Who did you use for kindergarten homeschool curriculum and how did you like it?

[Jo Mama]

Just looking for a basic starting point as I begin my plans for next fall.  Thanks.

[*farmergirl*]

I'm still figuring out what I'll be doing with DS1 next year but I think it depends on what you personally like. I like Mason's and WTM's approach to education which helps me focus on what to do the first year and onwards. As I haven't done it yet I can't say how it will work for us.

Also you can find out what your kindergartner is expected to know through the state and be sure to cover that. I find that it really isn't that much a lot of reading readiness, numbers to 30 etc.

[dubatatamama]

We are doing K with my DS (4) this year and we are mainly focusing on the 3 R's.  He is reading fluently, but we use "Explode the Code" for phonics just to be sure he has all of his phonics rules down.  For math we are using Saxon and LOVE it!  It is very play/manipulative based and he actually asks me to do extra math.  For handwriting, he likes to draw pictures for different family members and will write their names as well as his own on his artwork.  Occasionally he will ask me to do a page in his Handwriting Without Tears book, plus he gets practice writing in his Explode the Code book.  We also do a lot of crafts and are part of a weekly homeschool co-op which covers Social Studies in a fun way.  

Mainly we just play and we will do "schooly-type" things when he asks for them.  

Hope this helps!

[fruitfulmomma]

We like the Kumon workbooks. Other than that I just read to my kids a lot, let them play, do arts & crafts, and have them work alongside me in the house. Oh, and the Bob Books for beginning phonics practice.

[lmonter]

I didn't really do anything with my boy when he was 5-6yo.  Just lived life.  He was there with cooking, gardening, harvesting and hitting the u-pick farms with the rest of us.  Could he count to 50 or identify all the US coins in circulation?  Not so much. 

But he could identify carrots and tomato plants and grapes and help (heh, when he was in the mood) pick strawberries and raspberries and whatever else.  He could be sent down to the pantry to get whatever ingredient(s) I needed for a recipe, provided they were within reach.  He started learning how to put away dishes, set the table, fold his clothes, pick up all the toys at night before bed, help daddy unload firewood from the truck, you name it.  We read books, helped him spell things out when he wanted to do letters or cards, have lots of imaginative/open play toys around the house, etc. 
We didn't officially start any kind of curriculum until he was almost 7yo, and then it was/is Sonlight K and a few other things.  Which he's totally grooving on.

[Jennifer3141]

We started with Calvert and liked it for 2-3 months. But it was sooooo boring and so much of it didn't pertain to our lives. It had schoolish stuff like what to do in case of a fire at night that's simply not relevent to our lives. (Mom and Dad are next to you!) And we found the math tried too hard to be "fun" and was not where we were at. The kids liked gluing things to the math page but they were so far beyond recognizing this is the number one that they were bored.

[kittie313]

Sonlight with my oldest, and when my second girl was in K we did k12.  My 4yo dd is in "junior K" now and she's doing Sonlight like my oldest girl did.  Next fall, I have no clue what she'll do.  We considered enrolling her in the k12 school that my oldest were in last school year so that I am forced to get into a daily schooling routine, but then it was a LOT of work so I'm not really sure if I want to do that.  I may e-mail dd2's former K teacher and find out what all the changes are to the K program from when dd2 was in it and get her opinion on if the changes are worthwhile for us to consider it as a viable option for dd3 this upcoming fall.

But I really REALLY like Sonlight....... lol  We started it when my oldest was in pre-k at 4yo, and now she's in 2nd grade (the year we did k12 we added in Sonlight as a supplement).

[frugalmama]

We're using Catholic Heritage Curricula K and like it pretty well. I did supplement with a lot of Leapfrog DVD's and such which really helped DD with phonics and math.

[elizawill]

with my daughter in K:

 

http://www.freewebs.com/mytwomonkeys/20072008schedule.htm (sorry...easier to link, as it was my first year and used more than necessary)

 

with my son in K:

Math - We started the year with Making Math Meaningful Level K & switched at Christmas time to Making Math Meaningful Grade 1

Phonics/Reading - Hooked on Phonics Level K rotated with Explode the Code Book 1. 

Handwriting - Handwriting without Tears Level K & simple copywork

 

All other subject were interest-led.

[cc_mama]

DD is almost 4 and we're slowly starting with Horizons K math and now adding Sonlight K to the mix.  We're enjoying the read a loud books - it's great that we can feed her knowledge without her developing reading skills being a hindrance or a stressor.  I was unsure which Sonlight core to start with so we tried a couple books from the reading lists for PK, K and even core 1.  If nothing else the Sonlight cores have great reading lists.

[phathui5]

This year with my five year old, we're using the Rod & Staff A-B-C workbooks. We play a lot of board games with him. Lately, his favorite is checkers (he makes us play it several times a day).

He also goes to the local school twice a week for speech.

[onyxravnos]

Oak meadow k for us as a spine with sonlights p3-p4 & p4-p5 secular book list. I also draw from a little garden flower and
http://www.christopherus planing on adding hooked on phonics k level 1 this summer

[Greenmama2]

Ouronly curricula for K were Singapore EB andd Reading Eggs. Both of those we only did when DD wanted to.

[umsami]

For DS1, the two main things we did were Click-n-Read Phonics (took about a month for him to learn to read) and Right Start Level A (3 lessons per week most of the time, but plenty of downtime.)  We did a bit of Handwriting without Tears Kindy level--but at the time, he wasn't into writing, so we let it slide.  The following year, he wanted to learn to write--and now writes beautifully.  

We read lots of books and played a lot.  Had some inspiration from the Christopherus Kindy book and some inspiration from Sonlight's book list.  I actually ordered the instruction guide, but never used it.

I loved Right Start.  It was perfect for us--especially as there is not a lot of writing in Level A.  I loved the variety of the manipulatives too..

Click-n-Read DS1 liked.  Now, DS2 loves computer games, but does not like it.  So for him, we're doing more phonics readers.

HWT was very good, but in retrospect, I didn't need to buy all of the wooden pieces, etc.  The teacher's guide and workbook would have been enough.

Edited by umsami - 1/3/11 at 11:40am

[caefi]

For kindergarten we use 100 Easy Lessons and Making Math Meaningful Level 1. That is all. We read and play and might do a unit study if they show an interest in a specific topic.

[leighann79]

We are very laid back in K.  I make up some lesson plans using www.lessonpathways.com and she does a lot of exploring on her own with www.brainpopjr.com, www.starfall.com, pbskids, shepparsoftware and www.learningplanet.com with a few others occasionally.  The rest is just answering questions, playing, etc.  We do a bit of handwriting if she feels like it. I like Italic

[Bonawich]

We used Enki and enjoyed it!

[Lillian J]

My child was actually in a school for kindergarten - but the curriculum there consisted of mostly imaginative free play both inside and out, listening to stories, some simple singing and nature crafts, simple cooking, and so forth (it was a half day Waldorf kindergarten). When I transferred him to a more traditional little private school for 1st grade, I just needed to introduce him to letters and beginning reading enough to get him started reading 3 letter words by the end of summer before school started. He was almost 7 by that time, so it went very quickly and easily.   ; )     Lillian

[LuxPerpetua]

I will be starting dd in her kindy year this fall and plan on using Little Acorn Learning's monthly e-books and Enki fairy tales and stories  (we're Waldorf, so no academics until grade 1).

[deadheadmomma]

Hi, I've just signed up for the k12 online homeschool for my DS who just turned 5.  I'm a little worried the curriculum may be too much for him, and not play based enough.  Does anyone know if they are going to be hard to work with as far as not pushing him to do worksheets and stuff like that?