One of the questions I get asked the most as a blogger who writes on homeschooling, education, and preschool is “what curriculum should I use for my 4 year old?” Some ask about curriculum choices for 2 and 3 year olds as well. It is all understandable. We want to provide the best for our children. Education is extremely important in a child’s life. Parents want to make the right decision. Starting an education at a young age is not to be discouraged. However, our view on what education is should be discouraged.
Education does not equal a textbook. Education is about life. You do not need a curriculum to teach the basics that a child needs to learn. A child needs to learn that there is no greater joy in learning to discovering every nook and cranny around her and opening every crack and taking a peek inside. A textbook does not teach that. A textbook teaches the framework and order of the discoveries all around us. However, without a sense of curiosity, a child will find leaning dull and artificial. The desire to learn will become dulled. Education will become a burden. A child learns through discovery and play.
So my advice to parents asking about curriculum for preschool is whatever you choose to not allow it to replace discovery. Do not trade in nature walks, playing with a doll house, and going to the beach, for pencils, workbooks, and safety scissors. Your primary tool in teaching your preschooler is experiences. Running in the park, feeding goats at the petting zoo, playing with mom, baking cookies, and reading solid books, can never be replaced by tracing letters. That is not to say that workbooks are not important or that you should not have your child trace letters. All those things are great and I have some preschool curriculum favorites. However, a curriculum is only a guideline not the basis of education.