Book shark vs Moving Beyond the Page vs Build Your Library

[vaquitita]

I'm looking for something open and go for kindergartner for next year. He's not ready to tag along with the older kids, and though I could do my own thing, I certainly have books enough, I just don't feel like putting the time and energy into it.

 

I'm considering book shark preK t moving beyond the page 5-7. How do these compare? How time consuming are these? We are already set for math (Miquon) and phonics (AAR 3&4). I also have most of a spelling you see jack and Jill set that I was thinking of using with him.

 

Eta: I just found Build Your Library, it looks good. Has anyone used this? Did you like it? There aren't a lot of reviews of it. MBtP looks like it might be more writing and time consuming than I want. Though it's tempting to try something totally different. Lol.

Edited May 25, 2016 by vaquitita

[macmacmoo]

What about Memoria Press Kindergarten Enrichment?

[KnSmith6]

We use Moving Beyond the Page and really like it.  It CAN be time consuming, but if my kids are not into a certain topic or activity then we hit the basics and move on.  We took a little break from it, and tried some other approaches at the beginning of this year, but started with MBtP again in January.  My son was immediately more engaged in our lessons, enjoying the topics and activities and just more hands on than we had been the first half of this year.  We did 5-7 last year, working on 6-8 this year and will start 5-7 with my younger son for K next fall.  Overall, I find it to be a fun, engaging, thorough curriculum that my kids actually enjoy (most of the time ;) ).  It does require some resources for certain topics and projects, but the teacher manual is really thorough and I find most days I can just open an go and if we don't have the things I need, we get them and do it the next day or two. 

[vaquitita]

Sigh. I can't seem to find something premade that fits what I want. :(

 

Book shark is close, four day schedule, just a read aloud schedule, phonics and math are already covered, except this kid is not interested in history. Their K program is an overview of history. The level before is for 4-5yo's and he will be 6, it's theme is ok the world around/community/jobs, but over all just seems a little too easy, might be boring for him.

 

Moving beyond the page looks interesting, and I doubt mind doing something completely different for kindergarten. But I'm not sure where to place him. By the placement guidelines he'd be in between 6-8 and 7-9. He reads at atleast a 3rd grade level, he can write a short sentence on his own (but I haven't taught him lowercase letters yet :blush ), but he still prefers picture books. I'm worried there will be too much writing, too much busy work. After this year, he'll be headed in a more CM direction.

 

What I'd really like for this kid is something science and animal based. He'd love that. I even started to write up a plan based around habitats. But then I put it aside t finish planning chemistry for the bigger kids next year, and now I'm feeling planned out. Lol. Pre planned is sooo tempting right now.

Edited May 29, 2016 by vaquitita

[Incognito]

Maybe something here would work?

 

http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/curriculum.html#science

[Guest]

Don't put any time or energy into it.

 

Clear off a shelf and put age-appropriate books there. Read for an hour (or however long you plan to read) a day from any book on the shelf.

 

4 days a week have him do 10 minutes of phonics.

 

4 days a week have him do math seat work for 15 minutes.

 

Send him outside.

/fin

 

 

[SnowWhite]

We used the Sonlight version of Bksk Prek for our K level and we loved it.  Look at Winnie the Pooh, The Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature, Things People Do and Then and Now at Amazon, where you can "look inside". In my opinion it is perfect for K.  Also, Bksk K, which we used for grade one, has MUCH LESS history than you would think. We didn't particularly like the Living Long Ago book (which is used for the first 12 weeks or something), but you really could replace that with a book like Children Just Like Me which is used in BYL K and it would be fine.  There is also a certain amount of history in the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia, which we LOVED SO MUCH!  It is part of the science program as well.  We will be using BYL K for second grade along with MBTP 6-8 (which, to be honest, is pretty much only one science unit, two social studies units, one applied math unit and integrated written language.)  We will also be using Bksk 2nd grade readers and First Language Lessons, along with Singapore Math.

Edited May 29, 2016 by SnowWhite

[vaquitita]

Don't put any time or energy into it.

 

Clear off a shelf and put age-appropriate books there. Read for an hour (or however long you plan to read) a day from any book on the shelf.

 

4 days a week have him do 10 minutes of phonics.

 

4 days a week have him do math seat work for 15 minutes.

 

Send him outside.

/fin

This is good advice. I'm looking again at my beginnings of a plan and think I can just use it as is, no need to schedule it out, just work from the lists. Two classic picture books, two mother goose poems, and then a book from the days theme. I have four themed book lists. One is habitats, I have a couple series of books we like (one small square, cat in the hat, Bobbie Kamlan, animal babies) grouped into six different habitats. One will be geography (children like me, Bobbie Kamlan explore the continents, Bernstein bears science and nature, let's read and find out). The third is self and human body ( Seuss book about me, let's read and find out). And last is rs4k building blocks K work text.

 

It may be a little too science heavy. Lol. Maybe I change one of those to reading chapter books, Winnie the Pooh, etc

Edited May 30, 2016 by vaquitita