When our children are preschool-age, we often hear that playing is enough when it comes to their education—and it absolutely is! Sometimes, though, they crave structure, and honestly, we do too.

So what do we do on the days when we're all played out? The weather is less than ideal? Or we simply need something to do? What do we do to begin building a foundation of learning through wonder and play with our children?

Created With You (and Your Littles) in Mind

This is much of the reason Gentle + Classical Preschool was created. We long to provide a way for moms and children to engage in education that is fun, inspires wonder, and cultivates play.

(Psst: You can read more about that here, and grab two full FREE units while you’re at it!)

Gentle + Classical Preschool is a full-year preschool program blending Charlotte Mason philosophy with classical studies.

The BEST part? The Teacher’s Guide is absolutely FREE.

Why We Don’t Start With the Letter A

We could go on and on about why we chose the elements we did for the curriculum, but today, we want to talk about the ABCs.

As with many preschool programs, each unit has a letter of focus—but you might notice something a little different.

We don’t begin with “A.” We begin with “L.” Why?

We fell in love with the order used in the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. It begins with one of the easiest letters for small hands to write—the letter L. From there, the letters follow in groups with similar stroke sequences.

This approach:

Helps little ones gain fine motor confidence early
Honors their natural developmental progression
Makes letter formation easier by introducing simple shapes first
Is supported and encouraged by PTs, OTs, and current science

But It’s About More Than Letter Formation

Letter formation isn’t our only goal when it comes to early literacy. In fact, it’s one of the least emphasized aspects in The Gentle + Classical Preschool.

That’s why we always encourage you to download the FREE Teacher’s Guide—it walks you through everything from rhythms and routines to what truly matters in this season of learning.

We also want our children to be exposed to:

The sight and sound of letters
A love for reading aloud
Rhythms of language through meaningful conversation and stories

And there’s truly no better way to foster that than through books and sound play.

A FREE Letter L Book List Just for You

Today, we’re including a FREE Letter L book list right here in this blog post! (Psst: The full curriculum has a book list for each letter in the Activity + Handicraft Guide!)
You can grab these titles from your local bookshop, library, or favorite online book retailer (Amazon works too!)