KIndergarten Roundup!

[mom2myboys]

We will be starting K in the fall. This will be my first time teaching K as my older two came home in 4th and 1st grade respectively.

 

Still a work in progress...

 

Reading/Phonics: Continue with OPGTR, have him read to me, read aloud to him

Math: Singapore Essentials?

Writing: Thinking about Pentime

History: SOTW 2, will tag along with his brothers like he did this year doing the coloring pages, maps and activities and listening to the reading

Science: Not sure. Maybe Elemental Science since that is what his older brothers will be using.

[stayathomelibrarian]

My poor Willa. She is my Ker, 17 months younger than her older sister. I've been so busy planning 2nd grade, that K has only been a 2nd thought.

 

I used Calvert with my oldest for K- and won't be repeating that. It included a math program. I'm not sure what I'll do- if anything for Math in K.

 

She'll be using HWT, ETC and BOB books with me. Just yesterday we were watching a DVD in the van and she screeched "Mommy, I read a word!- PIXAR". So now we'll start reading.

 

We adapt WWE to be a pretty big part of our homeschool day. We read or listen to audiobooks of most of the titles. So, WWE level 2 with her older sister, as well as SOTW.

 

I've been gifted Sonlight's 4/5 program, and we've been working on that some, but will work more determinedly over the summer months. I also have a shelf full of FIAR. The one thing that I have learned is don't sweat the younger years. I spent so much money on K for my oldest, and we didn't get through half of it. I had little patience and drove both of us bonkers. I wanted her to sit, to be "in school". She happens to work better while standing. When I learned to let go we had a more successful year. My biggest goal for K for my younger daughter is to not repeat the mistakes I made with my older daughter.

[ScoutTN]

Phonics Pathways

HWT yellow book

Right Start A

 

with Dd:

RSO Earth and Space

SOTW 3

Bible and catechism

Picture and composer studies

 

Choir

Some sort of athletics

[Plateau Mama]

Ok, I think I've figured out our year.

 

Math - Math Mammoth 1. We have started this and are doing 1-2 pages a day 3x a week. I will bump to 4-5x a week next year.

Phonics - logic of English - foundations. We will continue working thru that and move onto Essentials when we are done.

Science - Magic Schoolbus Science from here http://wateronthefloor.wordpress.com/magic-school-bus-science/

History - thinking about using Veritable Press history of Me. I've been doing Sonlight 1, but I don't think he's absorbing much so I'm shelving it for now.

 

Reading - working on a reading list. So far I have th following to go with plays we will be going to:

Pippi Longstocking

James and the Giant Peach

Pinocchio

 

We will also read A-Z Mysteries and Magic Treehouse

 

 

[Guest Kimmyel]

I know! Kindergarten is a great time for prehistory and the timeline would have been nice. I have the ancient creature cards that are still sold on Amazon by the same company, but there is no timeline :(

I went looking on Amazon for this and they have the timeline in stock. Both the poster and the floor puzzle.

[AimeeM]

I went looking on Amazon for this and they have the timeline in stock. Both the poster and the floor puzzle.

 

I'm sorry; I should have specified that I'm only interested in the play mat timeline (more durable and... fun looking, lol), not the wall timeline.

[Guest Kimmyel]

I'm sorry; I should have specified that I'm only interested in the play mat timeline (more durable and... fun looking, lol), not the wall timeline.

 

Sorry it is not a floor puzzle but a mat and it is on sale for 39.00

[prairiewindmomma]

I'm starting my 4th K'er.....gently. She's been more than ready for formal academics for a while (she pushes into history lessons and does narration and has been doing singapore math and HWT), but I've been trying to get her to firm up some of her gross motor and fine motor skills first. My first three kids have all been 2E and it's so much easier to teach them when their fine motor and visual skills are functional. ;)

 

So:

HWT with a lot of fine motor skill/OT games

SOTW 2 (first year having her own notebook)

astronomy & earth science with older brother (heavy on the experiments, modeling, and netflix movies)

Sonlight read-alouds from the Core K from 2005 (some of these may be l

OPGTR with the plan to move her to AAR or K12 Phonics K (also uses tiles) if we bump into issues

Singapore Math

Visual Perceptual Skill Building/Building Thinking Skills Primary/Developing the Early Learner (again, looking for issues and making sure foundation is there)

Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book 1 with older brother

 

I have lots of other fun tidbits, but I don't know how much she's going to want to do....some of my K'ers have wanted to do more of a full school day, some I could barely pry away from legos.

