When I began my homeschooling journey, I initially attempted to recreate a traditional classroom at home, complete with workbooks, schedules, and the expectation that my young children would sit still. However, I quickly realized that this approach didn’t align with what my preschool-aged children truly needed or with my core values of early childhood education. 

I discovered that I wanted their earliest education to be filled with rich stories, music, play, wonder, movement, nature exploration, and abundant opportunities to learn real-life skills alongside me. I was seeking a way for my children to learn about the world around them, as well as the alphabet and numbers, could be gentle, playful, and hands-on, seamlessly integrated into everyday activities.

Having guided four children through the preschool years, I have refined my understanding of what truly matters during these foundational early years. I am so excited to share Treehouse Story School: Preschool, the result of this experience – a thoughtfully designed plan that centers on these priorities, offering you a meaningful and joyful path to support your child’s growth and learning.

In this blog post: 

• What is Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Music and movement in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Storytime and picture books in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Alphabet in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Math skills in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Life skills and fine motor skills in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Hands-on connections in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Read-aloud tea party and field trip suggestions in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Peek inside: Exploring Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• What’s included in Treehouse Story School: Preschool
• Beloved preschool resources from Treehouse Schoolhouse

What is Treehouse Story School: Preschool?

Treehouse Story School: Preschool is a gentle, literature-based preschool curriculum that invites children to learn through the themes in stories they love. Each week focuses on a picture book, inviting children into connection and learning through music and movement, play-based narration, alphabet and number play, motor skills, practical life development, crafts, and baking together. This curriculum incorporates multi-sensory, play-based learning while introducing preschoolers to timeless stories. From toddler through upper preschool, this curriculum can be used year after year as you dive deeper into beloved, classic stories your family will cherish.

Each week of Treehouse Story School: Preschool uses a classic children’s picture book as an invitation to learning and connection, designed for children ages 2.5-5. The curriculum gives children a gentle introduction to formal learning and can be used for multiple years of preschool learning. Keep in mind, the goal for the preschool years is not mastery, but introduction and exposure. Much like a beloved book, children will enjoy reading, singing, and baking their favorite parts of the study over and over again. You, as the parent, will marvel at their growth each year.

Music and movement in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Each day of Treehouse Story School: Preschool begins with music and movement as a wonderful and gentle way to help children release energy before sitting down to listen to a story and participate in activities. Each week includes a hand rhyme to learn with your child and a playlist of songs. Both the hand rhyme and songs coordinate with the theme of the picture book you will read together with your child. Enjoy reciting a hand rhyme with your child and letting children play and dance along to sweet children’s songs as you gather together tor learning.

Storytime and picture books in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Storytime and picture books are at the heart of Treehouse Story School: Preschool. Enjoy 32 weeks of curated picture books as you read together with your child. Every day, you will read the week’s picture book aloud, then bring the story to life by playing with your child using the Storytelling Pieces and any additional props from the Storytelling Basket. 

Depending on your child’s age and ability, you can either retell the main points of the story while using the pieces and props for observation, or encourage your child to do it alongside you or independently. You might start by modeling the retelling at the beginning of the week and see that your child does it on their own by the end. This early form of narration helps children develop the habit of attention, deepen their understanding of the story, practice language and sequencing skills, and build a foundation for both oral and written narration.

For further learning, each week of study includes a coordinating book list to continue learning about a theme. Expand your child’s knowledge and learning as you read from books that explore a common thread of ideas to give your child more exposure to ideas, vocabulary, stories, and more.

Alphabet in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Each week of Treehouse Story School: Preschool provides simple, hands-on activities for children to practice letter recognition, formation, and letter sounds. The learning begins by focusing on the letters in your child’s name, making the experience personal and meaningful, and then progresses through the alphabet in a carefully planned sequence. 

Unlike traditional alphabetical order, the letters are presented in an intentional sequence based on their frequency in written language and everyday life. This means the letters children are most likely to encounter in stories, signs, and daily reading are introduced first. This approach helps children recognize and connect to the letters they see most often. Additionally, the sequence is designed to support children who are ready to start blending letters into words more quickly, giving them a practical foundation for early word-building and phonetic awareness.

