If it were me I'd spend the money on a real curriculum like Scholastic or one of the other name brand ones. It is so much easier and it's all inclusive, covers all the areas.
One thing though, the pods your teachers do really do need to coincide with the season's. For some reason one of the child care places I worked in was off by a few weeks. BUT in real life it made a heck of a lot of difference. We were doing water, water play, goggles, underwater, etc...in February in Oklahoma!
Crazy! So it made no sense to us or to the kids.
Another thing. In most states ANY child care or school setting for kids under kindergarten age they are governed by the child care regulations.
That means that you have to follow any guidelines they set up such as kids under kindergarten age MUST lay down and nap/rest for at least X hours per day. With the curtains drawn and the lights lowered and quiet going on. Even Head Start and pre-K have to follow the states child care guidelines and they're part of the local school system.
So any pre-school type of situation is still classified as child care but with definite differences. SO you do need to get a child care provider hand book to see what they require.
If I were going to put my kiddo in any sort of preschool setting I would make sure they had fun teachers, fun activities that encouraged learning, had family style dining, took naps and for those that no longer napped there were quite things they could do while laying on their cot that were engaging but still very quiet.
I'd look at the facility structure. Is it built for 3 year old kids or school age/adults. Are all the sinks, toilets, counters, tables, chairs, windows, shelves, toys, fish tanks, etc...set up to be for that age and size of kiddo. Are their chemicals for sanitizing good ones or commercial ones that don't always do a good job or that might hurt the kids. What do the materials look like. Is everything dated? The cot covers worn out or fresh and happy looking? Is there a washing machine so accidents and puke and diarrhea messes can be washed up as soon as possible. Are the floor surfaces tile, wood, carpet, linoleum, or other? Does it look clean all the time? How do they clean it, do the teachers get up after lunch and kids going down to sweep and mop? DO they actually get the floors clean or just pushed out of the way and damp mopped? Does it smell in the building? Where are the mops and other cleaning tools kept? Out of reach in a locked room?
What does the outdoor space look like? trees and grass and sand and toys to climb on and crawl under? Balance toys and swings? I didn't have swings at my facility because my insurance would have doubled. Are there sand digging toys, does anyone go out and sift through the sand for razor blades, cigarette butts, drug paraphernalia, broken been bottles, in the playground area? Are there easels attached to the fences where the kids can pop one down and do art work, can they bring building toys outside, play cars in the sand and on the pavement, are there balls of various sizes, and more that they can do while outside that will spark their imagination? Are there riding spaces and riding toys? Are there animals on the grounds like a pony or donkey or ducks or rabbits? Sand and water tables and tactile tables?
There are lots of things I look for in a facility that others might not know to look for. I don't care what sort of rating a facility/business has...if they are skimping the provisions or making choices to not do what is right because they think it's silly or something then that's not the place for my kiddo's.