[AimeeM]

Sorry it is not a floor puzzle but a mat and it is on sale for 39.00

 

?

When I click the amazon link for the mat it is says "out of stock".

[JenniferLynn]

My twins will be doing L'Art de Dire, WWE1, and SOTW1 2nd semester. DD will be finishing Singapore Essentials B and OPGTR. DS will be working through Singapore 1A/B and chapter books.

[BarbecueMom]

 

I'm sorry; I should have specified that I'm only interested in the play mat timeline (more durable and... fun looking, lol), not the wall timeline.

 

We went ahead an bought the wall timeline anyway, because I really didn't want to make one myself. The kids LOVE it! I was completely surprised with how many good questions they have from the timeline pictures, how they've been saying, "Hey, this looks like a <modern day creature>!" Especially since DS4 tends to freak out at the mastodon museum exhibits, I never know how much he picks up when he's anxious over something. DS3 has been going through and deciding which prehistoric creatures could eat people if they'd lived at the same time, lol.

 

It's not as durable and fun to play with, but at least I can leave it up all the time and not have to keep picking it up before the cats try to pee on it or something.

[k8c]

I just purchased my materials for next fall and will have a K5, though much of what she is doing I guess is grade 1 level. I am still not sure how to officially call this, but at home we just say she will be in K. This will be our first "real" year doing homeschool, even though we have been doing a number of things (like math and handwriting, introducing phonics) since she was 3 1/2.

 

My list is going to be long and I have probably doubled-up on things because we will be giving a number of things a try, to see how they fit us. Any advice/feedback on things we are trying out is appreciated!

 

LANG ARTS

-Reason for Handwriting A, B

-All About Reading, Level 1

-All About Spelling, Level 1

-Explode the Code 3, 4, 5 (used just as reinforcement)

-Jr. Great Books "Read-Aloud" Dragon Series, Sailing Ship Series (K-1)

-Jacob's Ladder Primary 1 (Reading Comprehension)

-Grammar-Land (plus worksheets I found online)

-Primary Language Lessons

 

MATH

-Life of Fred starting with Apples (I am not sure how many we will get through)

-Singapore Primary Math 1B, then 2A in spring

-Process Skills in Problem Solving Level 1 & 2 to go along with Singapore Challenging Word Problems 1

 

LOGIC

-Lollipop Logic Book 2 & 3

-Connections: Activities for Deductive Thinking (Introductory)

 

HISTORY

-History Odyssey: Ancients (Level 1)

 

SCIENCE

-Water Works (physical science)

-Survive and Thrive (life science)

-How the Sun Makes Our Day (earth and space science)

(these are all William&Mary products for K-1)

 

BIBLE

-PositiveAction "Learning About God" (K)

-Telling God’s Story Yr 1 (w/ dad as a family study)

 

SPANISH

-Songschool Spanish

-plus activities from Spanish 100+ Activities, Teach Them Spanish!, Grade K, The Complete Book of Starter Spanish, Grades PK - 1

-Muzzy DVDs from library, Little Pim DVDs from library, "Oh, Noah" on PBSkids

[MouseBandit]

We've just started this week for K with my 5yo dd. We're (loosely) following the Noah Plan / Principle Approach.

 

PHONICS / HANDWRITING / SPELLING - Using SWR for phonics and Reason for Handwriting for extra practice. I will probably be combining SWR with Spalding for a while, at least through the teaching of all the phonograms. It's so hard for me to put that Spalding book down, haha! I love that it's the "original" and I have come to appreciate and really, really like the detailed hand-holding and pictures (I'm talking about the big K lesson plan book). But I also love SWR and the updates and small modifications that have been made to the Spalding method. So, we'll take from both until I figure out which one suits daughter or I more.

 

MATH - Currently have Mortensen Math, C-rods and a small booklet with activity cards that came with it, and MUS Primer. I intend to switch over to RS as soon as I can, but hubby's out of work right now, so we'll just go with what we have until finances loosen up some.

 

BIBLE - Going with the Noah Plan outline, but I also want to do some Catechisms and maybe something else. Not rushing on this.

 

LITERATURE - very much like the NP outlines. The 1st Quarter will cover Psalms / Poetry, Lullabies from around the World, Childrens Poets, and Fairy Tales. Lots more fun stuff, including living books, in the rest of the K year.

 

GEOGRAPHY - again following the NP outlines for now.

 

HISTORY - NP outlines, and supplement with whatever else I can get my hands on, LOL! I love this part of the NP so much. I'm a big believer in Providential History, so this is a perfect fit for us.

