A friend who is considering homeschooling contacted me today about curriculum for a pre-K/kindergartener. I was honored and surprised that we have actually "done" enough homeschooling now to have some recommendations, so here's my slightly-edited-for-the -blogsphere reply.

"Hi!

 A really good book that I have used is "Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready" by June R. Oberlander ( you could get it on Amazon for around $15). It's got weekly developmentally appropriate activities from birth through age 5. Some of them are things I'm sure you've already done, but if you started at age 3 1/2 to 4, you'd get through all of the kindergarten stuff, from counting objects & recognizing #'s 1-10 to the letter- a -week through the alphabet as well as painting and recognizing right and left. "Leading Little Ones to God" by Marian M. Schooland is also a great book  for "Bible" curriculum. It has easy memory verses and theological concepts for little ones with scripture reading (by you). Evelyn (3yrs) is able to memorize the weekly verses. "Bubbles, Rainbows, & Worms-Science Experiments for Preschool Children" by Sam Ed Brown is good and Mary (my mother-in-law who is also an art teacher) helped me pick out "The Way They See It- A Book for Every Parent about the Art Children Make" by Brenda Ellis. I think you could get them all on Amazon for around $40-50 (total) except the art one and you could get it at www.artisticpursuits.com for around $30. So those are my picks for a well rounded pre-school for under $100. If you wanted a pre-packaged kindergarten, which, of course, are a little more pricey, www.sonlight.com and www.veritaspress.com have good ones.

 

As far as singing and dancing and playing with other kids goes, you could still take her to Kindermusic or dance lessons.  Some of my friends are active in civic theatre. You could also do paint your own pottery or check the local YMCA  for swimming lessons if that fits your schedule. We do a program at home (www.kinderbach.com) and invite our friends over to do it with us.

 

O.K. I said I'd try not to overwhelm you with too much info, but lastly, if you want a good book for Mommies (especially former educators),  I was absolutely rivited by "The Underground History of American Education" by John Taylor Gatto. He was twice the NYC teacher of the year until he retired and began researching what made the schools go bad. You can buy the book or read it online at www.johntaylorgatto.com

 

I hope this helps. May God bless you for caring about your kids, whatever you decide to do."

 

Julie