Help me choose a kindergarten curriculum

[Rainbows]

DS is 5. He is the kind of kid who seems to like workbooks/worksheets and has a fairly short attention span (normal 5 yr old length lol). He is bright and very interested in learning. He also went to preschool last year.

 

I'm going to focus on phonics/reading and math...with some science, history, art & music for fun (and those would not be every day).

 

I'd like to find some programs that are:

--well planned and laid out so I don't have to do a lot of teaching prep (have 5 kids at home---3 in school, this DS and a 2 yr old trouble maker :001_smile:)

--shorter lessons that are workbook based (I think this would be best but am open to other suggestions) but would like to try some manipulative use since he may like that (but don't want the entire program to rely on manipulatives in case he finds them annoying).

 

Here are some that I've been looking at:

--MATH: singapore earlybird, mcruffy, mcp, math u see, right start, saxon. Leaning towards starting with singapore and maybe adding another to cover all sides. Want him to really have strong math foundation

 

--PHONICS: explode the code, mcruffy phonics k (maybe alphaphonics or phonics pathways but worry about them being boring. Was looking at sing, spell, read & write but the lessons look long and I may lose his attention---songs may get tedious etc)

 

--LITERATURE/READ ALOUDS: Five in a row, moving beyond the page, sonlight

 

--SCIENCE (mainly just for fun): singapore, mcruffy, sonlight

 

--HISTORY: probably just getting library books that interest him

 

So, any advice, thoughts, opinions? Even though he is young, I do want some kind of curriculum, even if we take it at our own speed. I can't just wing it and feel comfortable (I need a plan lol)

 

thanks!!!

[Trivium Academy]

Our planned K year will consist of Galloping the Globe (science, literature, art/crafts); Sing, Spell, Read & Write (phonics), a handwriting product, and math (Horizons PreK, Horizons K or a different math program).

 

Plus nature study, fairy tales/fables, picture study (art), Bible stories and nursery rhymes.

[PeterPan]

Well for the math, I would tweak your list and suggest Horizons, Singapore, or BJU. You could get the manipulatives for RS (or whatever hands-on math you like) and use them along with your more workbooky program. I used RS with my dd for K5 and loved it, but it's NOT workbooky like you're wanting.

 

No help on phonics, as I used SWR, which is teacher-driven and not workbooky. ETC would probably be up his alley and is very popular here.

 

We did the SL K4 and K5 read alouds when my dd was that age and we LOVED, LOVED, LOVED them!! They are so not to be missed and became her favorites later. We also used the FIAR books, but they worked better for us as occasional, rainy day things rather than our mainstay. It just takes too much work to pull all that together constantly, personal opinion.

 

I'd definitely look for some fun stuff that catches your eye, especially things that are physical or involve art. The Judy Press books are fun. My dd started ice skating in K5. It's just whatever catches your eye. The Let's Read and Find Out books are good for science. At that age we got trail guides and did lots of nature walks with a bag to collect things. Put out a bird feeder and identify birds. Get a constellation chart that glows and go out at night to look at the stars. The author of Curious George has a wonderful, lower level book on the constellations that is good for this age. You can lay paper over them and trace to do notebooking. It's fall so you can do a leaf collection and identify trees. Come winter you can do tracks.

 

For PE and just getting him moving, there's a book SL sells called Homeschool Family PE that has lots of great ideas. Like I said, we ice skated, and while that's good, I wish I had done more at that age. We started it last year finally, so we had to back up and learn to jump rope, practice hopping on one foot, do sit-ups, etc. There's a lot of muscle development that comes from climbing on playground equipment that you don't get necessarily in homeschooling. With my new little one (a boy!), I hope to do more of that.

 

You didn't mention memory work, but it's a great age for that. You could pick out poems, songs, Bible verses, anything you like and have him memorize.

 

As far as scheduling, your phonics and math are going to have their own schedule (do the next thing). Rather than worrying about having a schedule for things like the history and science, what you might do is use the bin method and have routines of which day what happens. For instance, science is every Friday, which is also the day you play math games. Read alouds are every day after he does his math and handwriting (or whatever is tedious to him). Put all the read alouds in a bin and just read through them, a chapter each day. I kept several categories of books going: one fun book, one SL book, one religious book (missionary story, Little Pilgrim's Progress, whatever), one science book. So you just read a chapter from each book in the bin, no schedule needed. That way you're never BEHIND, and can be flexible. :)

[Rainbows]

thanks :)

A couple of other points I forgot to include:

 

--want a secular program...totally open to teaching about different world religions (already have a book on that) but don't want a specific religion tied to our curriculum

 

--DS already does karate twice a week...and wants to re-join gymnastics. Plan on pee wee soccer in the spring as well.