 

FRENCH - this is part of the NP lessons for K-2nd or 3rd. I ordered the French Primer and CD (or was it a DVD?), but don't have them in hand yet. We'll see how I do!

 

SCIENCE - the NP has an outline / overview for this, but not specific lesson plans. I may follow along with the overview, or I may just look at another packaged program, or I may just completely come up with my own. Living on a ranch, we do lots of life sciences stuff every day. :-)

 

MUSIC - another subject that NP doesn't have specific lessons for. I do want to teach this to my daughter, but I am totally clueless, so I will be on the hunt for an appropriate packaged program.

 

ART - I haven't researched yet what NP has for Art lesson plans, but again, I'm one of those un-cultured, clueless redneck mamas, so I will be looking for something to buy here!

 

Mouse Bandit Mama

[prairiewindmomma]

We're on day 2 of kindergarten here....so far, so good. She's finishing up bookwork in about an hour, and then spending another couple of hours on projects. I need to add some audiobooks to the mix, I think....I don't have time to do a lot of reading aloud aside from history or science with her. Preemie baby is still super fussy and the boys are needing a lot of help to get through the day.

[Heathermomster]

LOE and ETC..Essentials B, MUS Primer, MEP...Beginner Geography..Nature readers and various books picked up at used book sales...Evan-Moor Science Center booklet...Evan Moor Fairy Tale Pocket...handwriting with LOE. Magic School Bus videos.. Audio books...library...Bible with Catherine Voss, memory work, and Children's Shorter Catechism.

[scbusf]

We're starting this summer probably. DD finishes at her preschool in May. All of us need structure around here, so I think we'll start in the summer. Here's my plan:

 

Math: Singapore Essentials B

Character: We Choose Virtues - already doing this

Reading: BOB Books

Science: Science Play book and tagging along with DS w/ Elemental Science Earth Science and Astronomy

Social Studies: Tagging along with DS w/ TruthQuest American History

Next Spring, she'll start Winning with Writing and Growing with Grammar Level 1. We already have these, so we'll start when she's ready. She will be an older Kindergartner.

 

Oh, and we'll be going to a Co-op, but I don't know yet which classes will be available for her.

 

 

Of course I have changed my mind on some of this!!!

 

Math - Singapore Essentials and then Math Mammoth 1

Reading - BOB Books

Science - creating my own - mostly Earth science for 2nd grader and she will tag along

SS - tagging along with TQ history and Galloping the Globe

 

I also have a couple of FIAR books, so all 3 kids will do those.

 

Her co-op classes will be: Art, Lego Club, and one more that I can't remember!

 

I think we will start in July and then take a break for August for vacations and my youngest's surgery.

[Mergath]

Here's ours. Subject to change, of course.

 

Reading: No formal program. She reads me a chapter of whatever book we're on each day and then I ask her reading comp questions.

Spelling: AAS1

Handwriting: Not sure yet. She's doing the LOE handwriting book now, so I might just make copywork for her when she finishes that.

Math: Miquon and/or MM. We'll probably do some of both.

Science: BFSU

PE: Gymnastics, and I'm going to outsource the rest to dd's godmother, who has a degree in it. :p

 

We'll also be using Laying Down Rails (used secularly), Meet the Masters, and some kind of Spanish program.

[4littlewomen]

 

* A core curriculum centered on world geography that I'm designing - I'm finding lovely picture books from different countries all over the world, so each week we will read a picture book, a nonfiction book about that country, find everything on the map, and then do some kind of art or cooking project. I like to focus on projects that actually create something usable; so, for example, rather than weaving paper strips together when we learn about weaving, we are going to make an actual throw rug on a hula hoop frame. Hee hee! :) That's how I get my Charlotte Mason-style handicrafts in at K level. The reasoning behind doing the world geography core was to acquaint the kids with basic geography and a sense of different cultures before we start mapwork and history in earnest next year.

 

 

 

This sounds like a great idea. Are you by chance going to share this on a blog or anything? I would love to see examples of how it plays out.

[Courtney_Ostaff]

1) Reading: finishing 100 EZ Lessons, concurrently doing a page a day in Phonics Pathways for reinforcement, and then picking up with the OPGTR. We'll be continuing Phonics Pathways alongside, for reinforcement.

