Peaceful Preschool: End of Year Review

We just finished the 26-week Peaceful Preschool curriculum, and absolutely loved it. It was a wonderful, and yes, as the name suggests, a peaceful way of learning and living! We only did around half to three-quarters of each week's activities and I took a very laid back approach this year, which worked very well with the transition to having an infant in the mix! I'd love to share a bit about the curriculum for anyone interested and then share how I used it in our home.

Preschool Preschool is a Christian preschool curriculum created by Jenifer Pepito, founder of Peaceful Press. There are elementary school curriculums for older children, but this particular one is gentle and play-based. It is geared towards 3-5 year olds, so each parent can implement as much or as little as they'd like, depending on their schedule and their child's developmental stage. It is a feast of learning where the parent-child team can choose as much or as little as they want to enjoy together.  It is inspired by Montessori and Charlotte Mason, which really resonated with me since I had already been implementing the philosophy and practical application of both of these educational models and ways of living. 

It may seem ironic for those who are purist Charlotte Mason homeschooling mamas to see a Charlotte Mason-inspired preschool curriculum since Charlotte Mason encouraged children under six to not have any formal lessons. But I don't consider this curriculum formal at all. As you'll see, the activities naturally flow into the daily rhythm of the day without a sit-down session of worksheets or quizzing. It is a gentle way to introduce certain math and phonics concepts through tactile experiences, from forming clay letters and tracing in a salt box to matching small items or toys to a number card. Since there isn't any state requirements for preschool (at least in Texas where I live), there is absolutely no pressure to complete a more traditional preschool curriculum that focuses on writing and reading. It's just not a priority for me (but totally fine if it is for you), so it worked out that we didn't have a dedicated "homeschool" time. I don't think I ever used that word with Elliot. Our only (short) learning time was during breakfast and focused more on virtues and spiritual growth (catechism, character cards, Bible verse, etc) than heavy academics. The curriculum focuses more on daily life skills, movement, and playing as ways of learning rather than sitting down and writing on a paper (or what would be considered "formal lessons" so I felt this fell in line with Charlotte Mason while giving structure and excellent ideas to implement into our daily rhythm.

What is Covered in the Peaceful Preschool?

Each week, there is a letter of the week (from A to Z).  The weekly schedule includes activities for Monday through Thursday, with Fridays set aside for field trips. Each day has an activity that focuses on: 

• Read-aloud: A book, poem, and/or Bible verse that ties into the letter of the week as well as some of the activities. There is a list of additional books for each week that are optional, but we loved. All the books in the curriculum are high quality and fit within the "living books" criteria of Charlotte Mason books (captivating stories with expressive words rather than super simple text, beautiful illustrations, learning about subjects through story rather than facts, etc). We found some new favorite read-alouds because of the books in this curriculum.
• Phonics skills: Literacy activities focused on memorizing the sound of each letter. The curriculum comes with printable alphabet flash cards that you can use glitter glue to make tactile flash cards. I displayed the letter of the week on our memory board and then we'd trace over it with our finger occasionally. There are also printables of the capital and lowercase letter in a large font that takes up the full page (great for tracing with finger, covering with play dough or with manipulatives)  A DIY tray/box with salt or sand for letter tracing is also encouraged for practicing letters.  Other activities (not done every week, but throughout the curriculum) include: Phonics Hop is a fun game where you show a letter card and the child sounds it out (if they get it right, they hop forward and if they miss it, they take a step back, with the goal of hopping to a finish line). An object/phonics basket is also used, where different objects (toys, safe household items) that start with the same letter are placed in a basket and you pick each out and sound out the word. Using play dough, clay, or pipe cleaners to mold into letters is another fun phonics activity to work on the shape and sound of each letter. I would also try to find that letter in our book titles or on storefronts or other places during the day, helping connect that letter to real life usage. 
• Counting skills: Rather than worksheets, early math skills are introduced with manipulative/counters like toys and small items like beads, coins, and objects found in nature. One-to-one correspondence (a number responds to an object in real life) helps solidify counting skills for building new skills in later years. There are number flash cards to print and cut out that make this activity easy (just have the child match the number of items to the number on the card). Board games with counting are encouraged in the curriculum, which was fun since we had some already. There are lots of counting games and activities in the curriculum that are easy to do with things you already have at home, from counting during baking together to counting hops  or toys.
• Fine Motor Skills: Wonderful for helping with later writing skills, these activities help little hands grasp small items, and usually tie into the counting skills activity. This includes sorting beads into an egg carton (photo above; each hole has a number written on it from 1-12 and the appropriate beads are placed inside), simple sewing,  puzzles, legos, and building blocks. Developing fine motor skills through play will help with future writing skills
  