 

--Plan on doing math & phonics, plus reading aloud daily...the other stuff like science/history/art/music I will let him pick what & when. Right now we are reading some books on knights he asked me to get from the library. He does really want to do science experiments so if one of the above programs isn't a good fit, what about the Backyard Scientist books?

 

--good point on the memory work....I know he didn't like memorizing most of the poems & songs in preschool, but maybe we can find something that he is interested in doing

[chiguirre]

I'm finishing my second go at K and these are the things I've really liked:

 

For math, Singapore EB is very easy to implement with the minor exception of the volume and weight exercises which require you to raid your kitchen. I also love the layout of Rod and Staff math. It's got very explicit teacher instructions without being scripted and the worksheets build nicely in difficulty. The only drawback is the lack of color. It also doesn't use many manipulatives. Math 1 could easily be started in K if you take it at a slower pace. The religious content is limited to the TM and is easy to avoid.

 

For phonics/reading, I've used Calvert K which might be a good fit for you, but is pricey. We've also really like the Explode the Code primers and the first workbooks in the Pathway readers program (Before We Read, Learning Through Sounds 1 and Seat Work). Once your ds has mastered letter sounds, Learning Language Arts Through Literature Blue is a nice introduction to reading. It builds slowly but ends up covering consonant blends and long vowels by the end of the book. The activities don't require too much prep (20 minutes once a week) and they're lot's of fun. LLATL Blue has a few bible stories, but IMHO they're good general knowledge stuff without being overwhelmingly Christian.

 

We used FIAR last year and loved it. I'd vote for that over SL, especially if you want to avoid a lot of religious content.

 

Enjoy your K year!

[Tree House Academy]

We finished K work (for the most part) and have moved on to 1st grade in many areas. We started with Calvert Kindergarten, but it was behind my son's abilities (teaching letters/sounds/and finally early reading). Other things I like are:

 

Explode the Code - both in the book and online

Calvert's Come Read with Me (we do this once a week and he loves it)

A Reason for Handwriting (we use the A book because he loves doing the Bible Verse copy work)

Singapore math 1A (But we started with Calvert Kindergarten Math)

Science - he did the Calvert stuff and now we are doing NOEO Physics 1 w/ big brother (which we LOVE)

Social Studies - discussions that centered around Holidays, Presidents, Jobs people do, Transportation. We used Calvert's suggestions.

 

I also love the Draw Write Now series because it combines writing AND fun art. :)

[gardening momma]

I'm going to focus on phonics/reading and math...with some science, history, art & music for fun (and those would not be every day).

 

 

--LITERATURE/READ ALOUDS: Five in a row, moving beyond the page, sonlight

 

--SCIENCE (mainly just for fun): singapore, mcruffy, sonlight

 

--HISTORY: probably just getting library books that interest him

Don't know how much you've looked into Five in a Row--here's some info just in case... Five in a Row has 5 main subject categories: Social Studies (includes geography & history), Language Arts (increasing vocabulary, learning literary devices, list-making, composing short stories, etc.), Art (creating art & art appreciation), Math and Science.

 

Like the introduction says, you can use as many or as few of the exercises as you want. You could make it a complete kindergarten curriculum if you want.

[snickelfritz]

Singapore EB for math: It usually has optional manipulative activities at the bottom. We did some and skipped some. The materials were common things. We finished Singapore and moved on to Horizons K. It's laid out and you can either do the manipulative activities or not. We also do RightStart. If you're not sure about manipulatives, I would NOT go this direction. It has few worksheet pages and is VERY manipulative intensive.

 

Explode the Code: It's thorough and predictable. If you add in some readers and some occasional activities (the teachers guide does have optional activities and extensions in it), it is enough. I don't buy the TG, anymore. I use OPGTR as my spine and ETC as my supplement.

 

FIAR--I found this frustrating. Personal preference. I used the list as a guide.

 

Sonlight--I found this frustrating. :) I dumped the schedule and we are reading the books. I keep a chapter book going and we check out lots of books from the library. Picture books, science, whatever they are interested in.

[NancyNellen]

Doing K for the 4th time. Here's what we do:

 

Phonics Pathways

Singapore EB math

ETC primers and go into ETC 1

daily copywork (right now we are just working on his full name)

 

My objective for this year is to get him reading fluently. Everything else is gravy :-)

[JudoMom]

Doing K for the 4th time. Here's what we do:

 

Phonics Pathways

Singapore EB math

ETC primers and go into ETC 1

daily copywork (right now we are just working on his full name)

 

My objective for this year is to get him reading fluently. Everything else is gravy :-)

 

This is pretty much what ours looks like, too, except we use Saxon 1 math.

