Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

Most of our curriculum

I cannot believe Blue Rock is officially about to start kindergarten! We are counting down to his first official day!  We're planning on homeschooling year-round so we can take plenty of breaks when needed for holidays, vacations, or when the weather is nice. We'll probably still take most of the time off during the summer since our summers seem to be so busy with VBS and camps. Planning his kindergarten year has been a lot of fun. He's about done with My Father's World Kindergarten and I was about to throw it out the window because it seemed so simple. However, as simple as it seems it is very effective. He just turned 5 and is reading at a 2nd grade reading level. Granted, not everyone who finishes MFW K will be reading or reading at a 2nd grade level. But it just goes to show how much he really learned. With all of that being said, as much as I want to move on to 1st grade, I'm going to wait. I love My Father's World and will most likely return to it with time. I'm going to do the following and after the Fall semester is over, I might purchase My Father's World 1st grade and start when he's 5.5. Or we may start 1st grade when he's truly in 1st grade. Although I'm positive he would be capable of doing the work now, I want to keep things pretty light and fun for his first official year of school. Looking at everything and making my schedule it doesn't seem very light. Thankfully he loves learning and I'm praying we have a blast this year! The other company I really like is Sonlight. A lot of our read-alouds are from them as well as our science curriculum. In addition to our science coming from Sonlight, I've decided we're going to use Sonlight Core A for History, Geography, Bible, and Language Arts. Sometimes it's just hard to pick one company to go with. Originally I was going to use Sonlight's 1st grade LA program. However, there is a lot of copywork for 1st grade. Reading-wise, Blue Rock is more at the 1st grade level. However, writing wise, I think it's too much so we're going to go through the Kindergarten LA and if things are too easy we'll skip them and move on. I've mentioned before how important it is for me that he becomes proficient in not only reading but writing and understanding what he reads.  

In addition to homeschooling at home, he will attend a part time school once a week for science, art, and Spanish. We are also involved in two co-op groups as well as he's involved in church activities and sports throughout the year. We stay plenty busy! He also enjoys playing with the kids in our neighborhood who attend both public school and private school.

I am super excited about this coming year!! I love that I'm able to pick out what we'll be learning about. Before kids, I always said when my child(ren) started "school," meaning kindergarten, I'd go back to work and teach. I'm so excited I discovered homeschooling and am able to teach my children at home. Here's what we are doing by subject. Here's our tentative schedule. I'll make adjustments as needed.

Bible/History: We're going to start out our day with Bible. We're going to have a weekly memory verse and learn about history from History for Little Pilgrims. We'll be doing some fun Bible activities from Little Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota. Going through Devotions for the Children's Hour, and doing some character development using Five in a Row Christian Supplement. Blue Rock will also be learning the books of the Bible as well as doing some scripture copywork. We're also going to be going through Sonlight Core A's Bible and History/Geography.

 

Math: There are so many awesome math programs to choose from! Originally I was going to go with Math U See. However, I decided to go with Singapore Math Kindergarten A & B. Singapore consistently ranks #2 in the world for mathematics right behind Shanghai-China. The math program is a little different but Blue Rock so far is really loving it. He seems naturally good with numbers and can count to 1,000 and knows basic addition and subtraction. We're also going to start Life of Fred Apples. I'm so excited about the Life of Fred math series. I bought Cooking with Children from Mardel's the other day and we'll of course learn about fractions and measurements as we cook things together as well. I call that living math.  

Science: Blue Rock will be going to a science class once a week for two hours. However, since science is one of his favorite subjects, we're also going to be doing science at home. Our guide will be Sonlight's Science for Kindergarten. We'll be going through several books and using their student sheets along the way. Some of the books are: The Usborne Complete First Book of Nature, Finding Out About Everyday Things, The Usborne Internet Linked Children's Encyclopedia, Science Activities - Volume Two, and InquisiKids Discover & Do Level K. We also have some books about Weather and Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion we'll read through. Our curriculum includes one experiment a week. We can watch the experiment first on DVD or try it out first and then watch it done. We are going to do Sonlight's 4-day science program. However, I have read so many great things about the Internet Linked Children's Encyclopedia that I went ahead and bought it. I'm so glad I did! As much as I want to do science 5-days at home, he's attending a 2-hour science class once a week as it is that we can add extras in at home as we want without doing an over-kill. Also there are two experiments we'll be doing. I bought a hydroponics lab and a little make your own snow kit. I'm also considering doing the butterflies again and/or buying a tadpole to watch turn into a frog. We have an ant kit and when we sent off for the ants they never came. We will probably attempt to do that as well.

Language Arts: For language arts we are going to be doing Explode the Code 1 and 2. I bought Explode the Code 3 and if he rushes through 1 & 2, we'll go ahead and begin that one. We're also going to be using Language and Thinking for Young Children and I'll be using The Three R's by Ruth Beechick as a reference. Being an English major, language arts is very important to me. Being able to read and write well is the backbone for all other subjects. Which is partly why so much of our homeschool is based on good literature.

