Ok, so I am sure this can go with out being said...I am lost as where to start with homeschooling in Kindergarten... I see alot of higher grades but I cannot find anywhere to start Kindergarten... Thanks so much for help
I love your screen name!An endearment my husband call me I'm not sure what kind of curriculum you are looking for,but we are using Time4learning for our kids this year.(one starting kindergarten) It's online studies on the computer,lots of interactive animation. This is our first year to homeschool and we wanted something to kind of "help" us until we get into the swing of things.It keeps up with all the records,too, so you can just print them out.It also will automatically bump your child up(or hold back)on any given subject if he/she is flying through it(or struggling).You also have the option to do this yourself.It's $19.95 a month for the first child and $14.95 for second,third.....But if you pay 3 or months in advance(which we did)it's $14.95 a month per child,period.You can cancel at anytime,too.It looks fun,the price is reasonable,and I have heard good things about this program.We don't start for a few weeks so I can't tell you anything firsthand yet!We have also ordered a few things here and there.A lot of the ladies on here have blogs you can go to where they list a lot of their resources~definately worth checking out.Lots of free and super cheap ideas to get you started I hope this is of some help.
Alpha Omegas Lifepacs have a K curriculum. ClickNkids is great for spelling and phonics. My younger daughter liked the Math U See Primer.
I'm using The Reading Lesson to teach my 6yo and 4yo how to read. 6yo can now read, and 4yo is sounding out simple words (I've barely worked with 4yo!). There are 20 lessons in this book, each one about 20 pages long. You're supposed to do one lesson for a few days at a time, I've been doing 3 days per lesson with 6yo and its working out well. We're just using a bunch of store bought work books for K and 1 math. I suggest you buy a couple of these workbooks in K and 1 level (try and get the same brand of both) and see which pages your Kinder breezes through and where he struggles. Time4Learnings might also be a good option, but I dont like using computer based programs as a primary means for instruction, especially with a student so young. If your going with computer based phonics, then I recommend The Ultimate Phonics instead of ClickNKids. TUP is NOT edutainment, its not cartoony or anything but "edutainment" tends to be a bigger distraction for my 6yo than anything else. Also, TUP is more comprehensive, it takes you through ALL the phonic rules and you could probably use it for up to 3years before your kids finished the whole program. ClickNKids only gets you to about a 3rd grade level yet it costs the same ($70) as TUP. If you want a book on reading, I recommend TRL and then Hooked On Phonics, but try get an older edition, from the 90's off Ebay. (The newer versions are watered down crap *grrr*) If your kid doesn't thrive in Workbook based math, then check out The Verbal Math Lesson its by the TRL company. You could introduce the concepts with manipulatives, (home made) or through cheap workbooks and then drill them with TVML. www.spencerlearning.com The Ultimate Phonics Software www.readinglesson.com The Reading Lesson Book (they also have other products and supplements) www.mathlesson.com The Verbal Math Lesson (there are 3 levels plus some free resources for higher levels) All 3 of those websites off free demos/downloads of the first couple of chapters or lessons of their product. Check them out. I have a 4yo I'm putting through Kinder/1st and I go for quality over quantity. PM me any time if you need more. I've used TRL first hand, happy to answer any and all questions about it. I'm going to use TVML more regularly next week, I introduced it already and 6yo and 4yo love it. But I am introducing more concepts through workbooks and manipulatives to help them really understand the questions because some of it they just didn't understand, having had no formal training in Math. I considered TUP and will probably still buy it, but I got an older edition of Hooked On Phonics instead because it was cheaper and I'm broke. I would have greatly preferred TUP.
There are also alot of free options out there, like progressivephonics.com for phonics and reading starfall.com for phonics and reading ixl.com for math mathcats.com for math. And several others. PM me if you're looking for some specific feedback in this area and I'll see what I can do. The community here is Terrific (note the capital "T")
For K, we did My Father's World for the unit studies and it was so much fun. My kid's really enjoyed that. I used Abeka PreK phonics sheets & blend ladder book to help teach reading. The Leap Frog learning DVD's are wonderful for beginning phonics along with the Abeka sheets.
Many people like Five in a Row. I personally didnt't use any formal curriculum when my three were in Kindergarten. Well, not exactly true. My youngest followed along with his sisters, so he did a lot of science and history! We just read a lot, counted a lot, found lots of FREE on-line sites, etc.
While I am really more of an unschooler through K, we are using McRuffy for Phonics, Math and Science at the request of my kiddies (I have 2 doing K this year) who want to "do school". They LOVE it and BEG to do school.. it's all fun and hands on and full of games and manipulatives. I also like www.starfall.com and LeapFrog DVDs for learning letter sounds and how to read. A good place to start is looking at http://www.worldbook.com/typical_course_of_study.html You can also find great workbooks at like Sam's Club, Walmart and even Dollar Tree has a bunch. There are also tons of free things online if you need to do it on the cheap or just want to do it on the cheap
I guess you could say we unschooled for K. We skipped K and started with 1st. The year before that, we didn't even call it school. We read books, went to storytime at the library, went to children's classes at the rec center (music, cooking, etc.). We just had fun.
If you must have curriculum for K, Five In A Row is an excellent program and it uses some great children't books. Click N Kids phonics is great for learning to read, it's on the computer and there is a fee but it's a one time fee and then you can reuse the program as many times as you like, if you prefer free then Starfall.com is a great place to get phonics instruction. There are hundreds of sites for printables: AbcTeach.com (charges a reasonable fee) learningpage.com dltk-kids.com that's all I can think of at the moment, most of my kinder sites are on the other computer. You will find that if you do a few internet searches for what you are looking for you'll find everything you need for Kinder free of charge!
I also have a K'er. We do a lot of reading aloud using picture books and then doing related activities using Picture Book Activities by Trish Kuffner, which is similar to Five in a Row. Then we read from a chapter book in the evenings as a family. For phonics we use AlphaPhonics. I also supplement with inexpensive workbooks. Oh, and my kids really love the LeapFrog DVDs. We also use Handwriting without Tears (K level). For science we are learning about the days of creation. I supplement with library books and activities that I find online to create units that relate to each day of creation. So, we will study things like water, animals, the human body, etc. For math I found some lesson books (some from the library) that use hands-on activities to teach basic K-level math. I also read math-based picture books to him that I find at the library. Cheap and effective! Finally, we do a lot of crafts and I give him time to play, using his imagination or with "educational" toys like blocks, lacing cards, puzzles, and so on.
I would just like to add a few things...when my sons were in K to improve their handwriting we did a LOT of clay play (forming letters and shapes in clay as well as free play), they loved shaving cream writing, and I would let them paint the letters, draw them with crayons/markers, write them on lined and unlined paper, draw them in the sand, anything to reinforce the formation of the letters. Keep it hands on and F-U-N! Also for phonetic awareness we would take a letter and cut pictures out of a magazine that began with that letter sound and glue it to a giant cut out of the letter. We also did lots of cutting and pasting to help improve their cutting and small motor skills.
There is a 40% off promo code for ClickNkids, SAVINGS. Its a lifetime membership so if you have younger kids you wont have to pay a second or third time.
Timberdoodle has a complete curriculum for K for $290.00. They put together some great stuff...I am considering buying it for my dd.
I never thought of that Jackie! I may have to try that with my boys, they could make some cutouts to trace around and color! Thanks!
I didn't care for the Love to Learn selection as much...but I did love the prices. I have a ton of K stuff but not the core...so I may just buy parts of the kit and save some money.
I have just read some of her books on HSing and she seems to know what she is talking about, and that is probably why I like their stuff.
