This is my crazy, wild, mischievous, loving little man. He is so excited to begin school this year. He has been my child to follow his older siblings along the way, always needing to have the same note book pages as the others and always wanting to be involved with what everyone else was doing. And now he is an official kindergartner! Along with participating in the family school subjects, this will be his curriculum for the year.
Personal Scripture Study
Just like my preschooler, this stage is about creating habits and I want to cultivate a habit of scripture study with all my children. These are the resources I will be using for my kindergartner. The older children like to read him the scripture stories and then he can look at the pictures on his own and remember the stories. This coming year we will be focusing on the Old Testament, although I have all four sets of scripture stories available for him to choose from. I will also be reading him stories from The Children's Friend magazine as well as listening and watching scriptures stories online.
 Scripture Story videos online |  Scripture Stories for Children |  Children's Friend Magazine: Stories, activities, scriptures, crafts, and music. Online activities also available. |
Reading
I have always used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but once I started the Amazing Action Alphabet for preschool my children were able to rip right through the 100 Easy Lessons and right into reading on their own, well before the school year was up. I will be using the Beginning Reading Mini Books from Amazing Action Alphabet in conjunction with 100 Lessons. Next we use Bob Books volumes 1 and 2, I let the child put a star sticker in the back of each book they are able to read on their own. It is now time to do some reading in "big" books, I like The Early Readers Bible, Frog and Toad series, and Little Bear series. By the end of Kindergarten they are full blown readers!
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Language Arts
Language arts for a kindergartner is totally dependent on what level the child is at and what his interests are. My first child hated copying letters, writing or doing workbook like activities so we didn't do them. His love was to read so that is what we focused on. This year however my kindergartner loves to write so I will have some copy work pages for him and I will also start All About Spelling 1 in the last term.
 I will be using copywork pages from Discover the Scriptures |  |  If your child has a hard time forming letters and writing, this is a great program to go along with the Amazing Action Alphabet. |
Math
For math I have always used Math U See. I love the system of build it, say it, and write it and my children have always looked at math as a game or puzzle. I will be starting my kindergartner with Primer. I also use magnetic pattern blocks with a pattern book, although this child loves to make his own creations without using the book (see the photo above). I am always amazed at the symmetry he uses with his creations. My oldest always had to use the pattern book or he was lost, again, each child learns differently.
 Math U See Primer |   |
Poetry
I like to follow Ambleside Online's schedule for Year O. We focus on one poetry book for each term, reading from them daily. I will be using The Real Mother Goose (along with the Coloring Book), A Child's Garden of Verses ( I like the illustrated version by Ruth Mary Hallock) and Poems of Praise compiled by Pelagie Doane. I found this last book at a thrift store one year and it has been a favorite of all my children. AO Year O suggests Poems for Young Children by Caroline Royds or The Oxford Book of Children's Verse by Peter Opie.
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History
At this age I believe the most important history lessons are those from the scriptures and learning about ones country. I love Take Your Hat Off As the Flag Goes By for learning about our founding, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution through music. I will also be using Dover coloring books to teach about George Washington and the Revolutionary War. I love these books because they have information you can read to the child as they color the picture they are learning about. Another favorite around here is the Liberty Kids DVD series. Sometimes we'll just throw on a random episode and other times we watch an episode that goes along with what we may have read that day. And no American history program would be complete without learning patriotic songs. I have loved the Wee Sing America cd for this purpose.
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Story Time Book List
As with the preschooler, story time is the most important time of the day and it is important to have high quality stories to read to your child. This book list comes from the Ambleside Online Year 0 booklist, and a few of my own favorites.
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  |   | A good collection of Fairy Tales. | We love Jan Brett picture books, her website has activities to go along with the books. |
Although I have a set time for outdoor hour, it is important for these little ones to be outside as much as possible and this particular child loves to explore the outdoors. I will be posting later about our outdoor time and activities. So now I've got two children down and two more to go and then my school plans will be complete.