My big blue Sonlight Core A binder along with some other fun things for Bible, History, LA, and Geography

Handwriting/Art: Blue Rock's handwriting has really taken off this year. He asks to spell different words and is doing a great job. However, I think it's still important to practice handwriting, especially in Kindergarten. Also he still writes big, which is right in line with his age. I bought A Reason for Handwriting K a while back and while it might be a little remedial, at least it will be easy. Along with that book we'll be doing some pages from Draw Write Now books 1 and 2.  For art he'll be practicing his handwriting with Draw Write Now as well as draw pictures and he can get ideas from What Should I Draw? He's also taking an art class once a week to have some more creative fun! He loves arts and crafts. There will also be plenty of free time for him to come up with his own creations.

 

Read-Alouds: These are just some of the stories we'll be reading this year. These are a little more advanced chapter books than the ones like Frog and Toad Are Friends that we've read through this year. These of course are not the only books we'll be reading. I have more in his room that we'll be reading and are reading currently, such as The Tales of Peter Rabbit and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Kids learn so much when they are read to.  I'll also be reading poems from Language and Thinking for Young Children and from the book, What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know. I'll share with you my reading list at the bottom of this post. We'll be adding and checking off books as we go along. If we start a book and it's not a good fit, we'll put it aside and move on to another one. I want to keep reading as enjoyable as possible!

 

Geography: This is my husband's area and he'll be teaching it when he can. When he can't, I'll teach it. He'll be going through Beginning Geography. My husband also bought him The Cat in the Hat book, There's a Map on My Lap!: All About Maps. We'll of course use our blow-up globe for references.

Foreign Language: Blue Rock will be attending a Spanish class once a week. My husband and I will also read bi-lingual books to him and hubby will continue speaking to him in Spanish and German from time to time.

Music: Blue Rock loves music and I really want him to learn to play the piano. However, I think I'm going to wait a little longer before signing him up for private lessons. Most likely I'll sign him up for KinderMusik or something fun like that.

Book List:

Chapter books
Dolphin Adventure: A True Story	Wayne Grover
The Story of Doctor Dolittle	Hugh Lofting
My Father's Dragon	Ruth Stiles Gannett
A Grain of Rice	Helena Clare Pittman
The Hundred Dresses	Eleanor Estes
Twenty and Ten	Claire Huchet Bishop
The House At Pooh Corner	Ernest H. Shepard
The Boxcar Children	Gertrude Chandler Warner
Little House in the Big Woods	Laura Ingalls Wilder
Stories from Africa	SIM missionaries
The Milly-Molly-Mandy                 Storybook	Joyce Lankester Brisley
Other books
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Judi Barrett
The Story About Ping	Marjorie Flack & Kurt Wiese

 Lots of books by Richard Scarry! Currently a BIG favorite around our house.

Week 27: My Father's World K - Unit 23: Fox

We just finished our 27th week of preschool, which was Unit 23: Fox of My Father's World Kindergarten. We spread this lesson out over several weeks and did some fun science experiments along the way for fun. Our summer has been busy with VBS, a trip to New Mexico to see my husband's parents, a week of music camp, and weekly gymnastics camp. In addition we've been swimming, playing with friends, and are enjoying the summer.

Memory Verse: Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. Psalm 119:98 NIV

Main Idea: God's Word makes me wiser than my enemies.

This unit we talked about enemies and the importance of knowing God's word. Blue Rock didn't know what an enemy was and why someone wouldn't like someone else. This was somewhat challenging to explain as I have always struggled with fully knowing why some people don't like others and want to harm them. We talked about strangers as well and how it's important to be careful around people we don't know. We talked about how the fox in many of the stories we read is sneaky and out to get the innocent animals. Two stories we read related to our theme were The Gingerbread Man and The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. We also had fun and played a fox game where I was the fox at first and I went around trying to catch Blue Rock. I sang this song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." 

A hunting we will go, A hunting we will go. We'll catch a fox inside a box, And then we'll let him go.

Blue Rock thought it was a lot of fun. Then he was the fox. We even have a huge box that our stroller came in that we let him keep and play with as his little house. He'd hide in the box from me. It was fun. 

Blue Rock did a comparison chart and we made a list of how foxes are like dogs and how they are different. We played a rhyming game with animals and objects. We also classified animals by habitat. One cool things was he made a boat on his own and put animals in it that didn't live in the ocean. The animals that live in the ocean he put in the sink full of water. His boat worked. However, after a while it started sinking. We experimented with making it stronger by putting foil on it.

Two science experiments we did had to do with why boats float and blowing up a balloon with carbon dioxide.