[Rainbows]

excellent! Thanks for all the info...off to investigate some of these

[gardening momma]

FIAR--I found this frustrating. Personal preference. I used the list as a guide.

 

Sonlight--I found this frustrating. :) I dumped the schedule and we are reading the books. I keep a chapter book going and we check out lots of books from the library. Picture books, science, whatever they are interested in.

Yeah, well...I will admit that I only got out the FIAR book to explain that you can pretty much use it for your whole curriculum, if you want. We haven't used FIAR for months. :blushing: I will say this for it though--it got me started on good books, and on getting good books from the library. For example, the very first story in Volume 1, The Story About Ping, suggested a couple of other books to read. This got me going on finding yet more books (from the library) that related to the book. I chose to get books about China. I could have gotten books about ducks, or books about rivers, etc...).

 

So now, instead of doing FIAR, I check out several books at a time about a couple of different themes. We don't get into all the geography/math/art/etc lessons that FIAR might suggest to do. Instead, we look for more books to teach those things. So basically, right now our kindergarten curriculum is books, books, books, RightStart math and little phonics books from A Beka.

[Mama2Three]

Doing K for the 4th time. Here's what we do:

 

Phonics Pathways

Singapore EB math

ETC primers and go into ETC 1

daily copywork (right now we are just working on his full name)

 

 

Ditto, too, except we're doing RS math with some Horizons for worksheets. Plus we use HWT for handwriting help. I make our own worksheets for copywork.

Edited November 3, 2008 by Mama2Three

[Rainbows]

for ETC..should I start with the primers or book 1? DS knows the letters of the alphabet and some of their sounds

 

Also, which is best to pair with ETC:

Alphaphonics, Phonics Pathways, OPGTR or McRuffy Phonics (or would this last one be too much of the same?)

[Amy+2]

McRuffy! I think it is wonderful for K! You can find their programs at McRuffy.com. :)

[Chocolate Lover]

Singapore Earlybird 2A and 2B

Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K book very slowly

Phonics Pathways very gently on the couch

Explode the Code workbooks A, B, and C then 1 and 1 1/2

Evan-Moor Beginning Geography Books 1, 2 and 3 leaked into 1st grade

 

These are the workbook type things DS loved. PP was loved as well.

 

We also did some art, listened to music and foreign language tapes.

[JeannineW]

for ETC..should I start with the primers or book 1? DS knows the letters of the alphabet and some of their sounds

 

Also, which is best to pair with ETC:

Alphaphonics, Phonics Pathways, OPGTR or McRuffy Phonics (or would this last one be too much of the same?)

 

I would start with ETC Book A unless he knows all of the letter sounds. If it is easy, he'll fly thru the books. My son started slowly working thru book A and did book B much faster and flew thru Book C. He has now completed Book 1 and is working on Book 2. He will have finished books A, B, C, 1 and 2 in about one calendar year.

 

I'm using OPGTR with ETC. We typically do 1 OPGTR lesson a day and 1 lesson of ETC a week. That means that ETC is way behind where he is skill wise in OPGTR but it's a great review.

 

He is PreK and is using MathUSee Primer and SL Core P4/5. For K, I expect he will be using the next levels - MathUSee Alpha and SL Core K.

 

SL Core P4/5 could easily be used for K. He is doing it with his 1st grade sister and they are both enjoying it. Their 3rd grade sister also listens in.

[Tree House Academy]

I jumped right in to ETC 1 for my ds, but he did know the alphabet and ALL the letter sounds. I also highly recommend the Leap Frog DVD's - Letter factory as well as Talking words Factory and Code word Caper. My son LOVED these videos and learned so much from them that he wasn't "getting" with our one on one. They were awesome for us as just reinforcement.

[sagira]

We like our materials for K. They're all in our siggy ;)

 

Good luck finding what works for you.

 

IMO this year it's important to work on art. Dh is providing an awesome art curriculum of his own. Ds loves it.

[~Sunny~]

We use Abeka and it is great.

[KathyBC]

Workbooks dd enjoyed in K last year:

ETC

HWT

DK Math Made Easy K

My First Map Book

 

All of the above are short, workbook based, little to no prep, and secular. I also liked Queen's Language Lessons for Little Ones, which got in some picture study, poetry appreciation and narration in quick and easy workbook style (5-10 minutes sessions). Can't remember too much, if any, religious content.

 

Reading great picture books, using FIAR and Sonlight lists among others, added a lot to our time. We too liked science readers (like Let's Read and Find Out) and math readers, particularly by Anno and Stuart Murphy.