Hi there, everyone I just registered with Homeschool Spot tonight, and I've been checking out the forums for a bit. I'll be beginning my oldest (5 and 1/2) in kindergarten and my middlest (4) in pre-K4 in September. We also have a 21 month old and I'm expecting my 4th this coming February. We've been "gently" homeschooling since my oldest was about 3 and 1/2. Starting out with book themes like apples, pilgrims, mountains, Abe Lincoln, etc. I was wondering what y'all consider "necessary" subjects for kindergarten. What about science? history? language arts (is this grammar intro)? Just wanted some feedback. Also, how much time do you expect to spend with one child on kindergarten work each day? Thanks!
Well, I too am, just officially home schooling my 5yo. I am going to be teaching her reading/phonics and math. I am purchasing a unit study,"Five In A Row" that covers science, social studies, and art. I will also be using their bible curriculum. I have not decided about spanish. I am wondering if it will be too much. I'm trying to not go over 3 1/2 hrs. I think language arts in depth comes later once they actually know how to read. I'm sure I'll be doing alot of tweaking as I go along to see what works best. I wish you success . God Bless! Shara
Welcome! I would recommend you get the book What YOur Kingergartner Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch Jr. It gives you a great overview of what your child should learn and when. Our third is starting kindergarten this year and we are doing preschool with our 3.5 year old. We will be doing many of their activities together and some things we will also be doing with the older two as well. What I want to cover this year is: letter recognition for all letters in capital and lowercase form, recognizing some basic words, introduction to phonics and its applications, identifing numbers to 20 and counting to 100, identifing shapes, patterning- both imitating and original, and matching. For science and social studies we will be studying the Pilgrims and the history of Christmas, human anatomy (basic for the younger two and more indepth for the older two), we are also going to be studing the state of Colorado. I may introduce some more but am not sure. It will depend on how well they do and how interested they are in doing what the older two are doing. We try to make it fun in preschool and kindergarten. I want them to adjust to the structure and routine but I also want them to have free time and enjoy the learning process.
Thanks to both of you So, Rebecca, how much time do you think is a good average to spend in concentrated learning time with a kindergartener each day?
I am teaching my 5yo ds this year and my 9yo dd. Welcome! In GA, we are required to teach 4.5 hours a day and the following subjects: math, language arts, science/health, social studies. Since I already have an older student then I just include ds in all the subjects as well. He does not really do 4.5 hrs of sit down work though. When he finishes a subject and there is time left alotted for that subject then he gets "free time". His math might take him 15-25 min. where dd's math takes atleast 30 to 45 min. all depending on the activities. Here's our schedule just to give you an idea of how I do it. 8:30 Math 9:15 Journal/writing 9:30 Phonics and Reading 10:15 Spelling/Handwriting (dd does a combo and ds just handwriting) 10:30 Grammar/Color words (ds works on reading and learning the color words during this time) 10:45 Snack and story 11:00 History (we do together) 11:30 Quiet Reading 12pm Science and Health (we do together) 12:30 Electives (Music, Spanish, Computer, Typing) 1:00 Lunch 1:30 P.E. (any type of exercise is here)
Keep your kindergarten stuff simple! I would really suggest homeschooling, NOT schooling at home. There is NOTHING SET IN STONE about what a kindergartener MUST do! Keep activities short and fun, do LOTS of reading, a bit of writing, a bit of math. Get a Journal where they can draw a picture above and then write about it below (or telll you and you do the writing). Spend time outside with nature. Phillip will be 1st grade this year. Here's an idea what he did last year. (And I don't keep a "schedule", simply because they've never worked for me. But if a schedule works for you, that's great!) Usually we started off with Bible, including work on AWANAS. Then a page of math, and journal writing. He did history and science with his older sisters. (NOTE: We used curriculum for both of these. It worked well, because the older girls needed it. If it had been Phillip alone, I would have done these subjects almost comletely on my own, using library books!) I would read to him out loud, and then work on some kind of reading. Flash cards of Dolche words, or simple books where he had to read to me. Half-way through the year, I bought him a 1st grade reading workbook. (The K one did mostly letter recognition, which he already knew, but he still wasn't ready at the start for "real words", KWIM?) And that was pretty much it for him! This was spread out through the full day. He also watched "Between the Lions" pretty much every day. OH!!! And we do have a half-hour of Silent Reading, followed by me reading a book to them all, a biography or something classical or some such. Anyway, that's how I did it! There's no one way to do anything in HS'ing, so find out what works best for you!
