I received monetary compensation for the time invested in reviewing this curriculum and in writing a thoughtful, honest review. The opinions contained in this post are 100% mine. For more information, see my disclosure policy.
As a homeschool mom, I face many challenges in our day-to-day homeschool life. One of my biggest struggles is figuring out how to provide a rich preschool experience for my youngest, while managing more intense work with my olders.
There are only so many hours in the day. Plus, I have 4 children…and there’s only 1 of me. 😉
Browse through all of the homeschool curriculum posts here at Mama’s Learning Corner.
Preschool Help for Busy Homeschool Moms
Our homeschool days always go much better if I give my time and attention to my youngest ones during the first part of the day. The Littles First Plan goes awry, however, if I don’t have anything in mind to work on. I do an excellent job of scheduling our homeschool days for my two oldest, but I’ll admit that structured time for the preschool-age sometimes falls through the cracks.
While there is a huge assortment of preschool items available online, it does take an enormous amount of time to gather those materials and then print, cut, and organize.
As a homeschool mom who is knee-deep in phonics and fractions, I often don’t have that kind of time.
Over the past several weeks, I had the opportunity to use Ready-Made Preschool Seasonal ABC’s with my youngest daughter, who is 3 1/2.
Not only have our past few weeks been full of creative educational activities, but she has thrived with this concentrated one-on-one time with me.
We have both loved every second of it!
An Overview of Ready-Made Preschool
Ready-Made Preschool Seasonal ABC’s is a 30-week curriculum, which is available in 2 different levels for ages 3-5.
Each week includes 4 days of thematic lessons which are based on a piece of quality children’s literature and letter of the week. All lessons involve reading the chosen book and multi-sensory activities that correspond with the book.
Activities include everything from do-a-dots, animal recognition, making puppets, numerous ideas for number and letter recognition, recognizing patterns, and even scavenger hunts (indoor and outdoor!).
Preparation for Ready-Made Preschool is very easy: After obtaining a copy of the week’s book, open the included manual to the correct week, determine the activities for the day and pull them from their labeled envelope, and go!
Mama’s Favorite Features of Ready-Made Preschool
There are several features of Ready-Made Preschool that totally set it apart from other available preschool curricula. Here are just a few of my favorite features:
Essentially no planning for Mom
I am a busy (busy!) homeschool mama with 4 children to educate. With my older children, I am currently up to my eye balls in phonics, place value, reviewing long division, putting together unit studies, and history.
While I enjoy making all types of preschool printables, I frequently just don’t get around to planning for our preschool time each week. And I hate that. Even though I certainly know what to do for preschool and how to do preschool with my 4th child, I don’t always have the time to piece everything together.
Ready-Made Preschool completely eliminates this planning problem for me. After securing the books I need, the only thing left for me to do is open the manual to the current week and read what we’re going to do for the day.
All materials are included in the curriculum package
All of the materials needed for the 30 weeks are included in the curriculum. On the rare occasion, you’ll need an item such as tinfoil or a paper towel tube, but those are items you’ll easily find around the house.
Note that the weekly books are not included in the purchase of the curriculum. Each title is a popular children’s book, so you’ll easily find them on Amazon or in your local library.
This is a frequent scenario for me in homeschooling: I find the perfect activity to complement a book we’re reading during the week. I plan the activity for Tuesday. Surely I’ll be able to get to the store for the supplies before Tuesday, right?
Wrong.
Tuesday comes and goes and we never get to the fun activity I’m dying for us to do. I’ve simply run out of time (and energy) and the best activity ever goes undone.
This never happens with Ready-Made Preschool, which is a huge selling point for me! The activities for each day are clearly labeled, so I simply walk over to the envelope, pull the items for the day, and we’re off!
No last minute trips to the store and no skipping the best ever activities because I’m not prepared with supplies.
That’s a total win for this mama.
Materials are organized extremely well
Not only are all of the activities included, but they are organized in a logical, easy-to-find method.
When we start a new week, I find the correctly labeled envelope. Each envelope contains 3 weeks, so I find the materials I need for my week, which are clearly labeled in a bag.
Keeping the weekly materials organized and together could not be more easy.
The materials are organized so well in fact, that my 7-year-old found each day’s materials and even taught some of the lessons! I read the story each day, but I occasionally let my 7-year-old teach the counting activity or practice the letter of the week.
My daughters loved the concentrated time together and I loved the success and accomplishment my 7-year-old felt! And how special my 3 year-old felt with her Sis being her teacher!
Literature-based curriculum
I love any program or curriculum that exposes my children to good quality children’s literature, and Ready-Made Preschool is no exception.
Through this curriculum, my daughter and I will read classic pieces such as: Growing Vegetable Soup, The Littlest Owl, Katy No Pocket, Curious George Feeds the Animals, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
These books just never grow old and are packed with life lessons and concepts that pique her curiosity.
Variety of Activities for the Preschool Age
Each of the daily activities are based on the letter of the week and/or the week’s book selection. Ready-Made Preschool provides an enormous variety of weekly activities to keep your preschool engaged and learning!
I could not have been more impressed with the lack of repetition in activities from week to week. It’s like a new adventure every single day!
