What is your favorite kindergarten curriculum (the kind you buy)?

[Wildflower]

Hi! If we do this homeschool/charter school thing next fall, there will be money provided for us to purchase a curriculum...I lean towards unschooling in the sense of interest-led and flexibility, and towards waldorf in my love of stories and nature, but really...what do you think is the most fun, interesting kindergarten or 1st (secular) curriculum out there and why? THANKS!

[Nickarolaberry]

I like sonlight (www.sonlight.com) because it's literature-based. Their "grade levels" don't necessarily correspond to age though, so I'd go with what looks more appropriate for your dc. It's almost entirely read-alouds etc. and leaves plenty of time/room for adding in whatever strikes your fancy -- whether that's more "mainstream" like phonics, handwriting, math, etc. or whether that's more independent/unit-driven/unschooling, etc.

There's a yahoogroup for the Pre-K list which might give you some very helpful info about how to choose the right one, also I think they have forums that will help you decide.

But if you're getting $$ to help pay for it, then this is a great way to build a really nice library. Although they're ostensibly a Christian-based program, it's easy to edit out the more religiously-themed books. We did, and it worked fine!

[jessicaSAR]

Donna Simmons "Kindergarten with your Three to Six Year Old."

[cielle]

Interested to see what people say. Donna's k curriculum is a nice read but there isn't anything really earth-shattering in it if you've already read about Waldorf.

For us, I've come to the conclusion that our main goals in K, as far as structured programs go, are to study math and reading and that's it. So 10-20 minutes of reading reflex (I would say this is sort of montessori-esque) and then 20 minutes of math and then a few minutes of writing practice. Science, history, art, etc. will all be unschooled.

This will be supplemented with tons of read alouds, watercolor painting and other crafts and so forth plus a group music/art class.

I went crazy reading up on the k currics but I've really decided that a structured k curric would be overkill for us. I guess we'll see how it goes come the fall!

[MyLittleWonders]

What are you thinking of using for strictly math and/or reading? I haven't decided if I want to buy anything in particular or just keep unschooling everything - ds#1 will be "kinder" age next year and yet has learned so much already unschooled that I don't know if I want to mess with that, yk? But I thought maybe having one math curriculum as more of a guide rather than a sit-down and do might be nice. Decisions ...

[cielle]

The math book I have is this:
http://store.yahoo.com/lawrencehallo...amilymath.html

The reading book is reading reflex:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/068...lance&n=283155

With both of these you make the manipulatives yourself so they can be as inexpensive or as fancy as you want.

We're already doing some reading reflex (word puzzles and sound bingo) and he seems to enjoy it. We're coming from a montessori pre-school so he's used to activities with manipulatives.