HELP! Parents of last year Kindergarten homeschoolers - so what did you do last year?

[BellaClaudia]

I would love to hear from parents who have completed Kindergarten with their little ones and what did you actually use to cover all required material. I am bit confused when I browse all choices and since we just are starting I would appreciate some advice from experienced what worked for  you, what did not.. I am trying to avoid mistakes as this is all so new to me.. from choosing the curriculum.. that seem mounumental.. to other issues.. Please help.

[greenacresmama]

It is so personal! You see that part right? 

1. Earthy

2. Crafty

3. Schooly

4. Spiritual

5. Unschooling (Adventure school, home & self care, crafty, loving, and self-awakening to learning types, lots of stories and outings, cooking too. oh and blog tips)

Did you get over this choice yet? What is it then? 

[KimPM]

We were not "official" last year as DS was too young (Dec birthday), but we did a K program anyway. We used Sonlight for reading, english, history, social studies, and I also got the Sonlight Science. For math we used a variety of things...Singapore, Spectrum workbooks, and lots of math stuff I just did with him on the fly. Nothing special for art...just crafts and stuff. Later in the year we did some Handwriting Without Tears. I enjoyed the Sonlight program, as it involved reading a lot of books to him. I think he enjoyed it too.

[Red Pajama]

I've mentioned this on another thread, but last year we made learning to read our focus. We borrowed Hooked on Phonics from the library multiple times, as well as having lots of read aloud time and other activites for learning sightwords and practicing phonics.

We also worked on basic math facts, single digit addition and subtraction, base 10, telling time, place value.

They journaled, worked on fine motor control, and many other things, as well as having tons of fun being 5 1/2-6.

[KimPM]

You could also try looking at this book to give you an understanding of the various kinds of homeschooling methods:
http://cathyduffyreviews.com/books-for-sale/100-top-picks-homeschool.htm
Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum

The curriculum choices in the book have a Christian bent, but the beginning of the book is more general information on schooling methods and figuring out what method works for you and your child. I checked this book out of the library before I decided it was worthwhile to just buy it.

[pigpokey]

There is no required material in my state.  Is there in yours?  There usually isn't.  Kindergarten also is not part of compulsory education here.

Some of my recommendations for Kindergarten are:

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (or similar) (if not reading)

Getty-Dubay italic handwriting series, as opposed to block printing http://www.handwritingsuccess.com/ [just starting now, wish I'd done sooner]

I like Kumon math workbooks, and JUMP at Home curriculum.  These are at Amazon.

Don't forget to start your target second language.  We use Rosetta Stone.

Find a choir or music class to start,

art class at your rec center

Dance classes,

Swim classes or team,

Gymnastics,

Lots of time on the bike, scooters, skates, playground!