Teacher Help:Mother of Divine Grace Kindergarten Syllabus--This program has a gentle start to the school years. In K I formally teach poetry, religion, language arts, math and art. I generally follow her suggestions for resources unless I have found a program I think will work better or is truer to my vision of how school should be. I love that she tells me what to teach each day and how long each subject should take. If I substitute a program or book, I still look to see how she suggests teaching that subject on a day to day basis.
Real Learning-- MODG tells me what to teach and Real Learning gives me a mental picture of how to do it. This book was a revelation to me when I read it after teaching K the first time. I think it has improved my teaching style.
Charlotte Mason Habits Handbook--loaned out This book was a brilliant read this summer since it reminded me how important good habits are. In Kindergarten there are new habits to train (like school every day not just when you want), and looking at the older kids, I see good habits paying off.
Poetry/Memory Work:Harp and Laurel Wreath--Can't go wrong with this book which should be obvious from the fact that the cover is missing. I love the poems she chooses and that she divides them by stage. Since he has learned many of these poems by hearing older siblings, I let him choose any poem from the Grammatical Stage section.
Blank Book--After he has memorized a poem, I draw a picture, and he is colors it in since he isn't interested in drawing yet. Later in the year we may use Draw Write Now to teach him to draw, but he is really just starting to write. I google the poems and print them so that I don't have to write them out.
Religion:
Child's Bible History--This abridged Bible has comprehension questions at the end of each story and occasionally will mention some connection between the OT and NT, like manna is a pre-figuring of the Eucharist. The language can be awkward, but I've yet to find the perfect children's Bible. And this year is the year of the "tweak". ;)
ArchBooks--These are more lyrical versions of individual Bible stories so he narrates them better, but we don't have a complete Bible of them. We read the entire Child's Bible History over breakfast this summer so we are doing these for a while. Soon we will begin again more systematically and do formal narrations for his Bible book.
Blank Book--My sister-in-law just reminded me that comprehension and narration are 2 out of the 3 skills that creating a Bible book is supposed to teach. Illustrating the stories teaches drawing/writing skills. So, even though I was originally going to skip it and just do the narrations orally, we're now doing the book. However, I may put them into a 3-ring binder instead, and then add his history timeline to it in 4th grade.
Language Arts:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons--If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is kid #4 learning to read from this program and it really has been easy. Kid #5 is trying it too, but at a much slower pace. Still, she is sounding out simple words when I ask.
I'm using the StartWrite writing program to make worksheets instead of using the writing program in the book. It lets him trace letters several times before writing freehand, and I can save the worksheets I make for kids #5 and beyond.
Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code--These workbooks teach Phonics so painlessly that I doubt I'll ever go back to our other (snooze) Phonics program (Sound Beginnings). He did all 3 books in about 3 weeks and that was with me begging him to slow down. I had guilt over bringing in workbooks which I try to avoid, but I decided that this was a judicious use of resources. The workbook presented the information and he learned from it and it freed me to teach other things that don't come from workbooks.
Once we are a little further along in 100 Easy Lessons, we'll try some easy readers. For now, we are writing a few words he knows well in index cards, and we review them a few times a week. He talks about the words on the index cards as being "his" and feels a sense of pride over them.
Math
Math U See Primer--We don't use the teacher pack with this one since I already understand the program. He would do fine with a cheaper workbook this year, but he likes having one from the same program as the older kids.
Marcy Cook Math Tile Cards--I bought these online from my 4th and 5th grade Gifted and Talented Education math teacher. I always felt like these cards were puzzles. You have to make 10 tiles numbered 0-9 fit on one card, and there is only one right answer per card. The Kindergartener has mastered those we have, but the preK still loves them.
Art:
Art: Mommy It's a Renior (Child Sized Masterpieces)--We've been doing these for so many years we decided to branch out and use some of the higher steps this year. They love to play Go Fish or Concentration with 32 images, but sometimes we just cuddle on the couch in look the cards over one by one reviewing, the artist and title, and talking about the painting.
There are also occasional crafts suggested in the syllabus, but we save them for art and science week.
Other Subjects
Nothing else is taught formally at this age, but we have done a 6 week nature study class with friends this fall, and we are going to do one on art in the winter. Having used this same program with my older kids, I can see that they didn't miss anything by not having science or history presented formally at this age and the gentle program kept me from getting burned out.
Nothing else is taught formally at this age, but we have done a 6 week nature study class with friends this fall, and we are going to do one on art in the winter. Having used this same program with my older kids, I can see that they didn't miss anything by not having science or history presented formally at this age and the gentle program kept me from getting burned out.
