Three Keys to Homeschooling in Kindergarten

This year, for the fourth time, I started a new student in our homeschool.  Wesley is officially in Kindergarten this year.  So, I thought I would take some time to do a post on a few of the keys that I believe are important in formal education at this age.

First, here is a bit of background info on my journey and change of heart dealing with early education.

When I started homeshcooling I was so excited to start.  I had fond memories of homeschooling as a child and couldn't wait to start homeschooling my children.  My oldest was almost five, but not quite.  I had a three year old and one year old to juggle and jumped in with both feet.  It didn't take long to see that my oldest was not ready for formal education and I was not fostering a love for learning in him.  So, after just a few weeks, we put away the textbooks.

When the next year rolled around, I had more realistic expectations.  With a slight change of heart toward early education, I decided to lighten the load.  We studied Phonics, Math, and Handwriting several days a week which took about 45 min to an hour each time.  I then created my own theme units around the days of creation to study Science.  We took a month to study each day of creation.  We read books from the library, did experiments, created art projects, and went out in nature to examine God's creation.  This was a fantastic year, but it was still a bit much for him.

After following much the same method for the next two kids, I have had another slight change of heart.  I have seen the negative effects in my older children of more formal education in the early years than they were ready for.  I would like to avoid this with my younger children and also want to make learning as fun as it can be.

So, here are my three keys to homeschooling in Kindergarten.

1. Keep it simple.  There is really no reason teach secondary subjects to your Kindergarten child.  They may learn it and it can seem impressive but it really isn't in keeping with the development of that age.  A simple introduction to the basics of Math and Phonics is really sufficient and will create the basic foundation for later building blocks of learning.  Then, if there is a topic that they love such as animals you can add in great books, art, etc..  But, forcing the extras at an early age can create resentment toward learning that will rear it's ugly head in later years.

2. Keep it short.  At this age attention spans are usually very short.  If they are loosing interest it is a sign that it is time to move on to the next thing...even if you didn't get through your lesson...haha.  Developing a love for learning is more important than the amount of work that they do at this age.  Spending about 30 minutes  3 or 4 days a week is really plenty. I schedule an hour for Wesley because he has the desire and ability (that most of mine did not have at that age) to sit longer so that he can write and color his work thoroughly.  But, he is free to stop after 30 minutes and go play with Abby and the littles in the loft.  Whatever we don't get done in that 30 minutes can surely wait for the next day:)

3. Keep it hands-on.  Children of all learning styles still learn best at this age by actually doing things.  So, keep things as hands-on as possible.  Use Math manipulatives, games, Play-Doh, and puzzles as much as possible.  It is also a good idea to have a learning rich environment in your home where your Kindergartener can learn through games outside of the formal learning time.

Wesley will sit near and listen to the books that we read in the afternoon from "Rome to the Reformation".  But he will be on a mat with a game or puzzle to keep his little fingers busy.

I am always amazed by how much my little ones pick up from being near us while we do school.  I believe that they listen best when their fingers are busy:)


What things do you do to help your Kindergartener learn?

Out With the Old and In With the New

Now that we have had our "first day of school" fun.  It's time to get down to business:)

One of the first things that we do every year is get out our notebooks or portfolios of last year's learning and clean them out.  As the kids pull out all of last year's work, they reminisce about all of the things they did and learned.  They also usually make comments on how much better their handwriting, spelling, and drawing skills are now compared to last year.  It's a great time for them to see the progress that they are making.  Here are some pictures of the "out with the old and in with the new" project.

With our new schedule, I will be teaching writing to the older three kids (together) using Writing Strands.  While we are all sitting at the table, it's a perfect time to have the littles do some basic art.  So, I purchased some "school supplies" for them as well:)

Here is a picture of Ransom doing art at the beginning of his day.

 

 
Here is Seth with his preschool crayons and cute little storage box.

Wesley also loves to draw and is content to sit and draw for the 30 minutes that the older kids are learning to write.  And, just maybe he is picking up a few things as well:)

 
I have worked the schedule so that all six kids have a place to be and a project to be working on throughout the morning.  So, while the older kids might be doing Math or Spanish, the little guys may be playing with one of the older siblings, having "mat time", compute time, or a nap for the baby.  As soon as it cools off outside, they prefer to play in the backyard.

Here are some pictures of the littles doing their scheduled activities.

Yes, our laptop is on a cooling rack as it tends to overheat...haha.  It is a dinosaur in terms of technology and so it's perfect for the littles:)

I am really excited to be done with the summer chaos and back into a neat schedule.  It ensures that I can get everything done and have one on one time with each child while they read to me or we clean up after a meal together.  Great conversations trump reading from time to time:)
 
So, out with the old and in with the new.  Looking forward to all we (yes, me too!) will learn this year about "Rome to the Reformation".

What things do you do to keep your littles occupied during school?

Encouraging Literacy Through Play

One of the foundational elements of our children's education is their literacy.  If they cannot read with understanding and communicate in written form, they will have difficulty with most any business or job that they pursue.

Because I believe this to be true, I look for ways to bring literacy into our lives through fun and play. You can read about our "In Love With Reading" that we do each February here.  It can't all be fun and games but the more learning that can happen through fun and games, the better!

So, last February when I was doing my grocery shopping, I noticed a sale isle filled with valentine left overs.  On this isle were little mailboxes filled with valentine cards marked down to just a step away from free...haha.  I picked up five of these little mailboxes and stashed them away for some fun literacy play.  Last week, I finally pulled them out (as the kids were suffering from some serious cabin fever in this desert heat) and the kids immediately went to work writing messages and sneaking them into each-others mailboxes.

