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How To Homeschool
Kindergarten
The following activities can be used with children from three to five years old. You must be the judge of when it is developmentally appropriate to introduce these activities. If the child does not show interest, never push it, put it aside for a couple of months and then try again.
Many of the activities I recommend in the "How to Homeschool Preschool" still apply to this age group. Please also read that page to get some useful ideas.
The
food shelf has fruit,cereal, snacks, dishes,
cutlery, cloths for wiping spills and practicing folding
and a cutting board for cutting cheese or fruit.
Three types of curriculum
I recommend for this
age group:
The Montessori Method: Teaching children how to do
things for themselves. Arranging the home and the child belongings
in an age
and height appropriate way. Teaching the virtues of cleanliness, orderliness,
beauty, and discipline develops the spiritual nature of the child and
encourages a desire for excellence.
Teaching
Montessori in the Home:
The
Pre-School Years
By Elizabeth G. Hainstock and Lee Havis
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Teaching Montessori
in the Home:
The School Years
By Elizabeth G. Hainstock and
Lee Havis
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
The Gentle Revolution: The flashcard method created by the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential.
How
to Teach Your Baby to Read
By Glenn Doman
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
How
to Teach Your Baby Math
By Glenn Doman
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Preschool Workbook: "Everything for Early Learning: Preschool-K" (with a bumblebee on the cover - this is important because they have two books for this level) by McGraw-Hill Children's Publishing. Amazon.com sells it however they don't have an image so I can't be certain it is the one with a bumblebee on the cover. The workbook does include a sheet of stickers, but I think the other pre-k workbook does too.
What I did:
When one of my children turns 3 years old, we start formal homeschooling (there is excitement and anticipation built up about starting school prior to the birthday).
Our homeschool set-up in our family room, April 2003.
Our school environment consists of low shelves in the family room that is open to the kitchen and dining area. There are many small tables with small chairs for the children to work comfortably. Their school supplies are all within easy reach. They have also learned by this age, how to use the stereo system properly and will often turn on some children's music. If I am teaching a lesson or reading a book, we will turn the music off. But if they are working on a workpage (writing or coloring), I will often let them listen to music. The school space has enough room to dance around if they feel restless. There are educational toys on the low shelves to play with as a break between lessons if needed.
A school shelf in our family room, April 2003.
The child will have a reading lesson from Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling, a writing lesson from the preschool workbook (starting with the left-to-right section, proceeding through letters and numbers), and a workbook page (starting with colors, position words, same and different, sizes, and shapes).
I will be more insistent about following instructions and doing some school even if they don't feel like it but I don't push. I will insist 1-3 times but will also frequently let the child not continue the lesson, especially if they become emotionally upset. So here, I'm trying to establish a teacher/student relationship and a regular school routine but I don't take it very seriously and will not make school mandatory. I found, though, that at this age and with this curriculum, each of my children were excited to do school and would often beg to do extra workpages (which I allow sometimes, but other times I say they have to wait until the next school day).
There is no fixed time period for when the kindergarten curriculum will end. From now on I progress according to their achievements or abilities. Please look at each subject area. Start with the first books or curriculum when you feel it is developmentally appropriate for your child and then just naturally progress from there. I don't recommend starting the science and history program until 3 1/2 or 4 when their attention span is appropriate to the material.
Teaching Reading:
From 2 or 3 Years
Old:
Start a phonics reading program such as:
Phonics
Pathways: Clear Steps
to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling
By Dolores
G. Hiskes
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Teach Your Child to Read
in 100 Easy Lessons
By
Haddox, Bruner Engelman
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
How to Teach Your Baby to Read:
The Gentle Revolution
By Glenn Doman
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
This
is more of a whole language method
which can be started before
age 5.
Early Readers:
I recommend the following sets of books for children to begin reading as they become comfortable with their phonics lessons:
Now I'm Reading: Playful Pals (Level 1)
By Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Now
I'm Reading: Animal Antics (Level 1)
By Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Now I'm Reading:
Amazing Animals (Level 2)
By Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Now I'm Reading:
Snack Attack (Level 2)
By
Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Now I'm Reading!
Math Madness
By Nora Gaydos
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
I have also found the I Can Read It series By John Holzmann from Sonlight to be acceptable early phonics readers. But I still prefer Nora Gaydos' books above all.
Preschool Workbook:
I have bought and tried numerous preschool and kindergarten workbooks. I find the majority of them inappropriate for three year olds and for a first beginning point (except the one I recommend here:"Everything for Early Learning: Preschool-K" with a bumblebee on the cover by McGraw-Hill Children's Publishing). All my kids loved doing the workpages in this book. This is an excellent way to introduce: following instructions, fine motor control, writing, letters, and numbers. I don't necessarily follow the order of the book but will do only one section at a time. Some sections I never do. You must judge what is developmentally appropriate for your child. I recommend the following order: colors (skip shapes until later), cut and paste position words, same and different, sizes, then shapes, left-to-right, beginning writing skills, letters and sounds, numbers, one-to-one, more and fewer (I usually never do the sequence, time or rhymes sections).
