Joyfullyblessed Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Hello Everyone, I was just wondering if anyone who is teaching kindergarten this year would be willing to share their daily schedules? What are you doing each day, how long do you school each day, and have you found anything (games, sites, curriculum, books) that are just AWESOME for a kindergartener??? We are on our second week of school here and things are going alright. I am averaging about 2 hours and 15 min. each day with my son. We school for about an hour and a half in the mornings (9-10:30), then we break for playtime, lunch and quiet time, then we do the rest in the afternoon (usually about 30-45 minutes long depending on what we are working on). We finish our day by 3:30. However, I want to get more creative and have more interactive type activities for my son. I am following HOD's LHFHG (I like certain parts, but am finding some of the activities a touch young for my son... he is seeming bored by them), but I am adding in some of my own stuff too. Anyway, I am just very curious to hear what other's are doing for kindergarten. Maybe it will give me some creative and wonderful ideas. Thanks so much and have a wonderful day! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moni Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Reading, independently, 3 sessions per day Writing, copywork, daily. "reading" covers History Science Literature Religion Usborne, reference books, etc. No Latin until 3rd grade No math until 1st grade. :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMary2 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 We are going on our second year of Kindergarten. Last year was a trial run and we weren't really serious. We loosely followed the My Father's World K program, which was much more like pre-school. This year we will be official Kinders and will be doing WP Animals and Their Worlds while tagging along with big brother's WP Quest for the Middle Ages. Also SL K for LA. I *think* we will be about 2.5 to 3 hours a day with breaks. Here is the plan: Breakfast Morning Devotionals Pledge Calendar Update/100 Days Chart WP & QMA Reading Breaktime SL K LA Breaktime Lunch Playtime Afternoon activities Read Aloud in late afternoon or at bedtime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 My Ker's year so far goes like this: Rod and Staff math 1 w/me for about 30 min. We do the lesson, the felt board and the workbooks. We do a little dancing in there to "celebrate" her counting and for some physical movement. Then if she is still attentive we do a page or two of her R&S ABC workbooks. Next is reading. I read aloud to her and big sis. Right now a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods. We discuss. Then she reads me her next Bob book. She is still sounding out each word, and this is a lot of reading for her. Then she is done for the day. She plays alone, or with a K type activity I have set up for her while I work w/her sister. All of the above is about an hour? Then lunch, some playtime for them together, then she plays alone while I finish up w/her sis. Usually some time in the afternoon we do History or Science. Her only requirement is to be in the room while I read to them. Sometimes she participates by coloring or helping in an experiment. She usually participates in discussion and narrates a page about Science once a week or so. We also do music all together once a week and learn a new song and dance or play instruments with it. She will attend a co op once a week next month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 He will do: Math - Mommy Math, mostly counting and life skill math (calendars, clocks, money...) Music - Piano practice Language Arts - Writing With Ease 1, All About Spelling 1, First Language Lessons 1, Independent Reading Five in a Row - All other subjects are covered here. This covers History/Social Studies, Science, Literature, Applied Math and Art. Read Aloud Time and then Park Day, Swimming, Group Art (this is big brother's Art but he thinks it is cool.), Science (again, this is big brother's science but he wants to be involved), Home Economics (clean up, cooking, quilting making...) with older siblings. Each subject takes 15-45 minutes and he will get breaks as I need to work with the other kids. It is a major juggling act. I think if we were able to go straight through it would take about an hour and a half. But we never ever do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 My 3rd son is kinder this year, here's his day: Morning: Explode the code Phonics lesson with mom Math worksheets or math activities alphabet handwriting page other various printables, cut & paste activities or worksheets I find online (he loves stuff like that) Lollipop Logic free art time (yesterday he painted, he gets to choose what to make) Afternoon: Read alouds with mom (various, we have tons of books, sometimes I choose, sometimes he does) Read about a topic for the week (this week is insects) Do an activity related to topic of the week (not everyday) I know this sounds very light but for kinder I'm all about working on reading, having fun with math, free art time....just having fun. He often chooses to sit in on history with the older boys but I don't require it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveBaby Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 We are using a combination of different things. R&S Preschool Workbooks - we work on 1 or more of these a day for about 15 min. or so. Read aloud from FIAR booklist and AO yr. 0 booklist. Copywork of alphabet and numerals. I write a few letters/numbers in his composition book and he copies 1 or 2. Pattern Animals with Pattern Blocks Letter Bingo, Alphabet Sounds song, short vowel songs Later in the year he will start MUS Primer. He's a young K'er, so I'm not rushing him at all. We will also be using Phonics Pathways along with some sensory activities from MFW Kindergarten program for blending/phonics awareness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 My Ker's day is about two hours long; an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Morning routine includes circle time, a variety of phonics activities, math work, and a handwriting lesson. Afternoon routine includes a bible story and either science or history. Art is folded into science and history, plus we have an hour of art on Fridays. He also watches a science video every day and I have lots of educational toys that he is free to use during the day. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Each morning, we do: Singapore Math 1A (30 min) Explode the Code (10 min) WWE or FLL (15 min) Better Chinese (30 min) Reading Practice (10 min) Then four afternoons a week we spend anywhere from 1 to 2 hours on: History (3 hours a week) Life Science (1.5 hours a week) Zoology (1 hour a week) Latin (1 hour a week) Except for Latin, these consist mostly of read-alouds, notebooking and activity pages, and some light mapwork. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova147 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 My K'er is accelerated academically, but is still very much a little boy in attention span and need for interesting activities. Here's what we're doing. Morning (lots of play breaks here) 15 min devotional 20-30 min read aloud/narration (I write them for now) 20-30 min Muzzy Spanish or Draw Write Now art Afternoon (we try to do 1 1/2 hours without breaks because the baby is napping) 45-60 min Moving Beyond the Page (unit study - this has a good variety of activities that keep him from getting bored) 15-30 min math - Miquon some days, games other days 15 min All About Spelling (because he is reading well, we are using this to solidify phonics rules and work on handwriting) So I guess we're doing 2 1/2 to 3 hours a day. So far, he's enjoying what we're doing. But I try to read ahead in our unit study to see if the activities seem "good enough" and if not, I get online and look for ways to adapt them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Gate Academy Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 My Ker's day... 8:00 plays with little brother 8:30 phonics and handwriting with mom 9:00 plays alone 9:30 plays with my oldest 10:00 math and critical thinking with mom 10:30 video 11:00 free 11:30 history/science/or art activity depending on the day 12:00 read alouds with mom 12:30 lunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsAlimar Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I'm keeping our kindergarten a lot lighter than others. More like advanced preschool. We have school 3 days a week (M/W/F) and on Tuesdays the kids go to a class at our church while I attend a bible study for 2 hours. I'm predicting (based on last year) that it will take us about 1 1/2 hours (10:30am to Noon) to do the following: Bible (1 Chapter in the R&S bible stories and coloring book) Math (Saxon 1) Music (Hymns for a Kid's Heart - learning 1 new hymn a week) Handwriting (Startwrite practice sheets) Reading (OPGTR) 3 or 4 pages in the R&S Preschool workbooks (one workbook at a time) I didn't really set a time limit because I figure that we will work till we are done and different subjects will take a different amount of time on different days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bloominginthedesert Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 We haven't officially started yet. We will start the 2nd week in Sept. Our schedule will be Bible Chores (she empties the dishwasher & sorts laundry & makes her bed) Horizons K math reading & narration with various books & poetry Copywork An all about me book we'll make for a "few of her favorite things" :) a small amount of nature journaling poetry Bible literature And she reads the Bible with us as a family at night (I should explain, she was one of those that was really hungry to learn to read & we used 100 EL last spring & she really took off after that & is I think at a 2nd grade reading level) One day a week we'll do - Nature walk Spanish (online for K'ers) Cooking Handiwork (right now we're working on a dolls quilt) Little Annies Art Book of Etiqutte & good manners (twice a week) Park day Not sure how long it'll take us, but I'm thinking with a break probably 2 - 2-1/2 hours in the morining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I'm pretty laid back for kindy. I would have skipped it entirely if my kids hadn't had other plans. :lol: In our house it roughly looks like: -memory work (little poems usually) -writing their name once (until it was down pat, then just random practice) -kindy A Reason For Handwriting for letter practice, or random department store writing books -an abacus and good wooden block set for counting -a big chunky workbook like the sort Costco carries, to spare my printer ink -phonics lesson with Phonics Pathways, and BOB books once they got moving well My kids have all raced through that in thirty minutes, tops. I try spreading it throughout their day instead of lumping it all together. They all loved http://www.starfall.com too, and the Leapfrog Letter Factory video is great. I aimed for keeping learning stuff around them so they could wallow in it to their delight, and kept twaddle to a minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GirlTwinBoys Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I find some of the HOD activities too young as well. We are using HOD LHFHG. I purchased the Rod & Staff books for them to do extra activities and they LOVE working in those. The Do It Carefully comes with the HOD program but we purchased Finding The Answers, Counting With Numbers & Everywhere We Go seperately. Time4Learning is a good computer program. I am working with 3 young ones so I need things to keep them busy so I can have one on one time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 (edited) Here's what we've been doing since June: 8:00 wake up (approx.) 