Closing Thoughts about Ready-Made Preschool
As a busy homeschool mama, the no planning and ready-to-use materials from Ready-Made Preschool are worth their weight in gold.
There are seasons in my homeschool years where I have ample amounts of time to dream up fun preschool projects, make loads of educational printables, and create themed weeks.
For those seasons when I don’t have that kind of time or energy, Ready-Made Preschool is the perfect solution. Having all of the materials and prep work already done saves me a considerable amount of brain space, energy, and planning time for other homeschool-related tasks.
I could not be more thrilled with this new preschool option for our family!
Free Samples of Ready-Made Preschool
Interested in a detailed sample of Ready-Made Preschool? Just click on the links below!
Do you have questions about Ready-Made Preschool? Feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll answer based on my experience!
Hello,
I have a question, can the materials be used again next year with my next preschooler? or are most of them consumable?
Thanks!
Hi! Yes, the materials are definitely consumable. However, there is a sibling add-on packet: http://readymadepreschool.com/product/seasonal-abcs-level-1-sibling-kit/
You wouldn’t need to purchase the manual again, of course, so you’d only need to purchase the sibling packet (the consumable portion).
Thank you for stopping by! Please let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂
Thanks for the review? Do the activities cover many learning styles? Do you feel they would be boy-friendly? I have a very active guy who is very hands on. I don’t learn that way at all, so dreaming up ways to make learning meaningful and fun can be exhausting. This sounds like a sanity saving option.
Hey Amy! I definitely think the activities are boy-friendly. In fact, all of the elements of the program that I’ve seen are very gender-neutral. (Making a zebra handprint, frog life cycle, paper plate activities, etc.
This program is activity-based, so it is definitely hands-on! Each day you read the particular book and then do an activity based on the book. It is not a worksheet-style program at all (meaning sit in your seat and be still 😉 )
I think it is a great mix of being still (while reading the book) and then being up and about doing a hands-on activity.
Yes, I have had several hands-on learners and WOW can it get hard to brainstorm ideas. And then gather all of the materials. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Lauren, wow! This is actually pretty cool! What’s all included in the packs they sell?
Every single craft/activity item you’d need to complete the curriculum! It’s truly a great product for busy mamas. 🙂
Wow, that’s just awesome!
This is EXACTLY what I have been looking for! Thanks for the review I will be getting it!! 🙂
Natalie, I am so thrilled this will be a good fit for your family! It really was for us as well. Enjoy!
And thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Hi there! Love the review. Is there a place to view a sample lesson for this before I buy? And where do you buy it? Thanks!!
Hi Rebecca! I just browsed through the site, I don’t see a sample for review. I’ll email the publisher and see if one’s available.
You can buy directly from the website: http://readymadepreschool.com/
We truly have been so happy with it! My 3 1/2 will say, “When are we doing MY school?” Love it!
Hi Lauren! This looks fantastic, although I was a bit shocked at the price when I saw it. But I guess you are paying for the convenience of having everything thought out and done for you. Do you know anything about the 10 week kits? It says it’s the same curriculum but doesn’t contain the general supplies like paint and glue. If I purchased all three separately, it only saves $10 in the long run; however, I think I’d rather pay for a 10 week kit to try it out first. Just wondered if you reviewed a full kit or a 10 week one and if there was anything major missing that you wished you would have had? It’s hard to purchase something like this without any samples. I see in the comment above that you contacted them for a sample. I would love to see one as well. I’ve looked at a few other “boxed” preschool programs and I keep coming back to this one. I like the literature connection and that activities seem more varied and not just worksheets. Have you tried any of the others (Learning Box, Mother Goose Time, or Affordable Preschool Program) and would you say that is true if you have?
Hi Heidi! Thanks for your questions.
– I did not try out a full kit, only a sample kit, so I can’t speak to missing certain items. I think if you have a fairly well-stocked craft/art area, you won’t miss anything.
– Yes, I’ve researched other boxed preschool programs as well, and this has been my favorite. I’ve only seen the others in person at our local homeschool store and at curriculum fairs, so I can’t speak to the actual ease of use of others. But in terms of content, everything being readily available, and the open-and-go ease, this is my favorite so far.
I just posted the samples at the bottom of this post. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and you can download samples for Letter F and Letter H. I agree – it’s so much easier to make a purchase when you can view samples! 🙂
How much time would you say each “school day” would take for the average 4 yr. old in the beginner program?
Hi Mary 🙂
It varied by the day, but I’d say we spent anywhere from 30-45 minutes per day. Of course some day were a bit shorter, and some a bit longer. Never over 45 minutes, though. 🙂
How did you decide whether or not to do level 1 or level 2? Did you think Level 1 was challenging enough for your 3.5 year old? Mine will be 4 in two months so I don’t know which one to get.
Do you know if its possible to host get the manual?
Hey Tiffany! I don’t know if you can or not, but honestly, it would be difficult to get all of the pieces individually. It really is such a beautiful open-and-go learning set.
I do occasionally see just the manual at our local homeschool store where you can sell used items. Maybe check a place like that if you have access to one locally?
Sorry I’m not much more help!
Lauren