Haifa
learning about squares in the workbook:
Everything for Early Learning: Preschool-K
June 1, 2003.
Math:
I recommend the Singapore Math Earlybird Series as an excellent introduction to doing math. They naturally lead into higher levels of Singapore Math. The pages are colourful. My daughter loved it. I skip pages if I feel they are not developmentally appropriate. We concentrate on fun more than actually learning math skills. But they should know how to count and write 0-100, skip count by 2's, 5's, and 10's. And do simple addition and subtraction using counters before moving on to Grade 1 math.
History:
History is not important to teach at this age. There should be a greater focus on teaching the basics of reading, writing, and math. But if there's time left over, I recommend the following books for introducing the concept of history:
Then and Now
By Amery
A book about what a scene looked like about a century ago and what it
looks like now. Pages include: grocery store, street, living room, kitchen,
and others.
Living Long Ago
By Felicity Brooks and Helen Edom
The book has four sections: Clothes and Fashion, Homes and Houses, Food
and Eating, Travel and Transport. Each section explores the theme from
early man until now. Each section is short enough that it gives you a
good feel for the progression of civilization. The images and facts are
fun and interesting to young children.
A trip to a pioneer or colonial village is also a fun way to introduce your child to the topic of history.
Geography:
-make flashcards
with the shape of each continent and it's name underneath
-have a large laminated world map at child's-eye height
-have a globe
By Wilkes
Introduces children to three habitats:
mountains, jungles and deserts.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Science:
Like history, science is not important to teach at this age. There should be a greater focus on teaching the basics of reading, writing, and math. But if there's time left over, I recommend the following books for introducing the topic of science:
and Nature
By Stan and Jan Berenstain
My kids loved this book. It is full of many different
topics in science including chemistry and physics.
It is written in rhyme. It's lots of fun. It is hands-down,
the best book for introducing science that I've come across.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Art:
I don't teach art formally to my children. But I do have a huge amount of art supplies at an accessible level. This includes: a three-tiered paper sorter with white paper, coloured construction paper, and kindergarten lined paper. I also have a three-drawer unit filled with Prismacolor pencil crayons, Crayola washable markers, and Crayola crayons (all of these are from 90+ packs so there are many colours). There is another three-drawer unit with glue, glitter glue and glue sticks, bits of things for collages (1" squares of different coloured tissue paper, macoroni, beans, popcorn kernels, beads, bits of yarn and ribbon), transparent tape, kid-safe scissors. I've given each of them an artist-quality sketchbook but they seem to prefer normal white paper (and they use a lot of it!) My kids gravitate to our art supplies any free minute they can. They do art every day. There are some books we have used to discuss art masterpieces, but they are not necessary.
A Child's Book of
Art
By Lucy Micklethwait
A book filled with a variety of paintings from throughout history.
with Children
By Gladys Blizzard
A series of portraits of children. There are
questions to ask your child to encourage them
to notice things about the image and engage
with it. There is a brief explanation of the painting
and the artist.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Gladys Blizzard
A series of paintings of animals. There are
questions to ask your child to encourage them
to notice things about the image and engage
with it. There is a brief explanation of the painting
and the artist.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Music:
Our son started going to the piano on his own and inventing his own songs, so we started to take him to private Suzuki method piano lessons with a friend who is fabulous with kids; however, it seemed to have dampened his love and creativity. He knew how to play some lovely songs but he was no longer going to the piano on his own to invent his own stuff. So we stopped the lessons. But I was very concerned about trying to rekindle his natural love of music. I also felt it was important for my children to have some foundation in music. And then I stumbled upon Kindermusik. It is a music program that seems to be a mix of Suzuki and Montessori. There is a lot of singing and games but there is also learning an instrument, music theory, and music history. I highly recommend the Young Child program which spans two years (four semesters) between age 5 and 7. The child will learn how to play the glockenspiel (a percussion instrument), the dulcimer (a string instrument) and the recorder (a wind instrument). Each semester also includes a CD of songs the child will learn in class. We play these CD's in the car. They are very high quality, multicultural and my children love them. Being immersed in music (with the CD in the car and the weekly classes) my children began singing the songs all the time and improving their ability to sing in tune. This program has definitely instilled a love of music in my children (as well as musical skills and knowledge). There are a number of other children's CD's I highly recommend, my children dance to these every day while I make dinner.
By Putumayo
Music from around the world. I love this CD
as much as my kids. Definitely happy dancing music. You won't be able
to resist.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Putumayo
Music from around the world. Not as good
as the first but still good.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Putumayo
Music from Africa. Very lively and upbeat
and diverse. Great to
dance to!
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Putumayo
Another great CD of music. Diverse.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Foreign Languages:
The younger they are, the easier it is to learn a language. My husband thoroughly researched all the available resources for learning languages and determined that the Rosetta Stone software was the best. It is used by NASA and the Peace Corps. Millions of people around the world use it. A foreign language is taught through immersion. Choose which every language(s) your family decides it's important for your children to learn. Our family has chosen Arabic (one of the languages our Holy Writings was revealed in) and Mandarin (because many people in the world speak it). Also, these two languages are so different from the English language, it will help their brains develop in different ways.
