Kindergarten Planning – The current plan…

So, I’ve been obsessed with thinking a lot about school for the fall. After talking to some other mommies and looking at things online and a whole host of other things, we’ve decided that Kahlen is ready to start Kindergarten in the fall. She will be very young for it, as she’ll turn 5 in December, but it will be our third year of school already, with doing Kitchen Table Play and Learn with Hubbard’s Cupboard, and RRSP / Letter of the Week this year.

So that lead to more obsession about what curriculum I was going to use, was I even going to use one or just pick and choose, etc, etc.

After much research, prayer, discussion with friends, prayer, discussion with hubby, prayer, and a homeschooling fair (and some more prayer), this is what I *think* we’re going to be using in the fall. I haven’t purchased anything yet (except for math), so it’s still subject to change. We’re going to the CHEC conference in June, so I’m planning to purchase everything there or shortly after so that I have enough time to plan everything out over the summer.

Main curriculum: Tapestry of Grace, year 1

A friend of mine found this curriculum and I was surprised at how much I like it. The more I look at it, the more I like it, in fact. It’s a classical education model. It’s a bit of a stretch for Kindergarten, but I think we can make it work. We’re going to stretch the first year out over two years instead, which will make it more reasonable as far as workload.

The main thing that we like about this curriculum is that it’s super-flexible as far as what assignments you do and don’t do. The problem that we’re having with our current curriculum is that she’s bored and so am I. We’ve been doing the same type of activities since September, and she’s moved up, but with nowhere to go. Since this is a classical curriculum, all grades are included with the initial purchase, so I can change what we’re doing to something more advanced halfway through the year if I need to.

The other thing I really like is the subjects covered, specifically Bible in conjunction with History and Geography. I like the literature aspect too, and I have already checked that I can get most of the books from the library, yippee!

Math: Math U See

We got a chance to look at this one at the homeschooling fair that we went to. Hubby remembered this from his childhood; he used it in preschool, and remembers all that he learned using it. After that, he went to a different school and doesn’t remember much math until college. That was recommendation enough for me. That, and I like it too. It’s very hands-on, which I think will be good for us.

Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears

I looked into several handwriting programs, and I like the looks of this one. Also, it’s inexpensive, even better! Hubby said that he’s going to do it with her in the evenings, because his handwriting could use some help too ;)

Reading: Explode the Code & The Ordinary Parent’s Guide…

I looked at several books about teaching children how to read, and finally settled on this one. I think it’s a good match because the lessons are short, hands-on, and require not very much prep work from me. They are more interesting than some other books I saw, and more complete as well. As for a workbook, we’re going to try Explode the Code and see how that goes. It’s very black-and-white, but I think it’s still the best because it’s basic and yet covers what it needs too.

Science: Unknown…

We’ll probably add in some science of some kind, but it will most likely be related to whatever the unit is from Tapestry for that week. I’m looking at getting an Usborne book called First Encyclopedia of Science, but I don’t know how much we’ll really do out of it in a formal sense anyway.

Well, that seems like a lot quite enough to try to get through. The best part about homeschooling, though, is this is totally flexible and we can change it anytime if it’s not working for us!

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed and appreciated, especially if you’ve used any of these tools.

~S