Our Kindergarten & Preschool Curriculum for 2012-2013

I am going to type up my Kindergarten and Preschool curriculum in one post since there isn’t as much material as the older grades.

I’ll start with Kindergarten first.

Math: Saxon K

This will be our first year ever using Saxon Math.  With my two older boys, we started out with Horizons.  After using Horizons for several years, I discovered that it didn’t have enough teacher instruction for me.  I’m good in math and understand it well; I just have a hard time explaining it.  So I needed something with a bit more script and help for the instructor.

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Handwriting:  Handwriting Without Tears – Letters and Number for Me

This is the second year that all the kids will be using HWT.  I wish I had started them all with this handwriting program.

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Phonics:  Explode the Code 1 & 2 (and maybe 3)

All my kids, so far, have had great success with the Explode the Code series for phonics instruction.  Rachel, my kindergartener, is currently completely the Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code series.  The plan is to get through books 1 & 2, and if we finish these early, we will move onto #3.

We will also be using several phonics supplements that you can read about here.

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Literature:  Five in a Row and Picture Book Activities

We will read children’s books listed in these resources and then pick and choose activities to go along with the story.

Note:  I believe Picture Book Activities is no longer in print, but you should be able to get a used copy through Amazon or ebay, or your local library may have a copy.

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Science:  a homemade study on the human body and Apologia’s book on Botany

Rachel will tag along with her older brothers who are studying Botany with the Young Explorer’s Series from Apologia.  She will do what she can in the Junior Notebooking Journal by Apologia.

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History:  The Mystery of History Volume 1 – Creation to the Resurrection 

Again, Rachel will be tagging along with her older brothers.

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Bible:  We will be doing daily Bible readings and age-appropriate devotionals.  I have quite a few different children’s Bibles and devotionals, but haven’t nailed down which ones to use yet.

For little Lauren, who will be a preschooler next year, we will be using A to Z Toddler and Preschool Curriculum by Toddler Bites Publishing.  I won this in a giveaway earlier this year and thought it looked pretty good, so we are going to give it a try.

Note:  You can get letter A – D for free at Currclick.

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Lauren will also be tagging along in science and history and she will be doing her daily Bible “studies” and literature activities with her big sister, Rachel.

She will start working on her handwriting by using Handwriting without Tears like all her siblings will be using.

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I will also keep her busy by making more Busy Bags to add to our collection.