My Favorite Home School Curriculum – Kindergarten

There is no question that 2020 has been a tough year. A year of unexpected change, a year of differing opinions, a year of trying to sort through tons of information to try to figure out what I believe to be true. However, despite all the NEGATIVE things, one of the shining POSITIVES is the increased interest in homeschooling.

I was drawn to homeschooling for a myriad of reasons before my oldest (now 8 years old) entered Kindergarten. And I shared these reasons already on social media and on this blog post: Why I Home School.

Even if you do choose to homeschooling, the next step of choosing curriculum can be really overwhelming. A few months ago, I made a word document with links to all the curriculum that I have used and really liked. I sent it to my sister and friends who have messaged me for advice about homeschooling. It dawned on me today that it would be easier to just post these links as a blog post! I’m going to break it up and do a post about each grade level.

From all the moms that I’ve talked to, it seems like they fall into one of two camps… Some moms are huge researchers, they want to read about all the teaching/educational philosophies, read books about homeschooling, spend hours online comparing at all the types of curriculum out there, and then agonize about which is best. I definitely fall into this camp and admit that I’ve been sucked down the homeschooling research drain many times. The other group of moms doesn’t really want to spend all that time researching and would rather just get a good recommendation and go with it. Neither way is better or worse, I just wanted to provide some additional links that my fellow “researchers” may enjoy while at the same time making the point that while researching can be super helpful if you’re into it – it isn’t necessary to do an excellent job homeschooling! In other words – no pressure!

This is the BEST single resource for learning about the 5 types of educational philosophies that you will often hear mentioned in homeschooling circles and on curriculum websites. It is well worth your 30 minutes if you are considering homeschooling.

How you choose to home school will be as unique as you and your kids are. No two home school families educate in the same way. So be encouraged that if you think another family is doing a “better” job, they probably aren’t doing a better job, they are just educating differently that you. And I do think it is well worth the time to think through “how” you want to educate your kids before you actually jump in. The first book I read about homeschooling was You Can Do It Too! 25 Homeschool Families Share Their Story and it really encouraged me that there are many different ways to home school. Also, another super helpful resource is Cathy Duffy’s Curriculum Reviews – she has written detailed non-biased reviews about most home school curriculum. I’ll write another post soon with more “teacher mom” resources, but for now I’ll move onto Kindergarten!

My Kindergarten Curriculum Choices

Language Arts (Phonics, Reading, Handwriting) & Math

In Kindergarten, my main objective was to focus on the basics – reading, writing, and math. I want to give my kids as strong of a foundation as possible during the early years when it isn’t embarrassing to work on handwriting! Abeka is a traditional form of curriculum – in other words it was originally designed for the classroom and used in many Christian schools. In fact, I was taught using Abeka when I attended elementary school! Abeka gives a super strong foundation in the basics with lots of repetitive practice. Some people don’t enjoy this, but for the basics, I have enjoyed giving my kids lots of practice so that reading, writing, etc. becomes second nature to them. And really the work is just a few workpages a day that can be done with minimal time investment. The teacher guide gives more suggestions than you even need so I always just pick and choose the activities that I think will help my child the most.

Here is the Abeka K5 Child Kit which is basically all the materials the student needs. You need one pack per student. The Abeka K5 Parent Kit is what the teacher needs and it is reusable each time you teach Abeka K5. These kits include Phonics, Reading, Handwriting and Math. Make sure you get the manuscript option. I start cursive in 2nd grade.

NOTE – I haven’t used this curriculum – but I’ve heard good things about it and its a FREE downloadable PDF for grades 1 – 6!!!!! – I think you have to purchase the Kindergarten version but it’s still a lot cheaper than other options – it is a Mormon company so you may want to do some research before purchasing. https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/pre-k-8-curriculum/language-arts/

I’ve also heard good things about but haven’t personally used…. https://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-reading for reaching and phonics.

I’ve also heard good things about but haven’t personally used… https://www.lwtears.com/hwt for handwriting.

Family Subjects (the subjects we all do together)

Bible (Daily)

When Lucy (my oldest) was in Kindergarten I just wanted a basic Bible with interesting pictures – we loved this one so much it gone torn up and I had to get it rebound at FedEx!

I also highly recommend Abeka’s Bible Program. I didn’t feel like my kids were ready for it until 1st grade though: it even has an activity book to go along with it.

Bible Verses – we just pick our own, we’ve done ABC Bible Verses, verses from church, longer passages, etc.

Science (I do this 2 days a week)

When Lucy was in Kindergarten – – we methodically went through this Usborne Children’s Encyclopedia since it was in our Sonlight batch of books and we LOVED it! There are internet links in it – and I would also just pull up some Youtube Videos that went with the topics afterwards and they loved that.

I didn’t know about this when Lucy was in Kindergarten but used it when Bridget was in Kindergarten, it is weekly nature study lessons that encourages kids to observe and enjoy the world around them. I love this curriculum and hope to use it more in the future – Exploring Nature with Children.

History ( I do this 2 days a week)

When Lucy was in Kindergarten – We bought Sonlight Kindergarten used – so it was a different version than this, but they just redesigned it and this looks AWESOME! To save money, you could just buy the two “Heroes and Happenings” books. https://www.sonlight.com/KCKR5.html

The Extras

Art

My two older girls have always LOVED art! After looking at the cost of actual art lessons, I realized it was a better bang for my buck to just buy a DVD with art lessons and buy the supplies. I figured they would maybe enjoy having the art supplies on hand at home – and of course they do!

I started with Home Art Studio: Kindergarten because it was affordable and they sell a prepackaged art supply kit so I never had to worry about running out to Hobby Lobby to grab last minute art supplies! The actual art lessons haven’t blown me away but the kids seem to like it.

After purchasing that, I discovered this awesome website where you learn to draw all sorts of things using chalk pastels. Most lessons are taught by a sweet grandmother and they have lots of free lessons and resources on Youtube. Buying a good set of chalk pastels isn’t too expensive either. I would recommend starting outside though! https://www.chalkpastel.com/

I’ve also been really impressed with Artistic Pursuits. They teach art simultaneously with art observation and art history. It is totally age appropriate and they learn so much! I plan to use this in the future.

Poetry

I get my poetry for kids to memorize from the free Language Arts downloads at https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/pre-k-8-curriculum/language-arts/ – OR from the Abeka curriculum.

Morning time

For morning time during Kindergarten, I mainly focused on calendar time, learning the days of the week, the months of the year, the pledge of allegiance, and our Bible Verses. You can go crazy with morning time (in a good way!) if you want. My favorite resource for morning time/circle time is Jady A on Youtube. She has so many resources on home education for the early years.

Spanish

After searching high and low and even purchasing two programs I didn’t even like….I started using Calico Spanish when Lucy was in 2nd and the younger ones enjoy it too! I love this program and plan to use it throughout elementary.

Read Alouds

“Read Alouds” is a fancy term for just reading chapter books aloud to your kids. After reading The Read Aloud Handbook I was convinced this would play a role in our homeschool.

I find ideas of what books to read on a variety of subjects from these curriculums – they are book based and super expensive, but you can get lots of ideas by browsing their curriculum because their curriculum is basically just sets of books hand picked for a topic and age group.

That’s about it for now! I hope to post soon about 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Preschool, and my favorite Homeschool Mom resources! Please comment if you have any questions about any of this!