How simple do you keep it for kindergarten?

[Laura Cook]

My son would be an older kindergartener if he were in school, he will be 6 at the beginning of September. We are using OPGTR, Math Mammoth 1 and Zaner-Bloser K Handwriting. We keep the lessons short and he seems to enjoy these. I am thinking of adding FLL 1 in, I think he would enjoy these and it being mostly oral is a plus. I had planned on doing some simple world geography and Intro to Science from Elemental Science, however he has no interest! He will sit and listen to me read aloud for a long time also. I know that I don't really need to do anything else with him, I just feel a little intimidated when I see the things other people have their kindergarteners doing! I feel like I am short changing him. Please, if you aren't doing/haven't done anything but the basics with your kindergartener, reassure me that he will still be okay when it comes time for 1st grade! I know it probably isn't worth stressing about, but I can't help it! :001_unsure:

[Crimson Wife]

Bear in mind that many K students have older siblings that they're tagging along with for science & history. If one is already teaching an older student about _______, it's very easy to find a picture book or coloring page that goes along with that for the K student. But seriously, it's all just gravy at that age. :001_smile:

[boscopup]

I focused on reading, handwriting, and early math concepts. That's about it.

 

:iagree: That's my plan for DS2. He'll sit in on DS1's science/history, but I don't expect him to get much out of SOTW3 at that point. My goal in K is to get him ready for 1st grade work. :)

 

We may start FLL1, just because the poems and picture narration would be good for him. It's not *necessary*, but he might like it. If he doesn't, I won't push it.

 

I think many of us (myself included!!!) have a tendency to overdo it on the first child. Then we get more lax with subsequent kids. :D

[Stellalarella]

Five in A Row plus phonics and math is plenty.

[Nancy Ann]

We do Five in a Row as well, it's wonderful for this age because it covers such a variety of topics and the books are fantastic.

 

I add phonics,math and penmanship.

 

Personally, I would not add FLL until you are done with phonics.

[blondeviolin]

Five in A Row plus phonics and math is plenty.

 

This is basically what we're doing. (Though my sig says we are using both RS and Miquon, we're only currently using Moquon.)

[Runningmom80]

My son will be 5 in November, and I'm dropping everything I had planned, besides handwriting, math and spelling. The only reason I'm doing spelling is because he loves it. I have BFSU in case we decide we want some fun experiments. :)

[RootAnn]

He will sit and listen to me read aloud for a long time also. ... I feel like I am short changing him. Please, if you aren't doing/haven't done anything but the basics with your kindergartener, reassure me that he will still be okay when it comes time for 1st grade!

 

:grouphug: Don't stress.

 

In our house, K is FUN. We 'buckle down' in first & they all want to go back to K. Seriously, when there is a K'er in the house, everyone else tags along for their activities.

 

In K, we do phonics ("learn to read") daily (15-20 min). We do math between once and four times a week on a discovery-type basis (I call it, "a la Miquon" or "Miquon-ish") for 10-15 minutes tops. Second semester, I add in 5-10 minutes of handwriting per day. That's all the "formal" academics we do.

 

Three times a week, the K-er gets to pick a fun activity to do. So far, everyone has picked "Cooking Class" as a weekly activity. We've done "Dress Up Class," "Building Class" (blocks, Legos, etc.), "Sewing Class," "Crafts/Art," and all sorts of other things.

 

Noting that your son loves to sit & have you read to him. If you want to add in some geography/science/art/etc, have you thought about getting one of the Five-in-a-Row (FIAR) guides & trying it? (Keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to read the book five times. You can do the other activities without that aspect. Many, many people like FIAR for this age and how you can cover so many other topics in such a fun way. If this sounds interesting, check & see which guide has the most books your library has & give it a try.

 

You'll be FINE with just what you are doing with your son. :001_smile:

[iona]

I have wondered too if I am doing enough.

 

My oldest did k last year. We did phonics every school day, sometimes math and sometimes writing. If we did all three it never took more than 20-30 minutes total.

 

This year my middle ds is starting k (he just turned 5, my eldest was closer to 6 when he started k). He is doing phonics (sometimes half a lesson) and we play around with math. I'm not planning on starting forming letters until after the new year...unless he is really wanting to. His "school" lasts 5 maybe 10 minutes. The rest of the day is filled with all sorts of play, books and activities. That is it.

 

My friend is starting k with her oldest this year. She says her program takes about three hours.

 

I think it will depend on mom and child. You will get as many different answers as people on this board.

[Crimson Wife]

My friend is starting k with her oldest this year. She says her program takes about three hours.

 

I'd say that if formal "seatwork" is taking more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours, that's overkill for K and runs a very real risk of burnout.

[kristinannie]

Sounds great to me. I would just add in some read alouds!

[Sukale]

I loved doing K with my oldest and can't wait to do it again the the little one.

