March 01, 2020

How I Homeschooled Kindergarten

What to Teach:
My guide for what I needed to teach in Kindergarten came from the book "Home Learning Year By Year" by Rebecca Ropp.

Resources I used for Teaching:
Math:
Math-U-See Primer or Alpha - https://mathusee.com/ .  If your child already used Math-U-See Primer in preschool as an introduction to math concepts, and they know how to write numerals zero through nine, they are ready for Alpha.  The math blocks that go with them are a necessary hands-on component to this curriculum.  They both further learning and make it a lot more fun.

Reading:
Get "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". This book can be started as early as age 3 if your child is ready.  Each child is different.  We used it sporadically between ages 3-6 for each of our children.  Sometimes we took a break because we were busy.  Other times it was because my child wasn’t ready to continue.  So we picked it back up and tried again a few months later.  Its short lessons and methodical process make it both an easy to use and effective book.  Once finished, all our kids took off in reading.  After "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", pick out books around your home and at the library that he/she wants to read to you, and encourage them to read, read, read.  The last pages of the book even give you a suggested book list that your child should be ready for next.

Writing:
For writing, I focus on teaching how to print letters and numbers properly, how to write your first name, (and last name when they’re ready) when to use capital and lower-case letters, and how to leave spaces between letters and words.

Other Subjects:
Kindergarten is a good time to learn mostly through play.  Keep your structured learning limited to 90 minutes a day.  Critically, keep learning enjoyable.

Read lots of books out loud.  Once again, your local library is an invaluable free resource.  Select books on all kinds of topics.  Look in the children’s section for books on science (animals, plants, astronomy, chemistry, anatomy, geology, electricity, magnetism), geography, international culture and foods, how things work, biographies, nutrition, games, gardening, poems and songs.  

When your child shows an interest in a subject, pursue it further with him/her.  My son loved learning about birds when he was 4.  We bird watched at our feeders and our bird bath and on hikes, and we bought him a bird guide which he had us read to him constantly.  Later he got very interested in Corvettes.  His Grandpa sent him some information from the Corvette museum.  He has also loved maps and geography, and from listening in to his older siblings’ school, he knows all the states and most of their capitals.  He can locate all the continents and oceans, and many of the countries on the globe and wall map.  He loves to use the children’s atlas in the car while we’re on trips to follow the route we’re taking and see what’s nearby.  Our youngest daughter loves dogs, so we are often checking out books with dogs as characters, or reading about different dog breeds, or how to care for a dog.  Although family allergies, among other issues, prohibit a pet dog, she enjoys other people’s dogs when we visit them.

Teach your child their full name, your address, your phone number, and show how an address is written on envelopes.  Try sending notes to grandparents, or at least a colored picture or some samples of work from your homeschool.  

Children are naturally inquisitive at this age, so let your daily discussions be learning times simply by answering their questions all day long-- tiring, I know, but well-worth the investment.  Hands-on activities are important at this age.  Cook together.  Make crafts.  Put together puzzles.  Build with blocks or Legos.  Play with learning toys.  Play simple board games and dominoes.  Make your own jar of butter out of heavy whipping cream.  Sing songs.  Play outside and go for nature walks / hikes.  Study leaves of different kinds of trees, study bugs, watch animals in the wild and at the zoo.  Learn how to swim.  Grow vegetables or flowers or herbs.  Buy caterpillars and watch their metamorphosis.  You can’t do it all, but it’s fun to do what you can.

If your child is beginning to read, you may consider starting them at piano lessons.  If they can read words, they are ready to learn to read music.  Piano is a fantastic instrument to learn.  If they take an interest in a different instrument later, they’ll have a great foundation.

Check out the rest of my series on “How I Homeschooled” for the following grade levels:




How I Homeschooled 3rd grade

How I Homeschooled 4th through 8th grade

How I Homeschooled First (1st) Grade

What to Teach:

My guide for what I needed to teach in 1st grade came from the book "Home Learning Year By Year" by Rebecca Ropp.

Resources I used for Teaching:

Math:  For some of my children, I used Math-U-See.  At this grade level, your child may be ready for Alpha or Beta.  There are placement tests available on their website, https://mathusee.com/ .   For others, I also tried Singapore Math.  At this grade level, your child may be ready for 1a and 1b, or 2a and 2b.  There are also placement tests on their website, https://www.singaporemath.com/placement-tests .

Reading:  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons - if you haven’t finished this book already with your child, finish it during 1st grade.  

Work on phonics as well, using a workbook, flash cards, and free printables.  Help their reading ability expand beyond simple words to more complex ones through understanding phonics.  They need to understand long and short vowels, hard and soft consonants, and consonant blends.  Knowing these will help your child sound out new words and learn how to spell words they want to write.  The English language is challenging.  Phonics helps most times.

I also used random workbooks I picked up to teach about subject-verb agreement and irregular verb tenses.  A lot of this is picked up by your child from your speech and the books you read together.  In the ages from 3-6, I consistently correct my children’s spoken grammar when I hear mistakes.

Writing:  For each of my children in 1st grade, I have challenged them to write at least three sentences a day in a composition book.  Use two lines of ordinary wide-ruled paper, as large letters are easier for first graders to form.  I give them a writing prompt, and they write whatever they want on that topic.  The key here is to give them practice with proper letter formation, spacing, use of capitals and punctuation, and learning to spell words.  Be ready to spell lots of words for them, but it's best for them to write the words themselves.  It may be a struggle at the beginning of the year, but progress comes with practice.  They’ll be much better by the end of the year.  Also, a handwriting workbook or free printable worksheets to practice proper printed letter formation can vastly improve their letter writing ability.  

Other Subjects:  Building on methods I use for Kindergarten, I used myriads of library books that I read out loud to them.  Doing that teaches all kinds of subjects including: science (animals, plants, astronomy, chemistry, anatomy, geology, electricity, magnetism), geography, international culture and foods, how things work, biographies, nutrition, games, gardening, poems, songs, and anything more you can imagine.  Many of these books provide activity ideas to try.  When appropriate, let your child read the books or parts of the book out loud to you (and younger siblings!)  Definitely continue to pursue your child’s interests.  Dig around online or on YouTube to find more information on topics they really want to know more about.  We love the “How It’s Made” videos, and other factory tour videos.

Don’t forget to work on fine motor skills like coloring in the lines, drawing, cutting with scissors, pasting with construction paper and glue, play dough, and more.  Continue to play board games and other fun learning activities.  Get outside daily to exercise and explore nature.  Drawing with sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, flying a kite where appropriate, learning to throw frisbees and baseballs, kicking soccer balls, and almost any other physical activities you can think of are great ways to develop motor skills, balance, dexterity and coordination.  Bottom line, do lots of hands-on activities whenever possible.

Check out the rest of my series on “How I Homeschooled” for the following grade levels:




How I Homeschooled 3rd grade

How I Homeschooled 4th through 8th grade