8:15 breakfast, then play for a little while 9:00 I go to the gym and they play at childwatch 10:00 Math (we usually do 2 lessons) 10:30 DEL 10:45 SWR 12:00 usually done and lunch 2:00 mandatory rest time for everyone We will then read our SL P4/5 readings either after lunch or after rest time. We don't just go straight through school in the morning. We have small snackbreaks or "play with the baby" breaks. Lately, D-Man has been finishing some math independently during rest time. It's his choice whether to finish it in the morning or during rest time. We've been playing a game we got from the SWR website published by Beall's Learning Games. If you're doing a phonogram-centered program, it is a must-have. The whole package contains a bunch of phonogram-centered games, but my boys LOVE the board games. We've been playing it everyday the last couple of weeks (by their choice). It has helped my 5yo practice his phonograms and even teaching my 3yo some 2-letter phonograms. Each boy has their own phonogram draw pile (based on how many they know), but C-Monster has been picking up a lot from D-Man. ETA: I'm planning on starting some light geography and Artistic Pursuits soon. Geography will be everyday for 10-15 mins, but I think we'll save AP until Fridays. Edited August 20, 2009 by Dinsfamily Additional info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 What we did last year: Five in a Row or Moving Beyond the Page - 30 minutes - 1 hour depending on the activity and interest Math - 30 minutes Break Handwriting - 5-10 minutes Reading instruction - 30 minutes Music - 10-30 minutes Break Spanish - 30 minutes Reading Practice ~15 minutes at bedtime I hadn't originally intended to do music and Spanish daily, but Ariel insisted. She doesn't like to do different activities on different days, she wants to do everything everyday. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aletheia Academy Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Our schedule is posted here on my blog. The 3 RRR's for my K'er consists of informal math manipulatives, @1 page from PP, @ 5 min of handwriting practice, and R&S workbooks. I'm thinking this will take @ 30 min. She will also do ETC and SWR phonograms with ds and tag along for the other subject areas as she is able. She does participate fully in the co-op, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodle Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 We are also finishing our second week of Kindergarten. Our regular daily lessons include math (Saxon 1), phonics (currently using Progressive Phonics before finishing up 2nd half of 100Easy) and handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears). We do these in the morning and it generally takes us 1-1.5 hours to complete. Vocabulary (Word A Day) is done weekly. I introduced the new word(s) at the beginning of the week and then simply use it the rest of the week. I continually teach ASL signs and try to remember to sign while doing lessons. I have lessons outline for the year in science, social studies, geography and art. But none of those subjects have a regular scheduled day yet in our week. We did none of them the first week, but this week was better and we were able to get some science and/or social studies learning in on most days. Friday afternoon is a baking lesson. File folder games have been great for us. Yesterday for example we played "Monumental Bingo" and "Fur, Feathers or Scales". I also check each weekend to see what free movies are currently available at both BrainPop Jr. Currently being offered free are great movies on animal classification, surveys & tally charts, and US symbols. All were wonderful as they fit perfectly into what we are currently learning. SheppardSoftware.com has also been delightful for our beginning lessons into animals classification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyfullyblessed Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted a response so far. I have just been able to glance at everything, but when I have more time, I am going to really go over each post and see how everyone else is doing kindergarten. I am sure I will learn many things! I always do when I read threads at the WTM. It is just so great! : ))) Thanks everyone and have a wonderful evening. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloha2U Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Our K5 schedule is posted here on our homeschool blog. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runamuk Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 We started this week and my K'ers schedule is very light. Math: 2-3 pages per day (MUS Alpha. He wanted to "do school" last year and was very interested in Math, so I picked up MUS Primer and he flew through it.) Phonics/ETC: 1-2 pages per day Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 1-2 pages per day These lessons take an hour to an hour and a half. I read aloud to him for at least 30 minutes twice a day. He also reads his BOB books to me. We also play games, take walks, bake and cook, color, cut and paste, and listen to music. Later this year, I'll add in some informal art lessons and memory work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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