Ideal Curriculum: TOS review

Company:  Ideal Curriculum

Product:  Preschool Curriculum kits

Cost:  $30 per month/unit for downloaded version

            $55 per month/unit for printed version

The preschool years are behind us in our family.  Even though I don’t have a preschool age child, I still enjoyed looking at the Transportation unit that I received from Ideal Curriculum as part of the TOS crew.  

When my children were little we got a preschool curriculum that came in a box each month.  Everything was included that you needed for each month.  Ideal Curriculum reminded me of this. This is a 9 month curriculum that has three sections each month.  You will get literacy, math and science/social studies that corresponds to a particular topic.   

Currently only month 1, Transportation is available.  The remaining 8 will be available in early June.  They are as follows:

Transportation

Color

Weather

About me

A Healthy Life

Animals

People in my Community

Traditions in our Country

Our World Around us

Each unit is available as a download for $30 or you can get a printed version for $55.   Right now, TOS readers are able to get 10% off by using the coupon code “welovekids”. 

The literacy section each contained formal methods and tools of training your children, outlines and guidelines for using the lessons, printables, music, games, etc, and then the weekly lesson plans themselves.  I feel like these seem pretty intense for a preschooler.   The first thing they recommend is doing an “assessment” of your child.   The lessons do have lots of music and things that seem fun but seems a little much for a child under school age.   There is even sight words to learn. There is a recommended schedule for each week and each lesson tells “why this lesson is important”. 

The Science part, again, seemed a little much for a a child of 3 or 4.  The Science manual has 20 daily lessons, and includes art and even experiments.  My kids have always loved science and experiments so this would probably be something I would use.  It is hard to come up with enough science ideas to keep children busy and this seems great for that. 

The math section has great calendar ideas.   This helps reinforce numbers and counting which I do think is important to learn early on.     It also covers basic shapes and rote counting which is covered in a  weekly lesson in math.  This is one part that I don’t feel is more than a preschool child could handle.  

If you are looking for a very thorough preschool curriculum, this could be just what your family is looking for.  This would work great in a preschool or day care situation. I also feel like this would be great for the first time homeschool mom who is looking for something that is totally prepared for you.  There is little to no prep work involved in these kits. 

Personally, after following Charlotte Mason’s homeschool style for the past few years; I feel like children should have a lot of play time, be read to extensively and have time to just be a kid.  Formal education comes all too fast.    Children should be kids, first and foremost.  Learning just comes naturally at this age.    If you have a child who wants to do “school”, this would probably work great for you.  The $30 price tag for the downloadable unit seems a fair price.  Don’t forget to include the cost of printing when deciding between this and the printed version.  With the download version, you can also use it for more than one child. 

To read what the other Crew mates had to say, please click here

Please note that I received the Transportation unit from Ideal Curriculum at no charge in exchange for my honest opinion in this review.  No other compensation was provided.  Thank you to Ideal Curriculum and TOS for this opportunity.