2) Reading: continuing daily read-aloud at bedtime on non-fiction educational topics of her choice

3) Writing: picking up HWT again

4) History: listening to audio books about ancient myths (Weiss fan here!); occasional book choices for bedtime

5) Math: flashcards for addition/subtraction through 12 (adding up to 24)

6) Math: skimming through Saxon K and starting Saxon 1

7) Math: telling time (Kumon workbooks)

8) Science: daily nature walks and gardening with Daddy; regular visits to local university planetarium; pets; occasional book choices for bedtime

 

Extracurricular:

1) possible full-day private K, depending on my job situation

2) swimming lessons, moving towards local swimming club when capable

3) possible dance lessons

[melmichigan]

This is my third time teaching K. I have learned only one thing, not to really plan. :D My kids have stops and starts that are very unpredictable depending on the child. I just start where we are and continue from there. I just fill in what we get done at the end of each day. I do K very informally, so we scatter things throughout the day in between work with my older DC. On the K shelf now because we tend to "mix it up":

 

Math: MUS Blocks, Math Mammoth, Singapore Math

 

Reading/Spelling: LOE Foundations, HOP, IEW PAL, (ETC online)

 

Handwriting: HWOT

 

Literature: SL Read Alouds, FIAR

 

Science: Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and following along with other DS

 

History: mainly working on the CC timeline song and basic world geography, the rest is gravy at this stage and what he picks up from the older kids amazes me, especially the CC memory work.

[ammv15]

For k last year I used:

Mcruffy La: handwriting, spelling ,and phonics all-in-one

Mcruffy Math

Mcruffy Science

K12 History: social studies, geography included

Bible: childrens bible, dltk bible, calvarycurriculum.com

[stayathomelibrarian]

This is my 2nd time doing K.  I just finished last year (2011-2012 school year) so it is fresh in my mind.  The first time, I used Calvert, and even with a scholarship, I can't believe I spent that much $ on a K curriculum.  We even stopped using it halfway through the 1st year because it progressed too slowly for us.  I ordered ETC and that was a bulk of the remainder of our K year.  Since I have the readers, I got the Houghton Mifflin practice books off of Amazon for a total of $8, and will reuse those.  My main goal is to get her reading.  Her sister is a natural reader (and 1st born) and was already reading early readers before we started K officially.  This is not the case with this child- a middler.

 

Her school will be:

 

Horizons K

Phonics Pathways

Explode the Code.  I have A, B, C, 1 & 2, but I'll see where we are. 

HWT

We also have a subscription to ABC mouse that she enjoys doing.  It's what she calls "my school", so we will continue with that. 

 

Tagalong with sister in 2nd grade:

Prima Latina (on DVD)

MFW Adventures in American History (Bible, History, and some science) OR Biblioplan Medieval- haven't decided.

Science- They're taking a homeschool class every 2 weeks at a local nature center.

 

Extras:

 

American Heritage Girls- Pathfinder

piano lessons (2nd year)

swim lessons

Homeschool PE

co-op (Art through Biomes, Storytime, PE, and Geography)

 

[aminuteorless]

Bible:  GCP Catechism Kids

Math: Saxon 1

Phonics:  OPG + various readers

Handwriting:  MP

Read Alouds: MP list

Classical Conversations Foundations

History and Science read alouds

[Zuzu822]

My DS 4-turning 5 will be "officially" K in September.

 

ELA:

• Finish HWOT K (probably before fall) and start 1.
• Draw Write Now Book 2.
• Continue OPG or start AAR 1. OPG worked brilliantly for my oldest son, and DS2 seems to like it but we'll see. He listens in on AAS and picks up a lot, so I might try AAR 1.
• Blackbird and Company literature and read-alouds from my own list.
• Maybe some BW Jot It Down or the Wand.

 

Math

• Rightstart A or B. I'm debating his RS placement since he's listened in on both levels and is almost as skilled as his older brother (he gets place value, knows his addition math facts, can tell time, etc). B makes sense, but I also think A is wonderful! I might do A with some supplements (he really likes workbooks :laugh:)  and skip certain lessons...hmmm maybe this needs its own thread! :lol:

Arts:

• He's always in the middle of some creative project!

• Piano lessons/ear training

 

He participates in all his brother's literature and history read-alouds and activities as well as science (currently a NL, ES, WP mash-up) as he's interested. We also have co-op 2x a month.

 

[truebluexf]

This is my third kindergartner. I like kindergarten to be...kindergarten!!!

 

*Headsprout reading, continue

*probably OM K

*some HWT since we own the blocks, etc.

 

Simple, fun, beautiful. When I was in kindergarten we went for 3 hours a day, played blocks, sang songs, and learned the alphabet. Beautiful, perfect, sweet. Developmentally appropriate. There is PLENTY of time for rigor later on. Savor the innocence.

