculum after going through the trial unit as I felt it resonated with what I wanted for my kids. To tell the truth the lessons looked super simple and plain that I was skeptical in the beginning. So I had to do two weeks of trial to convince myself before pouring myself into it.
But then I realized there’s a reason why this curriculum is named so and rated high.The carefully chosen books , simple phonics and math activities with no worksheets , process art skills and the practical life skills in each unit made me fallen in love with this curriculum. The real catch is that planning the lesson is a cake walk. The simple supply list and activities designed using materials found around house make it economical. You won’t need thousand other things to finish a project or activity which sounds bliss to any busy moms.
Now all it takes for me is hardly an hour over the weekend to prep for the upcoming lessons. Having all the supplies and lesson plans ready at one place is a dream come true when you’re juggling many other responsibilities at home.
Planning the lessons
I purchased the soft copy of TPP and hence I have to print them out. Rather than bundle print them I take the weekly grid and detailed lessons every weekend and hole punch them into my mead file folder.
As I mentioned above I was an avid pinner and love all those fun hands on activities in Pinterest/ Instagram. I still plan to sneak in some of the letter of the week activities we done in past into our lesson plan. After all who can say no to simple hands on fun activities. So next I write down the activities I want to do with her into my planner book I’ve got from target dollar spot with a pencil. Yes with a pencil!! I always use pencil and that way I can make changes later on if something new comes up or if any tweaks are needed in between. Most of the activities will be from the TPP weekly grid along with some fun activities from Pinterest/Instagram or our own version of hands on activities .
As you can see I have merged Fine motor and gross motor skills into Motor skills. This is because we spend a lot of time outside and many of those large motor skills would be covered naturally. But if I see anything interesting I will definitely include it in our plan.
After having the plan ready I go around the house and collect all the necessary items needed for the week and place them into a basket. That way I need not run around last minute to grab the supplies rather focus on the lessons and be present with my kids.
Apart from the supplies list for each unit I have these always near us while doing the course. I store most of them in our 10 drawer rainbow cart.
Art/Craft Supplies
- Crayons
- Dot markers
- Felt pens
- Glitter shakers
- Washable Tempera paint
- Watercolors
- Watercolor paper
- Cardstock
- Stickers
- Paint brushes and palette
- Playdough
- Salt writing tray
- School glue / Glue Stick
- Scissors
Activity Supplies
- Manipulatives for math
- Clear divided tray for sorting
- Plastic tray for crafts
- Alphabet Stamps
- DIY moveable alphabet
- Tweezers /spoons
- Clear Mason Jars
Supplemental Activities
I’m a Christian by belief and my kids knowing God during these tender years is important to me. Hence I focus on some bible studies and memory verses too for each unit. Here’s what I have in our devotional basket.
I also plan to use some supplemental resources while doing each unit ( blame my traditional learning mindset) which I have listed below. I’ve promised myself I will not push my kid to do it all and let her choose any of these hands on worksheets on a daily basis. And if she don’t want to do them it’s perfectly fine too!!