Character Development:
Age 3 is a good time to start teaching the child formal lessons about their character and behaviour. I recommend:
The Family Virtues Guide
By Linda Popov
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
I bought a tree from Staples (in the teacher's supply section) and wrote the name of each virtue on a leaf or apple. Every morning we have a virtues lesson after prayers (which comes after breakfast and brushing teeth). One virtue is taught for a week. When we begin a new virtue, one of the children gets to place it's leaf/apple on the virtues tree with a pushpin. I have collected numerous supplemental resources for teaching each virtue. These can be found in my Virtues Lessons section.
A not-so-great view of our virtues tree in the children's bedroom, 2003.
Spiritual Development:
My children start to recite a memorized prayer from about 2 or 2 1/2 years old. This they learn just from hearing others recite prayers during morning and evening prayers. By age 3, I expect the child to systematically learn to memorize short prayers and I expect them to learn to control their bodies and sit quiet and still (reverently) during prayers. Before age 3, they are told to sit quiet and still but it is not strictly enforced due to their capacities at that age. For their 3rd birthday, I create a personal prayer binder with prayers to learn in the inside folders. When they successfully memorize a prayer, it is placed in the rings of the binder and the child can put a beautiful sticker at the bottom of the prayer page.
Haifa
receiving her Holy Prayers and Writings binder as a gift
on her third birthday, 2003.
Literature:
It is important to
continue to read many books to your children. Go to the library regularly.
There are a few literature programs which I recommend:
Five in a Row: There is also a
"Before Five in a Row" program. This method is based on the
Charlotte Mason approach to learning. The goal is to naturally discuss
many academic subjects while reading high quality age-appropriate literature.
I recommend trying to find the books in their book lists and reading them
to your children. Many of the books will become favourites. I personally
found the activities associated with the program tedious and not natural
for me. But I learned the method and try to incorporate "teaching
moments" whenever I recognize one.
Sonlight: This is a homeschooling
curriculum which is a combination of Charlotte Mason and a Classical Education.
It has a strong emphasis on exposing children to only high-quality literature.
I highly recommend getting their catalogue. Some of the Read-Alouds they
recommend for each age group are truly excellent.
Here are some of my children's favourite books:
By Eric Carle
Board Book. Favourite of all my children.
My son bought this book with his own
allowance he loved it so much. A classic.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Robert McCloskey
A story about Mom and daughter, and Mama
bear and baby bear all picking blueberries
on different sides of a mountain until the kids
start following the wrong mother. Excellent to
read with a bowl of blueberries! My daughter's favourite.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Robert McCloskey
A story about a girl losing a tooth.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Bill Peet
An empty-nester finds a strange egg and
hatches a strange creature. Written in
beautiful rhyme. We love all of Bill Peet's
books.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Bill Peet
A dragon who becomes vegetarian and
wants to be helpful.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Don Freeman
A story about a teddybear who wants
to be loved and taken home from a store.
The sequel is good too.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Blair Lent
A story about a boy with a very long name
falling down a well. Kids love hearing you
say the long name fast like a tongue-twister.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Marjorie Flack
A duck chooses to be left behind rather than
be punished when he is tardy. He then tries to
find his family again and he does.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
The
Complete Adventures of Curious George
By Margaret and H. A. Rey
The wonderfully exciting adventures of a curious
monkey who can't stay out of trouble. You could buy the books individually
or buy this collection of several books. Especially good for boys.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Dr. Seuss
A rhyming story about not
judging something
before you try it. An excellent story to remind
the children of when they are hesitant to try something new.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Arnold Lobel
The adventures of two friends. Early Readers which also make good read-alouds
for younger children.
Also in this series: Frog and Toad All Year, Frog and Toad Together, and Frog
and Toad. I recommend anything by Arnold Lobel.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Peggy Parish
The crazy adventures of a housekeeper who
takes instructions too literally. An Early Reader.
Many books in the series.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Ludwig Bemelmans
The rhyming adventure of an orphan in an orphanage in Paris.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
Franklin is a lovable character. This book teaches the virtue of perseverance.
The whole series is my daughter's favourite.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
This book teaches the virtues of cleanliness
and orderliness. Every night my daughter
sleeps in a pile of Franklin books.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
Franklin's friends help him overcome his fear
of thunderstorms.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
This book teaches the virtue of truthfulness. Every night my daughter sleeps
in a pile of Franklin books.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark
This book teaches about doing the right thing. Every night my daughter sleeps
in a pile of Franklin books.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Maurice Sendak
A fun book about a boys dream of helping chefs
make a cake. Warning: there is a picture of him
nude in this book. My kids love this book. Also
by Maurice Sendak: Where
the Wild Things Are
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Janell Cannon
A story about a bat raised by birds who eventually
finds his own kind again.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
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