I recorded a short video for our YouTube channel with my 4 year old, giving her honest feedback on Moving Beyond the Page Ages 4-5!
Things I forgot to say
It was intended to be a review of the Moving Beyond the Page Ages 4-5 curriculum, but ended up being more of an overview of the projects she has completed. I am so grateful to have a blog to add in the little comments I forgot to make when we were filming.
First of all, we didn’t purchase the literature for this. I was hoping to be able to find the books at our local library. However, this turned out to be much more difficult than I expected! Fortunately, I was familiar enough with YouTube to realize that it was possible that the books required had been recorded on there, and they were!
A is For Musk Ox was the most difficult to find, and the first book needed! We were able to find a few different options on YouTube. I was very surprised that every single book was on hold across multiple library systems at that time!
We did already have some of the books, such as Blueberries for Sal, so I didn’t have to worry about locating those. Moving forward, I think that for the picture books we need, such as for my youngest, I will go ahead and purchase them, perhaps used, and then resell them on ebay when we’re finished. It’s not too bad to get books for my older kids from the library, since they are less in demand, and we usually need them for more than a week.
I also forgot to mention the sight words, math and alphabet flashcards that were included. These were the perfect level for my 4 year old, and she has mastered all of the words up to the week that we are on in the curriculum. It really is a great program for children who are developmentally ready. (If your child does not seem ready, then you should definitely wait. Don’t introduce materials before a child shows the signs of being capable to do them. It will just lead to frustration all around). You can find some additional suggestions for what to do with your preschool aged child here.
Actual Review
As I mentioned in the caption to the video, this was not a sponsored post. I only made the video because the few that I have seen are either unboxing or a negative review of Moving Beyond the Page. I haven’t been able to find videos that actually show what the children do with the curriculum itself. (Additionally, my 4 year old was pretty dang proud of herself, and so I knew she would like to have a chance to show off her work!)
The reason I ordered the moving Beyond the Page Ages 4-5 was because I recalled from when I ordered it back in 2015, that it came with the big box of prepared materials. My 4 year old loves to do arts & crafts projects, but with 5 kids, I don’t have the time to do all the projects I’d like with her. This made it so much simpler.
The curriculum is somewhat similar to Five in a Row, in that you are supposed to read the story several times, and there are 4-5 different activities for each book. The Parent Guide contains in depth (and occasionally overwhelming) detail with regard to the different activity options. The Student Guide contains the templates for some of the projects, as well as several worksheet type activities that I believe are better suited to the 5 year old end of the 4-5 year old spectrum.
Overall, I have a very positive impression of the curriculum and the company. When I first tried Moving Beyond the Page in 2015, I ordered 3 different levels, and I was completely overwhelmed. There are a lot of moving parts and a lot to keep track of. That being said, while I don’t know whether I could handle multiple different levels at one time, maintaining one level wasn’t too bad, and I would like to try other levels for my other kids.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this was helpful! Let me know if there are any other videos you’d like us to record 🙂
