Our Curriculum 2013-2014: Kindergarten

coloring in the lines at VBS

My 8th born child is 4 years old. Although we did work on phonics some last year, this will be his first "official" year of school. My philosophy is to start early and keep it fun. Kids absorb so much at this age, and when all their older siblings are learning, they want to participate. 

His younger sister (the "baby") just turned 2, but I'm sure she will do her best to keep up with him. The two of them are inseparable. She already wants to do phonics every time he does, even though she can't pronounce half of the sounds. 

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BIBLE

• Questions with Answers Volume 1 from Songs For Saplings* with free printables  from 1plus1plus1equals1. 
• Songs For Saplings: ABC from Songs For Saplings* with freeprintables  from 1plus1plus1equals1. 
• Gopher Buddies Quiet Time from Word of Life

SCIENCE 

Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day  Zoology 3: Land Animals of the 6th Day (He will be listening in on his older siblings lessons and participating as able.)

HISTORY

• The Mystery of History, Volume 1 

(He will be listening in on his older siblings lessons and participating as able.)

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Preschool Phonics 
• Draw Write Now, Book 1  with free printables from 1plus1plus1equals1.
• Paper Cutting Practice Strips (to strengthen muscles used for writing.) 
• ABC Pattern Block Designs 

COUNTING & NUMBER SKILLS

• Pom Pom Number Flashcards (adding stickers instead of pom poms)  
• Numbered Punch Strips (using a hole punch)
• How Many Fingerprints booklet

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

counting & cutting

I'm not sure yet what else we will do. We will probably do some cooking together too, since he is anxious to learn this skill. 

See my Pinterest board for Activities Bags/Quiet Books

Chore Charts For Large Families {free printable}

Since the chore chart I used as an illustration on my post about why kids need chores has been so popular, I thought it deserved a post of its own. My first attempts at coming up with a way for my children to keep track of their chores were a disaster. They consisted of separate lists for each child (worked for them, but hard for me if I needed to find who was responsible for a specific chore) and complicated lists with names scribbled all over them. Finally, through a lot of trial and error I came up with a simple system that used color coding. Because I had color coded everything else already (hangers, cups, etc.), my children had no trouble identifying which chores they were responsible for. And it allowed me to have different children doing the same chore on different days, without needing to clutter up the chart with a bunch of names. 



My color code, in order of age: 

• Blue (son)
• Red (son)
• Yellow (daughter)
• Green (son)
• Orange (son)
• Purple (daughter)
• Pink (daughter)
• Light Blue (son)
• Peach (daughter)
• Brown (all)

Some of the chores that have been on our list at different times, depending on what needed to be done and who was available to help:

• Make Papa’s breakfast & coffee/ pack lunch (Back when I was in the midst of raising toddlers and nursing babies, my husband started paying our oldest daughter to get up early and fix his breakfast so that I could sleep in. Our 2nd oldest daughter, age 9, now does it for him. It is the only job on the chore list that earns  pay. 
• Make bed/Straighten bedroom
• Get dressed/do devotions
• Help younger sibling dress
• Exercise
• Place bedding in the wash
• Set table for breakfast/ clean up after
• Make breakfast
• AM dishes
• Feed animals
• Sweep & mop
• Check garbage and compost- empty as needed
• Clean  bathroom (wipe counters, fresh towel, etc.)
• Clean bathroom (toilet and all)
• Vacuum
• Dust/wipe walls clean
• Wash & dry laundry
• Fold own laundry & put it away
• Make lunch
• Lunch clean up
• Lunch dishes
• Set table for supper
• Help with supper
• Make supper
• PM clean up
• PM dishes

Large Family Chore Chart {free printable}

The Uncle Eric Series {review}

The eleven volume Uncle Eric series provides a great, in-depth introduction to economic, history, and government as you've never seen them taught before. They are fascinating. I found them hard to put down!

These books are written by Richard Maybury aka "Uncle Eric" as a series of letters to his nephew Chris and deal with the topics of economics and government. But there is so much more you can learn from them. For instance, in the first volume Mr. Maybury also touches on educational theory, ethics, and history. Volume 2, Whatever Happened To Penny Candy, contains almost everything I learned in two college level economics classes plus a few things I didn't, explained in a simple and interesting way that even a younger child could understand.

In his first book, Personal, Career, and Financial Security, Mr. Maybury introduces the concept of models as "the way we think and understand the world." I really enjoyed what he said in chapter five about how to learn or teach models. I think it sums up pretty well the way I prefer to teach my children and why it works so well.

"Experience creates models automatically . . .This is why classroom instruction via lecture is the least effective way to teach and hands-on learning by doing is the most effective. We are made in such a way that we build models automatically by doing. Typically, classroom instruction is like teaching someone to play Monopoly just by making him memorize the rules and then giving him a test on those rules. . . Unfortunately, some models are impossible to learn using hands-on process, so one method humans use to substitute for real world experience is telling stories. Stories are used to demonstrate and illustrate ideas."

There is much more wisdom packed between the pages of these books, but I will leave that for you to discover. I can't quote the whole thing here.

There were a couple of things I disagreed with, but I see them as opportunities for additional discussion. For instance, at one point, Mr. Maybury states, "Beware of certainty. Certainty stops inquiry. " In another place he warns to always be open minded because we are humans who make mistakes and we can never be 100% certain of anything. While I understand what he is saying and agree UP TO A POINT, as a Christian I do believe that some things ARE 100% certain. I will be sure to point this out to the children.

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