Something else I REALLY want to add to you all just starting out!!! BE SURE TO ALLOW FOR MOMMY TIME!!! My little ones take naps. I was pretty strict about Nap Time. They went down at 1:00 until 3:00 daily. When they get to where they sometimes need naps and sometimes didn't, I would still put them down at 1:00, and they were expected to try to sleep ("rest") for a half-hour. If, after a half-hour, they were still awake, they were permitted to read (or look at books) on their bed for an additional half-hour. Then they could get up. When they got to the place where it was rare they were falling asleep, I would usually just send them up at 1:00 to read. Even now, at 12, 10 and 6, my kids still go upstairs to their rooms to read for that half-hour. I follow it up with reading aloud. They learn when they're little that they DO NOT DISTURB Mommy during that time!!! That is MY TIME!!! YOU NEED THAT TIME!!! The rules are NO HOUSEWORK, NO SCHOOLWORK, NO GETTING DINNER!!! Preferable, sit down with a good book and a cup of tea. It is also a good time for a Quiet Time. SET THE TIMER!!! Mondays is my laundry day. I spend all day doing it between lessons. CLean clothes are dumped in the middle of my living room. Then, when I read aloud to my kids, they spend that half-hour folding the laundry. It works for me!
Jackie, how is Phillip doing with his sight words? I've been working with Preston for a long while and he still only knows a few. He'd be reading easy readers faster if he knew atleast the kindergarten dolch words. I have a bunch of different ways that we work on them...he's just not that into it at all though.
Also remember that if you sent your child to ps-K, naptime is part of the school day, so you can certainly include that in your plans as part of the required hours. I know it's exciting getting the children going with real schoolwork, but be careful not to push it too much. Allow your K'er to be a child still! Make the learning fun stuff. Like Jackie said, you don not have to follow ps's schedule to get those hours in. Do things off and on during the day so they don't get overwhelmed and begin to hate school. K'ers minds, no matter how much they WANT to learn, are not ready for the strict discipline of sitting in a classroom doing schoolwork. They need lots of hands-on stuff, and lots of exercise stuff. They actually learn more by playing outside and finding real worms, and seeing real birds and stuff like that, and talking about it with you, than they do with the bookwork! You know how that age asks Why this? Why that? Why? Why? Why? Well, youur discussions with them when they ask those why questions are definitely learning! It's learning what they're interested in, and they will remember it much better when they are interested in it than if they are being forced to learn something they may not be interested in! And, YES YOU CAN count those things as part of their schoolwork. Depending on the question, it'll fit into math or science or social studies very well. You just decide which category it fits under. K can be very loose like that. As your child gets older you can buckle down more, but for now, let'em learn more naturally! And trust me, they do retain much of that "off-the-cuff" stuff! Just be ready to turn things that happen in the day into a little lesson.
Missy, How old is Preston? (I forget) My first was reading very young because that was what he really wanted. My second wasn't interested in reading. He took much longer to get around to it, but once he was ready, he really went to town. Now he devours books! Maybe that's the way Preston is??? Just a thought.
Phillip isn't doing Dolche words any more. He's really taken off. Remember, like Deena said, that all kids are different. My one friend has a daughter that couldn't read until she was nine or ten, and then was reading "Lord of the Rings" at twelve! So try hard not to make a big deal of it yet. One thing you might do is make "word books". We started with initial letters..."Phillip's S Book"...and searched clipart for all kinds of things tht started with that letter. We glued one picture per page. I wrote the word on the page, and he would trace or copy it. Then he would "read" his book to Daddy later that night. We "graduated" to word families..."Phillip's AT Book", "Phillip's ET Book", etc. Then you can put the words from his book on flashcards. Maybe do one word family a week. You can also make up worksheets using the same pictures you put in his book.
