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New Preschool Life Resource
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Does this new resource make anyone else want to have more children? My youngest is 10. SCM resources for little ones always make me wish I had more kids….
I’m really excited about this. Possibly the first time I’m super excited that my daughter is developmentally disabled. She will be 10 in August, but according to her neuropsych evolution she is functioning as a 3-5 year old depending on what area we are looking at. The five year old level is more relationships, but she has one letter she can recognize, she does know a few shapes, she knows her colors, she can count objects to 10, but has no number recognition, she loves stories and can sometimes narrate parts of stories. She can memorize anything she hears and loves to sing. She only has half her brain after disconnection the right side due to uncontrollable seizures. I don’t know what level to order. If someone has a suggestion I would love to know. Due to her age I think I should do the 5 year old level, but then again… 🙂 Welcome to my world of confusion of trying to educate a child they say won’t learn to read, write, add simple figures and just needs to learn to self care and eventually go into a group home. I will not accept that is all she has without fighting tooth and nail.
~April
Ladies,
You cracked me up! Thank you for the SCM baby boom laugh. 🙂
April, I feel blessed to know you are excited to use this with your daughter. The only difference in the subscription box will be the book that comes. The rest of the supplies and the digital content are the same with leveling up and down ideas based on a child’s ability (which sounds like a perfect fit for your situation). I have had kiddos ages 4 and 6 both enjoy the books (read multiple times) for ages 4 and 5 as well as the chapter book. I really believe you could chose either the book option for age 4 or 5 and not go wrong.
Is there a list anywhere of the monthly books or themes for Our Preschool Life? It looks amazing, but we have quite an extensive picture book library already and I’m wondering if there would be a lot of duplication!
Hi Kim,
We do not have a list of the monthly books available. Our boxes do not generally have a “theme” however you will find winter appropriate books only coming in winter, etc.
We like to encourage families who end up with a duplicate to consider using the duplicate as a gift to bless another family (perhaps one who does not know what living books are??).
My boys light up when their box comes. We have had a few duplicates but my kids like to take that opportunity to discuss who gets a particular book for “their” children. I’ve settled with the idea that I’m building a library for my grandchildren. lol
We also have an extensive library, and we had only one duplicate in the 5 boxes we’d received. The chapter books were another matter for us. We kept getting books we not only owned, but ones I had recently read aloud to my kids. We don’t read that many books, so it was just a big coincidence for us. 😂 I would consider the picture books to be lesser known classics…I was familiar with a couple of them, but a few were totally new to me.
I wish I’d had these boxes with my younger ones too! My son just turned 6, so we’ll be speeding the rest of the year finishing up the boxes we’ve received and moving on to year 1 next fall. 😢 The time goes so fast.
Thanks Tamara and Holly!
We’re on our second batch of kids… our grown daughters took their whole collection of books with them when they got married and their children are loving them. We’re rebuilding the picture book library for our two little guys, and I could definitely find a home for any duplicates among the grandchildren! 😍This totally cracked me up! 😂 I have a newly 3yo and this month is our first box. I am loving this gentle not-preschool-but-still-doing-something resource!! I had chosen another gentle preschool resource, but became increasingly convicted to not use it…enter OPL!! Thank you, thank you, SCM! 🥰 I also love the slow entry into the SCM world.
I do have a question. Does anyone know if the is a particular forum topic dedicated to OPL questions/comments/issues? I don’t want to post questions in the wrong place.
Thank you!
Hi Kristina…this is the only place that I have found for Our Preschool Life. Feel free to start a topic thread. I’m brand new to the forum and excited to start with OPL. My 3.5 year old is actually in a 2 day/wk preschool, but I am thinking of taking on the homeschool challenge at least to try out. I have a 2 year old as well, and I’m trying to get a rhythm going. I’m stay-at-home dad and Mama is doing a fellowship, so her hours are crazy. We just received the welcome box today and expect the other one to hit our doorstep this week. How have you enjoyed OPL? Also, is it different than The Early Years?
Bradley
There is no specific forum topic for Our Preschool Life. The Getting Started with CM topic is a good place to put any questions or discussion of OPL or the early years.
The Early Years is different from Our Preschool Life in that it (The Early Years) is a book with excerpts from Charlotte Mason’s books. Sonya and I took time to go through the six volumes of CM’s writings to find everything she had to say concerning the first 6 years of a child’s life.
OPL is a collection of resources for you to use informally (meaning no set lesson time) with your preschool aged children. The monthly box will contain an age appropriate book, nature stickers, chore cards, an art print, and craft supplies. Your online account will give you lifetime access to classical music, Bible stories, children’s songs, activity ideas, and much more.
So The Early Years is more of a parent resource for understanding Charlotte Mason’s philosophy for the first 6 years of a child’s life and OPL gives you resources to put that philosophy into action. OPL was designed in a way that you don’t need to know Charlotte Mason’s philosophy to use it.
Hi Karen…your post answers my question so well…thank you! We added our 1st entry into the nature journal after my 3 yr old little girl was so excited to find a big worm today…she wanted to take it home as a pet haha. She also was excited about the chores. I will definitely take a look at the Early Years book now since I understand what it is and how it is different. We are excited for our first monthly box of OPL to arrive this week.
Thank you for responding!
Bradley
Karen, another question. Would you say that Laying Down the Rails is being addressed in the OPL “curriculum” or is that something that I should get separately. I’m really looking for guidance, alongside Scripture or course, to help me with teaching these habits.
Bradley
Hi Bradley,
I’m not Karen but would love to help. I have littles that I was utilizing OPL with until very recently. Why do our littles insist on growing up so quickly?
OPL does include encouragement for parents and suggestions for habit training however it is very different from Laying Down the Rails. OPL is more like the foundation that Laying Down the Rails will build on. If you utilize the suggestions and tips from OPL, then you will have that solid ground to work on a variety of habits or as I like to refer to Laying Down the Rails, character training. Laying Down the Rails can bring more depth to some of your habit training during these early years but only in that it can provide you, the parent, with more depth when considering habits.
Laying Down the Rails can be beneficial for you as a parent however many of the habits are not something that you will generally work on with a 3-5 year old. This particular resources gathers and organizes all Charlotte Mason stated concerning more than 50 habits. It is an incredibly useful tool for the parent.
Laying Down the Rails for Children is not meant to be used with children until they are formal school age (grades 1-12). This particular resource provides families with quotes, poetry, short stories, Scripture, and more that they can utilize to help bring a focus on a habit while working on said habit.
The resource that I have a special fondness of is Laying Down the Rails for Yourself. This book helped me better understand how to work on and build habits. The focus is my habits but by reading it, I was better equipped with helping to break down habits into small bite sized chunks not only for myself but also for my littles (and bigs). I believe this particular book as well as Laying Down the Rails will be most beneficial to you, the parent, as you utilize OPL with your little one(s).
Hi Tamara…thanks for the reply. That is extremely helpful. I need that book on habit training myself, as I have slid on many of the habits that I grew up with. Also I didn’t realize that Laying Down the Rails was for 1-12, so that is good to know. I will start with the book for myself and move on from there. I’m excited to continue learning and hope that joy of learning is picked up by my children.
In Christ…
Bradley
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