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First time homeschooler- Kindergarten plans


jnaj
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Hi everyone. I just posted my first post over in the Logic/Middle years area since my son will be in 5th, and this is our first year homeschooling. I would also love to get opinions and bounce ideas around about my plans for my kindergartener as well (I will also have a toddler in the house, this should be fun ;) )

 

At first, I really liked the idea of doing Five In A Row. I have Volume 1 and it is great. My 5th grader really struggles, so with all the hands on work I will need to do with him, along with my kindergartener, and the addition of having a toddler running around...well, realistically I just think it will be something we do more in the summer and our "breaks." I look forward to rowing books with the little ones, but right now I need things more laid out and planned for me. Here are our plans so far..please let me know if you have any thoughts or opinions or experience with anything we are using..

 

Phonics/Reading/LA- McRuffy SE, maybe some ETC if we have time. She is working on ETC now on and off and does about a page at a time. Like I said, she has sensory issues and writing is difficult for her sometimes. One page at a time is about her limit at the moment.

 

Math- McRuffy Color Math

 

Handwriting- I actually ordered Handwriting Without Tears, and while it looks like a solid program, I am just not crazy about it. I am thinking we will use A Reason For Handwriting K instead. My daughter has Sensory issues, and I thought HWT would be good, and it probably would, but I just don't love it like I thought I would.

 

History/Geography- Adventures In America (it will go great with my 5th grader's studies of US History this year- looks like a nice introduction to history for little ones, and I love the state studies each week.) We will also throw in Even Moor's Beginning Geography once a week when we do the state studies portion also. I have a couple little kids' geography/map type books that we will play around with if we have time.

 

Science- Elemental Science Intro to Science. LOVE this. I think she will love it to. My 5th grader is way ahead of this, but he can do further research and experiments if he would like to also. I just love the Elemental Science programs in general from what I have seen so far! Maybe some Magic Schoolbus stuff if we have time. She loves Magic Schoolbus!

 

Art- My son really wants Home Art Studio and my kindergartener saw a K lesson online and really wants to do it also. I think I'll order it and if we get to it on the weekends or in extra time then we will (probably will- the kids LOVE art.)

 

Foreign Language- Although we won't be doing a real curriculum here, she loves sign language. We watch Signing Times dvds, and I have some random printouts I found online. She enjoys Spanish, so we will do different books and things like that to learn. I know a lot of Spanish so that is pretty easy for me ;)

 

Does this sound like a good/realistic kindergarten plan? Does anyone have experience with any of the things I have chosen to use? Good/bad opinions? Remember, this is our first year, and I will have a 5th grader and toddler as well!

 

Thanks so much!

Amber

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Well, this sounds great, but wouldn't be realistic for me, maybe it will be for you! When my oldest was a kindergartener he was an only and we had so much time to do all sorts of things. What we did was lots of readalouds and gentle phonics and math. He also did tons of building with Legos and other toys as well as lots of Kuman cut and fold projects, dot to dots and playing outside. Now, those readalouds I mentioned were Sonlight core K, but I think choosing some nice books that you love is fine. I did appreciate Sonlight choosing them for me however, and it was my son's intro into chapter books.

 

For my rising kindergartener, I bought a nice fairy tale books and the complete Winnie the Pooh. My goal, other than having fun reading together is to develop her ability to listen and comprehend more advanced books. Of couse we read lots of other books, but these are especially for her! I have also bought MFW K just to keep me on track and for her to have her own special curriculum. She is really excited to do school like her big brother.

 

Anyway, your choices sound fun and you don't have to do everything everyday or even every week. If money or time is a concern I think you could scale back quite a bit because in my experience, getting that read aloud time and some phonics and math is plenty. Plus, she can tag along with big brother for art and maybe some science experiments. I would think a few library books on major American holidays would be fine for history at that age. As far as video learning with the Magic School Bus and sign language, that could be something your toddler might enjoy as well, freeing you up to work with your son. I also have a wide age spread with a toddler, kindergartener and fourth grader and it almost seems like a puzzle to fit them all in! Good luck and have fun planning!

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Thank you! :) Oh yes, the kids love reading together. We read fairy tales, a variety of books, etc every day. She is so excited about starting kindergarten and doing her "real" school work like her brother. Actually, I probably wouldn't have even done the history, but it goes along with what my son will be studying except on her level. Much easier to get the planned curriculum than doing all the research and planning things for her to do alongside him. I was thinking of doing the Phonics and Math in the morning, and then saving the history to so a couple times a week and alternate the science (which she LOVES doing experiments so this is right up her alley) the other 2 days. Geography will be done with her brother, but with the activities I mentioned above. Pretty much for my kids it seems I need *something* for each of them to do while the other is doing something. Even my toddler wants in on things, so she will have her own activities and fun stuff to do while I am teaching the others. I swear these younger ones are crazy about learning..they are SO interested in EVERYTHING!