They continued writing messages all day and then reading the messages left for them.  All of this writing and reading and I never had to "crack the whip" and make them learn.  They were eager, willing, and happy to learn (mostly because they didn't realize that they were learning...haha).

Here are a few pictures of the literacy fun.

All five of the older kids are keeping their mail boxes outside their bedroom doors and exchanging messages from time to time.


While I believe that literacy is foundational in the education of our kids, I do also believe that God has created each child with different strengths and weaknesses.  He will use these strengths and weaknesses to develop character and for the plan that He has for each life.  So, if, like me, you have a child who struggles in this area, don't fret.  Our loving Heavenly Father has created each child to be exactly who they should be...strengths, struggles, and all.  But the more exposure you can give them to an area of struggle through play, the more you diffuse the stress and give them a chance to learn without realizing that they are learning.

What do you do to encourage literacy in your home?

The Zoo: An Outdoor Classroom

I simply love using the zoo for enriching our homeschool experience.  It is out in the fresh air and sunshine and it is "hands-on".  It seems that we all learn new things about God's creation with each trip to the zoo.

This year we are studying the days of creation and we have just completed day six...animals. So, I thought this would be a good year to renew our zoo membership.  Here are some of the things that we have done and a few new ideas that I am planning to do in the next few weeks to add a little salt to our zoo field trips.

Some have links to specific posts here on this blog.

1. Have each child create a book of their day at the zoo as they are walking through.  

2. Have each child draw a cartoon map of the zoo with a little dotted trail showing the path we took.

3. Keep a list of the animals that they saw and list details about each animal.

4. Classify the animals they see by fish, amphibian, bird, reptile, mammal (or by other attributes like walks on two or four legs, has fur, scales, or feathers, etc.).

5. Go on a zoo scavenger hunt.

6. Draw pictures of zoo animals or plants.

7.  Write a structured report about several things they saw or did at the zoo.

8. Write a poem about the zoo or a specific animal.

9. Paint a zoo mural.

10. Make finger print animals with ink pads.

11. Take a zoo map and let the kids take turns picking the next place to go and leading the family there using the map.

12. Have the kids write a creative writing paper about what they would do all day if they were an animal at the zoo.

13.  Have the older kids use a concordance to see how many verses they can find about specific animals in the Bible.

14. Print off coloring pages of animals for younger kids and color them while watching that animal...and while older siblings sketch in their Science notebooks.

Some of these things we did years ago and we are going to recycle the ideas.  As we do them, I will post and link it here.  I thought I would get these ideas out there sooner rather than later so that they could be utilized this spring.

How many of you have a zoo in your area?  What things do you do to learn at the zoo?

Happy zoo learning!!

Power Writing

This year, we added a writing curriculum into our schooling mix (apart from what is taught in our Language curriculum).  I waited on this so that I could take my three older kids through it together.  It seems to be working well, and cuts down on the number of times that I will be teaching the same thing over again.  Right now it is focusing more on creative writing rather than structured writing.


But, I was really wanting to add in a few lessons on structured writing.  As I was going through a tub of my old classroom supplies, I came across these posters that I used to have hanging in my classroom to help the kids with structured writing.  We called it Power Writing and I think I will hang them in my home for a while as we are learning about writing. 

Power 1 - Main Idea

Power 2 - Major Detail

Power 3 - Minor Detail

This is not something that I created myself and don't know whose original work this is but I did copy it onto posters...haha.

After teaching my older three kids about structured writing I had them write a report on the political rally that we went to a few weeks ago. They were to choose three things about the rally to write about.  They started with an intro sentence telling what they were going to say, list each of the three things and give a description of each, and then end with a conclusion sentence telling what they had just said.

Here is part of the report that Abby (6 years old and the one who would give permission to have her report posted) wrote about the Kirk Adams' congressional rally.

A few weeks later we were able to go to a presidential primary rally.  So, I had the kids write reports again.  This time I had them write a compare/contrast report on the similarities or differences between the two rallies.  We still used structure but just changed the tone a bit.  Here is Abby's report.

A Child's Perspective

I decided to invite a special guest to post on my blog today.  I may have a guest posting from time to time but I am especially proud of this one.  

Nathan recently spent a day with Peter at the Arizona State Capitol learning what his dad really does all day.  Here is his report:

My Day at the Arizona

State Capitol

First, Dad and I drove to the capitol.  We listened to music while we were driving.  

When I got there, I met the security guard.  Next, we had a meeting with Mr. Court.  We saw things that his dad carved like an elephant cane.  After that, we had some coffee and I did some school work.  

Then, we had a meeting with the Speaker at 11:00. 

 

 

 Then, I had a good lunch with Dad at a Vietnamese restaurant.  

 

 After lunch, Dad made some calls and I did more school work.  

Then, we watched the caucus on a little TV in his office.  Then, I met Mr. Victor, Dad's boss.  After this, I added some papers to my book that the Speaker gave me.  The last thing we did was another meeting.  I had fun.

Who knew that being Counsel for the Majority could be so easy..haha.  I really love the child's viewpoint.  He was way more interested in the carved items in an office than the conversation that took place.

Writing an article is a great follow-up to any field-trip.  They really love to pretend to be reporters, jot down notes and take pictures, and then write a news story about their day...or what really goes on in the capitol...haha.