  
  
• Large Motor Skills: Movement is incredibly important for young kids and helps them get out their wiggles out while also helps the brain learn.  Crawling, rolling, hopping, swinging are encouraged greatly in the curriculum. This makes the curriculum very fun for little learners. Imagination is also a big part of the curriculum, and many times played out through gross motor activities like crawling around like a lion, bear, or dog (his favorites to pretend), pretending to do adult jobs like a vet, ice cream shop owner, or lemonade stand (with Curious George, of course), and so much more. The ideas in the curriculum sparked many ideas for imaginative play on top of ideas Elliot thought of himself whenever we read books he loved and wanted to act out someway. 
• Practical Life Skills: Great for fine and gross motor skills, but also for involving your child in the daily tasks of the home. From folding and putting away laundry, chopping vegetables with a safe knife, self-care like having a Morning Checklist (Elliot's includes getting dressed, making his bed, going potty, washing hand and face, and brushing teeth), cleaning windows, sweeping and mopping after spills, etc. There is a recipe for almost every week (mostly sweets and snacks), so by the end of the curriculum, you could have a ton of new fun, child-friendly recipes to cook together. Most of them included ingredients Elliot is allergic to, so we were limited with the Peaceful Preschool recipes, but we had other allergy-friendly recipes we used.
• Art Skills: Although some of the art projects are themed around the book of the week (create your own watercolor version of your favorite page in the book), there is also a lot of opportunity for process art, where nature items are used or where the child is just happily exploring different modes of art without an end goal in sight. There were also several simple sewing projects we enjoyed together. My favorite art project from the curriculum was going to our local park and watercoloring a tree together.
• Nature: Time outdoors exploring nature is encouraged for free play as well as tying in some of the above activities in the curriculum, like forming letters out of twigs while on a nature walk or practicing large motor skills like hopping on a trail and climbing a tree. Observing changes on a tree throughout the four seasons and collecting natural objects like flowers for art projects also bring nature into the learning activities. We have enjoyed the botanical gardens a few times this year, noticing different cacti, lilly pads in ponds, and the natural kids play area. We have several bird feeders outside a large window where we often see birds, we planted and watered a Resurrection garden for Lent/Easter, and we love going on walks (Elliot is usually on his balance bike) on different paved trails around town and occasionally stop to look at an interesting tree, flower, or duck. The curriculum has more ideas, but we didn't always follow them all. 

Most moms already add most of these things in their week in some way without a curriculum, but I really enjoyed having the ideas every week to pull from, which was helpful. Here is an actual grid of week A, to see how all the above areas come together in a typical week

What I Love About the Program

First of all, I love what is NOT included in the curriculum: worksheets and busy work! Preschoolers learn best with real-life examples, cooking with a parent, playing with toys, helping with household chores, and gentle introduction of letters and numbers through play. If your child is ready for writing, you can work on writing, but the focus is more on tracing in sand, glitter glue flash cards, and other tactile methods rather than on paper. The letter pages that have each letter in the huge font that takes up the whole page is less about tracing with a pen and more about coloring, covering with play dough or manipulatives like coins, but can be used for tracing too. Elliot has naturally started writing letters on his own and is excited to do it on his own will, which I think has been helped my the curriculum: he gets to see the letters a lot without pressure to have to learn them right away. His own curiosity to write has propelled him toward writing letters and trying to sound out certain words, not because I am drilling him with countless worksheets (which can work with some kids, but just sounds boring and too much for most preschoolers), but because he is seeing these letters and early math concepts come to life in fun and engaging ways within his environment.

Another thing I love is that there is very minimal prep work and most moms have the items in their home already or can get them cheap from the local dollar store. Most activities and crafts can be substituted to use things you have in your home already. It was so gentle and peaceful because of the low stress of printing a ton of paperwork, buying obscure and expensive materials, or spending hours cutting and laminating cards.