We did 1 Handwriting Without Tears page a day, 1 or 2 math worksheets and spend about 15 minutes on phonics everyday. I tried to do a little something fun each day too. We would make patterns with M & M's then make cookies with them (extra math). We would read a book about bugs then make paper plate bugs to scare daddy with (science). In November we would talk about the first Thanksgiving and make a Tee Pee out of sticks and felt(history.)

[Sasharowan]

With my first 3, K was learning to read, write, and numbers, maybe some basic adding. I would read science and history picture books along with our story books, but we didn't really do anything with them. With ds5, just starting K now, I have R.E.A.L. science Life and all SOTW books that I pull out when he asks to do science or history because the older ones are, but only insist on the 3R's getting done.

[eloquacious]

Since my older son is a little advanced in a few things, we are doing more "formal" work, but all of it in an informal, hands-on way. Since we are doing it at home we can do a little in the morning, a little before nap, a little after nap, a little in the evening. Add in the read alouds, and we're probably spending two hours or so a day doing it, but since to him we're just playing with blocks and letters and reading books, it's all good. ;) If he had to sit down at a desk for hours doing the same things in a school he would be suffering. (Then again, he's also still very young.)

[go_go_gadget]

I'd been meaning to put together a post on what we did for kindergarten, and I just put it up here. We focus on the basics for kindergarten, the better to build the foundation for first grade.

Edited August 30, 2011 by go_go_gadget

[MinivanMom]

Kindergarten here is strictly 10 minutes of math, 10 minutes of phonics, and 10 minutes of reading. We rarely spent more than 30 min total. The rest of our time was spent playing, going interesting places, doing messy art projects, and reading aloud. I read a lot of chapter books along with a little bit of history to dd7, because that's where her interests were. I read mainly nonfiction to ds6. He was interested in dinosaurs, mammoths and Pompeii. I'm glad we followed their interests for K. There's plenty of time later to cover everything else in a sequential, systematic manner.

[Farrar]

The *only* things we did were set aside a specific hour for schooling and then use that time to do educational things - math and phonics games, lots of living math books, some worksheets and handwriting practice.

[MeganW]

You have to be very careful comparing to others, especially when you don't know their whole story.

 

We are doing a ton of things this year, but my kids have some developmental challenges. It seems to take them a LOT more repetitions than most kids to learn things. If I expose them to something, then come back to it a few months later, they seem to learn it normally. So this year for us is all about exposing them to as much as possible, in hopes that some of it will stick and make future years easier. And I know that I will probably be teaching the basics more/longer than most people, and won't have as much time later for other things.

 

And plus, my kids LIKE to "do school". They would do it all day every day if I could keep that much planned.

 

And they fight a lot less when I am leading constructive activities. :)

 

I'm sure other kindergarten moms have reasons for adding more than necessary!

[Susie in MS]

Five in A Row plus phonics and math is plenty.

 

:iagree:

We added Bible, but that is it. :)

[FO4UR]

Very.

 

Last year, my Ker did quite a bit of seatwork b/c she *hearts* all things pencils and paper. (She copies her favorite storybooks in her free time.:001_wub:) I didn't push it though. If she wasn't that into seatwork that day, we'd do a bit of reading and writing...and a math game...and get on with things.

 

 

This year, my Ker is a boy June B-day. Vast difference!!! He's still learning proper grip on a pencil. 5 min of handwriting, 10 min reading lesson, and some hands-on Miquon and that is school for him. Slow and steady...and on the stealth...

 

We read as a family. He can listen with full attention for long stretches...longer if he's drawing or playing lego.

[laundrycrisis]

Our DS2 turns 6 at the end of September. Right now he does one checkmark each in Dreambox Math, Reading Eggs, and Time for Learning (currently in the PK2 level but almost into the K material), reads through one of his Starfall readers with the website for help, and practices writing letters and numbers on a printed dry-erase board. After he is more comfortable with holding a writing instrument I will add in some phonics and math workbooks just to get him practicing written work. He is already covering the phonics and math with the online programs. He also really enjoys science DVDs. I may think about Brainpop Jr for him soon. He enjoys learning stuff on his own and then telling me about it.

[KrissiK]

We do reading and writing and math and Bible. I try to get A Beka's social studies lessons in 3 days a week and then she joins her brothers for science 2 days a week. I work with her a total of about 30 minutes a day.

