Effortlessly Homeschool Pre-K with My Father’s World Preschool Curriculum
Just so you know, this post contains affiliate links. That means if you use them to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. You can read my full affiliate disclosure HERE.
Homeschooling preschool? Take a peek inside My Father’s World Preschool curriculum and see how this could be a blessing to your little one this year.
Are you homeschooling a preschooler this year? You may be struggling with whether or not to use a curriculum, what you should even be teaching your child, or how you’re going to manage teaching your preschooler and older kids at the same time.
That was me this year. All of the above.
I hesitated about purchasing preschool curriculum because so many homeschool families I know don’t use a homeschool preschool curriculum. There are so many ways to teach concepts like shapes, colors, numbers and letters organically, plus, we don’t want to lock our littlest ones into some rigid school-like schedule.
However, I knew that I needed more structure. Some homeschool moms get the job done with an amazing relaxed homeschool style, but to be honest…that’s not me. I thrive on routine, consistency, and planning. I like using a curriculum with my older kids that tells us exactly what we need to do each day, and I can simply make modifications as needed. But I also knew that I needed something that left room for lots of play and exploration, and didn’t feel like “school”.
My Father’s World Preschool curriculum seemed to fit the bill, so I took the plunge to try it this year!
Although I currently use BJU Press Homeschool for my older kids, we used My Father’s World from Kindergarten through 2nd grade level. Seeing as how we began our homeschooling journey when my oldest son was in Kindergarten, I had never “homeschooled preschool” – my kids were always in daycare while I worked full-time.
Needless to say, I was nervous about tackling preschool, but loved the laid-back, family-friendly thematic approach we had experienced with My Father’s World homeschool curriculum in the past. I knew it would be a great option to revisit this year – and I was right!
My Father’s World Preschool Options
My Father’s World actually has two options for homeschool preschool curriculum, based on the age of your child.
All Aboard the Animal Train is a complete preschool program designed for three-year-olds and possibly older two-year olds who are ready for focused learning activities. If you have a four-year-old, you can choose to start with Voyage of Discovery.
This year we are using All Aboard the Animal Train for our preschool curriculum. The curriculum is broken into 12 thematic units, each 3 weeks long, with a focus on love: learning practical ways that God loves us and how we are to love each other.
Within each of the unit studies, your child will grow in character development, cognitive skills, and experience language arts and reading readiness through stories, poems, and print awareness activities.
All Aboard the Animal Train Daily Routine
One of the things I was really looking forward to was establishing an intentional routine with my little guy. I will be honest that with homeschooling three older kids, sometimes my time with my 3-year old can be put on the backburner.
Up to this point, I had never done anything like this with him before. We certainly play a lot, but I was excited (and a bit nervous!) to see how he would do with learning some new habits and following a routine.
With this curriculum, there are four activities you will do each day, and there are cards to help keep track of them. The cards are “Clean-up/Together Time”, “Story Time”, “Surprise Time” and “Outside Time”. I put them up on our white board with magnets. Each day, you’re supposed to turn them over as you accomplish them.
I set everything up about a week before we actually began, and started hyping it up to my little one, getting him excited about the fun new journey we would go on this year. Turns out, I didn’t need to worry at all about him taking to the new routine – he absolutely loves that he has something each day that is just for him, and he is pretty adamant about getting all of his activity cards turned over each day!
(In fact, he’s quite annoyed that we take breaks on the weekend, because if it were up to him, he would “do school” every day. Let’s see how long this attitude lasts!)
But in all seriousness, the fact that the curriculum is so simple, and the activities are so pleasant and fun really lends to the reason he is enjoying it so much.
My preschooler gets focused time while my big kids are doing their independent work. Our daily routine only takes anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour each day – so do-able!
5 Reasons I Love My Father’s World Preschool
Structured, yet flexible
The Teacher’s Manual is very organized and easy to follow. Each week’s activities are listed on one page, with supplemental activities and explanations listed out as needed. You’ll be shown what you can do that day for your Together Time and Story Time activities.
You’ll create a poster for each unit that includes the focus Bible verse and also acts as a scrapbook page for some of the activities you will do.
The flexibility comes in that we can skip activities if we want to, and even change up the order in which we complete our activities each day (although for us, clean-up time is usually always first!). But the big bonus is that I don’t have to come up with the activities – I can easily implement them, and don’t have to spend time creating or putting together anything!
A simple routine to follow is helping my son build the habit of following directions and knowing that there is a plan for the day and tasks to accomplish, and I really appreciate this. This curriculum makes it easy for the homeschooling parent, and although there isn’t too much to accomplish each day, you certainly will feel like you accomplished something with your little one.
Low-prep daily lessons
Not only are the daily lesson plans easy to follow, but so far I’ve encountered very minimal prep. The preschool complete curriculum packages include everything you need to get started. I have purchased other preschool “lesson plans” in the past and quickly given up because they have taken so much time to gather materials…not this curriculum!