Boat Experiment

I got this experiment from The Usborne Internet-Linked Children's Encyclopedia. This book is great and we just got it and I LOVE IT! I highly recommend it for anyone, especially if your kids are curious. There's lots of experiments throughout the book and it does a great job explaining how things work. For the boat experiment we took play-doh and made a ball. I filled up a bowl of water.  I asked him if he thought the ball would sink or float. He guessed right, it sunk. Then I took the same play-doh and made a boat like shape with it. I asked him if he thought that would sink or float. He said it looked like a boat and would float. He was right. We talked about why it floated when shaped like that verses the ball and tried other shapes as well. I loved our book's definition, it says, "When a boat is in water, it pushes downwards. The water pushes back, which makes the boat float. This is called upthrust." (p. 242)

Balloon Experiment 

For the balloon experiment we talked about chemical reaction and how when you mix vinegar and baking soda it causes a chemical reaction of carbon dioxide. If you close it off, the carbon dioxide will produce enough gas to blow up a balloon. I took an empty water bottle, added some vinegar to it. Then I made a funnel with paper and put some baking soda in the balloon. I put the lip of the balloon over the bottle and let Blue Rock dump the baking soda from the balloon into the vinegar and voilà! The gas blew up the balloon! We did this a few times. Then he blew up another balloon with air and we checked the density of the balloons. The balloons filled up with the gas from the vinegar and baking soda were more dense than the air from his mouth. He loves experiments and this one was so cheap and easy. I'm sure we'll do in many more times.

Here are some more pictures for the past few weeks.

Making a boat in his sink

I had to add this. The world's largest Whoopee Cushion!

Animal classification

Some math

Summer Music Camp

Blue Rock and one of his best friends went to music camp this week. The theme was Veggie Tales, God's love for us. They had a blast! They even had a little performance today. These are two of the sweetest kids I know!

This was tacky Tuesday

Princess's First Bite of Solids

Tonight we gave Princess her first bite of solid food. She's a little over 6 months old now. She tried organic brown rice with water. She loves water and wants to drink it every night during her bath. Since I don't pump, this was a good choice for us. She spit out about half of the bites we gave her and ate the other half. She seemed to like it. While feeding her, Blue Rock asked if he could try it. What he meant was he wanted to try the food himself, I thought he wanted to feed Princess. This was also my husband's first time to feed her. He gave her a lick of honeydew and I gave her a lick of an organic strawberry popsicle I made but she didn't actually eat any of it. Here's to new foods and new stages in our sweet baby's life. I can't believe she's starting solids! She's been exclusively breastfed until now. She's never even had a bottle. We'll move straight to a sippy cup with time. I love this girl!

Princess is 6 months!

Dear My Beautiful Princess,

I cannot believe half a year has already passed. You are such a joy to our family and a very sweet and good-spirited baby. You are a happy baby and very friendly. You love smiling at people and are even starting to wave.

You took your first family trip last week New Mexico, to visit your paternal grandparents. You traveled very well and seemed to have a good time.

You are now sitting up by yourself and scooting backwards all over the floor! Sometimes you'll fall forward trying to get something and you want to scoot to get it but you go backwards or sideways. You role from front to back and back to front with ease. You have very strong legs and love to stand in our laps or on the floor. You also love playing on your belly and you and Blue Rock will pass a balloon back and forth on your bellies. You hit the balloon back to him very well. You "talk" quite a bit and like music, dancing, and water. You seem very relaxed in the swimming pool. During bath time you constantly try and drink the water. Sometimes you seem a little obsessed with wanting to drink the water. You enjoy holding things, reaching for things, sitting, standing, "talking," one sound you've said for several months is "ahgoo."

You sleep typically 12-13 hours at night. You were going to sleep around 7:30pm and waking up around 8:30am until we went to NM. We're slowly getting you back on your schedule. You take 2 naps a day unless we go somewhere late in the evening, then you'll sometimes take 3 naps. Your naps are anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. You wake up 2-3 times at night. I'll feed you around 9 or 10pm, midnight to 1am, then again around 6 or 7am. Sometimes you just wake up because your diaper is wet. So I'll change you and you go right back to sleep.

You are still in size 3 diapers and wear 9-12 months clothing. You are still exclusively breastfed but you recently took a lick of honeydew and a strawberry popsicle I made. We will start you on solid foods soon. You really want to eat. Your well baby appointment is next Monday and we'll find out how much you weigh. We are delaying your vaccinations until at least a year. So far this has worked out well as you have never been sick or had a fever. You did get a little sunburned last Saturday when we went to the pool.

You enjoy going places and have enjoyed sitting in the shopping cart at the grocery store. You love to look around and watch people. You also are sitting in highchairs at restaurants now. You are growing too fast! We love you so much and cherish everyday with you!

Love,

Mom