[Guest marymocha]

We will start K in August. Here's our line up: 

 

Handwriting: HWT

Math: Combo of Saxon K and Saxon 1

Phonics: Combo of Abeka readers and Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading; Nora Gaydos readers

Science: Still debating, but probably do Nancy Larson Science 1 with her first grade brother

History: SOTW with older brother

 

Music lessons

Gymnastics

 

[Unmeltable]

Reading: Headsprout Early Reading

Religion: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd through church

Math: Not sure

 

[La Texican]

Ds-Kinder can read well (thanks reading eggs) and write copywork (thanks HWT).

 

World History- Notebooking The Usborne World History Encyclopedia

US History- Tracing maps from Imagene Forte "one nation 50 states"

Math- Singapore, Khan, Beast Academy, Bedtime Math

Lit- Fairytales and Myths

Reading- classics (boxcar kids, fathers dragon, etc...)

Writing- WWE copywork & narration

Science- notebooking, gardening, cooking, science toys (microscope, chem kit, snapcircuts)

[Heidi]

We start on Monday, July 22. 

 

Dd5 is using:

 

Spell to Write and Read

New American Cursive 1, 2, then homemade copywork

Essential Math B, then Math Mammoth 1

Bob Books, McGuffey Readers (primer, 1, 2), then Little House in the Big Woods

 

Combined with her older sisters:

IEW Poetry memorization

Poetry tea-time

Nature study

Read-alouds

 

Combined with her younger siblings:

ABC book/letter of the week

crafts, park days, read alouds

 

It pays to be the middle child sometimes!

[Guest]

Lots and lots of read-alouds on a variety of subjects.

Saxon Math K if he likes it

SOTW audio CDs (if his interest holds)

Ball-Stick-Bird, Bob Books, and library books for reading
FIAR if it's fun

We have so many used and borrowed resources that I'm not going to get upset if something doesn't spark the imagination of this particular child or if it turns out to be too expensive or time consuming for our circumstances.

I'm hoping to ease into one subject at a time and plan on checking out his reading ability and starting Saxon math as soon as I finish canning and freezing for the winter.

[NatashainDFW]

My dd will be starting Kinder next month. We are doing:

• MFW Kinder with the extra read alouds
• MM 1 
• Lollipop logic
• OPGTR 
• A Reason for Handwriting A

She will likely sit in with her older brother who is doing exploration to 1850 (I bought the 2nd-3rd grade supplements to read aloud for her)

[MommytoFour]

I have a son who just turned 5 and an advanced daughter who is newly 4 (plus I have two 3-year-olds). So the 4- and 5-year-olds are going to do K together, and the other two do Pre-K.

 

For K, I plan to use a lot of read-alouds, OPGTR and Sing, Spell, Read Write (just because they like the song aspect). In January, we might start FLL 1.
We are going to try Saxon Math K or BJU Math K (we have both) and see what works.

Then we'll do a lot of art projects. I haven't figure out what we are doing for handwriting.

 

All four the kids (along with my friend's three kids) will be doing science together one day a week (Elemental Science and nature walks, etc.) plus Bible stories and some easy geography stuff.

 

 

 

[Guest hmrees]

I'm still trying to figure this all out as we only decided to homeschool about a month ago, but here's my tentative plan:

 

History: SOTW 1

Phonics: MCP Phonics (I'm ordering the K, A, B and C books since I have no idea where he fits - he can read on a 1/2 grade level with some help but we've not done much formal phonics work)

Writing: Zaner-Bloser Handwriting K

Math: Saxon Math (I'm getting the K and 1 books as well as the manipulatives since I don't know where he'll fit)

Art: The Art Book for Children, plus random craft activities

 

I'm also ordering FLL and the Complete Writer as well as Mudpies to Magnets, but am assuming I may not use those right away. We're reading the Magic Tree House books for his reading practice right now (we alternate reading pages so he doesn't get too overwhelmed) and I'm reading him "Little House on the Prairie," plus we're reading "The Wizard of Oz" a chapter at a time at bedtime. I really have no idea how much we're going to get through in any given day, but I figure since he's already reading, as long as we practice that every day and he gets to do some math-for-fun type activity, we won't be too far off track.

 

We're also going to get him a French tutor (he was in the French school system for the past 1.5 years) to keep up his language skills, and my husband wants him to have some musical instrument instruction but I don't know what a 5 year-old can really do on that front!