Even with the recent craziness in our lives (read here), we have still been homeschooling. With moving and a family vacation at the beginning of September we officially plan to start Kindergarten when we get back! This past year we have been we have been using Voyage of Discovery, the pre-k program by My Father’s World (learn more about My Father’s World Curriculum Here) and my daughter also attended the pre-k program at our church, two mornings a week. The year before we used My Father’s World’s preschool program, All Aboard the Animal Train (learn more here) and had such a wonderful time learning together! I can’t believe how quickly this year went!

Voyage of Discovery is a gentle program that will help prepare children for kindergarten by gaining academic readiness skills, learning about their community, developing both fine and large motor skills, and discovering the world in which we live. It is a 32 week program starting with Creation and going through each story in the children’s Preschool Bible (we used the same Bible in the preschool curriculum, but it bounced around based on theme and not all stories were taught), focusing on a new alphabet letter each week.

We really enjoyed this year together, and I am once again amazed by the amount that my daughter has learnt through the simple, but well thought out lessons. Each week has an overarching theme and a Bible verse to memorize, and each day of the week has activities that fit under Bible Verse, Story and Activity, ABCs, Math, Science, Outside, Story Time, and Educational Toys. The fifth day is lighter on activities to allow for flexibility and often has a field trip idea included.

I appreciate the amount of purposeful hands-on activities and interactive learning. For example, when we focused on a letter there was a letter work sheet, but also a snack that starts with that letter, pretending to be objects or animals that letter starts with, finding the letter around places (you can do this at home, in the car, or on a walk), a letter craft, and using play dough to shape that letter and other objects that start with the letter. The curriculum also came with educational toys that have different suggestions and ideas of how to use them throughout the year.

Another thing that both myself and my daughter appreciate is My Father’s World’s focus on good literature and living books. There are books that are included with the curriculum and in the back of the teacher’s manual there is a book list with different themes throughout year (Ocean and boats, Treasure, Alphabet, Counting and shapes, etc). We love getting these books from the library and our read aloud time is one of our favorite times together! Each year has its own list of books for book basket or morning time that goes along with topics being taught.

With the desire to be completely transparent, I will say that I enjoyed All Aboard the Animal Train (preschool) more than I enjoyed Voyage of Discovery. I felt that certain aspects seemed a little disjointed and it didn’t feel as cohesive as All Aboard the Animal Train (the units and themes all tied together very nicely). That being said-I would still highly recommend it. As a whole I believe that Voyage of Discovery has really helped to lay an educational foundation for my daughter and help her to continue enjoying learning.

Also, having a curriculum that is centered on God’s word and building a foundation on Him is something I don’t take for granted. I love that even at this young age my daughter is getting exposed to a Biblical Worldview and I have seen tremendous spiritual growth in her, as well as emotional and academic growth. Each week there was new Bible verse that had a song to go along with it (highly recommend teaching your kiddos verse through these songs: Hide ‘Em in Your Heart). We went through the preschool Bible chronologically and there were a lot of fun activities that help the Bible come to life such as “collecting manna”, baking bread, measuring our heights against Goliath’s, and building Jericho and acting it out. My Father’s World has the most integrated Biblical curriculum that I have found through my research and their gentle approach prepares children academically without overwhelming them.

I highly recommend looking into their curriculum. Please reach out to me if you have questions! If you are purchasing for the first time use MY REFERRAL LINK for a $25 off coupon.