I’m so thankful I get to spend time with my children for their preschool years. First, I share our preschool curriculum choices and why we use them. Keep reading to find out how we explored the Letter H. Finally, at the bottom, we list our favorite supplies for the preschool years.
PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM
SUPPORTS AMPLE NATURE TIME
- The Peaceful Preschool – The schedule is amazing because it sets aside one day per week for field trips
- Exploring Nature with Children – This works well for my family because it is centered around being outdoors (HINT: If you click on this link, make sure to click the “Preview” button!)
- Ambleside Online – In my extensive Charlotte Mason research, I have decided ultimately to draw upon Ambleside Online as our basis homeschool preschool curriculum.
THE PEACEFUL PRESCHOOL
We currently follow the Peaceful Preschool curriculum by Jennifer Pepito and we love it! The content is full of rich literature, therefore it is a perfect fit for my book-loving family. We read through many rich, classic stories. We also complete playful projects to go with the literature theme or letter. Download Unit A for free to try it out with your littles to see if you like it.
The community she has created is such a beautiful resource and I’m grateful to be a part of it. Jennifer has included a wonderful preschool e-book which helps you prepare to guide your child in early learning. We have found her curriculum perfect for our homeschool preschool. The curriculum is comprised of Read Aloud, Phonics, Counting Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Large Motor Skills, Practical Life Skills, and Art Skills. Also, here is how we enjoyed the letter A unit.
LETTER H REVIEW
We began the letter H unit and had so much fun with it! The focus books for letter H are The Little House, The Little Red Hen, and Harold and the Purple Crayon. Also, we read through B is for Bear, a beautiful nature alphabet book, however, any alphabet book would be perfect to review your letters.
Then, we created glitter glue letters. The Peaceful Preschool recommends glitter glue in order to create the finishing touches on sensory, alphabet flashcards. We have used them with all of the letters so far. It is really one of my children’s favorite parts.
H IS FOR THE LITTLE HOUSE
One of my favorite childhood books was The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. I’m so thankful to be able to share this beautiful story with my children. For those who haven’t read it yet, its a sweet story about a house in the country who is filled generation after generation. Eventually, a city grows around the little house, there are no more inhabitants, and the house is abandoned. Its such a great book so I hope you check it out!
LETTER H HOUSE
Both boys created a letter H house and I love seeing their unique creativity blossom through art projects. We also found an additional house book called The Old House at the library.
I love how my oldest son attempts to draw exactly what he sees in the picture. He made sure to include the little house eyes, shingles and apple trees!
LITTLE HOUSE CRAFT
We used these house shape templates to create houses. This book is a favorite around here!
My three years old ended up making more of a tent house and I loved it!
LITTLE HOUSE DRAWINGS
My children no longer take naps so I LOVE to do a quiet activity such as art after lunchtime. Their creativity really shines and Mama can get some work done around the house.
These chalk pastels have been a favorite of ours. They make beautiful pictures and are so fun to use. My youngest son picks this art medium to use most frequently because its so sensory. He usually ends the art project by rubbing his fingers all over the painting to spread the color around.
My oldest son chose watercolors to create a little house. He usually asks me to draw an outline so he can paint or color it in. By far, these are our favorite watercolors to use, and they are affordable too! I’m so thankful for this wonderful opportunity to observe my children’s first learning.
LINCOLN LOG LITTLE HOUSE
Finally, my children constructed a log cabin out of Lincoln logs. They added a horse barn and created lots of rooms inside for play. This story has sparked several discussions about moving our house from the country to the city. I hope you read the story with a beautiful ending.
NATURE FINDS
Next, since we use Exploring Nature with Children, we gathered nature treasures from our yard. In the hill country of Texas, we mostly have cedar trees so we were able to see the colorful change happening to the leaves that had fallen off the trees. We sorted our nature finds and counted them.
I love to read a seasonal poem for the change of the months. Be Blest: A Celebration of Seasons is a beautiful story with a poem and lovely illustrations for each month. We typically begin and end the month reading from this book.
Then, we read the Little Red Hen from my childhood and also this version from Paul Galdone. I have heard my children act out the Little Red Hen story numerous times over the last couple of weeks. I found some felt at Michael’s for a few dollars and they helped me cut out the characters and use them to tell the story back to me.
H IS FOR HEN
Keeping with the hen theme for letter H, I found several hen books at the library. Henny Penny is another great classic story about a hen who thinks the sky is falling. Hedgie’s Surprise is a cute story about a hen who wants to be a mother hen and a hedgehog named Hedgie who helps her. Finally, Hattie and the Fox is a simple barnyard story that my children love to retell to me.
LETTER H REVIEW
We stamped our letter H template from Simply Learning with our alphabet stamps. We are super excited to try the lowercase ones too!
I often leave this beautiful alphabet board out in our homeschool space for the boys to find, since it is so beautiful. They practice drawing the letters on it and its another great quiet activity.
H IS FOR HONEY
We read through Are You a Bee? I loved this book so much that I can easily see purchasing more by the same author and illustrator.
We made bee cards on white card stock using our Nature Anatomy book as a template for the bee. Finally, we made homemade beeswax candles which were a great purchase. This was my children’s first experience with candles. I think it was also one of their favorite crafts we have made together.
Next, we read the Honeybee Man and drew an outline of a bee. My children are three and four, so normally I draw an outline for them, and they color it in. I love to provide choices of different art options and witnessing which ones they choose. These oil pastels are a great favorite of ours!
H IS FOR HORSE
Then, we read through The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses. Another story I read growing up, it was great to read it to my children. We used a q tip to watercolor our horse templates from Simply Learning.
This was one of the more engaged times for my youngest son, at three years old. I love how he used several colors and mixed them together to paint his horse.
H IS FOR HAROLD
Finally, we read through Harold and the Purple Crayon. This book really brought me back to my childhood favorites. My boys also love Harold and the Purple crayon and we read it often before bed!
They choose different drawings which was fun!
H IS FOR HARVEST MOON
Finally, we did a moon craft of the Harvest Moon.
We used white paint mixed together with flour to make a paste. Then we painted in the moon which was drawn on black construction paper. This was super fun because of the textures!
SUPPLIES
Nature Anatomy
The Little House
The Little Red Hen
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
B is for Bear
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Watercolors
Cardstock
Felt Fabric Squares
Chalk Pastels
Crayons
Candlemaking Kit
OUR PICKS
Interested in more preschool curriculum? Here is how we enjoyed the letter A unit. We had so much fun with letter A and can’t wait to share the next letter with you!