I also loved the parent guide that is included within the curriculum. It helped me think through what is most important for the year, reminded me to pray for my child and his learning, and had helpful info about how the Charlotte Mason and Montessori methodologies were implemented into the curriculum. It was easy to follow, without being too long and drawn-out and just overall helped me feel the curriculum was serving us rather us serving the curriculum (and then getting overwhelmed when we couldn't do it all). 

Our Timeline & How I Used the Curriculum

We started last August, right before Elliot turned three and finished mid-May, so it took a lot longer than 26-weeks since we took many breaks. We took some time off after Evangelina was born in September, all of December off for Advent/Christmas activities, and a few weeks of for Lent/Easter, plus a few weeks here and there for family vacations. 

I approached each week as a feast in which I could pick and choose what sounds fun and realistic with my limited time for prep work with a new baby.  Every week, I did around half to three-quarters of the week's activities, which are outlined on a weekly grid. Some of the activities were above Elliot's level (writing out simple words in sand) while others I just didn't have time during the week, and didn't feel the need to do this year since I plan to repeat certain parts of the curriculum. 

As mentioned above, prep work was minimal. Along with looking over the weekly grid over the weekend before starting a new letter unit,  I had a list of the recommended books for each week, so I tried checking them out the week before they were needed, so I could get them in time. Several activities (such as the egg carton counting activity mentioned above) were reused, so while it may have taken five minutes to prepare the first time, it was effortless to bring it out of my math basket to reuse in later weeks. The salt letter box (literally just a recycled wooden pie box and cheap salt) was reused each week along with the letters, so all I had do to was grab and go! I don't remember any of the activities taking more than ten minutes to prep!

Most of our sit-down learning time is done at breakfast and I call it Morning Time. I would sometimes choose some of the activities from the weekly grid to do during this time (like pulling out the object basket and telling a story with the toys that all started with the letter of the week) but other activities were just done throughout the week whenever there was a moment when it seemed he was interested or not playing independently. Sometimes the activities were done outside (forming a letter out of twigs or pebbles while having a picnic or plenty of free play with hopping, ball throwing, etc). I didn't have structured learning time outside of Morning Time scheduled in our day, so it was very organic and I liked it that way for Elliot's young age. It wasn't important for me to do all the week's activities for my 3.5 year old, so this worked for me, whereas someone with a five-year old may want more structured learning time to prepare them for kindergarten. 

I have used Montessori-inspired shelf activities since Elliot was a baby, so I used shelf space for some of the activities in the curriculum that were easy for Elliot to do independently. I would explain them if needed, then keep them on the shelf all week long for him to grab once or twice during the week. This included some counting activities, the object basket, and other activities that I re-used from the previous year when I used The Gentle and Classical Preschool.

Peaceful Preschool can be used independently because it is such a rich and beautiful curriculum on its own. Especially for the younger side (3-4 year olds), you don't need to add anything else to it. Because I still had it and wanted to reinforce some of the material, I re-used some of the material from Gentle and Classical Preschool curriculum last year  (review HERE).  I wanted to re-use a lot of the memory cards, specifically scripture, catechism, and About Me phrases, so I added those into the Morning Time. 

A typical week with The Peaceful Press in our home: 

Here is what a typical weekly rhythm looks like with Peaceful Press as well as some re-used Gentle and Classical Preschool materials. That may help see how it is fleshed out, but please don't feel like this is how you should do it! This is just what worked for us.

