Mater Amabilis™

Preschool Syllabus

IMPORTANT NOTES

PRESCHOOL IS NOT COMPULSORY. In both the US and the UK formal education before age five is optional. Many families like to have some kind of educational plan for their preschoolers, and we are making suggestions on this basis. Please do not feel that because the suggestions are there you must follow them. Readiness varies widely between children - one four year old may be ready to read, another may not yet be ready to learn the alphabet; some children may want to "do school" like older brothers and sisters, whereas others may have no interest in doing anything structured.

READ TO YOUR CHILD. If you do nothing else with a four or five year old, a short time reading to your child each day will lay important foundations. It helps to cultivate the habit of attention, build vocabulary and general knowledge, and - best of all - gives both mother and child some enjoyable one-on-one time. If you have a wriggly four year old, just a few minutes at a time is fine. Don't force your child to sit past the point where it is enjoyable.

WHEN IN DOUBT - DO LESS. Trying to do too much with a young child is worse than doing too little. It is better to start from scratch with a six year old than to find yourself dealing with one who doesn't want to do schoolwork any more. Be sensitive to your child's needs and readiness. If he or she isn't ready, then holding off for a year or so is fine. A child's work is his play!

CULTIVATE GOOD HABITS. These early years are the time for setting good habits that will lay smooth rails in the upper years. Let your young children learn alongside you while advancing your daily duties, and through those tasks foster obedience, truthfulness, a job well done, kind words, charity toward siblings and neighbors. Good habits fostered during these sweet, tender years will yield far more fruit down the road than beginning academic learning early.

YOU ARE THE EDUCATOR. The resources listed here are suggestions meant to give you a clear picture of what is recommended at this level but they are not set in stone. If you find a suitable resource that you prefer, please feel free to substitute.

Recommendations for Preschool

1 hour daily

  • Number and literacy activities - daily, 20 to 30 minutes total
  • Religion - daily, up to 10 minutes
  • Story time - daily, up to 20 minutes
  • In addition to this more structured time, aim to include nature study and art and craft activities each week.

Sample Structured Schedule for Using This Program

If you desire to start implementing a gentle structure to your school day, one way to approach these books would be to focus on one book for each subject per term per day of the week, reading one short story or section in a sitting. Children this age love repetition, so when you finish a book, you can start over again. Another approach might be to cycle through all of them for a given subject once and then again. Still another is to simply use these books as suggestions for library requests and ideas for gradually building your home library —enjoy them together whenever it feels natural to you!

THESE ARE GUIDELINES – ADAPT THEM TO SUIT YOUR CHILD AND FAMILY.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

New Testament
At this tender age, focusing on the persons of Mary and Jesus is a beautiful way to foster relationship. These picture books offer a simple way to introduce them to your children. 

  • The Miracles of Jesus by Tomie de Paola
  • Mary My Mother by Rev. Laurence G. Lovasik
  • The Good Samaritan and other Parables, or The Parables of Jesus by Tomie de Paola

Religious Instruction
This is an age when most children begin to show a stronger interest in understanding and participating in the faith of the family. Here are a few books that introduce some of the “little ways” we as Catholics acknowledge the foundational truths of the Church.

  • Little Acts of Grace by Rosemary Gortler and Donna Piscitelli
  • A Is for Altar, B Is for Bible by Judith Lang Main
  • Manners in God's House: First Prayers and First Missal (Neumann Press)
  • My See and Pray Missal
    The illustrations in this book are based on the Extraordinary Form of the mass, but since it emphasizes the universal aspects of the mass, it is still a good resource for those attending the Ordinary Form of the mass, giving a close up view of the things happening that are harder to see from your pew. This is a good resource for those quiet moments in the pew before mass begins and a gentle way to re-engage your child visually during the mass.
  • The Mass Book for Children by by Rosemary Gortler and Donna Piscitelli 


Saints and Catholic Life

  • Catholic Children's Treasure Box (Maryknoll Sisters)
    This fun, classic series is a delightful assortment of stories, games and songs. A highlight is a serial story about St. Therese as a little girl. *Note: While overall this is a lovely series, the Wupsy stories (found at the end of each volume) are not recommended.

Liturgical Year

Suggested Resources for Living the Liturgical Year

Adult Resources:

Preschool Resources:

    • My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories by Heidi Hess Saxton
    • UK Option: The Lion Storyteller Bible (Bob Hartman)
    • Formerly Catholic Mosaic was recommended. However many of the books have become hard to find and many new catholic picture books have been written. If you have access to an affordable copy you may find it useful. But we no longer suggest it as a core purchase for the prep level. This resource gives suggestions for picture books to read during each month of the year, along with a selection of activities to go with each book.

MATHEMATICS

There are many resources you can use to begin number work with your Prep Level child. A formal curriculum is not necessary, but if you choose to use one, do be sure to fit the curriculum to the child and not the other way round. At this age readiness varies widely; the most important thing is to go at your child's pace. Some will race ahead in this area, others will struggle. Trying to force a young child into doing what a curriculum provider says they "ought" to be doing at this age can result in a child who hates numbers for years to come.