Children learn the alphabet at different rates depending on their age, developmental stage, and individual readiness. Some children may benefit from focusing solely on recognizing and forming uppercase letters throughout the entire year. Others may be ready to explore both uppercase and lowercase. This flexible approach allows you to tailor the learning experience to your child’s developmental pace, building confidence and a love for learning.

Math skills in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Treehouse Story School: Preschool introduces your child to numbers 0-20, along with other age-appropriate early math skills such as sorting, counting, grouping, identifying shapes and colors, and exploring basic addition concepts. The skills are presented in a gradual, developmental sequence, with regular review incorporated to reinforce understanding. Each week includes kinesthetic activities to help your child actively engage with these concepts.

Life skills and fine motor skills in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Treehouse Story School: Preschool engages your children in activities that promote important life skills such as self-care, kitchen tasks, and basic home repairs. You will also introduce activities designed to strengthen fine motor skills, such as lacing, squeezing sponges, and using spray bottles. These intentionally planned activities help build finger strength in preparation for developing a proper pencil grasp. Some activities align with the themes from the week’s story, while others are more general, providing a well-rounded approach to skill development.

Hands-on connections in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Each day’s lesson concludes with a hands-on project, activity, or simple recipe that relates to the themes of the story. Some of these activities will emphasize geography, nature, or science, helping to connect the themes to the wider world and nurturing a love for learning.

Read-aloud tea party and field trip suggestions in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Each week of Treehouse Story School: Preschool includes a suggested recipe to make for a read-aloud tea party. You can find suggested books related to the weekly themes in the Book Basket list provided in each week’s preparation sheet. There is also an optional field trip suggestion for each week if you are looking for activities to do with your child outside of your home.

Peek inside: Exploring Treehouse Story School: Preschool

What’s included in Treehouse Story School: Preschool

Treehouse Story School: Preschool is a gentle, literature-based preschool curriculum that invites children to learn through the themes in stories they love. Each week will focus on a picture book, inviting children into connection and learning through music and movement, play-based narration, alphabet and number play, motor skills, practical life development, crafts, and baking together.

Digital Download Details

The digital download includes the full curriculum, plus the Storytelling Pieces, Alphabet Cards, and Number Cards. After purchase, the file will be delivered electronically to the email address you use to check out. For best results, we recommend you print using Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free application.

Hard Copy Details

The hard copy includes the wire-o bound curriculum (272 pages) printed on sturdy 70 lb. weight matte paper. The Treehouse Story School Storytelling Pieces, Alphabet Cards, and Number Cards are professionally printed on a commercial-grade printing press on sturdy 100# cover weight cardstock for durability and frequent use. All hard copies will ship in 5-7 business days. However, you will receive your digital files via email right away.

Beloved preschool resources from Treehouse Schoolhouse

Are you looking for more learning resources for your homeschool? Consider these best-selling products from Treehouse Schoolhouse that offer a gentle invitation to learning.

Daily Rhythm Bundle

Children are highly visual–they can feel particularly out of control when they don’t know what to expect of their day. That’s why we recommend using a visual schedule to support your children from the time they are very young.

Rather than trying to stick to a rigid schedule, this set helps you create a general rhythm for your days. The daily rhythm worksheet is laminated and dry erase and the cards can be moved around offering you flexibility and adaptability. 

Morning Time Bundle

This interactive, reusable set focuses on weather, seasons, moon phase, temperature, weather-appropriate clothing, date and time, and reading a calendar. With this daily bundle, your child will practice the skills of handwriting, tracing, copywork, and telling time. I recommend you print these materials and place them inside of a Morning Time Menu or dry-erase sleeve. Using dry-erase markers, your child can fill this bundle out over and over again. 

We also offer a version of the Morning Time Bundle for those in our community who live in the Southern Hemisphere.

Wonder of Nature Alphabet Print Cards

The Wonder of Nature Alphabet Print Cards were designed to offer young children a multi-sensory invitation to recognizing letters. The watercolor illustrations that coordinate with each letter of the alphabet teach early phonetic awareness by introducing them to beginning letter sounds. These beautiful cards can be displayed in your school room or used for hands-on learning activities like matching, sorting, and reading.