Kindergarten Curriculum

Teresa - posted on 09/19/2012

Hi My name is Teresa and I am homeschooling my granddaughter. I am new at this and so far I do like A beka very much, She is in kindergarten. I was wondering if anyone would have a sample calendar or lesson plan that I may see to make sure I am doing this correct, I pray that that I am planning her days well. Thanks for your help,,,, Teresa

Christine - posted on 08/24/2010

We use ABeka also and love it. I have a 7 year old who this past summer, I used www.time4learning.com and www.iknowthat.com She prefers iknowthat.com

Deanna - posted on 08/14/2010

Personally I would have him checked out just to be sure there isn't any learning disabilities present. I would also consider finding a different way to teaching if you can manage it. So far I have 3 kids being homeschooled and all three are different in their learning styles. I use the Rod and Staff for my 7 year old and I make my own work for my 3 and 4 year olds. My 3 year old is very very active and can't really sit still long so when she does we ALWAYS work on her writing skills or cutting. The rest of the time I use my CD's, DVD's, and books that I bought. It sounds really weird but so far my youngest is doing great with them. I would suggest looking at just regular bookstores like barnes and noble, visiting your local library, or you are more than welcome to take a look at what I use and order through me. I do hope that you are able to find something that works for your son though. I know it just stresses me out for about a week whenever I have to change HOW I am teaching someone. It was hard at first trying to teach m 3 year old. Now it is SO much easier. I say good hunting!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deanna--jer...

Rosa - posted on 03/02/2010

I really enjoyed the Bob Jones University books. They were much more colorful and had Biblical examples for Math! I was able to teach myself a lot with them and it made it easier for my mom that way. Hint: My brother did best when my mom read the question to him and he answered aloud while sitting in a tree outside. :) Just a thought. Active people are often hands-on learners.

CHRISTA - posted on 02/19/2010

each of our children are diffrent. There are so many diffrent kinds of curriculum out there. Try passers. It is a small book your child can move slower. The age you speek of you don't have to move real fast. Maybe this child is more hands on.Check your local libary. They have some of the curriclum you may need.Teacher centers can help also.Good luck, Don't give up. I home schooled my kids. They both have gone on to honner classes in public school when the got older. You will also charish the time you have with them.They may make you ,well you will have some ups and down times. It is ALL worth it. God Bless...

Autumn - posted on 02/06/2010

The website starfall.com has worked great for my three year old. I just let him loose and he knows all his phonics! Now I'm using the old Ladybird readers that I learned with as a child. He's racing through them, even though it's a completely different approach to learning to read. I've found a combination of the two methods to work best for my kids.

Susan - posted on 01/28/2010

My son did have learning difficulties and my youngest was very active. I used Abeca Kindergarden with both of them. I just modified how I used it. I got creaative so to speak. They were 2 and a half years a part, but I decided I would teach them together and what the younger one picked up great! Instead of sitting at a table we sat on the living room floor with a wooden alphabet puzzle. We sang the alphabet song as I pointed to each letter at first. As we learned each letter and it's sound, I took it out and had them feel the letter. I mean really feel it. All the lines and curves. We would say the sound together. As we to know a few letters, I would take the letters we knew and make a game of it by turning them upside down. Each child would take a turn a pick a letter, turn it over, say what letter and its sound. Then they got to put it in the puzzle. It worked beautifully. We did activities like that to go along with the curriculum said and cut other things. I used a timer to teach my active child how to sit still starting with 5 min. I would reward her with stickers or whatever if she succeeded. We worked our way up when she was young to 30 to 45 min. Now she can sit for 3 hours straight if she needs to. I also alternated a sitting activity with an active acitivity during their day. Even if it was for 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes I would make it a fun challenge to break up their day. ie who can pick up the most cotton balls I had spread out across the living room the fastest. they would giggle as they would rush to get them picked up. the winner got a high five. Then, back to school we would go.

Tammy - posted on 01/26/2010

I have a very active son, and we used My Father's World with him. The lessons are super short, but thorough and I liked the way they integrated Bible verses and stories into their curriculum. Since you said your son only knows the letters in his name, I think you'll like the pace of the early phonics. And the best part, it's not expensive. I can't remember their web site, but you could google My Father's World. I have a super-active son and, unless you're seeing other things than just the over activity, I would say he's just a typical, fun-loving boy. My youngest didn't care one iota about anything that has to do with school, barely knew the letters in his name when he was 5, and had no desire to sit down and read a book or anything. Now, he loves school and we just realize he needs a few more breaks and sometimes needs to move around during school time.

Deborah - posted on 01/16/2010

My children are very high energy and Its hard to keep their interest. I used the leap frog dvds, flash cards and ping pong balls with the letters on them( I used these just like flash cards but once they gave the correct answer they were aloud to throw it). once my son was able to recall the name or sound of a specific letter 5xs He was aloud to pop a balloon indicating what he had mastered. He was asking to play pop the balloon all the time. His 2 yr old brother wanted to play, so I let him, he also has mastered all sounds and names. Both have now moved on to the Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading, by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington. We are taking it slow My now 5 yr old is reading 3-5 letter words and my 3 yr old is on 3 letter words.

Gina - posted on 10/20/2009

I started homeschooling this year and my youngest son is in kindergarten. He is also very active to the point I thought he had a learning disability too. I bought him some of the leap frog DVD's and he knows all of his alphabet and sounds from them. The one that taught him the most was the letter factory. He has a really short attention span, but he loves watching videos, so this is the best way I found to teach him.

Virginia - posted on 09/23/2009

I used dvd's seseme street alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors, and potty time for them when they were ready for that. every day repeat them. over and over he'll get it.

Donna - posted on 07/15/2009

we used Sing Spell Read and Write with our active boy..he is 10 now. I loved that curriculum. he learned phonics and excells on all his yearly tests.. the great thing about sing spell is the activities incorporated within..card games, race track, readers that are colorful and fun.. he learned his spelling while marching around the house and doing power ranger moves..that is the blessing of homeschool..he does not have to sit still.

Jennifer - posted on 01/17/2009

I just suggested it to another mom but I have used Sing, Spell, Read and write as a good Kindergarten curriculum, I also use Abeka for most of my curriculum and used it for my daughter in Kindergarten who is now in 2nd Grade and it worked really well for her, but my daughter who's in Kindergarten now I chose to use SSRW b/c it fit her better, I also used it for my son who is in 3rd Grade now. The curriculum is fun, there are lots of songs, fun work pages, games, and prizes for incentives. It's a good phonics based curriculum and I several of the moms who go to our church that homeschool have used it as well. We really have enjoyed it.

Jennifer - posted on 01/17/2009

Check out, "Handwriting without Tears". Both my 5 year old and 3 year old find it fun to work with. (and they have opposite personalities!)

Sara - posted on 01/13/2009

It is awful to say this but Leapfrog learning has some great toys, games, and dvd's.  I pop them in my car and my son knew his letters and sounds just from running errands here and there by the age of 3.  They are great. Also, look at lakeshore learnings website. They have some great games and boxed centers that I used when I taught kindergarten that my son now in kindergarten loves.  I hope that helps. I am not one to stick my kids in front of the tv but the dvd's in the car got my son to learn his letters and sign the songs etc... they were a great thing.  Good luck.