Flowering Baby

Typically when you think of homeschooling & curriculum, you think of school age children. I've wondered lately if there wouldn't be something out there I could use with my youngest since she's been showing signs of wanting to "do school" like her older siblings. So I was excited when we were recently given the chance to review Flowering Baby, LLC as it contained curriculum targeted right for Olivia's age!

Flowering baby is a curriculum for ages birth to 5 years old created by a mother (early education expert) and her daughter. I know, you may be thinking why a "curriculum" for such young ages? It's not so much a formal curriculum (as in book work) but more or less guided activities to do with your child that helps work on many areas of their development through play.

For ages birth to 3, the activities focus on the child's specific age by month, with about 20 activities per month. The daily suggestions take about 15-20 minutes each day. They focus on repetition of activities. Some of these involve using finger play & songs (like itsy bitsy spider), reading books, listening to classical music, motor skills such as playing with playdough or painting with finger paint, etc. At the beginning of each year, there is a list of books you will read (with each specific month listing what books you will need that month.) There is also a list of supplies you will need and most of these are things you have around your house.

For ages 4 & 5, the curriculum takes more of a preschool approach with activities lasting about 30-45 minutes per day. Some of the subjects covered involve math, science, phonics, Spanish and music. At the beginning of this section, they list some suggestions for phonics curriculum if your child is ready as well as some websites for learning. There is also a list of books for reading and a list of supplies you will need for the year.

Olivia was 17 months old when we received this product so we jumped right into month 17 which is contained in Volume 2, ages 1-2. That's one of things I like about this curriculum, that we were able to pick it up no matter the age of the child when we started it. At the beginning of the month, it listed the 4 supplies we would need for our activities, the 3 books we would read & the choice of music for that month (Beethoven). I received this product as a PDF so I just printed out what we were using & placed it in my master notebook I use for homeschooling.

I went onto our library's website and requested the books I needed. I could only find 2 of the books so I substituted a 3rd book. The authors of the curriculum stated you may have to switch out things as needed but it won't affect how this curriculum works. My daughters also suggested we could try looking up the books on you tube as well. Leave it to them to think of technology!

The curriculum is listed as Days 1-21 for this age month. Each day involves doing something active such as doing a puzzle with knobs & pictures together, putting masking tape on the floor to encourage their fine motor skills of walking a straight line, helping with sorting laundry, making cinnamon rolls, etc. It also includes either reading the same book twice in a row, listening to Beethoven, singing a song like "Row, Row, Row your Boat" or reciting a rhyme like "Hickory Dickory Dock".

Mornings were our best time to do our "school" together as Olivia called it. Once the older kids were busy doing independent work, Olivia & I would look at what activity was listed for the day. She quickly picked up on the fact that this was her special time with mommy and she soaked it up! Since some of the activities involved sitting at the table (like playdough), when she saw me pull out my book where I had the curriculum stored, she would automatically head to the kitchen even if we didn't need to be there.

Here she was sorting the different colored playdough onto the matching lids.

Overall, this curriculum was a hit in our house and I intend to keep using it not only with Olivia but also when our 7th baby is born in just a few months.  I know it may seem like some of these things are simple to do and come up with on your own, but having them all written out with the list of supplies makes it much easier for a busy mom like myself to implement . I found having a dedicated curriculum to use with Olivia helps me to take the time to focus on her with specific learning. Sure, she learns a lot by just watching her older siblings but I can see how much more she has excelled by just taking that short time a day to work independently with her.

The following all contain sample pages listed at the bottom of the page:
Birth to One, One to Two, Two to Three cost $30 per download.
Three to Four, Four to Five cost $38 per download.
Or you have the option of buying all 5 levels together for $132. Available in PDF or CD.

Flowering Baby is also providing my readers 10% off right now using code BLOG10.