The teacher’s manual includes a short list of necessary materials you should have on hand for the entire year, and I found that I had most of the things in our house already. Usually after we finish our day on Friday each week, I flip through to look at the next week’s lessons and note any extra supplies I might need to pick up at the grocery store. Most of the activities, though, are so simple, and you don’t need much to complete them.
There is also an optional reading list for each unit with books you can pick up from your local library, relating to the animal you will learn about.
I purchased one 1″ binder to hold all of the consumable student sheets, and also use two tabbed folders to separate the sections. In the first pocket, I’ll put the sheets we are going to use that week, for easy access:
After that first pocket folder, I have 12 empty sheet protectors (these are going to hold a poster we make for each unit). Behind the second tab, I stick all the handouts for each week in their own individual sheet protector.
What I love about using the sheet protectors is I will store any pages we complete that week back in them at the end of the week, so it creates a wonderful portfolio of work as we move through the year.
The fact that I don’t have to plan our preschool activities and everything is so easy to organize and access makes me feel so relieved, because our days are usually so busy. I can focus more on spending time and building connections with my preschooler using this streamlined curriculum.
Christian Biblical worldview
It is important to me to choose materials that come from a Christian perspective that will help me teach my kids biblical values, hear God’s Word daily, and learn to see God’s creation and experience Him in everything we do.
The focus of My Father’s World Preschool, All Aboard the Animal Train, is discovering God’s love. There are three intentional, simple Bible stories and a Bible verse to memorize to go along with each character trait and come alongside you as you teach and train your preschooler.
I feel empowered to do just this with guidance from the Teacher’s Manual, and am excited to see how the Lord will continue to use this curriculum to help our spiritual growth this year.
I love that My Father’s World is mission-focused as a company: they donate 50% of their profits to support overseas mission work, specifically Bible translation projects. That’s huge!
And, I was shocked to receive a phone call from the company about a month or so after purchasing the curriculum – they personally reached out to see how we were doing, and to pray for us. How many curriculum companies have you used that will do that?
Creative activities
Even though the daily activities are simple, they have been a huge hit with my three-year-old. They keep him interested, and I love that I didn’t have to come up with them on my own!
Believe it or not, I actually made play-dough for the first time ever during our first unit – I was pretty proud of myself, and we had so much fun playing with it!
The thematic units and integrated lessons are so cute and creative, and the activities really go along with them well, emphasizing character traits, reading, science and math skills, cognitive development, and physical development through hands-on projects, finger plays, and more.
I have to mention the “Surprise Time” card, because it’s a favorite! At the beginning of the year, I put together 5 boxes and labeled them with the numbers 1-5 per the curriculum suggestion. Each day, we draw a number, match it to the box and practice saying it (great for math readiness), then play with the surprise inside for about 10 minutes (or however long my little one lasts!).
The Teacher’s Manual gives some suggestions as to what to include, and I try to change out the contents every 2-3 weeks to keep it interesting. You’ll find some great suggestions for the surprise time boxes creative play on my Toddler Craft & Activity List here.
Family focused
Although I am using this curriculum with my preschooler by himself this year, My Father’s World is very family-focused with their approach. As my little one gets older, if we continue using the curriculum, their family cycle will be a great way to bring everyone together and teach our multiple age groups at once.
But even now, the older siblings love to jump in and help their brother with his “school work”, and it’s so much fun to see them lend a helping hand. No matter what the age of your kids, the concepts and each Biblical character trait taught in this curriculum are important to learn or be reminded of!
Preschool Peace of Mind
At the end of the day, would we be perfectly fine without a preschool homeschool curriculum? Probably. But this complete program truly has helped give me the peace of mind that I am setting a good foundation during the preschool years, and fostering a love of learning.
I think this will really help him as we eventually transition to kindergarten and beyond. I have the tools I need to be focused and intentional with my youngest child, and I can do it even when homeschooling older kids.
Where to Purchase All Aboard the Animal Train
I’m thankful for a company like My Father’s World that produces such wonderful resources and learning opportunities for homeschooling families!
You can begin your homeschool preschool journey at any point during the year, and I hope you’ll check out what My Father’s World has to offer.
Click here to learn more about the company and the curriculum, AND get a special $25 discount!
I would love to hear from you in the comments: are you homeschooling a preschooler this year? Do you have any questions about My Father’s World curriculum? Drop them below!
**Update: After this curriculum, we moved on to Voyage of Discovery! Check out my post (and watch one of our lessons!) here.
Related Posts
- Easy Toy Rotation Ideas and Recommendations for Preschoolers
- How to Keep Your Toddler Entertained While You Homeschool
- 30 Fun Mom and Toddler Activities: Best Ideas for Easy Play!
Blessed Homeschool is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. You can read my full affiliate disclosure HERE.