[Aoife]

WE are having a blast with my young K'er! Seatwork wise we do MIF and saxon phonics 1 with ZB handwriting. We also do nancy larson scienceK which is super fun for us both and tons of Montessori thrown throughout. I know I could have just stuck with righstart but I dunno it just didn't mesh as well for me as MIF does. :tongue_smilie: I find though that throwing in a bunch of montessori math activities really makes it much more playful as well and really driving home the concepts. At this rate it will take us a long time to get through MIF 1 but that is perfect for us :D

[TheAutumnOak]

My son would be an older kindergartener if he were in school, he will be 6 at the beginning of September. We are using OPGTR, Math Mammoth 1 and Zaner-Bloser K Handwriting. We keep the lessons short and he seems to enjoy these. I am thinking of adding FLL 1 in, I think he would enjoy these and it being mostly oral is a plus. I had planned on doing some simple world geography and Intro to Science from Elemental Science, however he has no interest! He will sit and listen to me read aloud for a long time also. I know that I don't really need to do anything else with him, I just feel a little intimidated when I see the things other people have their kindergarteners doing! I feel like I am short changing him. Please, if you aren't doing/haven't done anything but the basics with your kindergartener, reassure me that he will still be okay when it comes time for 1st grade! I know it probably isn't worth stressing about, but I can't help it! :001_unsure:

 

What you are doing is more than fine and it will be okay when he starts 1st grade ;)...If I ONLY had a K or my oldest was K, I would be doing just what you are...I WOULD NOT bother with history, science, or anything like that at that stage...THE ONLY reason my K boy is doing any type of history or science is because of his older brothers...They are the ones who are really doing it, he is just there listening, but not expected to do the work...The only thing my K boy is really working on is phonics and handwriting...I believe even math can wait until 1st grade really...My 1st grader is doing Math Mammoth 1...

[Ecclecticmum]

I would honestly just focus on Phonics & maybe some simple math games.

 

My daughter actually loved "The Berenstein Bears Big Book of Science & Nature" for science. We got it from Sonlight. She would jump up and down everyday asking to "do" science, LOL.

 

I think the best thing for the child is just to concentrate on Phonics as much as possible. Basically start getting them reading, then concentrate on the other things.

 

Suggestions for this are:

 

- Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading (even if you don't use this as your program, like me, its a good reference tool. This would be my number 1 purchase)

 

- Explode the Code Primers. Also if you have the Cash the Wall Chart & Activity Book can help make learning to read fun, we love them. Theres also the Picture Letter Cards as "flashcards"

 

- All About Reading Pre-Level 1 with Ziggy the Zebra.

 

- Letter of the Week Curriculum by Confessions of a Homeschooler (and her K4 Curriculum as well)

 

- Online places like Starfall, Headsprout, SmartyAnts, Click N Read.

 

There's so many choices out there! Basically I would be concentrating on getting the child upto the equivalent of Lesson 140 (of OPGTR), then starting Grade 1.

 

If the child already likes to write, ETC has "Writing" in it, and there are also many beautiful handwriting programs out there, but if the child doesn't like writing, its not important right now. All I would really concentrate on is getting the child to use the correct grip, from the get go.

 

Next as a side - liner I would choose a fun, interesting Math Program to get the child interested in Maths and Learn the basics. Rightstart, Singapore Math, Math U See, Mathtacular, any of these can be used (or anything else as well).

 

If you choose to do other subjects, I would always do them AFTER you have done any phonics for the day, and I would choose a more laid back approach with the other subjects. Stuff like fun simple experiments or interesting "Story" books.

 

HTH xxx :grouphug:

[NanceXToo]

We are starting K next week and I am using Oak Meadow (not overly academic, Waldorf-inspired in earliest years) which will only take about an hour a day probably.

 

I'm also going to do Funnix beginning reading lessons on the computer with him if he's willing, as he wants to be able to read things it says on his computer and video games! :D

 

That's about it, everything else is informal, though we do plenty of educational things informally, from reading to games to shows to field trips to conversations to extra-curricular activities and so on.

[Jane Elliot]

Please, if you aren't doing/haven't done anything but the basics with your kindergartener, reassure me that he will still be okay when it comes time for 1st grade! I know it probably isn't worth stressing about, but I can't help it! :001_unsure:

 

My one and only goal for kindergarten is to make sure I get them reading well. Beyond that, we just live life as we have been (reading library books, going outside, playing games, keeping up the house, etc.) If I can get them writing their letters well, that's a bonus, but some kids aren't ready for a lot of that in K. I don't even worry about math. A child who can read well by the end of Kindergarten is going to thrive in 1st grade. Make sure you're doing short lessons in OPG every single day, and he'll do great.

[Laura Cook]

Wow! Thanks for all the responses! I really appreciate them. You have set my mind at ease. I am thinking about using some of the resources I already have and just setting up a loose schedule with a different activity a day. Such as art on Mondays, cooking on Tuesdays, etc. My kids are all very receptive to doing activities with Mama as long as it is kept light and fun. Building with legos (sp?) is a daily activity, my oldest is obsessed with them! We visit the library, the park, dad's work once a week. They spend alot of time outdoors in our backyard. I do have the More Mudpies to Magnets book, we could probably do a fun experiment once a week. Any other suggestions for activities?