Kindergarten Resources and Ideas

Unit Study:
Unit studies will generally be a week long each. If G shows extra interest in a unit, we always have the flexibility of extending the unit for as long as we like. Some units will have seasonal/holiday themes, some will be a result of following G's interest at the time (if he shows interest in insects or space, for example), and some will be based on children's books.

When we do units based on children's books, we will use the Five in a Row curriculum and the activities suggested in the Five in a Row manuals. We will also utilize the resources found at http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ .

Phonics:
I plan to use Bob Books for phonics, especially at the beginning of the year. G has been through the first set, so we'll do a bit of review on those, then move on to the 2nd set and move up from there. I also plan to do some word family work and maybe a more formal teaching tool like The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.

Bible:
I plan to model our Bible study after the Five in a Row curriculum, taking one Bible story each week (starting in Genesis and working our way through), and reading it each day. We will also do crafts relating to the story and have a memory verse to go along with it. I found this site for children's Bible lessons.

Math:
We will have calendar time each day for math where he will learn to read a calendar, use ordinal numbers, learn about even and odd numbers and learn about time in general (yesterday, today, tomorrow, next week, days of the week, months of the year, how long is a month, etc.). We will also be doing fun activities with maniulatives (we're most excited about using M&Ms as manipulatives), and possibly start using the Math-U-See curriculum.

Handwriting:
Handwriting will be practiced with short Bible verses or sentences pertaining to each week's theme/unit. He will also have the opportunity to practice handwriting as he writes to his pen pals.

History:
We'll use History for Little Pilgrims as our introduction to history.

Spanish:
First 100 Words in Spanish, First 1000 Words in Spanish, and http://www.livemocha.com/ are what I plan to use this year.

Science:
Again, I plan to work science like the Five in a Row as well, reading the same book every day for a week. I'll be reading from the Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science series, which we love. I'll also be using Science Play! and More Mudpies to Magnets for project ideas.

Kindergarten Schedule 2008/2009

I think this blog will be mainly for me...to keep track of where we're going and where we've been. I'm thinking of listing the link on our family website though so that any of our friends or family can take a peek at what we're up to with homeschool. I'm sure there will be several who are curious. I know I'm always curious about other homeschool families and what they are doing, what is working for them, and what ideas they can share. Here is a look at our tentative kindergarten schedule:

Monday:

-Unit Study

-Phonics

-Bible

-Math

-Handwriting

-History

-Science

Tuesday:

-Unit Study

-Phonics

-Bible

-Math

-Spanish

-Science

Wednesday:

-Unit Study

-Phonics

-Bible

-Math

-Handwriting

-Geography

-Science

Thursday:

-Unit Study

-Phonics

-Bible

-Math

-Spanish

-Science

Friday:

-Unit Study

-Phonics

-Bible

-Math

-Handwriting

-History

More Multiplication

Yesterday while driving to a friend's house, G piped up from the backseat..."Mom, four fives...you know, four of five...four fives is twenty."

"That's right! How did you know that?", I asked.

"I just counted it.", was his reply.

I guess he's getting an understanding of math. We are both excited to do M&M math when we start kindergarten. We'll use the M&Ms as manipulatives...and rewards. :-)

Ooh, a fun reading game site!

Someone on one of my yahoogroups shared this site for learning to read. It has interactive lessons that build on each other. My son seems to like it. It's at www.readingeggs.com .

What? Multiplication?

We were playing outside yesterday and G was gathering rocks when he asked me, "Mom, are two fours eight?" We have hardly worked on any math at all, and that was only counting. I just about jumped up like a cheerleader when he did this, demonstrating a beginning understanding of multiplication. Daddy was ecstatic when I told him about it, of course, since one of his biggest goals for G is for him to KNOW his times tables. It was a pretty exciting surprise.

Learning Spanish

I found this site recently and it looks pretty good. There are tons of languages to choose from, but I am starting with Spanish. Check it out at www.livemocha.com

Sea Creatures Unit

We're taking 2 weeks to learn about ocean animals. This week we read A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. We're planning a trip to the aquarium this weekend to go along with that. We also made this beaded safety pin project. Talk about exercising the fine motor skills!

Next week we'll read Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Sasha and we'll be taking a trip to the waterfront to explore the tide pools.

We're also putting together a lapbook to go along with our sea creatures unit. G really enjoys making lapbooks and he loves going through them later and remembering all the fun things we learned.