Sonlight’s Kindergarten is a little to tough for a 4 year old. So I decided to wait a year and use My Father’s World Kindergarten as a transition. This was a great fit for our family. There are just enough hands-on activities to keep my kids interested. But they also learn their letters, science topics and bible.
Here is a summary of the Kindergarten curriculum-
The first two weeks focus on the creation story from Genesis, followed by 26 hands-on, easy to teach thematic units that focus on the wonders in God's creation. The sun, moon, rocks, vegetables, elephants, butterflies, and dinosaurs are just a few of the exciting topics you will explore.
Reading is taught with a highly successful multi-sensory phonics approach. Hands-on and workbook activities are combined to teach letter names, 26 letter sounds (consonants and short vowels), sound blending, and correct handwriting. Students learn to read short vowel words; and by the end of the year, they are reading very simple stories. The reading lessons may be used successfully with 5-year-old and mature 4-year-old children or with older children who are just beginning to learn letter sounds.
Each unit also recommends a high quality children's read-aloud book that becomes the focus of related activities.Math is taught using an informal, integrated approach. Many skills are woven into the lessons, as students cut an apple in half, measure and compare the lengths of dinosaurs and whales, and order leaves by size.
All typical kindergarten goals are taught, including counting objects, writing numerals, preparing and understanding charts and graphs, comparing, classifying, sequencing, and understanding ordinal numbers, fractions (whole/half), clocks, money, and an introduction to addition and subtraction.Science, Bible, Creative Thinking, Character Development, and Art are also integrated into the 26 easy-to-teach thematic units.
Each six-day unit focuses on one alphabet letter and one corresponding science topic. For example, in Lesson 1, "S-s-sun," students learn letter "s" and number 1, study about the sun, construct and use a sundial, observe and chart grapes as they become raisins, paint a sun, listen to a funny book about shadows, and learn that, like the sun, Jesus is the light of the world. A special feature is the focus on character development integrated into each lesson. The turtle lesson teaches, "I don't quit -- I persevere!" The horse lesson teaches, "I obey right away." The zebra lesson teaches, "I can't hide anything from God."Daily Lessons are 60-90 minutes long, with a total of 166 lessons. The clear step-by-step daily instructions are of great help to new homeschool teachers.
Daily work is presented in three parts:
The 100 Chart and monthly calendar.
The reading lesson.
The day's special hands-on activity as described in the Activity Guide. These focus on science, math, Bible, art, children's literature, and creative thinking. Children ages 3 - 8 may learn together using these activities.
I also started my kids in the Explode the Code Series. The introductory books are great (Ready, Set, Go for the Code).
We purchased some Spanish flashcards. I taught three flashcards per day, with lots of reviewing. (I continued this into the next school year.)
This was a great time to start some handwriting as well. I used Handwriting Without Tears.
Add to that- the art wall, classical music, and tons of library books. We normally check out between 40 and 60 books (I try and get a broad range of topics- animals, poetry, art, history, and things my kids are interested in at the moment). I do my best to look ahead at the topics my kids will be learning about and get library books about those topics. For example, if they are going to be starting their ant farm I check out a bunch of ant books.
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