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

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