Preschool programs

I am starting a registered license not required daycare this summer and I am looking for a preschool program I can 'teach'. I have found a site that has Mother Goose workbooks etc but they are quite pricey. I have also gone on preschoolpalace.org and I have found a Sept to June curriculum that I am very interested in purchasing. The site says the curriculums can be purchased off the site but I am not seeing a shopping cart or anywhere I can actually go to buy it. I have emailed the contact person a few times with no response. Has anyone else here bought a preschool curriculum off of preschoolpalace.org before? Do they only have it available to buy in the summer or closer to September? Or can anyone recommend another site that has reasonably priced preschool programs? Any help would be appreciated :) Thank you.

What a great idea! I too would be interested in this.

I don't know how helpful it will be, but do you really need to purchase something?
I know that there are a number of sites out there that have the preschool curriculum posted, with various activity suggestions. It may be slightly more work in terms of researching online, but if I was going to do a full-on "program", that's how I would do it!
But let us know what you find out, as I am still curious and open-minded. :D

I am bias because after 17 years of working in centre care using those types of programs I am no longer a lover of 'boxed theme based curriculum' specially after having been introduced to emergent child led adult supported play based curriculum ... so would be reluctant to spend money on a curriculum of that nature.

That said - I do have the Jolly Phonics curriculum - something I had already purchased when I worked in a centre before starting home childcare and I do still use 'aspects' of that curriculum however I make them more 'emergent and natural learning' verses the worksheets and stuff that came with the actual curriculum.

Did I read you are doing a before and afterschool focused program? Cause personally after having been in 'school' for 6-7 hours I think most school agers would be happy to just PLAY verses do more structured programming....but again that is my own personal philosophy about how children learn ;)

I have friends who have purchased the curriculum from preschoolpalace, but I use a lot of different sites and wing it myself. It's just my opinion, but we don't have to be school teachers, we are teaching every day with every thing we do, inside and outside, playing, singing, crafting, playing games.

I love my themes and we have one major craft a week that reflects the theme, books, stories and songs, I make it all fit together. It does make me feel like a teacher just doing that, but the children don't have to be drilled full of information, you know? They are babies!

Thank you for all your replies. I wasn't really going to do the totally structured preschool in a home type care. I will be doing child led activities/themes but really just wanted to have a resource I could go to for different ideas, themes, craft ideas, etc. I would also like to be sure that the kids that I have are prepared for Kindergarten once they go. I am only going to have kids ages 1 to 5 years old and I definitely don't want to overwhelm them (the 2 to 5 year olds). I want them to have fun, and learn while they are having fun. Maybe I am over thinking this too much as I am just starting out and want the parents to know that I am dedicated to their kids development (as well as my own kids).

I will definitely do more searching and see what kind of ideas there are for free.

Thank you all again :). I'm glad I have a place like this where I can come and get good advice from experienced providers!

There are also plenty of teacher resource books you can buy at stores like scholars choice or online that have a year's worth of themes in them. That might be your better type of resource and then if the children are intersted in a particular theme you can find it in your book.

Another good resource is mailbox magazine. You get a magazine monthly with ideas, printables, etc. and it has lots of good ideas. Make sure you go for the preschool level though because of your ages.

You don't have to spend a lot of money. Here are a few examples for you. When I had a shapes & colours theme I bought a big piece of bristol board and a strip of velcro at the dollar store. I cut out different shapes from cardstock and put one of each shape on the bristol board in columns, then pieces of velcro below the shape in a long row. I put the other part of the velcro on the cardstock shapes so the children could practice putting them in the correct rows.

I took a piece of plywood and bought a meter of felt and duct taped it together to make a felt board. At the Ontario Early Years Centre they have a diecut machine and I cut out tons of felt shapes of animals, bugs, all kinds of different things and use them for games and practice.

I pick up books every Monday morning at the library to use for my theme of the week. I google for craft ideas, songs, games, you name it! I serve mostly organic foods and that's my priority, great nutrition for the children, so I save money by being creative in my teaching. Hope this helps.

I found a blog called Oopsey Daisy, where she does "Mommy School". She puts out theme packs with activities for toddlers and preschoolers. They have a letter, number, color and theme focus. She includes printables too, which is really nice. All for free.
I also found tot school packs - more geared to toddlers and younger preschoolers. Can't remember the site I foundthem on though, and I'm on the wrong computer. I'll find the site.

adaycare.com is awesome!!
preschoolexpress.com has great free ideas