Homeschooling Kindergarten

It feels like just yesterday I was teaching Little Miss to say Mama, and now she is starting Kindergarten.  SAY WHAT? You might recall from Our Preschool Curriculum Picks that we didn’t really *have* a curriculum last year.  This year we’re homeschooling kindergarten and it will be her second year doing a hybrid homeschool, which means she’ll be in private classes two days a week and we’ll school at home the other three days.  We’ll use a selection of books that are used in her private classes along with a selection of books and projects that we do on our own.  I am excited to go on this learning adventure with her.

Homeschooling Kindergarten

I should probably preface this by saying that I rarely, if ever, pay full price for a school book.  I shop for the best deals from Thrift Books, Amazon, Christianbook.com , Sonlight, ebay, etc.  Of course, some consumables need to be purchased new(ish) so if I can’t find a great deal on a quality used consumable, I will pay retail — although I kick and scream all the way to the digital checkout.  LOL

Kindergarten Social Studies

1. Internet-Linked Children’s Encyclopedia
2. Arthur’s Fire Drill
3. Saint Louis Architecture for Kids
4. Me on the Map
5. To the Top! A Gateway Arch Story
6. Goodnight Saint Louis
7. S is for Show Me: A Missouri Alphabet
8. How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA
9. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
10. The Seven Continents

Kindergarten Science

We love science, so our stack for science is hefty.  We’ll do experiments for some, and just read some for fun.

1. The Usborne Book of Science Activities, Volume 2
2. InquisiKids Discover and Do, Level K
3. Tadpoles and Frogs
4. Caterpillars and Butterflies
5. Eggs and Chicks
6. How Flowers Grow
7. Under the Sea
8. Weather
9. Sir Isaac Newton and Laws of Motion
10. Science A Student Activity Sheets 4 day from Sonlight

We also have The Usborne Book of Science Activities, Volume 1,  The Usborne Book of Science Activities, Volume 3, and 365 Science Activitie to pull fun experiments from if we want.

Last year discovered that we LOVE the Let’s Read and Find Out Science Series when we used Sunshine Makes the Seasons and The Planets in Our Solar System.

I’ve added these to our stack to read and use as time allows.

1. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Tornado Alert
2. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Earthquakes
3. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – My Five Senses
4. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Air is All Around You
5. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Feel the Wind
6. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – What Makes Day and Night
7. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Archaelogists Dig for Clues
8. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – A Tree is a Plant
9. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – What Lives in a Shell
10. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Moon Seems to Change
11. Let’s Read and Find Out Science – Gravity is a Mystery

Honestly, I’ll keep adding these to our stack as long as I keep finding them cheaply enough.  I love getting them from thriftbooks.com, because I can often get them for just $3.79!

Kindergarten Language Arts

My primary objective for kindergarten language arts is to strengthen and reinforce Little Miss love of reading.  We will work on writing and spelling, but mostly we will be reading.  A lot.  I love reading and she loves to be read to, so it’s a win win.

Kindergarten Writing

She had a lot of fun using our alphabet printables last year, and often wanted to do multiple pages in a day.  I bought both, and whatever we don’t complete we’ll keep for next year.

1. Handwriting Without Tears: Letters & Numbers for Me
2. Handwriting Without Tears: My Printing Book Level 1

Kindergarten Spelling

Again, I’m not certain how rapidly she’ll progress through Explode the Code, so I purchased everything from book A to level 4.  Whatever she doesn’t complete, we’ll use in first grade.

1. Explode the Code A
2. Explode the Code B
3. Explode the Code C
4. Explode the Code 1
5. Explode the Code 2
6. Explode the Code 3
7. Explode the Code 4

Kindergarten Books to Read Together

This is a list of books that I hope to read aloud together this year.  Some of them we’ll read in preparation of starting our school year. Others will be read throughout the year. There are picture books, chapter books, and anthologies.  We read all of the time, so I’m fairly certain we’ll exhaust our list. 😉

1. When God Made You
2. What if Everybody Said That
3. The Kissing Hand
4. Pete the Cat – Rockin in my School Shoes
5. Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late
6. The Crayon Box that Talks
7. Benji & the 24 pound Banana Squash – we’ll read this in the Fall.
8. Benji & the Giant Kite – we’ll read this in the Spring and go kite flying.
9. My Father’s Dragon
10. Dolphin Adventure
11. The Hundred Dresses
12. The Boxcar Children
13. The Llama Who Had No Pajama
14. The Story of Dr. Dolittle
15. The Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose
16. Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book
17. Capyboppy
18. Henry Huggins
19. Charlotte’s Web
20. Gooney Bird Greene
21. The Year of Ms. Agnes
22. Pippi Longstocking
23. James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
24. Greek Myths for Young Children
25. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
26. Owls in the Family
27. Cricket in Times Square
28. Winnie the Pooh
29. Adventures with Waffles
30. Poetry Speaks to Children

We also have subscriptions to ABCmouse.com and ReadingEggs.com, which she uses on the weekends during her screen time.

Kindergarten Math

We use Everyday Mathematics spiraling math curriculum for Pre-K through Grade 6 mathematics.  It is a spiral curriculum, which means that math concepts are revisited repeatedly over months and across grades.

• Everyday Math for Kindergarten Student Resource Book
• Everyday Math for Kindergarten Student Journal 1
• Everyday Math for Kindergarten Student Journal 2

We’ll also do a lot of real life math (counting, sorting, etc) and use Khan Academy and Math Seeds on Reading Eggs to reinforce math concepts.

Check out what we’ll be using for Homeschooling 4th Grade and Homeschooling 6th Grade, too.  Be sure to check out our Our Preschool Curriculum Picks, 3rd Grade Curriculum Picks and 5th Grade Curriculum Picks  from last year.  Also, if your little one is starting preschool or kindergarten, check out our alphabet printables!

Alphabet Writing Practice PrintablesView NowLowercase Do A Dot PrintablesView NowUppercase Do A Dot PrintablesView NowAlphabet Craft PrintablesView Now

Last year Mister and Little Miss attended their private classes on the same days, while I had Sister at home for her homeschool days. Then Sister had private classes while I had Mister and Little Miss at home. It worked out well. This year, I’ll have Sister and Little Miss at home on the days that Mister attends private classes, and then Mister will be home while Sister and Little Miss attend private classes. The shift in dynamics should be interesting, and how much we accomplish will depend entirely on how well they handle the change.

Be sure to check out the 10th Annual iHomeschool Network Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Curriculum Week, which begins September 3rd, 2018!