Morning Time/Breakfast: I used the same memory statement board I used last year with the Gentle and Classical curriculum. It hangs by his activity table where we have breakfast, so it is a good visual for us to go through our memory statements. While eating breakfast, I would point to each card on the memory statement board, such as the Scripture card, and ask him to recite it after I recited it on my own or with the help of a nearby stuffed animal or toy who I used as a puppet. Then I would move to our character or  manner card we were working on, which are a wonderful resource I  found on Etsy. I would make up a funny story with that character or manners (like truthfulness, kindness, sportsmanship, greetings, etc). We'd trace the Peaceful Preschool letter flashcard (that has glitter glue on it for tactile reference) with our finger and name a few things that start with that letter (or bring out our object basket). Other times we'd play I Spy with things around us that start with that letter. I also have several page protectors that had other parts of our Morning Time rhythm. This  includes a hymn (the Doxology) and children's church songs (Peace Like A River, My God Is So Big, He's Got The Whole World In His Hands, etc) that we sing with our instruments (rattles, tambourine, harmonica). These were pages I printed from Peaceful Press' The Good Gospel curriculum as well as some songs I just added on myself because I enjoy them). We re-used the About Me page from The Gentle and Classical Preschool Morning Binder (which included his name, age, and emotions) from last year, calendar (printed from a different source), and reviewing the day's schedule (which I printed on my own using Canva). We also read either a Bible story or a Christian book during this time. I chose to do this instead of the Bible verses and stories in the curriculum. We don't do all of these every morning. It rotates throughout the week depending on time, my own energy and Elliot's mood, and whether the baby is needing a lot of hands-on care vs playing nearby on her own. It didn't feel like school, just quickly touching on topics important to me.  We would often also read a book from his nearby book basket that he wanted me to read. Depending on the day, Morning Time can take from 15-45 minutes, based on time available and interest. I never force him to sit down, it's just part of our breakfast routine, so when he's done eating and wants to start the day, we finish up. I have playlists on Amazon Prime Music with the catechism, scripture, and worship/hymn songs on my phone, so if we don't get to those sections in the morning, I will try to play the playlist while in the car that week.

Tea Time: I also continued our weekly tradition of Tuesday Tea Time (see my post HERE) that I started last year with The Gentle and Classical Preschool just because I love introducing art and classical music to Elliot (and really enjoy it myself).  We have also been reading some really easy and child-friendly nature poetry (using the book Sing A Song of Seasons) this year, which has been delightful. For classical music, we focused on The Carnival of Animals for the fall and have been loving The Story Orchestra books that have music buttons (The Hall of the Mountain King, The Four Seasons, The Swan Lake, The Nutcracker) and are a gentle and fun way to introduce small clips of classical music with an engaging story.  Whenever we baked something from the Peaceful Preschool recipe sheets, I'd usually have it available during Tea Time as a sweet treat. This happens after he wakes from his nap and is such a peaceful and beautiful part of the week that I treasure and make sure happens every week. 

Reading Aloud: This happens throughout the day. We often read a book during Morning Time or shortly after, and we also read during lunch and before his nap and bedtime. He just loves stories, both from books and made up on the spot, so he is often asking for a bool.  The book basket is in easy access in the house (it usually has books that include the letter of the week in the title) and his bookcase in his room is also free game, so we often read during random times of the day when we find a comfy couch to snuggle in and open a good book. He also enjoys looking at books on his own. I never force reading aloud; I just have great books available and we naturally end up reading at some point in the day. Limiting screens has really helped this too. 

Indoor and Outdoor Free Play: I try to provide ample time in our day for free play, both indoor and outdoor that is unstructured and not focused on any activity or goal.  This can be riding his balance bike to the local playground (while I follow with my baby in the stroller), going on a nature walk, other times just independently inside or outside  playing while I am cleaning, preparing a meal, taking care of the baby, or (dare I say it) enjoying a few minutes of sitting down and reading my own book or working on a blog post. I often overhear him include counting or letter sounds in his play, so it is fun to see how his brain is processing what he's learning through his playtime.

Structured Activities: I typically  have something planned after Elliot's nap since he often wakes up groggy and doesn't play independently as well after a nap, but does well with a planned activity. This is a natural time to include actvitivies from the Peaceful Preschool's weekly grid. Like an obstacle course with yarn or party streamers taped on the walls  that Elliot pretended was later beams (which took maybe ten minutes to prep beforehand), turning his train table into The Polar Express, shelf activities with toys we already have that help reinforce the letter of the week (like pattern blocks covering a letter sheet or creating the letter with wooden manipulatives (see below). Other times it was playing a board game together (like Candy Land, Sneaky Snacky Squirrels, and Busy Town are favorites) where we were working on color recognition and counting without really even realizing it. Sensory play is also important to me and a fun activity for Elliot. From water beads to corn, and DIY snow (that admiringly was a fail!), Elliot enjoyed getting his hands into some fun textures, sometimes themed around our week's letter and other times just plan ol' sensory bins for exploration.

