I'm considering using Winter Promise's Hideaway in History this coming winter/spring. I've read mixed reviews about WP, but many of them are quite old. Any recent experiences with them? I'm looking for a curriculum for my newly 6yo that incorporates (1) living books and (2) activities. She is an only child, so can handle a bit extra prep, etc. Thanks so much!

Hi there! There are already threads that list free curriculum, but they focus more on the older kids, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread with free curriculum for preschoolers and kindergartners. These are some of the resources I used as a teacher and now as a mom. Please add on and list any free curriculum or resources you are using or that you know of. I taught 4 year old Kindergarten before homeschooling, and I worked closely with the 5K teacher to mesh our programs. For my son, we just have fun doing phonics, handwriting together, math games, and take lots of field trips around your area! Also, read, read, read! At least 3 read alouds a day, more if you can. Kids at this age really need hands on play with materials like blocks, play dough, ect. to develop their cognitive and motor skills. We also do monthly themes based on the seasons, holidays, etc. I don’t use a boxed curriculum, just tons of good books and free printables and ideas from the internet. www.starfall.com Starfall is wonderful and free online, it has an ABC section for early phonics and reading going all the way up to 4th or 5th grade. They also sell a complete Kindergarten curriculum, but you can just use the ree activities and alphabet printables on the website for phonics and handwriting. Here is a program with lesson plans for presenting Nursery rhymes to work on phonics and literacy skills, it is called Rhyme a Week: http://www.teach.virginia.edu/go/wil...and_rhymes.htm Just to let you know, it is a program that was developed for Head Start. Some homeschool families might not approve of the source, but I used it in the Catholic school I worked in and I didn't find anything objectionable about it. The also have a program called "Book a Week" that has lesson plans for activities to go along with a children's book. It is also used to increase literacy and reading skills, and expose kids to picture books. http://www.teach.virginia.edu/go/wil...#A_Book_A_Week I don't use these faithfully, but if you wanted to it could constitute a complete language arts curriculum, I would just add in a bit more formal handwriting and/or phonics. Don Potter’s website has a phonics program called Blend Phonics that I think would work well at this age, as long as the child knows the alphabet. http://www.donpotter.net/Blend%20Phonics.htm www.littlegiraffes.com This is a website that was maintained by a Kindergarten teacher until she retired, it has great ideas for hands on activities and projects in language arts, math, science, reading, etc. The monthly themes section has great ideas units you could use as an integrated curriculum, also it has great ideas for hands on projects and centers that relate to science, social studies, as well as math and reading. Lots of fun crafts too! Again, you could use the themes to plan your activities for the whole year. www.jmeacham.com This is another public school teacher who still maintains her site. Although she teaches older kids now, she started out in Kindergarten. I really like her “roll a games” for math, which you can find here:http://www.jmeacham.com/roll.a.games.htm http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/abc_centers.html This website is from a former teacher who is now a homeschooling mom. She has tons of resources for preschool and Kindergarten. These are her ABC centers, which have some great games. She also has printable reading books that coordinate with great Children's lit: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/printable_booklets.html This site also includes a link on the left for Christian resources and printables, and there are plenty of ideas for math games and language arts games if you follow the links. http://www.first-school.ws/ This is a preschool site with tons of free printables, but they are also great for the Kindergarten level. They have handwriting worksheets in either Zaner-Bloser or D'Nelian. They also have some great flashcards, coloring pages, and they have lesson plans for various children's books and themes. Their site can be a little hard to navigate, but their free printables really are great. Their alphabet handwriting sheets also include pages with Christian and biblical themes if you wanted to incorporate religion, though most of their resources are secular. Here is the link to their handwriting printable section: http://www.first-school.ws/theme/handwriting.htm This site has a handwriting worksheet generator you can use to print out your child’s name in dot letters for them to practice. You can use Zaner-Bloser or D’Nelian, or cursive. www.handwritingworksheets.com Here is a page with free learning activity sheets for math, writing, reading, etc. You need to register at www.learningpage.com, but it is free. They also have lesson plans and printables to go with themes units, such as ocean animals, that integrate all the different subjects around a science topic with resources for grades prek-4. Here is a lin k for the activity sheets they have by month in an archive: http://www.learningpage.com/member/p...thly-sets.html Here is a link for their themes units: http://www.learningpage.com/pages/me...ct_oceans.html And here are the basic sheets that have great math and letter practice: http://www.learningpage.com/pages/me..._dnealian.html Here is a site with fun ideas for theme units, they also have songs and fingerplays listed by theme that you can incorporate into whatever you are studying. This is the section with recipes for things like playdough, paint, etc. http://www.preschooleducation.com/recipe.shtml They also have great ideas for games and activities to go along with phonics and math. These are all hands on activities and games, not worksheets. If you wanted a more traditional math program, I know that MEP math has a kindergarten program. I haven't used it, but it is free online and a lot of families on this board really like it. It is a British site so the Kindergarten year is called "Reception." Here is a link: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/proje...ry/default.htm If you are looking for a CM approach, Ambleside Online has free Kindergarten suggestions and reading lists as does Tanglewood Academy, and Mater Amabilis (Catholic CM approach). You could also look at the booklists on the Living Books curriculum website or Memoria press for more literature ideas, and then just use your library card to check out the books. I know there are a lot more out there, let's keep em coming!

Hello everyone, My name is Christina and I have a 4 and 2 year old. I recently purchased "The Well Trained Mind" and am looking for some resources and encouragement. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with how/where to start. My 4 year old went to 3 year pre-school last year but I always felt the pull to home-school my kids. After ordering the book I really think this is the avenue I need to persue with our home-schooling. Do any of you here have any good places to start?? Thank you!!

I hope this post is appropriate here but I don't know where else to ask since homeschooling is our life. My kids and I (along with several other moms and homeschoolers) are volunteering, once a week, at an Indian school to help teach first graders how to read English. It's an English speaking school so I'm not sure I would really classify it as ESL, although many of their students' parents do not speak English. We have been using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with groups of 1-4 students per volunteer. It's a phonics based program and fully scripted so the student volunteers can easily administer. But there is a disconnect between what the school is teaching and our phonics approach. It seems that many of the kids have just memorized words. So after speaking to the school, they received approval from the Indian education board to change their curriculum. Now we have a meeting with the head of English and the K-1 teachers on Dec 13 to discuss what curriculum to use and how we can work together. Somehow I was elected to lead this! My kids went to public school until after they were reading. Aside from me reading to and with them, I don't know how to teach reading. I don't know what curriculum works for a classroom setting (and for unlicensed teachers who English is a second language). This school is at risk for being closed if they cannot raise the reading level of these students. I'm not aware of another option for these kids if the school is closed. They are too cute and lovely to ignore. I have been researching all over the Internet. I know some of you are certified classroom teachers. I'm hoping you can help: what recommendations would you make for curriculum to teach children to read in a classroom setting? Something not too difficult. Do you recommend a phonics approach or something else? Thank you, thank you!