Caros Affordable Curriculum

[NiNi.R.]

I will have 2 18 month olds and 2 3 year olds this fall and I would like to try a purchased curriculum for them. I was debating between this or two steps. Two steps says it is geared for 2-3 year olds. Carols Affordable Curriculum is geared for 18 months - 3 years old.

I was leaning more towards carols as it fits into the age group and seems to be a little bit cheaper but was curious what everyone else thought of it?

[MommyMuffin]

I have tried so many curriculums. I easily get overwhelmed and hate singing and need a concrete plan to finish and start curriculums.

I ordered Carols curriculum and I am still waiting for it in the mail. When I get it I will let you know how it worked for my 2 (2year olds) and 2 (3 year olds).

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I will have 2 18 month olds and 2 3 year olds this fall and I would like to try a purchased curriculum for them. I was debating between this or two steps. Two steps says it is geared for 2-3 year olds. Carols Affordable Curriculum is geared for 18 months - 3 years old.

I was leaning more towards carols as it fits into the age group and seems to be a little bit cheaper but was curious what everyone else thought of it?

I haven't tried Carol's, but I used Two Steps and loved it! I know it'd be fine with your 18 month olds, but it depends on how advanced your 3 yr olds are. It may be too simple for them. I used it for 2 1/2 yr olds and one 3 yr old(they all but one were 3 by the end of 2nd semester) and think it would be perfect for toddlers, but was a little too simple for my 3 yr olds. Mainly the crafts because most of them only required them to color the picture on the paper, pasting on one item and sticking on a couple stickers. My 3 yr olds wanted to do more. As for the lesson plans though, I think they would work in really well for your age group. They don't focus on alphabet and number recognition in that age group because they feel it isn't age appropriate, so if you or the parents want them doing their abc's and 1 2 3's you may want to add in an extra activity each day for that. They sent me alphabet coloring pages and number coloring pages each month for them to color and you could save the pages and make a little book at the end of the year (they send 2-3 alphabet and 2 number each month), but I was also using the fun steps curriculum for my 4-5 yr olds, so I think they added those pages in so the younger ones would feel like they were doing the same things as the older ones. I'm not positive though, so they may send them in everyone's curriculum. If you call the two steps curriculum though and ask for a sample, they'll probably send you a whole complete months worth for 1-2 children for a previous month. They sent me one when I asked, and it sold me on it .
Sorry it got so long. But anyway, to sum it all up, I highly recommend Two Steps! My group loved the activities, finger plays, and games. Whoops, forgot one thing, it gives plans for 3 days a week rather than 5 (it was perfect for my group because I only had 2 1/2-3 yr olds two days a week). But you could probably easily add in a couple activities and repeat the finger plays a couple times (I did that often and they liked them more each time I repeated them), and you'd be set. There were times I had trouble fitting in all the day's activities into one day anyway, so it would probably be better for them if you stretched it out a little. They also don't always do all the "typical" themes, and they only last a couple days most of the time because they add in a special day each week like square day, or yellow day, or a holiday activity (like an easter party).

[Zoe]

I used Carol's Affordable Curriculum for 2 months. If you are looking for something very concrete, then it works. Everything is already prepared for you in individual boxes so there's no real prep time. All the supplies needed for each craft are individually placed in a baggy and the lesson plans are all right there.

The downside is that there is no room for creativity. The majority of the plans are taking some tissue paper or macaroni and gluing them onto a picture of a person or animal. That's about it.

You could always use it and then alternate it with a creative project of your own!

[mema]

I used Carol's last year. For my group it was good. The price was reasonable. My group wasn't interested in doing it everyday, especially when the weather was nice, so there were one's that we hung on to for rainy/snowy days. It is a lot of glueing tissue paper and such, but we didn't always do it as instructed. We would cut the stuff out and use other supplies we had on hand to make it more of an "original" piece!