Math, Handwriting, Science...Check!

Well, my research has paid off! After figuring out what exactly a kindergartner needs to know, I found my focus. We definitely need to spend money on curriculum for Reading, Writing, Math, and Science. I am quite confused about reading curricula however. Everything is phonics, phonic, phonics. I honestly don't remember learning how to read using phonics and I am not sure about it. (If anyone out there has some information that will enlighten me I would greatly appreciate it.) So! I am sharing my picks below and I want to point out that what I have chosen thus far fits nicely into the Charlotte Mason approach to education AND the Classical Education approach. Score!

READING: I really have no idea right now. I am hoping to stumble across a booth at the NCHE book fair next weekend. I hope it has a bunch of neon lights all around it with a banner that says, "Connie! Over here! It's this one you want!". That would make it so easy. I tried the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons" about a year ago but James was NOT ready for it. I may try that again this summer to see if he is ready or if he just doesn't like it.

MATH: I have definitely decided to go with the Math U See curriculum. I LOVE their math! I was absolutely SOLD on it when I went to the website and saw a video demonstration of a sample lesson on place values.  Go to Math U See Primer and click to watch the second video on the page. James caught me wathcing it and crawled up on my lap to watch it with me. He seemed to like the idea of eleven being called "1-ty 1" instead. ;)

WRITING: Handwriting Without Tears This page from their website shows the teacher's guide and it has some really great videos that show their writing sequences. I think it's ingenious in it's simplicity!

SCIENCE: The Backyard Scientist: Series One  by Jane Hoffman. I should have picked up the first one this year but we will do some fun stuff in the Fall! I found this on one of the Charlotte Mason websites.

What I will spend:

• Math U See Primer Set: $85.00

• The Backyard Scientist: $6.00

• Handwriting Without Tears: $21.00

Grand Total (right now without reading curriculum): $112.00

In a recent post, I set my budget at $400 for curricula. So far, I am doing pretty good. This, however, is strictly for curricula and does not include fun books to read, pencils, pens, arts & craft supplies. I WISH I spent more on arts and crafts but James is just not interested in coloring or drawing or big art projects. He is a "Wiggly Willy". He wants to MOVE! And he wants to TALK! Anyway...This also does not include field trips or sports teams that he may want to try next year either. But! I am excited! I am developing a plan and a path for us and all the while remembering that "kindergarten" means "a child's garden".

Kindergarten Benchmarks to Consider

I am gearing up for the homeschool conference at then end of the month and panic has started to set in. I STILL don't know WHAT to buy! Then I had an idea! I need to know exactly what kids completeing kindergarten know. And here is a list I found:

By the end of kindergarten, you can expect your child to:

• Follow class rules
• Separate from a parent or caregiver with ease  this ain't happening! haha
• Take turns
• Cut along a line with scissors
• Establish left- or right-hand dominance
• Understand time concepts like yesterday, today, and tomorrow (almost there)
• Stand quietly in a line um, probably won't be working on this either.
• Follow directions agreeably and easily (most of the time)
• Pay attention for 15 to 20 minutes
• Hold a crayon and pencil correctly
• Share materials such as crayons and blocks
• Know the eight basic colors: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black, white, and pink
• Recognize and write the letters of the alphabet in upper- and lowercase forms
• Know the relationship between letters and the sounds they make (90% of the time)
• Recognize sight words such as the and read simple sentences
• Spell his first and last name
• Write consonant-vowel-consonant words such as bat and fan
• Retell a story that has been read aloud
• Identify numbers up to 20
• Count by ones, fives, and tens to 100
• Know basic shapes such as a square, triangle, rectangle, and circle
• Know her address and phone number
• I, Connie, am adding the Pledge of Allegiance 

Source:  http://www.greatschools.org/

All the highlighted items are skills that James can do right now so now I know what we will need to focus on in the Fall. We will still work on all of the listed items but this lets me know where to focus our energies. I can already tell that handwriting will be a task. Fine motor skills work will be a very important part of our lessons next year. And I really want to get him on the road to reading. Thank goodness for the homeschooling email groups I subscribe to. Another mother just sent out an email requesting  curriculum recommendations for teaching kindergarten next year. I now have some curriculum choices to research before the conference.

As a reminder to myself, kindergarten is a "child's garden". I am not trying to surpass the objectives given in a public classroom setting. My goal is to create an environment that will instill a love of learning and give James the opportunity to accelerate in areas where he can and give him extra focus in areas where he will need it. One of the beauties of homeschooling is that the freedom to focus on the individual child is a given, not the exception. As a former public-school-teacher-turned-homeschooler once told me, "90% of teaching is knowing the child".

Child's Garden

It's only a few days after Christmas and I am able to sit down and think about education. I surprise myself. I did get two books I had been wanting to read though and that may have put my butt in gear. I got The Early Years: A Charlotte Mason Preschool Handbook and Better Late than Early by Raymond and Dorothy Moore. Both books speak to the idea of waiting to start a formal education for children. We're talking as late as 8 to 10 years old. That is just unheard of! The BLTE (Better Late than Early) book is a book of technical information and research about how a child's brain develops and through that research put forth the evidence that waiting to start a formal education is actually better for the child. Now, they are NOT saying to just sit around and do nothing with a child for their first 8 to 10 years of life. Heck no! They are saying that waiting to start the academics is better conducted when the child is more mature, etc. They have other arguments but I just started reading it. I can see that this one is going to be tough to finish. It is VERY technical. The CM (Charlotte Mason) book is quite different. She also says that waiting to start formal academics is best but she suggests starting at age 6 or 7. I love her theories and how she wrote. I could devour that one. The reason I wanted these two books has to do with a sort of knowing I have about how to best teach James. I have a strong conviction that slowing down the busy, activity-driven life that James COULD have is the right path. Society says that our kids should be playing soccer or t-ball and taking gymnastics or karate, music lessons and art class. No. I think waiting is the key and I need respected sources to keep myself sane. Well, easier said than done. It goes completely against the grain of what is the norm today. CM (Charlotte Mason) says that the early years of a child's life should be a "quite growing time". I love that. It makes me breath a sigh of relief really. Truly, in the early years, a child's education is self-guided. They are learning and observing EVERYTHING around them. It's a parent's job to guide the child to "right habits of thinking and behaving and nourishing their mind with loving, right and noble ideas". That's what Charlotte Mason said. Isn't that what we ALL want for our children? Did you know that the word "kindergarten" means "child's garden"? I am 40 years old and I never knew that. Is kindergarten these days like a child's garden where they can explore and play and grow? Kindergarten as we now know it was started in Germany by Friedrich Froebel. The main activities of his Play and Activity Institute was singing, dancing, gardening and self-directed play with basic toys or "gifts" as he called them. That ain't the kindergarten of today. But I want James' "kindergarten" to be a garden. It means Chris and I chose the influences around him right now. I know all the people in his life and the activities that he does. If he were in kindergarten at the public school I would have to accept that all the kids and the teacher in his classroom would possibly have a greater influence over him than me and that I would not know everything he does for those 6 hours he is away from me. THAT is unacceptable. I am pretty sure that his "garden" is here at home in our fun yellow room...and beyond.