He does well with sounding out words really. He just doesn't like memorizing the dolch words(there are 220 of them suckers!). I am really stuck on all the words kids need to know by each grade. I never realized until dd got up older that there more lists for every grade and not just K-1, lol. Did you focus on all the grade levels or just not worry about them and he just picked them up. Preston is 5 and NOT at all interested in the "learning to read" thing....he wants to read but I guess wants it to just happen instantly and magically one day.
I have not taken time to read all the other responses, but will, just wanted to jump in and say what we did and I'll give you some websites I like for K learn numbers learn letters colors shapes simple words like: cat, dog, cup, etc..... cuting practice patterns adding pictures or objects nursery rhymes basics on 5 senses. It was my goal to find one of those plastic clocks and start time, but I just got it.--always loose time LOL discuss money I used a basic all in one book for K plus some others (Check Wal-mart).
http://sherryskindergarten.homestead.com/ http://myschoolonline.com/site/0,1876,24742-146190-27-2061,00.html http://www.kinderprintables.com/ http://www.mspowell.com/ http://www.first-school.ws/
this is a super one: http://www.thevirtualvine.com/ this one is $20 for a year but worth it!! http://members.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
I agree with Deena. Make it fun!!!:lol: Kindergarten should be used to prepare children for what lies ahead. Some curriculum has a lot of extra information that could be discouraging to children who are not ready. At this age, children get distracted easy if it does not capture their interest. With Emma, we did use some of the reading curriculum but we added to it by making cut out letters with cookie cutters you can purchase at Michael's. Painting is a must. Not for artistic purposes but they love it and it's a good way to teach math and reading as well as colors. We are big fans of sidewalk chalk!!! Even though Ems is now in 3rd grade we still go outside and write the problems on the driveway and after she answers them, she quickly copies them to the book. To teach the five sences, I blind folded Ems and placed out different foods, different objects with different textures and different types of objects that made different sounds. She loved it. Kindergarten is very exciting because it is a time when you can have a lot of fun. Sooner then later the work will get more serious and more indepth so might as well let them enjoy this time. We did and still do a lot of hopscotch, jump rope, and skipping around to silly songs. As you go along you will notice what really sparks you child's interest. Use this to your advantage. The ideas are limitless. When you go to the store, see how many words your child can read on food items. They can identify the types of fruit in the store, then go home and paint them. These are just ideas that we tried and enjoyed. The book work is a good thing at the right time. As long as your child is learning what is necessary then this is what matters. Good luck to you and have fun. Patty I almost forgot. Mud is an awesome learning tool in many ways. After your child is utterly filthy and crusty you can dump them in the tub and teach them about good hygiene.:lol:
We have the younger two start out the day with us at 8 for devotions. They then get some free play time while the older two get started on their workbooks. We really try to break up the learning time with the younger ones. They get at least 15 minutes of free play every hour. The younger two are also done by noon- unless they want to join in on the science for the afternoon. I would have to say that we maybe do around 3 hours with the younger ones. Sometimes that time is structured and sometimes it is really laid back.
Oh, btw, kindergarten is not even required in some states (like GA). So, you may not even need to report that you are homeschooling this year. I am reporting it only because ds has been homeschooling with his sister (now 9) since he was 2! This is really like first grade for him (he's just a little behind in the reading dept for 1st). I taught kindergarten in ps about 8 years ago. Back then, it was starting to become more and more work and less and less fun. We had pressure to cover so much each year. Then, kids were going to 1st grade and the 1st grade teachers were complaining they still didn't know enough! UGH! Nowadays, kindergarten is like first grade used to be. Kids are starting school at one or two years old so they expect them to know all that "kindergarten stuff" by the time they enter kindergarten. So, if you have the opportunity to have fun and enjoy kindergarten....then I say go for it! Kids need to be kids for goodness sakes!
Missy, that is so true! They start kids so young these days and think it's neat when the 2 or 3 yo knows so much. But by the time they're in middle school, the poor things are burned out! Their have been studies done (wish I could remember where I've read about them!) where they've found that when kids are pushed to learn that stuff before their brains are ready to comprehend it all, it can actually do damage, instead of help them! And that they DO tend to burn out early because it's just too much pressure. WA state doesn't require reporting until they're 8 years old. I did dd younger, just because I was in there for the other two, so I just incuded her anyway. And I TOTALLY agree---Kids need to be kids!!!
