Our Preschool Homeschool Curriculum for 2021-2022

Today I’m sharing our preschool homeschool curriculum choices for the 2021-2022 school year. And I’m not going to lie, as a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, I kind of thought I was done writing preschool curriculum posts.

But here we are.

When my oldest was a preschooler, we did all the things. I was SO EXCITED to begin homeschooling that I jumped in and started when Mr. Seven was only 4 years old. We had beautiful, structured, jam-packed mornings full of lessons and playing and read alouds.

It really was a beautiful thing.

But it only felt possible because at the time, he was the only one I was teaching. Mr. Five was only 2 years old then, and he joined in most of our activities in some way or another. I wasn’t trying to juggle one in formal lessons, one in preschool, and one still a toddler. So that first year was a breeze.

Along the way, though, I became a Charlotte Mason homeschooling mama. And while we’re not totally “purists,” I do stick as closely to her methods and principles as absolutely possible. So with my second (middle) child, I was determined NOT to do preschool in any formal capacity. He would learn by-the-way and I would protect these quiet growing years before formal lessons begin at 6 years old.

But he begged. And pleaded. And just absolutely wanted to do school like his big brother.

WHY I DECIDED TO USE A PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM THIS YEAR

So I read up on how to do some pre-literacy and gentle math activities the Charlotte Mason way, and attempted to make sure we stuck to that. No worksheets and no schedule. Just a lot of reading living books together; very gently introducing the alphabet; and spending loads of time outdoors, doing nature studies, and counting everything.

But honestly, the last half of last year (when we moved) and the first half of this year didn’t work out as well for us as I’d hoped. All of last semester, I struggled with the amount of prep time it took to even just gather materials for Mr. Five’s activities on top of prepping for Mr. Seven’s Form 1A lessons and keeping my 2-year-old busy and content.

So I was inconsistent, and honestly, I felt a lot of mom guilt, because I knew what he really wanted was my one-on-one time.

A couple of months into the school year, I finally figured out how to keep my 2-year-old content during lessons (read about how the “buddy system” saved my sanity), but I still couldn’t quite figure out how to get everything ready for everybody every single day. So I was often scrambling, trying to find materials for Mr. Five’s lessons…and falling short.

And isn’t that the worst feeling?

Over Christmas break, I broke down and cried to my husband, telling him I was overwhelmed by trying to do it all. It honestly wouldn’t have been as hard if Mr. Five were in formal lessons, I argued, because then we’d have a structured schedule and I’d know what to do each day.

Instead, I was wrestling with the whole concept of “no formal lessons before six” and what our day-to-day reality actually looked like.

I needed structure.

And I needed something to tell me what to do.

I needed a preschool curriculum.

CHOOSING A PRESCHOOL HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM

I am not even kidding when I say this, I went back and read my own blog post from last year called Why It’s Okay to Use a Homeschool Preschool Curriculum. I needed to remind myself that it was okay to use something more structured for homeschool preschool; that our year can still be beautiful, gentle, and full of play, snuggles, and living books even with a more formal curriculum.

So, I went back through all of the preschool curricula I’ve collected since Mr. Seven was that age. For his preschool year, we’d used A Year of Playing Skillfully, The Good and the Beautiful Preschool, and Preschool Math at Home.

• I still have and still LOVE A Year of Playing Skillfully (read my full review HERE). In fact, my plan all year long has been to go through this curriculum with Mr. Five, because it’s SOOOOO good. But honestly, I just haven’t been organized or consistent enough to make it happen yet (though I’m still hopeful).

• I did not like The Good and The Beautiful Preschool for a number of reasons.

• I have and have been using Preschool Math at Home with Mr. Five all year, and I highly recommend this thin little book for your homeschool.

• I also have the Gentle + Classical Preschool Teacher’s Guide, which is beautiful and full of fantastic ideas and suggestions for a gentle preschool year. We do use it for its excellent book recommendations, but this year I just felt like I needed something even simpler than that.

FINDING THE RIGHT PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM

So it was kind of back to the drawing board. I researched and researched, scouring the web for something that was

✓ Easy
✓ Gentle
✓ Open-and-go (like, 5 minutes of prep MAX)
✓ A mix of worksheets and hands-on activities
✓ Nature-filled
✓ Beautiful

Was I looking for a unicorn? I thought I probably was, but then I stumbled upon Habitat Schoolhouse’s preschool curriculum. I liked what I saw, but the digital curriculum set starts at $62. So I wanted to be sure that it would be worth my money, because I’ve been disappointed before.

I read everything on their website, looked up as much as I could find on Instagram, and downloaded the sample week to see if it might be a good fit for us. In the end, it was my husband who urged me to just do it. So I took a deep breath and bought it.

We’ve only been using it for a week now, but Mr. Five and I both love it!

Why?

WHY WE LOVE HABITAT HOMESCHOOL’S PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM

It’s simple, it meets all of the criteria I’d set above, and while it’s not a Charlotte Mason curriculum (she wouldn’t have a preschool curriculum), there are so many elements of a CM education in it that it feels like a seamless integration for us.

There’s the Letter of the Week, there’re art and artist studies, there are recipes, there’s geography, and there’s math. The book lists are sooooo good, and the lessons are all super short.

But what I also really love is that I can do as much or as little with Mr. Five as I want. I can stick to the lesson plans exactly as they’re written, and that would be enough and fantastic. But I can also expand on the lessons when I want.

For example, for the letter A, we found and colored Africa (as per the instructions). Then we looked at some African animals. But I took this one step further (because I had some time) and we also found the Arctic Circle. Then I had Mr. Five sort a pile of animals into African and Arctic animals. It was fun and easy, and I probably wouldn’t have thought of it without the curriculum as a springboard.

I’ll write a full review of Habitat Homeschool’s preschool curriculum at the end of the year, but as of right now, I do not regret buying it one bit!

IF YOU’RE USING A PRESCHOOL HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM, WHAT ARE YOU USING AND LOVING?