Field Trips: There are suggested field trips for each Friday of the curriculum, and we only did several since many of them weren't readily available to us or realistic. Instead, our field trips were typically the places in town we have memberships to, which sometimes tied into the week's theme (like a recent trip to the zoo for the letter Z and SeaWorld to see the whales for W) and other times wasn't related at all (like the local children's museum or a nearby gymnastics gym that has a weekly toddler open gym) and that was fine for us. I love having options for little adventures, so memberships to local places are high up on our. yearly Christmas lists.

Play Groups and YMCA: Most weeks, we go to a playdate with friends in our neighborhood where there is a story and song, followed by free play or a different playgroup with friends from church where we rotate houses and have a short Bible lesson followed by free play. I rotate them since I only like scheduling one playgroup a week (introvert mom over here). On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I drop off both kids at our neighborhood YMCA's Child Watch (gym daycare) for two hours while I either have alone time to work on projects or check off things from my to-do list (Tuesdays) or workout in the gym and/or go for a run on the nearby trail (Thursdays). This provides ample social time and free play for Elliot while giving me much-needed alone time to recharge and take care of my mental, emotional, and physical health so I can be a ready to put myself out for them again when I pick them up. He also goes to Sunday school at church weekly, so he really gets a lot of social time for a kiddo who isn't in a formal preschool.

Comparing TGCP and Peaceful Preschool

I enjoyed both The Gentle and Classical Preschool last year and Peaceful Preschool this year, and I especially liked combining them since I repeated some things from TGCP this year. I really like using a Memory Statement Board and the memory statement cards that go on the board, all from TGCP. These visuals have helped me remember to work on the catechism, Scripture, manners, etc and they have been a good visual for Elliot to see while we work on them together. We occasionally review the cards from previous weeks and I am amazed at how well he remembers everything!  

I liked following an A to Z order of the letters with Peaceful Preschool, whereas The Gentle and Classical follows a different approach based on Handwriting Without Tears, where you start with the letters that are easiest to write (E, L, I, O, T, F). However, that order definitely helped Elliot learn to spell his name last year since all the letters were in the first few weeks! 

The Gentle and Classical Preschool has a Morning Binder you can print out with lots of sheets to reinforce phonics and math skills learned through the curriculum, but we didn't do many of them other than the About Me page (name, age, emotions), weather page,  and using the letter page for a template for covering the letter with play-doh, toothpicks, etc. Still, it is  a good option if you want to reinforce ideas like letter recognition, colors, and counting with a few worksheets. The Peaceful Preschool doesn't have worksheets, just the letter pages mentioned. I liked this just fine, but enjoyed having the option of the Morning Binder to add on for our Morning Time. 

There seemed to be more supplies I needed for TGCP's Handicraft Guide (most of which I opted not to do because it was too complicated for Elliot at the time and opted for a different project from Pinterest), while most of the materials needed in The Peaceful Preschool was commonly used things in the home, which I preferred. Also the prep time for TGCP was pretty extensive at the beginning since I had so many memory statement cards to print and organize for the year. It was a bit tedious and took some extra prep the weekend before a unit to switch out all the cards on the Memory Statement Board, but it was worth it since the cards really helped us both to stay on track with the things we wanted to work on during the week. It wasn't a bad thing; just something to be aware of in terms of time management and preparation with TGCP; I would not consider it "open and go".  The Peaceful Preschool, as mentioned above, had little prep work comparatively. 

The two curriculums have some similarities as well as differences, and I enjoyed each very much, so I can't say I preferred one over the other  since I used different things from each of the curriculums. I plan on using some parts of The Gentle and Classical's Primer curriculum in the fall to continue building upon some of the skills we've really enjoyed from that curriculum (like the catechism, Scripture, art and music study) and will repeat parts of The Peaceful Preschool that we didn't do this year. 

Last Bit of Info if Interested in Purchasing

Click HERE for more info about pricing (currently $44 for digital file, but occasionally there is a 15% off sale), some photos of the curriculum, and an opportunity to download a free week of the curriculum, to check it out in more detail before purchasing. You can check out their instagram and blog and parent reviews on YouTube like THIS one for more examples of the curriculum in real life. I don't get any compensation for sharing this review; I just truly loved the curriculum and wanted to share the info along if this seems like a good fit for your family. 

Have you used The Preschool Preschool or any of the other curriculums from Peaceful Press? I would love to hear your experience!