 

I guess we will see how it goes and what we keep or "drop"- it's nice to hear from someone else that has kids with these age spreads as well :)

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I have a Kindergartner this year, too (and a PreKer AND a 1 year old). I plan on using AAR Prelevel 1 for my Pre-K, and The Reading Lesson/Bob books for phonics for my oldest (he's been working on these the last few months--nice & slow). For math we're doing Right Start and we're going to use Elemental Science, too! We're also doing ASL for our language, but that'll be really laid back. We are using Handwriting without Tears and for history we're going to mostly do biblical history. If/when time allows, we might do a bit of geography. My kids are voracious learners are this stage, too. They're always asking to "do school".

 

For me, the focus is the 3 R's and developing a love for learning...everything on top of that is icing. We're also doing year round school, probably 6 weeks on & 1 week off for each 'term'.

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I looked in the AAR program and Right Start- both of those were up on my list until finally settling on Mcruffy. So many fun options for homeschooling! What types of things will you be doing for ASL? My husband knows a lot, and we have done basic signs since the kids were little. They love the Signing Times dvds we get from the library (I think I heard they were available from Netflix also? Not sure)- if you have any other resources I would love to hear!

 

I like the idea of 6 weeks on and 1 week off. We haven't decided our schedule yet as we are in the process of moving, so when I finally get down to figuring everything out that might be something to consider. We do plan on doing year round schooling, but the summer months will be a little different. I would like to incorporate FIAR during the summer possibly. I love the idea, but with my older son being on more of a schedule, it's just easier to schedule for kindergarten as well (and she thrives on schedules..always has)

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I looked in the AAR program and Right Start- both of those were up on my list until finally settling on Mcruffy. So many fun options for homeschooling! What types of things will you be doing for ASL? My husband knows a lot, and we have done basic signs since the kids were little. They love the Signing Times dvds we get from the library (I think I heard they were available from Netflix also? Not sure)- if you have any other resources I would love to hear!

 

I like the idea of 6 weeks on and 1 week off. We haven't decided our schedule yet as we are in the process of moving, so when I finally get down to figuring everything out that might be something to consider. We do plan on doing year round schooling, but the summer months will be a little different. I would like to incorporate FIAR during the summer possibly. I love the idea, but with my older son being on more of a schedule, it's just easier to schedule for kindergarten as well (and she thrives on schedules..always has)

 

I looked at McRuffy science, but not math. And since I just bought Right Start, I will refrain from even checking LOL. Neither my husband or I signed before, but we started teaching our kids to sign when they were babies. And now the youngest is starting to sign. We have a few Signing Time & Baby Signing time videos. I think for this year I'd like to teach the kids to sign the alphabet & maybe a few songs. I don't really know yet. :) The Signing Time website has an activities page & I like the Signing Savvy site, too. Lifeprint is another good website that I believe has an actual free curriculum. WonderGrove is a site I just discovered; looks like it has animated videos.

 

We more or less tried Before FIAR, but I we have a really lame library & the getting the books was hit or miss. I still like the ideas behind it, though. I'm trying to compile a list of chapter books I'd like to read aloud to the kids this year. We're reading Stuart Little right now & I'm less than impressed with it.

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My first year I used Mcruffy Math, Science, LA. I used k12 for History. I did hs 2 hrs a day 6 days a week for 10 months. I have 2 dc in the same grade. I had a very successful year. I think the first year keep it as simple as possible. Make a schedule but keep it flexible. My 2nd year I tried doing way too much. We added in art, health, bible and literature. I started trying to incorporate alot of extras from free sites and we just got behind and overwhelmed. Mcruffy La is a solid curriculum and if your dc is still struggling with handwriting I wouldn't even attempt ETC. Mcruffy LA includes a daily handwriting assignment. I didn't purchase a separate handwriting curriculum. I just bought manuscript paper from a dollar store and wrote out daily handwriting assignments or I made my own handwritng tracing paper from a bunch of free site (lotsofkids.com, kidzone ,lakeshorelearning.com). Your lineup sounds realistic. If you do La and and math 5 days a week and alternate Science and History. Then just add in foreign language and art once once a week .This schedule will easily take 2-3 hrs a day. I would really incourage you to avoid adding in too much, It wll result in burnout for all. Also think about what you could throw in in the morning or evenings. Like reading in the mornings or bedtime, Watching Magic schoo bus or sign language dvds on their own. Also maybe have your older dc help with teaching.Maybe have him read with the little one or check their work. It really sounds doable to me. Good luck.

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