The Creative Curriculum for Family Child Care

Does anyone use it? Heard it's good but is it worth the money!
?

[melskids]

I use the creative curriculum and I love it!

I have found a way to cut a few corners, cost wise.

I purchased all three of the books used on amazon. Granted, they are not the latest editions, and they still cost around $20-30 each. But they were well worth it to me. They have alot of useful info on how to set up a room and what activities to offer. I have tweaked a few things since then, of course, but they are still a good starting point.

Then, when it comes to the developmental continuum for the assessments, you can do it online, for a bit of a cost....

http://www.teachingstrategies.com/pa...m#how_to_order

or order the toolkit...which is $200 I believe.

http://www.teachingstrategies.com/pa...nt-toolkit.cfm

But here's what I do...It may be hard to explain unless you know what the continuum looks like....

I typed up all of the basic goals and objectives in a word document.

For example, goal one for infants and toddlers is "to learn about self and others". There are steps to reaching that goal, but I dont print them all out...that would be too much work!!!

When it come time to assess the child, I mark a simple D for developed or S for still developing, and the # of which step they are on. When going over the assessment with the parents, I show them the entire continuum that is in the book so they can see which step their child is on in more detail.

I suppose you could photocopy the continuum right out of the book, and just circle the steps for assessment, but I won't advocate that, in case there are copyright laws.

And I'm sure it would just be easier to pay for the assessments online, or the toolkit, but i'm too cheap to do that.

And I wanted to add...it is NOT a prepackaged curriculum with lesson plans. It is more of a philosophy..you still need to come up with activites and such on your own. But it gives you a basic framework of how to implement open ended play based activities and emergent curriculum.

[heyhun77]

I love creative curriculum. I have the family set and will likely be selling them since I am now working in a center. I agree with the pp that it's not really a curriculum so much as a philosophy of care but it's fabulous information on setting up your childcare environment to make sure it's stimulating for all areas of development and then the charts with the continum are great because you can see where each child is and the next step in that part of development so you know what kind of activities to plan for each child.

[Michael]

we have a few other posts on it: http://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.ph...ive+curriculum

Originally Posted by heyhun77

I love creative curriculum. I have the family set and will likely be selling them since I am now working in a center. I agree with the pp that it's not really a curriculum so much as a philosophy of care but it's fabulous information on setting up your childcare environment to make sure it's stimulating for all areas of development and then the charts with the continum are great because you can see where each child is and the next step in that part of development so you know what kind of activities to plan for each child.

I have a book.
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Curri.../dp/0960289275

Is that what you have? or more ? What all do you have?
how much would you sell it for?

[heyhun77]

Originally Posted by athomemommy

I have a book.
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Curri.../dp/0960289275

Is that what you have? or more ? What all do you have?
how much would you sell it for?

I got my set from Red Leaf Press for $99 plus shipping which included the full set of activity cards. Here's the link:

http://www.redleafpress.org/Creative...P415C1019.aspx

The link you posted is the older version. I'd probably sell mine for $75 since they are in perfect condition including the cd's.

[itlw8]

Yes If you have a chance to take a training do so. I have the preschool book, the family childcare book and the infant toddler book. I use both the preschool and the family childcare alot. It helps to go back and read it so you can explain why you do thing to parents. The parent letters are good for that.

I did not have to pay for my books. It was a training and if you completed it you not only got the book but they refunded your money. But that was back when the state had money for early childhood programs.