If there is one thing I’ve learned while homeschooling kindergarten it is to stay flexible. And even when I think I am being flexible, to be more flexible.
I started the year being very intentional about not overdoing it. I know myself pretty well and there are so many amazing curricula and programs out there that it can entice me to go too far. So I loosely planned our first kindergarten semester to be fun, and not overdone and too “school-y”. I did not pre-plan day-to-day or even week-to-week tasks. I just charted what we did each week using my Homeschool Kindergarten Planner where I could easily see if we were addressing each major essential subject and we always just continued where we left off.
One of the most common questions I get from other moms is “what curriculum do you use.” I always feel bad knowing my response is going to be long winded. We use a number of different things and so far it has changed every semester. And just because your child is kindergarten-aged does not necessarily mean you will be stuck in kindergarten curriculum. We did a lot of kindergarten work in pre-K for one of my sons and a lot of first and even second grade work in kindergarten, and the opposite can happen too if you need to stick with certain material for longer. I do not always stick with what their age dictates.
With three kids of different ages, I love unit studies where we can all learn together. So our big “pick” for the first semester was our Dinosaur Unit Study. It was a blast and we did so many fun projects. If you have a dinosaur fan, be sure to check out the details in my video and blog post where I give you all the resources.
Unit studies are also great because you can tackle multiple subjects under the guise of studying just one. For example, in our Dinosaur Unit Study one day we learned about the different lengths of different dinosaurs but took it a step further using a (really long) tape measure to mark off the sizes and also created a chart to compare each dinosaur side by side. in doing so, we learned about units of measurement, charting, and also worked on writing just in this one hands-on activity.
We took an entire semester to tackle the Dinosaur Unit Study which proved to work well enough the first semester, so we did the same thing for our Ocean Unit Study the following semester. The reason we take the unit studies slower than they are usually designed is because I add in other language arts, mathematics, and also music, sports, and other home ec./shop “sneaky school” opportunities. We even turned our Nerf guns into an awesome learning opportunity. Even though my kindergartener is a very eager student, I do not want to burn him out by pushing too hard. I want him to keep his love of learning. So one thing we did with our Ocean Unit Study is finish early.
Yep, we did not complete the entire study…
…as hard as that was for me.
The way I had it divided up, we would have had only a couple weeks left of 16 total. But my kids were losing interest for a number of reasons. First, the format of the study was a little less hands on and creative than they prefer (but definitely a lot easier for mama!). And second, I got a little too hopped up on more traditional school work assignments and worksheets throughout the semester and less on hands-on learning and projects because of the needs of our family. This last semester was in all honesty a rough one. We started out with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease making its way through our kids, overlapped by my four-year old breaking his leg and being very restricted (which meant we all were), followed by dear old COVID-19 and potty training my three-year old while he was kicking his nap to the curb. So we just rolled with it, and finished out the unit study and lap book before we technically got to the end of the content. It was more than okay because we still covered so much more than I even expected!
Beyond the Unit Study though, my six year old learned how to read, finishing out Siegfried Englemann’s Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons which we had started during his second pre-K semester. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you click the link, you will see the countless outstanding reviews it has and it is so simple to follow the script without any prep work for the teacher. The lessons are short and cover phonics and as well as writing in an easy and understandable format. There is also a book list in the back to work through simultaneously (but not required for the lessons), and we were able to get them at our local library.
We also did a lot of read alouds (this simply means books that you read aloud to your children), and supplemented the reading lessons with Reading Eggs. All of my kids adore Reading Eggs and we have been using it for years. It is great for kids aged three all the way to middle school! We have a family account and each of my kids have their own tab in the app or website where they can take placement tests for their language arts level and even mathematics using the included Math Seeds program. There are fun games and videos along with positive reinforcement for learning, and their progress is monitored and reported to you. There is also a huge library of digital books and even fun writing contests with illustrations for your creative ones.
During the second semester, my kindergartener was ready for more reading comprehension and spelling as he was already reading at a second grade level having finished his lesson book and all of the Reading Eggs program and was on to Reading Eggspress. This is part of the beauty of homeschooling which I will try not to go too off the rails on here. He needed me to tailor his learning to his level. Not too much to squelch his interest, and not too little to bore him silly, but just the right combination. I used the Bonus Material in Reading Eggs to add reading comprehension, spelling, and social studies from their homeschool program and activity sheets for kindergarten and first grade.
For science we mix it up with science experiments from Usborne’s 50 Science Things To Make and Do, nature walks and journaling either at the botanic gardens nearby or out on the trails, and our set of weekly science readers and books from the library that go with the flow of our lives. For example, when it is stormy out we might read the book “What is Thunder and What is Lightening” from our collection.
We use Math-U-See for math which has been easy for me and hands on for the kids. Each lesson has a very short video where former schoolteacher Steve Demme, creator of Math-U-See, teaches the lesson on DVD or digitally. I saw Mr. Demme teach a sample lesson at a homeschool conference years ago and was hooked. He has such an intuitive way of teaching a subject that can be tough for so many kids. My boys watch their lessons and then use the manipulatives to work through some problems of their own. For any lesson where they need additional practice or are struggling, there are many supplemental worksheets in the workbook and online, and I will even use other fun things around the house to solidify concepts. We love using marshmallows for manipulatives when we are in the mountains, and will use Hot Wheels cars or whatever our snack for the day is too. Food can make all things more fun! My boys also really enjoy math races where I verbally give each child a math problem suited to their level and if they get it right, they get to take a step forward.
For Bible time, we do daily devotionals after lunch using Minno on our AppleTV and they also have an app for your smart phone or tablet. We sing songs and pray together, and wind down for nap time for my now three-year-old (though he is now kicking that habit). While I put my youngest down for a nap, my big boys usually watch a show on Minno. They have so much fun and safe content for your kids. It is my #1 trusted source for entertainment for the boys. It is definitely a juggle at times. Take a peek at my Homeschool Day in the Life video to see how it all comes together with all three of my kids.
There are a lot of other what I would call non-essential subjects that we work on less frequently like piano, ASL, and French. I also had my kids taking swim and ski lessons at different times during the year and my kindergartener was enrolled in a homeschool fine arts enrichment program and also a P.E. enrichment program with my preschooler during second semester (up until COVID).
Even though our routine changed from one semester to the next, it was nice to have the ability to adjust given our needs at the time. There were times where we took more than a week off at a time and we took the whole month of December to enjoy the season and did only a fun and very meaningful unit study called Truth in the Tinsel. We had illnesses and injuries the same as any other family. Nevertheless, we finished up our required school days for the year well before we even realized it and we continue homeschooling through the summer but more casually to allow for some fun family trips and our seasonal workload.
If there are any questions or comments you have on these resources or what we did during our kindergarten year, please leave a comment below.
