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I talk to mamas all over the country who are feeling pressure with their preschoolers. They’re being pressured to push academics, to focus on reading and writing and math facts with their three-, four-, and five-year-olds.
Perhaps you’re the mother of a young child and you have felt that pressure. Let me reassure you that the preschool years should not be about academics. Oh, make no mistake, your child is learning a lot of things, but that learning is not dependent on your forcing lessons and worksheets and flashcards on that precious little one.
Preschool was meant to be a time for natural learning in a loving environment. Those young ones are making important brain connections about the world around them and how their bodies interact with that world, about their own emotions and self-regulation, and about social expectations with a variety of people in different settings—not to mention learning a brand new language!
They are constantly observing, analyzing, comparing, categorizing, recalling, forming hypotheses, experimenting, testing, trying, and refining. All of those brain connections—with the world around them and the world within them—are essential foundations that need to have plenty of time and space to get established. If you don’t give your preschooler enough time and opportunity to work on those fundamentals, he will be at a disadvantage when it comes to academics—dealing with abstract symbols on paper—reading, writing, and math facts.
He needs to play. All of those foundational brain connections take place quite naturally for most children through informal play in a loving and language-rich home.
Your job is to protect that important play and to provide a variety of ideas with which your child can form connections in everyday life. It’s not that hard. Those great ideas are built into great books and stories and music and art and games and nature and household chores—elements that you can easily tuck into your daily life at home.
But many moms either don’t know where to find those great ideas—they don’t know the best books or music or art or games for 3 to 5 year olds—or they don’t have time to go looking for them.
That’s why I am thrilled to announce a fabulous new resource for the preschool years. It’s called Our Preschool Life.
Our Preschool Life is all about protecting that important play of those early years and encouraging natural learning in everyday life—not worksheets, not contrived lessons, not electronic games.
Every month Our Preschool Life will deliver right to your door a wonderful box of great things and fantastic ideas for your 3 to 5 year old. You will receive the very best picture books, lovely art prints, special craft supplies and project ideas, handy chore cards, and stickers of nature friends to look for outside.
But that’s just the beginning. Throughout the month you will also receive digital deliveries with even more carefully curated activities and ideas that you can tuck into each day as it fits best. You get fun songs, classic nursery rhymes, timeless tales, ideas for games and outdoor life, Bible stories, classical music, great poems, activities for exploring math concepts with everyday things around the house, and even a focus on good habits.
Plus, you get some ideas just for you. Our Preschool Life recognizes that sometimes it’s tough being the parent of a preschooler. So you will receive encouragement, help with habit-training, and parenting tips, because parenting a preschooler can be challenging.
One thing I love about Our Preschool Life is that it recognizes that young children grow and develop connections at different rates during those preschool years. Not all three-year-olds are at the same level in motor skills, language skills, social skills, or even experiences; and that’s normal. Many of the activities from Our Preschool Life come with options, telling you how they can be leveled up or down. So you can use the version that best fits where your child is right now.
Your child is a unique individual and deserves the respect of being encouraged to learn and grow at his own pace—without pressure, comparison, or shame. You know your child better than anybody else does, so it just makes sense that you are the most qualified to recognize and use the ideas that will preserve his natural love for learning and keep him growing as an individual.
Our Preschool Life will keep a steady supply of the best ideas coming to your door and to your phone or other device, so you can spend your time enjoying these precious years with your 3 to 5 year old.
I know some days it doesn’t seem like it, but believe me, these years will fly by quickly. With Our Preschool Life you will have the ideas and the freedom to enjoy every day, confident that life is the very best preschool curriculum.
You can learn more about Our Preschool Life at ourpreschool.life. It’s preschool learning the way it was meant to be.
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WooHoo!! So excited about this!!
So is this a new website or an extension of Simply Charlotte Mason?
Thanks for your enthusiastic response, Jamie!
Our Preschool Life aligns beautifully with Charlotte Mason principles, but we didn’t want it to be exclusive to CM families—or only homeschooling families, for that matter. So we gave Our Preschool Life its own website to try to make it discoverable to more families that might find it a helpful and refreshing fit.
I absolutely love this. When our 2nd was in preschool many many years ago (she’s 21 now) there was something similar (but not on a Charlotte Mason level) out there that we ordered for several years. And she loved it. But there were a lot of worksheets that we never even touched.
Our youngest (of nine) is now five and learning to read. Do you think this would be a useful resource for him? We have hundreds of books in our home already. But I am considering this because I think he would enjoy receiving his own box of treasures each month. And I think that it would motivate me not to just have him do “school” like his older siblings. Thoughts?
Hi Kathy,
My kiddos are not quite as old as yours however I have found Our Preschool Life to be a wonderful “suprise” for my youngest 2 (4 and recently turned 6). They love getting a box in the mail with art supplies, new to them books (and some not new), nature stickers, a new chore card to place in their chart, and art picture. I’ve loved listening ot their interpertations of the art prints and smiled when the 6 yr old handed his brother the newest books to be his comfort at the dr’s. I’m not sure if you’re like me but I’ve found the youngest of my crew not getting the same focused attention that the big kiddos received. OPL gives me the gentle reminder to bring them alongside of me daily and “do” life with them. Many new to me ideas as well as “oh yah I remember doing that with….!” We really aren’t “doing school” but living life with focused learning thrown into the mix (letters, counting objects as we set the table, creating pulleys, ect.
This looks exactly what my busy 3 year old needs. Could you possibly think of doing a pdf version with lists for books/ crafts? We’re in Australia & I can see that postage is not currently an option (nor would it be financially feasible).
Currently Our Preschool Life is only available as a physical box plus digital content, and right now it only ships to US addresses. We would love to add a digital-only option in the future and we’re considering ways to do that.
This is great! Someday, I would love to see this in a book format, with references to the materials folks would receive each month. I’d really appreciate having the information, but not the materials. I’m in the ‘latter years’ and don’t need the materials, but would use the book to help others. Regardless, this is a wonderful resource for parents. Thank you for putting it together.
This looks delightful! Will we know in advance what books are included? I noticed I all ready own several pictured? Also do you see this being helpful to Mother’s who all ready have school age children who are being schooled the CM way and are all ready including there preschooler in things like Bible and picture study.
Hi Terri,
Thank you! We are not including a list of books but you can get a taste of some of the books we will include here: https://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/preschool-guide/preschool-foundations/favorite-read-aloud-books-for-preschoolers/
I currently have children ages 4, 6, 13, and 14. I include the “littles” with the bigs during our morning time (artist, composer, Bible, Scripture Memory). OPL has been beneficial for us although I have not used all components. I have taken what I have needed from the digital component and left other bits out (i.e. Bible stories from OPL are left out since they are hearing and sometimes voluntarily narrating the Old Testament). The boys both love getting a box in the mail with their favorite components being a new chore card, an artist print that is “theirs” (it is special to them and displayed proudly in the living room), books, and new craft items. The digital component is really where the gold is for this Momma. Again, I take what I need and leave what I don’t but…but!!! If you are like me, the littles tend to get left behind. OPL offers me ideas of simple things to do with the boys, ways to include them, activities that I never thought of that help with fine motor skills, reasoning, etc, and ultimately encouragement for me. Gentle reminders to keep a routine, form habits now, and that these difficult moments won’t last long.
Looks amazing! Can’t wait try it out.