J will be starting kindergarten work this year!!! We are both so excited to began this new homeschool journey. I've spent many hours pouring over homeschool review websites trying to find the right fit for our family. After much prayer and consideration this is what we will be using this year-
Reading/Phonics-
All About Reading Level 1
All About Learning Press
I have read so many rave reviews about this program. While in the process of deciding curriculum, I had pretty much made up my mind on a different program. But I just happen to be looking at the sample pages that All About Learning Press offers on their website, when J climbed up on my lap to have a look. Just going through the sample pages, she was so excited. She said, "I love this, can we do some more?" So I reevaluated my choice for reading. And made the decision to go with All About Reading. Education should be some what 'child-led' anyway, right? And my child pretty much made up my mind for me about what we were going to use.
Going through Level 1 making lesson plans, I think it's going to be a great fit for J. The lessons are short, the company recommends somewhere around 15-20 minutes per day along with 20 minutes of parent read aloud time. It's very open-and-go program. Level 1 has a total of 49 lessons. Each lesson is meant to be spread out over several days. With my planning, I worked it to be about 3 days per lesson. Some lessons only require reviewing word cards and reading a story from the reader, which would only take one day to complete.
The Level 1 Materials included the Teacher's Manual, Student Activity book (packed full of fun games and activities), 3 readers (nice, hardback books), Phonogram & Word cards (used to review sounds/words), and a viewfinder book mark. Along with the materials, you'll need to choose a Interactive Kit. There is a Basic Kit and a Deluxe Kit. I went ahead and went with the Deluxe Kit, which included Letter Tiles with magnets, Phonogram CD-ROM, Divider Cards, Reading Review Box, Reading Tote Bag, and Star Stickers.
Their website has tons of great information including placement tests for each level and a forum that helped answer all of my questions about the program. I'm looking forward to getting started with this and will be reviewing further as we go.
Math-
McRuffy Press Kindergarten Math
This math program is jam packed full of hands on learning! One of the other things that sold me on it, was the fact that the lessons were short and didn't include all the busy work that can be found in a lot of other math programs. Again, each lesson is designed to take 15-20 minutes. I just don't feel that my kindergartener should be spending an hour or more on math!
The Teacher's Manual is very well laid out and so easy to understand and use. Each lesson in the TM has listed the objectives, materials needed, and the teaching portion. Along with pictures of all workbook pages, cards, games, resource materials that are used in each lesson, which I find extremely helpful.
The Student Book has full color (if you buy the color math, they also offer black & white) activity pages. The early part of the curriculum emphasizes counting and number writing, while the later part emphasizes addition and subtraction skills. But includes so much else along the way.
The Resource packet contains a ton of extra resources. Some of which include cards sets, laminated game boards, laminated geoboards, number line strips, and posters. This is a necessary part of the program, because some lessons just call for the playing of a game (which are all included in the resource packet). We also decided to go ahead and purchase the manipulative kit that they offer. It's cheap and is used in so many of the lessons. It will more than likely be worth every penny.
This math program as a whole is, in my opinion, a real bargain for everything you get. I will definitely be looking into this program for the following years!
Bible study-
Positive Action Bible Curriculum-
Kindergarten Learning About God
This was a curriculum choice that I didn't take lightly. I wanted something that used or could use KJV, which we as a family use. I also wanted something that was most importantly, biblically sound. This curriculum in no way should take the place of spending time in God's Word, but works as a fun follow up to the Bible stories we read.
The Teacher's Manual is, to me, a must have. Each lesson in the manual gives vocabulary used in the lesson, Scripture Memory verse, Prayer Time Suggestions, Bible Story, Teaching Strategy, usually an extra fun story, and Character Trait Activities. They also suggest picking a hymn to learn and study each month. With each lesson is usually 2-3 workbook pages for the student, which include coloring pages, dot-to-dot, cut & paste, etc.
I hope you enjoyed going through a few of the things we will be using this year for kindergarten. Part 2 will explain what we will be doing for science, social studies, handwriting, and art/crafts. Coming Soon!!
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