Our family has been using Horizons Math from Alpha Omega Publications from the very beginning of our homeschool journey (way back when our oldest daughter started kindergarten in 2000). We trust their content and their quality. However, we've never used any of their other subjects until the Schoolhouse Review Crew gave us the chance to review the Horizons Preschool Curriculum set.
The Horizons Preschool set is everything we've come to expect from AOP, an excellent Christian homeschool curriculum. The student workbooks are colorful and well-made. There are 2 student workbooks for the preschool set, just as there are for the math curriculum, though these workbooks are thicker than the ones we use in math. The teacher's guide (also two softcover books) are thorough with lesson plans that encompass far more than just the workbook pages. The curriculum set also includes a loose-leaf resource packet that can be used to supplement and illustrate the lessons in the teacher's manual. My four year old loves the music cd that came with the set and is often heard singing the first song, "I love _____ and I know she loves me, too." We sing it to each other, actually.
My four year old has loved using the Horizons Preschool curriculum. She calls it her "giraffe book" and asks to do it every day! Since she is actually turning five next month (but not starting kindergarten yet), some of the early lessons have been just review for her. We whizzed through them quickly, until we reached a more challenging section of the workbook. That actually meant that we skipped the early lesson plans, as well. Once we reached a later section we were able to use more of the lesson plans.
The 180 preschool lesson plans vary each day. They include Bible stories, Bible memory verses, finger plays and songs, discussion ideas for science, language arts, and social studies, field trips, phonics lessons, physical education, and arts and crafts. Those aren't all covered in every single lesson, but most of them are covered each week. I really appreciate the finger plays and songs because my younger kids haven't been introduced to as many of those songs and finger plays as my older kids were. It helps to be reminded of them so I can mix them into our conversations throughout the day.
The Horizons preschool workbooks have the students learning numbers and letters, handwriting, cutting and pasting, counting, sequencing and finding patterns, working on shapes and colors and following directions. We've hit lesson 30 and have yet to cover time or addition, but I know they are introduced in later lessons. The pages are colorful and well-illustrated, and each page has instructions printed on it. The workbooks could be used separately from the complete set, though the lesson plans include phonics and so much more!
I'll be honest. The Horizons lesson plans are a little too structured for me. I never go through all the review steps in the Horizons math lessons, either. I looked at the lesson plans for the preschool curriculum and used some of the ideas for each day, but I didn't follow the lessons exactly. We mostly unschool or play school our preschool time, with lots of reading aloud, listening in on other homeschool lessons, and workbooks so they can "do school", too.
The teacher-led approach of Horizons complete preschool set is more than I really need or want for preschool in our large family, but it would work great for those with young children close in age, an only child, a smaller more structured family, or a Christian preschool. However, the workbooks are wonderful! They are colorful, comprehensive, and well-made. I will be purchasing new workbooks for our last child when he is ready for preschool.
The entire Horizons Preschool Curriculum set is sold for $125.95. It truly is a complete set, covering all subjects. You can view samples of each of the components by scrolling to the bottom of the page at the Horizons website. The two preschool workbooks can be purchased individually for $29.95 each.
Alpha Omega Publications can be found on facebook, google+, twitter, pinterest, and instagram. The Schoolhouse Review Crew actually reviewed a large variety of AOP products, so head over to the Crew blog to see what other reviewers had to say.
April E.
