Our 'Kindergarten' line-up

We just started working on our Kindergarten curriculum this past week.  I was going to wait until the fall to officially start, but Madeline got really excited about the new subjects we would soon learn about.  We are mainly following the classical style of education and will pick and choose curriculum based on which suits her learning style best. A valuable resource in learning more about the classical method, using the trivium, is the book, The Well Trained Mind.  I plan on reading this book each year, or whenever I feel I may need some inspiration and encouragement. This book is fantastic for homeschoolers and parents who'd like to supplement their child's schoolwork. 

Phonics - we are still using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.  As stated in the previous post, this is a no-frills approach to phonics.  There are no funny little cartoon pictures to color, or pictures of cute birds sitting next to the letter 'b'.  This is black text on white paper...... and it works amazingly well for Madeline.  We are on lesson 125 out of 231.  I plan on doing this 4-5x/week.

Math - We will start Singapore Math 1A tomorrow as we just finished up Earlybird Math B today. (4-5x/week)

Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears, My Printing Book .  We are taking a break from writing in the book and just practicing for now.  Madeline still likes to write with some capital letters and some lowercase letters, with no rhyme or reason to which she uses. This book is designed to focus on lowercase writing and while she does know how to write her lowercase letters, she just chooses not to.  I'd like her to be more comfortable with lowercase before fully continuing in the workbook.

Writing/Grammar -  Winning With Writing and First Language Lessons.  We will be starting these soon.

Spelling - All About Spelling Level 1.  We have completed the first 4 lessons.  I'm very pleased with what I've seen so far. (3x/week)

Science - R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Life Level 1.  This program has received some amazing reviews and we are so excited to begin!  I love the layout of the program and really feel this will be an awesome science curriculum. We completed the first unit last week, which was signs of life.  We also read, What's Alive by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and compared a plant, rock, Travis, and Maddie's new bike with each other to see what was living. Most units consist of 2 labs and an easy to understand approach to learning.  There is also an additional resources page where we can reinforce and learn more about each unit.  This week we will be learning about cells.  We've already read Greg's Microscope and will be having fun experimenting with salt and water, as they do in the book, while looking through our microscope. (2x/wk)

History - The Story of the World; Vol 1 - Ancient Times.  I also purchased the activity guide, which not only includes coloring pages and various activity pages for the child, but also a list of additional resources and activities to do.  The Story of the World is a 4 year cycle covering: The Ancient Times-vol. 1, Middle Ages-vol.2, Early Modern Times-vol.3, and The Modern Age-vol.4.  Anyway, we completed Chapter 0, The Introduction, last week and the focus was on history.  We also read Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney, and constructed a diagram of our immediate family tree.  We also did an archeological dig right before taking shelter from the tornado warnings. I have found a ton of resources that tie along with this series.   (3x/wk)

Geography - Oh. My. Goodness.  Madeline is a little geography nut!  I purchased Beginning Geography K-2 and planned to do some lessons 1 day each week since she is also taking a geography class in her co-op on another day during the week.  Last Monday I planned on her doing pages 5-6, and then pages 7-8 today (Monday).  Well..... tomorrow she will be on pg 33 (!) and who knows how many she will go through. She practically begs to do geography.  I pretty much had to use it as 'bribery' last week...."You can do more geography as soon as we finish either math or writing."  Worked like a charm!  She is almost finished with learning about map skills in this book and will soon be on to learning about landforms and body of waters.  I need to start looking into what we will use next, because there are only 97 lessons in the book.  Considering we've gone through 1/3 of the book in 1 week, that doesn't give me a whole lot of time......

Art - Artistic Pursuits.  This book will be a great asset with The Story of the World.  We will be starting this week, and do 1x/week, along with various other crafts.

It seems like a lot, but I have it scheduled out each week where we are spending about 1.5-2 hours each day on curriculum.  This past week was our first attempt at a "schedule" and it went very smoothly.