10 BEST Homeschool Preschool Curriculum of 2024!
Are you looking for the perfect homeschool preschool curriculum to kickstart your child's education journey? Well, look no further! In today's post, I’m counting down the top 10 BEST homeschool preschool curricula available today.
Hey there. I'm Rebecca Devitt, a homeschool mom, curriculum expert and YouTuber at the How to Homeschool channel.
For this post, I've distilled over 400 comments from homeschool moms about their favorite preschool curriculum, and I'll show you the results in this article.
I'll also discuss each curriculum's features and benefits before discussing a very important issue: the price of each program.
Finally, I'll share what program I use with my own children and am loving at the moment.
It's reasonably new, so you may not have heard of it before!
Affiliate links used in this post.
Do I Need a Preschool Homeschool Curriculum?
But maybe the most important thing I want you to hear in this video is that you don't actually need a preschool curriculum for all children.
Some children may not be ready to learn at 3 or 4-year-olds, and forcing them to learn can majorly stunt their future love of learning and academic progress.
So only get a preschool homeschool curriculum IF your child is keen as beans to learn.
I made the mistake of starting my son on a homeschool curriculum as a three-year-old.
He wasn't ready for it, and it backfired.
It backfired so much that I was going to entirely skip formal curriculum work with my next child, Penny, until she turned five.
But Penny, by age 4, was begging me to do 'homeschooling,' too.
So, I got her a fun curriculum.
But if there is ever a day when she doesn't want to do her work (which hasn't happened yet because she loves our curriculum!), I'll skip lessons until she is keen again.
Okay, so that should take the pressure off you a bit.
Don't feel you need to get a preschool curriculum unless you and your child are ready.
But what if it will be a good fit for your kids?
My Father's World (26 votes)
Okay, let's begin by looking at the most popular options.
When I tallied the comments in the homeschool forum, one preschool curriculum stood out with the most votes from homeschool parents.
But what makes this curriculum, which is My Father's World, such a standout?
Well, it's hands-on, and lots of play-based learning takes place.
You can also start this curriculum super-early.
They make a 2 and 3-year-old preschool program called All Aboard the Animal Train.
There are many Bible-based lessons on top of the basic curriculum, which, of course, features many animals!
I must admit, age two is a little early to start formal learning for me.
But, MFW also has a program for 4-year olds called the Voyage of Discovery.
This one focuses on academic readiness with the alphabet and numbers.
I love that My Father's World is known for its gospel-centered teaching—one reason I think it's a favorite.
You can buy these programs for roughly $280-330.
ABC Jesus Loves Me (17 votes)
My Father's World is a well-known and trusted program in the homeschooling community.
However, the curriculum that tied for second place is new to me.
It's called ABC Jesus Loves Me.
But why is ABC Jesus Loves Me so popular?
It's because it's affordable and offers good value.
You can get ABC Jesus Loves Me for free, although they also have paid options.
Many people use the free option, but the paid option is also inexpensive at $95 and includes a couple of printed workbooks and many digital resources.
This play-based curriculum aims to engage children visually, audibly, and kinesthetically—perfect for little kids.
They also make curriculum packages for kids from 1 year to 5 years.
Masterbooks (17 votes)
But what curriculum tied for second place?
This curriculum is another well-known homeschool preschool curriculum called Masterbooks.
Masterbooks is also a gospel-centered homeschool program, which I like.
You can get their complete preschool homeschool curriculum kit, Biblical Beginnings for Preschool.
This curriculum is for 3-5 year olds.
If you do it four days a week, it will take around 45-60 minutes a day.
In this program, kids learn about the alphabet, colors, numbers, flora, and fauna.
And, of course, they learn about biblical history.
You can buy this whole package for around $105 to $130.
So that's pretty affordable for all of your Christian homeschool preschool curriculum.
Before Five in a Row (13 votes)
But what if you just wanted to stay with the same book and not keep swapping from the workbook to the textbook and back again?
What if you wanted a nice, gentle homeschool that just discussed matters?
Something the whole family could enjoy together.
A real bonding experience?
Then there is Before Five in a Row.
This program uses the Unit Studies method and can be done with multiple children.
The idea behind this one is that you and your family read the same (good quality) story five times in a row and learn all the different subjects in it simultaneously.
Sounds boring.
But it isn't.
This one gets incredible reviews, and people love it.
The other reason people love it is because it's really affordable.
Do you want to know what this one costs?
Between 50-80 dollars.
But you can also do More Before Five in a Row, which costs the same again.
Not bad, and you can't get a more open-and-go preschool curriculum than that, can you?
Gather 'Round (12 votes)
Another program similar to the Five in a Row curriculum is Gather 'Round, but you also get some workbooks.
Gather 'Round is known for being quite gospel-centered.
They also create gorgeous-looking workbooks and materials.
The preschool homeschool curriculum includes four teachers' manuals.
