Help! For those who have done kindergarten

[GSOchristie]

When I taught kindergarten, we spent 30-45 minutes each morning doing "carpet time". We would sing some Dr. Jean, graph the weather, do the calendar, talk about how many days were left unti _____, etc. Is this what you do when you homeschool? I'm not sure if I need, or even want, to do it. Almost everyone we know who hs IRL has started after K, so they're not able to answer this. What does your morning routine look like? Do you just dive in with no warm up because your kids are already focused? Do you sing and dance?

[mom2denj]

This year for K, we did a short 10 - 15 min "carpet time". We went over the calendar, practice phone #, address, skip counted and a few other things. Then I did let her run and dance for just a couple minutes to get the wiggles out. Sometimes, I would let her watch an episode of a LeapFrog video or Electric Company then on to schoolwork. =)

[Onceuponatime]

You can do kindergarten any way you want to do it. :-)

 

If your children like singing and dancing then by all means sing and dance.

 

We did have a learning calendar that was changed every day. Once I tried starting with a Bible reading and hymn that was given up quickly. We settled into doing the necessary work (phonics and math) first then the more pleasurable activities afterward, like eating your vegetables before desert.

[ByGrace3]

Well, we start our day with Bible right after breakfast. With dd, for her K year we used Saxon math which had a "meeting book" time which was calendar/weather/ etc. With ds I will be using something else, so we will have a calendar time all together after Bible. Changing the date on the calendar, adding the new number, practice skip counting, weather, etc. I would think around 5 minutes or so... then jump in! (We sing, dance and do memory work during Bible) :)

[*Lulu*]

When I taught kindergarten, we spent 30-45 minutes each morning doing "carpet time". We would sing some Dr. Jean, graph the weather, do the calendar, talk about how many days were left unti _____, etc. Is this what you do when you homeschool? I'm not sure if I need, or even want, to do it. Almost everyone we know who hs IRL has started after K, so they're not able to answer this. What does your morning routine look like? Do you just dive in with no warm up because your kids are already focused? Do you sing and dance?

 

We do a version of this with all of ours. Every morning, (afternoon in the summer), we grab the "book basket" and do read alouds, Bible, geography, a learning game, check the calender, memory work, ect. Everyone participates, although I do allow our waiting baskets* to be played with during the reading as long as everyone is being quiet enough that all can hear.

 

*We use waiting baskets as filler during the day so that one child does not interrupt when I am working with another. They are filled with hands on activities, books and games and are available always on the shelves in our school/playroom. I usually have two plus a sensory tub and rotate what is in them every week or so.

[Mélie]

My older son went to public kindergarten for the fall and didn't mind carpet time, but when he came home we never continued with it. Things like that come up naturally for us, and both boys have a good understanding of days of the week, months, yesterday, tomorrow, weather, etc. Normally, we'd start our morning with taking turns reading aloud until we got bored, then moving on to "seat work" and finishing with any games or fun projects.

[GSOchristie]

Thank you for your replies! My 5 year old is kind of a no nonsense kind of guy, but I might try it to see if he even likes it. My 2 year old, who will be 3 in August would LOVE it, and I kind of want to do it with both of them. The filler baskets sound like a great idea, I will have to look into that further!

[Pamela H in Texas]

We do a lot of things like that. On the entry way wall, we have a bulletin board (that I need to change as it has snowmen and snowflakes (fractions) on it right now). We also have a memory verse, the months (three most recent as well as all 12), and days of the week. We have a world and US map. We have three word families as well. SO we sit and do those things, some animal fact cards, etc. Oh, for the mapwork, we have a daily challenge also.

 

Anyway, the kids like such things and it allows me to address multiple levels at a time, letting all of them benefit from the review or challenge (my kids are one year apart in age)

[dalynnrmc]

We did a calendar time for K, but singing and dancing were never part of the prescribed list. They just happen at that age. ;) LOL

 

We started the day with devotionals, did calendar math Mrs. Meach style, then took a snack break before doing some fun reading and interest based study stuff where they could be up and around and outside and loud and upside down. Mine were boys. LOL

[momtoamiracle]

no, my son wouldn't hve been interested in that, besides what fun is it with just one kid. He'd play for a couple of hours generally before we'd do school work. We did it pretty informally.

[laundrycrisis]

Hmmm, maybe I'm a kindergarten slacker. To me it was enough to spend a little time on the three Rs any way you want - enough to see steady progress - and let the kid pursue his own interests the rest of the day (but not with a television). Both boys have had plenty of their own ideas about how they want to use their time, and don't want to do any extra "school" stuff that involves sitting still with me. I am okay with that. For DS1, he had serious vision problems, and K was a very odd hodge-podge with me trying to do things verbally and with all sort of manipulatives. For DS2, K has been much more organized: Horizons math, Reading Eggs, Bob Books, D'Nealian handwriting workbooks, and violin practice. Lots of other things have been in the mix as he chose them - Brainpop, Youtube, mythology books and DVDs, Letter Factory, and assorted odds and ends he wanted to add in. But the main plan was very basic.

[NanceXToo]

We are pretty informal with K. I might give him breakfast, let him play while I do some school with his sister, then tell him we are going to do a Reading Eggs lesson together. Then I might say we are going to read a story from his Oak Meadow syllabus and have him draw me a picture, maybe have him do a craft, or tell me what the weather is like, or do an informal math exercise, nothing elaborate, no carpet time.

[*Lulu*]

I just wanted to add that when DS#1 was a K-er we did not have a formal (and I use the word loosely) book basket time. We covered most of the same material, just in a very informal way throughout the day. As I have folded more children into the mix, this time has developed in part to make sure I am not missing certain categories of information for any one child.

[wintermom]

I never did any "carpet time" with any of the dc, though we did do singing and more physical play stuff with my first couple. My youngest got none of that for his kinder year. He's been tagging along with all sorts of other stuff than the first ones didn't get, though.

 

Try out whatever you want to. Some may work amazing, some may crash. I found that I always planned out way too much mommy-directed stuff early on in our homeschooling.