I honestly can’t believe that it has been over four years since we began our journey in homeschooling. In Pre-K, I wrote down a list of all of the “subjects” or topics that I thought were important for children to learn and spent my son’s Pre-K year simply picking interesting topics and going over them together. We learned about Japanese spider crabs, ABCs, and our emotions. Through this relaxed early learning, I realized that I could teach my son, but starting kindergarten homeschool was still a scary proposition.
It got real.
The world has expectations for kindergarten! These days, schools are pushing five year old children through their ABCs and 123s into sight words and reading. Ready or not, here it all comes. Due to this, I felt worried that I would somehow fail these standards and not be “enough.” What I learned instead was grace, peace, and patience.
Your kindergartner does not need to reach some magical standard. Your kindergartner needs God’s grace, peace, and patience just as much as you do.
So as you read my suggestions for kindergarten curriculum, take a deep breath. Realize that what you do or do not get done this year is just a part of your journey. You are learning to be your child’s teacher and your child is learning to be a lifelong learner. Bumps are to be expected! There is grace for every bump along the way.
Our Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum Choices
Main Curriculum
- Classical Conversations in a CC Community – Cycle 3 (Find out more about classical conversations by reading –> The Core by Leigh Bortins)
- American History
- The Human Body, The Periodic Elements (1-12), and Worldviews of Science
- The Geography of America
- English, Math, Latin, and the History Timeline as well as Fine Arts and Hands-On Science
Pros and Cons of Classical Conversations:
PROS – spending with other children (abecedarians), experiencing a more formal setting one day a week in order to learn classroom skills, learning to talk in front of other people, beginning to memorize
CONS – can seem like a lot of pressure on a kindergartner, mother has to learn to relax with this age group, tutor must have skill with age group, must allow them to be sponges with no pressure
- Five in a Row: Volume 1
- (How to get these books –> click on the links to purchase the books from Amazon, go to Rainbow Resources to buy them as a discounted set, borrow them from your local library, or check out fetchbook.info to buy them used)
- The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
- Lentil by Robert McCloskey
- Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz
- Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say
- How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
- The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills
- The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice and Martin Provensen
- A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
- Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley
- Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky
- Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende Devlin
- Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk
- The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
- Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews
- Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
- Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
- Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Pros and Cons of Five in a Row:
PROS – you can take your time and decide what you will cover, you are never behind unless you decide you are, cultivates a love of reading and for homeschooling, relaxed curriculum, you learn to learn from books and thus through life experiences, THIS curriculum taught me how to homeschool naturally
CONS – if you want worksheets and rigid guidelines, this isn’t for you.
Supplements that I Chose
- Math (Used a few manipulatives and did CC Skip Counting)
- Prescripts Cursive from Classical Conversations
- The Jesus Storybook Bible
Teacher and Guiding Resources
- The Bible – Teaching, Discipline, and Encouragement
- I use the ESV version and change the wording at times to be age appropriate. We went over creation and the basics.
- Educating The Wholehearted Child – Ideas, Direction, and Vision
- This book set my homeschool mama heart aflame with a vision for God’s will for my family. While we at times have people question what we are doing and why we are doing it, this book allowed me to really think about why God was calling me to homeschool and the purposes that He has for my son through this discipleship process. I am not homeschooling to avoid the school system, out of fear, nor to shelter my son, rather I am homeschooling to bring God glory by educating my son personally and cultivating his desire for God.
Tips for Homeschooling Kindergartners
If you are starting off your kindergarten homeschool, you may have lots of ideas about school, homeschooling, and whether children want to learn and parents are suited to teach. These ideas need to be set aside in order to allow learning to happen naturally without all the preconceived ideas. Let go of how you think this year should go and allow God to show you what He has in store for you and your family.
Here is a list of my best tips for kindergarten homeschool:
- Relax! The skills learned in kindergarten have much more to do with developing relationships, experiencing their environment, and beginning to understand what it means to learn.
- What you do not cover in kindergarten can easily be taught in 1st grade, so focus on relationship first and obedience as a result of that relationship. If sitting still results in tears, allow some freedom and work toward the future.
- Limit electronics for this age of a child. Their brains need gentle stimulation rather than rapid stimulation. Use slow iPad games when needed, but avoid active and fast moving video games.
- Focus on developing a healthy schedule. Wake at the same time and start to teach kindergartners how their day will happen. They enjoy schedules.
- Do not use sugar or food colorings during the school day. Many children react poorly to sugar and food colorings. I’ve seen mothers who wrack their brains for ideas on how to get their children to calm down and hold still . . . all while feeding their children sugar-rich, dyed foods. Many kindergartners are just learning about God’s gift of self-control, so consider feeding them foods that will help them learn to use this gift of control of their own bodies. Grace for the past and obedience for the present.
I hope these kindergarten homeschool ideas, curriculum options, and tips will be such a rich resource for you as you guide your family during this homeschool year. Please let me know if you love any of these resources! I’d love to hear about your successes and your journey!
Brooke Shambley
THE Boholistic Mom
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