These manuals start by covering pre-writing skills and then gradually increase in difficulty as children eventually learn to draw and write numbers.
Because it uses the unit studies method, you can gather all your kids around and teach them all their subjects simultaneously.
Then, they can go off and do their workbooks.
This one costs around $251 for the printed version and $215 for the digital version.
I also like that if you get the printed version, you can add another student to the package for only an extra $120.
This preschool curriculum is a touch pricier than the others if you have only one or two children, but it gets great reviews.
If you have 10 kids, the online version would, however, be the cheapest because you could print the workbook off as many times as you want for each child.
Schoolhouse Teachers
If you do have a lot of children, you should check out Schoolhouse Teachers.
Schoolhouse Teachers is a Christian homeschool program that is seriously affordable program and covers:
ALL your subjects (including Pre-K),
ALL grades, and
ALL electives.
They have over 25,000 video lessons, some of which are interactive.
You can access all of this for $209-270 for one year.
If you just need grade PreK-8th, this will cost $209.
But they have loads of sales - sometimes they'll give you two years of access for the price of one.
Check them out here.
It's a good deal.
Gentle and Classical Preschool (12 votes)
Schoolhouse Teachers is more traditional.
But what if you wanted a homeschool preschool curriculum that used more of a gentle, classical approach?
Then the Gentle and Classical preschool for 2, 3, and 4-year-olds is a great fit.
True to the classical homeschooling method, this curriculum aims to use a child's developmental stage and natural rhythms as a point to start educating.
Their aim is to:
provide structure,
focus on character development and faith, and
add intention to their child's preschool years.
The latter reminds me so much of the Montessori and Charlotte Mason methods.
You can get their physical bundle for the inexpensive price of $64.
This includes the teacher's guide, activity packet, flashcards, and more.
Homegrown Preschooler (A Year of Playing Skillfully) (8 votes)
But what if the idea of providing structure has you worried.
Maybe you want to play for preschool.
Can you just do that?
Yes, you can.
But you can do it with a curriculum.
A Year of Playing Skillfully by Homegrown Preschooler is a series of educational books that teach parents how to educate their children according to the Charlotte Mason method.
It's all about intentional play and learning through play.
For example, in this one, you'll label 10 cans with numerals 1 through 10.
Then you'll get your child to put rocks in the one you name.
There are also things like drawing in the sand.
And, of course, lots of mud and getting outdoors into nature.
Be aware of this one, though.
It's very intentional, and although your child won't know they're learning, it isn't an easy open-and-go homeschool preschool curriculum like the one I use (I'll tell you about that at the end).
This one costs $159, so it is average in terms of price.
Rod and Staff (12 votes)
But there is a program that's been admired for decades—a very old one that even I used when homeschooling 30 years ago.
And that is Rod and Staff.
The Rod and Staff produce a lovely Christian preschool homeschool curriculum kit that includes:
Bible stories to read
Pictures to color
Activities to do
Letters to write
Numbers to trace and more.
In total, 15 books and booklets are included.
Pretty good value for 64.50.
It's interesting to note that several large homeschool curriculum suppliers, like Christian Light Education Ministries, use Rod and Staff as their basic program.
The only thing with these is that they are older publications—and you can tell.
Of course, this one is a completely printed preschool curriculum.
Easy Peasy All in One (5 votes)
What if you wanted something even more affordable, maybe even a free option?
Well, Easy Peasy is a free printable homeschool preschool curriculum.
It's entirely online, and you don't have to register to access this one.
Easy Peasy provides all curricula for all grades.
The idea is that kids can eventually start homeschooling themselves independently.
Many people really like this program, and it's a great option if money is an issue.
I must admit, though, that I find it hard to get excited about Easy Peasy, as it's often just a page of writing with some video links and pictures.
Other Pre-K Homeschool Preschool Curriculum Mentions
Some other programs that were mentioned were:
The Preschool Press
Abeka
Memoria Press
Horizons
Playing Preschool
God's Little Explorers
TGATB—Four people started with this but wanted to change it due to the 'Christian' worldview issue—it's written by a Mormon. See this video here for more info on this issue.
However, the ones in the bullet points above all got only a few votes compared to the ones above.
Footsteps for Fours - BJU Press
But now, do you want to know what I'm using for preschool curriculum?
In the past, I've used four different homeschool preschool curriculum programs.
I struggled a lot with preschool until I found our current program called Footsteps for Fours by BJU Press (pictured above).
This particular pre-K homeschool curriculum is pretty new.
But I'm a huge fan because it has physical workbooks my four-year-old can use while she watches the video lessons.
It's also easy to use and open-and-go.
Video lessons cover many subjects, especially promoting a Biblical worldview and reading and Math proficiency.
But, having said this, it's also the most expensive preschool homeschool program on the list, weighing in at $350.
But it's worth every penny!
If you're interested in checking out this program, I've written a fun and detailed review of it in this article.
