When your kid is old enough to start preschool, it matters what kind of a start they get. This will dictate their entire learning and schooling experience. As a parent, it’s in yours and the kid’s best interest that you pick the best possible curriculum out there.

Many parents are unaware that there are different curriculums to pick from in the first place. There are accounts of many parents simply giving up on preschool curriculum based on standardized education, and deciding to teach their toddlers at home.

Though you might not have to do that, you should keep these things in mind when picking a preschool curriculum.

Focus on the child
Any preschool curriculum by definition needs to meet the needs of a child. Gauge the curriculum against the interest level, ability to adapt, and developmental trajectory of the child. These make for sound criteria since they have a direct impact on the effectiveness of the curriculum. If the kid isn’t interested and enthusiastic about what they’re learning, they wouldn’t want to learn it. Similarly, if the curriculum’s subject matter is outside the understanding of the child, then they’re not going to be able to pick it up. Adaptation requires the curriculum to be able to accommodate all the changes that a child will go through in the following year, and provide a fodder of sorts for them to learn and grow from.

Focus on the developer
It’s baffling how many parents are not aware of the governing individual or body behind the development of the preschool curriculum. The curriculum should be developed by a child expert or an expert in childhood education. Any curriculum developed by those who have no experience of either education or teaching children is not fit to make a curriculum. A curriculum is the sum of experience, understanding children, learning styles and proven ways to effectively incorporate them. It isn’t simply a collection of ideas.

Accommodating learning styles
As any child learning expert or kindergarten/preschool teacher will tell you, kids at an early age are simply not equipped for paper-pencil work. Handing them hoards of worksheets isn’t going to teach the kids anything. At this age, it’s also easier to pick up the different learning styles of each kid and take them down the educational path that best benefits them. A child could be a tactile learner, visual learner, or auditory learner – as a parent or a teacher, you must know which. A good curriculum helps you find that.