Our Preschool Curriculum Choice

Yesterday, I placed my order for our first home school curriculum.
We have decided to use Heart Of Dakota- Little Hands Toward Heaven.
It's for 3-5 years of age.

What we like about it:

1) Easy to use. I'm a busy mom and I already have a lot to do. This you just read and do what it says. Nothing to plan or materials to gather. Uses minimal craft items you usually already have at home. Sounds good for a first time home schooling mom.
2) Daily bible story.
3) Short and simple. There are 33 units. Each unit consists of 5 lessons. Each lesson is divided into 6 blocks of activities. Each activity is about 5 minutes. Total of approximately 30 minutes a day.
4) Not based on holidays. So we can start any time we want.
5) Low key and fun. She is 4 years old and just needs to be having fun.

We are planning to start in June. Doing 4 lessons a week, and taking one week off per month. This should take us through May 2010.

I purchased the main book from the Heart of Dakota site, but the bible, music CD, and devotional I ordered off of Amazon because they were less expensive.

I can't wait to get started. I really think that my daughter will enjoy it.

Homeschool Book Fair

Not too long ago we attended our first home school book fair.

We took a long weekend, booked a room at a hotel,

and went to absorb as much information as we could.

It was pretty overwhelming.

I never knew there was so much stuff out there.

After that initial wave, we were able to learn a lot.

http://www.homeschoolbookfair.org/

We heard a talk from the creator of My Father's World. We really like the world view this has, as well as the bible reading. By the time they finish high school, they have read the entire bible three times.

Also heard a talk from the creator of Konos. These are unit studies in a box. Also looks great. Real hands, discovery learning. Seems to be for kids that are a little older than our though.

We picked up a ton of catalogs and brochures. Then purchased a file folder to file them all away in. Hopefully they will come in handy some day.

All in all it was great to go to the book fair. We did not purchase and curriculum, just a used copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but we did get to look at quite a few that we may be interested in down the road.