Kindergarten Curriculum Plans

Stray papers and well-used workbooks, hand drawn maps and piles of literature.  The school desks are in need of a serious going over.  Even though, I just received our first 2017-18 curriculum order from Teaching Textbooks.  That was all I needed to start thinking about posting our full homeschool curriculum plan for this coming school year.

Peter turned 5 in December and showed a number of reading readiness signs so we began with All About Reading Level 1 in January.  He's been watching his older siblings "do school" for years and is always asking to "do school".  That's how it is with homeschool, the kids' natural curiosity leads to learning and then all of a sudden we're "doing school".

Kindergarten is NOT a big deal in our homeschool.  There's no hoopla about the first day of school.  Buying glue sticks and markers doesn't mark any special day for us.  

Although the learning process is natural and Peter's been doing plenty of Kindergarten work already, he will officially be in Kindergarten this year.  Over the years I've found that assigning our children to a grade makes it much easier for them when people ask them about school.  

I never assigned grades to our oldest three children when they were in elementary school, but that made for many condescending glares by onlookers.  I remember one time in particular; we were at a grocery store mid-morning when the cashier asked, "Aren't you kids supposed to be in school?"  I quickly remarked, "We homeschool."  Looking at Emily, Nick, and Amber she said, "Oh, what grades are you kids in?"  They all gave her a blank stare, shifted back and forth and then looked at me.  I stuttered and stammered through an attempt to explain in 30 seconds or less why I felt grading was unnecessary and how a child's natural curiosity will always keep them moving forward on the learning curve.  Blah, blah, blah!  

I still agree with my old self and I'm rarely one to comply with the norm, but for my children's sake, I make a big deal about what grade they are in so we never have to experience that again.

That was a long intro for a simple run down of the plans I have for Peter this year.  First off, Joseph, Peter and Maria often do school together.  Or at least I attempt to have them all together.  Life gets crazy, kids get crazy and sometimes my perfectly scripted plans go awry.

Kindergarten Curriculum Plans {affiliate links included}

All About Reading Level 1 - Peter is currently on lesson 16.  The plan is to complete level 1 and continue with level 2.  We'll also use the Margaret Hillert sight word books.

Nancy Larson Homeschool Science - Level 1 - We'll keep working through this level, Peter and Joseph together, picking up where we left off last year.  I also supplement with the Dr. Seuss Learning Library books and appropriate free printables I find online.

Math IXL - Kindergarten and grade 1 skills

Reading Road Maps - read all  Kinder level books and discuss plot and type of conflict.

What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know - read through all chapters with Peter and supplement with suggested books and music CDs.

Historical DVDs and books will be added according to topics in What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know

Tell Me About the Catholic Faith - we used this two years ago, but then didn't touch it at all this last year.  I really like the free printables that Lacey from Catholic Icing has available.  We'll pick up where we left off with plans to complete the full book this year.

That will make for a full Kindergarten year.  Up next, I'll be detailing Joseph's 3rd grade plans.

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Learning About Sharks::A Unit Study

Sharks and Dinosaurs, Dinos and Sharks - that's pretty much the mantra around here with Peter and Joseph.  Peter knows the exact location of shark books at the library and I think we've checked out every single one of them.

My favorite part of homeschooling the youngest learners is their sweet desire for knowledge.  Everything is new and exciting.  One simple book leads to questions which leads to a quick Google search for coloring and activity pages.

The book that started it all

Hark!  A Shark:  All About Sharks

We have nearly the entire set of Cat in the Hat's Learning Library.

Thanks to that collection, last summer we focused on butterflies and frogs.

My kids love coloring while I read, so I'll print off a pile of theme pictures and while I read a stack of books, they'll color.

Books We Read About Sharks

             

Links to favorite shark coloring pages

Get Coloring Pages (huge variety of scary and smiley sharks)

Super Coloring (print or "color" online)

How to draw a hammerhead shark

After all the listening and coloring it was time for something a little more active.  I found this Flipping Fins Shark game.  It teaches left and right and worked for all ages.  Basically you toss a shark and earn points based on how it lands.  

Other fun stuff:


(this is for an Easter basket)




(favorite larger size sharks for tub play)

This Shark Unit Study was so short and simple, yet effectively informed my three youngest about the many different species of sharks, how they use their 6 senses, and kept the kids yearning for more shark info the next day.

