Thread: Curriculum
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solarismoon 09:41 AM 04-12-2013
Sorry, we are unschoolers so I can't recommend a curriculum. Our home childcare is set up as a free play environment. We do not use curriculum of any kind. Our kids stay active & busy and engaged the whole day!

When the kids feel like it, they have dance parties, art, science and so on. It's very much child-led learning plus life learning all rolled together

We do have some structure with the routine with regular meal times and rest periods. I always read stories before nap, for example, as part of the routine, and children use the bathroom for pottying and hand washing when they arrive, before and after meals and when coming in from outside, for example.

Through the day we have spontaneous storytelling and group time. I USED to use curriculum many, many years ago. I MUCH prefer his way. It's so much more freeing, less stressful and time consuming (for me at least) and I really believe the children are much happier not having worksheets and 'work' to do.

It's all just play. We use a learning-through-play approach, so there IS learning, it's just wrapped up in more hands-on activities.

I realize it isn't for everyone, and we advertise exactly what we are *and aren't* so parents have no illusions that we are a typical preschool or commercial-style daycare. We Do stay FULL! Our turnover is super low, and I haven't had an empty spot that wasn't filled within a couple of days for almost two years.

This works really well for us and I feel like many people would really like the no-curriculum model if they tried it! I think when you go to school and trainings to become an ECE teacher or provider you are bombarded with the practice of using a curriculum, so for those of us with more conventional backgrounds it's a very radical concept to NOT use a curriculum or embrace the idea, but I think it is MUCH more natural for the learning process with the age group I serve.

I will say in the past we used the Kindness Curriculum as a standard for our character development, but it is by no means a comprehensive program like the one you are asking about. I do recommend it for any childcare or preschool, as a supplement though!
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