Evaluation/advice on fall schedule for K4 son?

Hi all,

I understand from Charlotte Mason’s philosophy that “formal” schooling is not recommended much for the little ones…just lots of books, outdoor play, hands-on activities, and so on.  And while I do appreciate and understand that fully, my little guy needs a lot of routine in order to be productive and happy.  I have a tentative plan for the fall, and wanted to check it by some of the more seasoned teachers on here to make sure that I am giving my son (who will be 4.5 at time of starting) ENOUGH, without overloading him.

1) I have the Little Saints preschool planner–in case you are not familiar with it, it is a Catholic preschool program that incorporates Charlotte Mason, Montessori, and classical methods.  It is truly lovely and adheres largely to CM methods….great book lists, music appreciation, incorporation of Scripture,lots of hands-on activities.  It is meant to be used three days a week, with a weekly theme.  A typical day would include a Scripture verse/passage, the reading of a poem from Favorite Poems Old and New, 2-4 books from the reading list for the week (all excellent selections from what I can tell), nursery rhymes, a craft, music appreciation, a song, and a “learning game.”  (Some of the learning games may not work for my son with his sensory processing problems, so we will just work with those as we go.) 

2) What the course does NOT incoporate is nature study and the outdoors.  So I was thinking that I would do MWF with Little Saints, and Tues/Thurs would be reserved for outdoor play/nature study (weather permitting), tactile play (very important for my son), and reading from the Early Years book lists.

In your opinions, would this still be too much structure for a four year old?  Again–I don’t want to overload him, but if left too much to his own devices, he becomes overwhelmed, frustrated, and aimless very quickly.  He nags for activities, but then doesn’t want to do them–etc.  Also, we will be moving to a new state over the summer (Hubby is being transferred), so I am *hoping* to find him a good library story time and either playgroup or homeschool group with whom to do age appropriate activities (from my limited knowledge so far, most homeschool group activities seem to be geared more towards older kids.)  So these activities will hopefully be in the schedule too, although I won’t know for sure until we get to our new town.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Amanda