*this post contains affiliate links

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My pinterest shark unit board

Teaching Kids to Cook {Making S'mores}

Do feel like you do, do, do for your kids all day?  Yes, as a mom that's what we're called to do.  We're here to serve our family, but there's a huge difference between serving one's family and waiting on one's family.  Serving is done with love without strings attached.  Waiting on harbors resentment.  When I feel like I'm waiting on my family I find myself thinking:

Maybe you could say 'thank you' once in a while!

Why do even waste my time helping them?

When do I get some time for myself?

Can you sense the sarcasm and anger?

FOOD!!

FOOD!!

FOOD!!

Seems my kids want food all day, every day.  There's never enough food.  Never enough snacks.  Never enough time to make all the food and snacks.

My solution is to teach my kids to cook.  I've included my kids in the kitchen since they were babies.  I've prepared many a meal with a baby in the Ergo, talking to them about what I'm doing and sweetly telling them how when they're old enough they'll be slicing the celery and cracking the eggs, mixing the meatloaf and washing the grapes.

There are so many tasks that can be done by young children, and cooking doesn't always involve the stove.  Think Cuties and grapes.  The youngest child can wash and stem grapes then put in a bowl.  Voila!  They just became a kid in the kitchen, and not one under foot causing you to trip.  Peeling Cuties is another great beginner task.

Recently, Peter has been into s'mores.  He had Sam making them for him and me making them for him, and all he did was eat, eat, eat.  Enough of that, I thought!  It's high time for him to learn to make his own s'more.  I mean really, he's 5 already.

Since he'd been watching us make them he already knew the process.  Graham cracker half, chocolate chips.

Balance marshmallow on top.

Carry to microwave.  Then what?  

I taught him how to set the microwave for 10 seconds and watch for the marshmallow to get big and puffy.

He removes it carefully and places the other graham cracker half on top.

Squeeze and enjoy!

And enjoy s'more!

To make it easy on him, I grabbed an ice cream pail so he could keep all the ingredients together on the pantry shelf.  Now, as long as he asks first, he can make a s'more all by himself.

Obviously, this isn't life sustaining, brain food for his first adult years of apartment living, but it's a good start.  And he's so proud of his accomplishment, which is the goal of these early days in the kitchen.

What have you taught your kids to cook?

What's holding you back from letting them in the kitchen?

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Monster Cookies

Put a Stop to "I'm Bored"

Here's the pinnable image.

Super Summer Science - Frogs

In an effort to combat the summer slide and because I like lesson planning and my kids love The Cat in the Hat we are enjoying summer learning with The Cat in the Hat Learning Library books.  The approach is simple.

READ REVIEW EAT EXPLORE

-READ-

We found our usual reading spot on the couch and read:

The book is about pond life in general, however, I chose to focus on frogs just to keep it simple.

-REVIEW-

For the first part of our review we used this free printable to make a frog life cycle coloring book.  Peter took great pride in coloring his tadpoles all duh colors dare not post to be.

The book is in the style of Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?  I'd read a line, then point to each word and have Joseph repeat it practicing tracking and sight words.

This next activity, labeling the parts of a frog was supposed to provide cutting practice.  Joe was getting frustrated; and, since first and foremost I wanted this to be fun, I ended up cutting the pieces out for him.  Even though it was only 5 little rectangles, I couldn't convince him to keep going.  I liked this frog parts activity a lot.  The first letter for each part is provided making it easy for emerging readers to find the right piece and read it.  When the line is pointing to the frog's middle and the first letter is "b", both the boys had an easy time "reading" the word belly.  Joe is a master gluer so he really loved this review page.

Peter meticulously cut out each word piece and fended off Joe while gluing them in place.  I told you Joseph likes to glue.

By the way I used this free printable.  It's part of a pre-school pack, you'll have to download the whole unit and then print the page you want.

-EAT-

We planned on making these cupcakes, but ended up getting busy with life and it never happened.  Peter's been asking when? so I really need to make it happen.

-EXPLORE-

The explore part took us outside.  Peter grabbed a net and we all went down to the pond to have a looksey.  We heard the frogs croaking in the cattails, but didn't actually see any that day, but we did find a gelatinous egg mass we guessed to be frog eggs.  I really wish I had pictures of our explore time, but in the craziness of rubber boots and nets and potty breaks and Maria waking up from her nap I simply forgot to grab the camera.

Happy Summer to you all.  I hope you're taking time to do all the things you enjoy.

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Super Summer Science archives

Next book in our Super Summer Science series