Charlotte Mason Toddler & Preschool Curriculum

I designed a curriculum for my toddler daughter mainly because – let’s face it – if I don’t write it down and make it look “official”, it’s probably not going to get done!

I know most homeschoolers advise “winging it” for preschool and even kindergarten, but it’s very easy for me to get distracted by something else (cooking, cleaning, shopping lists, TV, computer, pets, etc) and most days if I don’t have a plan, we just lounge around. Letting things just happen can be good! We’ve learned a lot of great stuff together that way. I feel guilty though when I realize we haven’t read any books today, I cooked lunch without letting her measure and pour things, or I’ve been so busy cleaning we haven’t colored in a week.

I try to cover Language Arts, Nature Study, Math, Art, Music, and Foreign Language. We also do some enrichment Activities, and practice Narration. I aim to touch on each area at least once per day.

So this is my schedule. I know we won’t get it all done on some days, but I put it out here on the internet to hold myself accountable. These are things I should be doing anyway. I’m calling it a curriculum to get myself off my behind!

Here it is in an easier-to-read chart.

Language Arts

Language Arts at our house includes reading, writing, and literature. For reading, I make an effort to play a native reading game every day, something with word building or letter play. Writing hasn’t really come into play yet, but when it does it will include tracing and copywork. Our literature study is reading at least one book per day.

Nature Study

For a toddler, this includes free outside play, and close examination (which toddlers naturally do!) of anything interesting we find outside. I try to make it at least an hour every day.

Math

Learning to count to ten, shapes, and patterns. Counting is fun! Count when you play hide-and-seek, count bugs on a leaf, or draw hopscotch squares with sidewalk chalk. Patterns are interesting when you alternate pasta shapes while stringing a necklace, point out patterns on the rug, or arrange the flatware a certain way when you load the dishwasher. Doing puzzles together (big chunky wooden ones) can reinforce all these concepts. We have number puzzles, shape puzzles, and pattern puzzles. We also read books that reinforce numbers and shapes.

Art

Art is pure fun. We draw, color, paint, and learn the colors. My daughter learned the colors just from hearing me name them as we drew together. When she gets older this will translate into more traditional Art Study. At kindergarten age we’ll start looking at paintings together and pointing out some of the same things we like to draw and notice in our own artwork.

Music

Music is pure fun at this stage too. We listen to the radio (XM and Sirius satellite radio have some great classical, opera, and other stations for this), name the instruments we can hear, and dance along. We have fun playing her drums, piano, xylophone, and recorder.

Foreign Language

Charlotte Mason started with French, since many of her students would at some point travel to France. I have very little use for French (unless it would be Cajun French, which would be useless anywhere else). We are learning ASL, mostly using Signing Time videos.

Activities

I try to set up one Montessori-style activity to do each day. Most of my ideas come from blogs, like Chasing Cheerios.

Narration

I do include narration! Even though she’s very young, I want her to see the connections between things and the richness of books, music, art, and nature. I’m preparing her for narration by drawing her attention to connections and details. So, for now, it’s more like I’m the one narrating our discoveries. I do leave space for her to talk, and she sometimes points out details I leave out, or remembers a similar or connected prior discovery.

Habit Training

Mostly at this point, habit training is getting her to help me out! She helps me cook and clean, pick up and put away, and we're working on behavior as issues come up. I do have to remember to let her stir when I'm cooking, wipe when I'm cleaning, and race the clock to get all the toys back in the toy box. I hope including it in our "curriculum" will help my brain recognize it as "important"!

I hope that by putting this online, I can be encouraged to make more of an effort in structuring our day, and maybe even help someone else who wants to follow a Charlotte Mason approach with their toddlers/preschoolers, but is disorganized and forgetful like me! We just need a little nudge to see the opportunities we have. "Winging it" doesn't mean letting the kids sit in front of the TV all day. You do have to do things with them, and these (I think) are the natural things we should be doing.