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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Preschool Curriculum
gumdrops 11:33 AM 04-24-2018
My in-home daycare is currently just kids playing all day. I'm considering starting to focus more on preschool type of material to get that figured out before I move forward with purchasing a Daycare Center. Do you all have degrees in Education? Where do you get your curriculum and figure out what kids need to focus on if you don't have a degree?
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hwichlaz 01:56 PM 04-24-2018
If you don’t have the experience to write your own curric, purchase one. Mother Goose Time and Funshine Express are all inclusive. Bags labeled “Day 1” etc. with everything you need but basic art supplies.

Or if you don’t mind collecting things from a shopping list..I really like Build Preschool’s Thematic Units. They are really affordable reusable, etc.
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Blackcat31 06:26 AM 04-25-2018
Originally Posted by hwichlaz:
If you don’t have the experience to write your own curric, purchase one. Mother Goose Time and Funshine Express are all inclusive. Bags labeled “Day 1” etc. with everything you need but basic art supplies.

Or if you don’t mind collecting things from a shopping list..I really like Build Preschool’s Thematic Units. They are really affordable reusable, etc.
Teachers Pay Teachers is another fantastic site for curriculum. You can buy a complete curriculum or just a theme or even just pieces to coordinate what ever you have going on already.

Some things are free to download and others cost but most are really inexpensive so I think it's worth it.
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CityGarden 12:53 PM 04-25-2018
I like what Mother Goose Time looks like online...

I also like Play to Learn Preschool (one teachers pay teachers) and Pockets of Preschool (also on teachers pay teachers).

None of those match the vision of my program though. Often parents want to know if you are play based, Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio, traditional, etc. when you offer a preschool program so as you consider opening a center I would spend some time reflecting and budgeting for the type of program you want to offer.
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hwichlaz 01:15 PM 04-25-2018
I want to point out...that in most states, before you open a center, you’ll need to have those ECE units, along with some business units. So you’ll be working on writing curriculum in your college classes.
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CalCare 02:14 PM 04-25-2018
I only have an associate's degree in ECE (hopefully to do a BA eventually!) and I do a Reggio inspired program. So, I don't use a packaged curriculum. It's completely based on children's interests and developmental needs. Also I don't do any academics. If kids are showing an interest in dinosaurs then I get those books from the library, bring out more dino toys, see if I can find dino costumes or anything I can add into the play space- just as available not as a prescribed activity. Then when they are playing with the dinos, I can talk about basic things I know like, "did you know dinosaurs lay eggs!?" And go on from there with whatever they want to find out. If I don't know about the topic then I look in the library books or online. I can do a "provication" which means to have a set up for an activity that is just left out and the kids may get involved with it or not. So for a dino topic, if they're taking an interest in eggs, I could maybe (off the top of my head!) Put little toy dinos in Easter eggs and put those in playdoh nests and leave large clumps of Play-Doh out for the kids to shape nests (if they decide to)... I would also base the curriculum activities on developmental needs, meaning that I have seen "Nick" developing small motor, the Play-Doh would be supplied to develop that. Or John doesn't like to do any dress up, but loves the dinosaur talk that's happening so I could make dino masks and/or tails tied around the waist and put out a big tent and say it's a dino cave in an attempt to lure him into doing the activities he may be missing to develop important areas, etc etc.
If you really must have a written curriculum (for something like some licensing agencies or standards to meet), I liked the idea of doing seasons, and leaving it way open ended, and going from there (filling in children's needs and interests) because the children's interests will usually stem from what's going on around them. So if you have April, rainy season, how people and animals live with rain, etc- then you have it "planned" if necessary, but its also a good starting point for anything the kids may want or need to actually delve into.
To answer your question how we know what they need to focus on, is through observation. You have to pay attention to what one child is doing for a good chunk of time. Notice he engages with others by bumping into them (random example). So, does he need language? Does he need body awareness? Etc. Maybe he doesn't know how to enter a group appropriately. So what can you do to assist that while making it interesting and fun to him? Does he love cars? What if you did bumper cars game and talk about how they bump, etc. Do other bumper cars like getting bumped? Do other kids? ... It's all specific to the kid and the group! If by curriculum, you mean numbers and letters- we we're taught that it's not developmentally appropriate for 0-5 to try to teach these things and that if kids are interested, the materials can be given for them to explore, and of course I answer questions and explain things about numbers and letters when there is interest- just like any interest! BUT we don't sit and teach that. When I worked in a private preschool before I got all my ECE classes, we did all the academics: math, writing, reading, fine art, French lol I look back and feel silly, but I was just doing the prescribed curriculum that we had to do there!
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BrynleeJean 03:14 PM 04-27-2018
i personally worked in childcare centers for like 6 years before i opened my home so i got pretty grounded in what each age group/rooms developmental range was, where they started in that age and how they progressed and stuff. Which is exactly why i do this for a living i love watching the children develop right before my eyes and being a part of that!

but aside from that i took a lot of training hours each year for the ages i watched, 0-12 years, 26 hours a year ish.

Id suggest the same, training hours will give you the base but experience with show you how those little ones function

Ive always like the ABeka for 3-5 year olds as a base but along with my own monthly themes and pretty much any curriculum for younger than that, mixed with again my monthly themes adding in whatever i feel the curriculum isn't meeting for my group and them for individual children. which is another benefit of home childcare, the smaller ratio!
and yes TPT is a great resource for supplementing any curriculum you choose. but you can find a lot of great free resources online
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