Some Suggested Activities and Topics

    • Counting songs
    • Number games (dominoes, number lotto)
    • Board games with dice
    • Make and copy sequences and patterns
    • Time (clock with movable hands)
    • Measuring (ruler, weight scale)
    • Cooking (measurement)
    • Money (learn different coins, count pennies)
    • Math reading and writing - daily, for 10 minutes each (less for handwriting)

Number and Counting Books:

  • 1 Is One (Tasha Tudor)
  • The Icky Bug Counting Book (Jerry Pallota)
  • Anno's Counting Book (Mitsumasa Anno)
  • 10 Apples Up On Top (Dr. Seuss)
  • Numbers in Art (Lucy Micklethwait)
  • One Odd Day and My Even Day (Doris Fisher)
  • One Hundred Hungry Ants Paperback and other books by Elinor J Pinczes

Some Formal Resources:
There are many resources you can use to begin number work with your Prep Level child. A formal curriculum is not necessary, but if you choose to use one, do be sure to fit the curriculum to the child and not the other way round. At this age readiness varies widely; the most important thing is to go at your child's pace. Some will race ahead in this area, others will struggle. Trying to force a young child into doing what a curriculum provider says they "ought" to be doing at this age can result in a child who hates numbers for years to come.

  • Counting With Stickers 1-100 (Kumon)
  • Numbers 1-30 Write & Wipe Flash Cards (Kumon)
  • My Book Of Numbers 1-30 (Kumon)
  • My Book Of Number Games 1-70 (Kumon)
  • My Book of Easy Telling Time: Learning about Hours and Half-Hours (Kumon)
  • Other preschool books by Kumon
    (Available at bulk discount from Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op)
  • Family Math for Young Children: (Jean Kerr Stenmark and Grace Davila Coates)
  • Let's Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together and Enjoy It (Denise Gaskins)
  • Math You Can Play Combo: Number Games for Young Learners (Denise Gaskins)
  • The Oxford First Book of Maths (Rose Griffiths)
  • Singapore Math Dimensions Series (PreK)

ENGLISH

LETTER RECOGNITION
Reading readiness varies widely at this age. Blending is a developmental leap that means some children will practically teach themselves to read at 4 or 5 while others are not ready until 7 or 8 (or even older!). A good place to start at this age is with letter recognition. This can be done informally in your reading together by pointing to letters and giving their sounds. Some preschoolers are delighted by a more formal approach such as a “letter of the week.” Be sure to follow your child’s lead and avoid making demands of them that are beyond where they are developmentally. Likewise, some children will demand you show them how to write their letters while others will find writing exhausting and tedious. Our oldest child often seems much older and more capable to us than they really are, so remember to be gentle with them and with yourself!

Alphabet Books:
  • Abadaba Alphabet 
  • All in the Woodland Early (Jane Yolen)
  • The Icky Bug Alphabet Book (Jerry Pallota)
  • A Is for Anabelle: A Doll’s Alphabet (Tasha Tudor)
  • A Is for Altar, B Is for Bible (Judith Lang Main)
  • B Is for Bethlehem () Perfect for Advent and Christmas!
  • Curious George Learns the Alphabet (H. A. Rey)
  • My First ABC (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
  • Museum ABC (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
  • I Spy: An Alphabet in Art (Lucy Micklethwait)
  • Videos: The Letter Factory and The Talking Words Factory
Some Formal Resources:

STORY TIME

Read aloud picture books and stories of your choice. Some suggestions are given below:

Story Collections

Picture Books

NATURE STUDY

US Options:

    • The Year at Maple Hill Farm (Alice and Martin Provensen)
    • Over and Over Again
    • A Time to Keep
    • Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt (Messner)
    • Nature in the Neighborhood (Morrison)
    • On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World’s Weather (Singer)
    • Hi, Koo: A Year of Seasons (Muth)

UK Option:

 

Picture Books for Nature Study

FALL

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Priceman)

The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree (Gibbons)

Apples (Gibbons)
Fall Walk (Snow)

Leaf Man (Elhert)

Pumpkin Moonshine (Tudor)

Cranberry Thanksgiving (Devlin)

The Thanksgiving Story (Dagliesh)

WINTER

The Big Snow (Hader)

Over and Under the Snow (

The Tomten (Lindgren)

The Tomten and the Fox (Lindgren)

The Mitten (Brett)

The Hat (Brett)

Katy and the Big Snow (Burton)

Snowflake Bentley (Martin)

The Secret Life of a Snowflake (Libbrecht)

SPRING

And Then It’s Spring (Fogliano)

The Storm Book (Zolotow)

SUMMER

One Morning in Maine (Robert McCloskey)

Blueberries for Sal (McCloskey)

Sample 36 Week Chart (pdf) (doc)

This is one way to divide the readings, but is

not updated to reflect changes made in 2022.

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