At this level, the emphasis is on reading together, learning letters, phonemic awareness, learning numbers, simple math concepts, motor skills, social skills, life skills, basic science concepts and observation, making art, and listening to music. Of utmost importance are reading aloud daily, and creating a learning environment where your child will be interested (but not pressured) to learn the material presented in the guide. Reading aloud is a core activity each day, and you and your child will enjoy many popular classic children’s books together. Many other skills activities and alphabet activities will be done using Instant Curriculum and Lauri’s Alphabet Phonics Center Kit. Before you jump into the program, you’ll find the straightforward introduction very helpful. It lists the resources needed, the books that you will read aloud each week, and helpful teaching information. The bulk of the manual consists of week-by-week lesson plans, each with an overview of the week’s theme, and daily lessons. Each week begins with a character trait that is be emphasized that week, which corresponds with the children’s book to be shared together. For example, in Week 2, you’ll learn about commitment, exemplified by Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. Each week also focuses on one letter of the alphabet, and it is presented in the introduction to each week, along with general activities that can be used to help the child learn the letter. A helpful list of materials and reading books that are used throughout the week are also given in the overview, so you can locate these things beforehand. Each day’s activities is presented after the week’s overview. Every day, children will learn a math concept, a fairly advanced vocabulary word that begins with that week’s letter, and a series of questions to use after reading the selected book aloud. These are followed by a list of hands-on activities that correlate somewhat to the week’s theme or the day’s lessons. Many of these are borrowed from Instant Curriculum, and feature an “IC” icon and page reference, while others have been created by the author, and are marked differently. Activities cover a range of skills, and a nice mix is provided each day. Although not every subject is done each day, all are touched on throughout the course of the week. Lessons are designed to take about 1-2 hours each day, and are done Monday through Thursday. Fridays can be used to complete activities that you weren’t able to get to earlier in the week or other fun activities or field trips. Bible instruction is also available at this level, but is found in a separate Christian appendix, available below. The appendix links the character trait for each week to Bible stories which are read in The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. Blessings Every Day is also used for Bible, and features a Bible verse for each day of the year, with accompanying rhymes or prayers. Overall, the preschool curriculum progresses gently, incorporates lots of read-aloud time, tackles skills in a hands-on, activity-centered way, and uses few additional book resources. This year of learning looks like an enjoyable journey for both of you!