We have begun Kindergarten! For our 2012-2013 School Year we are using
My Father' World Kindergarten curriculum, the basic package.
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| First Day of School! |
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| First day of School!!! |
Homeschool Style
I love Unit Studies, and the
Charlotte Mason Approach. MFW combines both approaches, along with a little traditional.
Teacher's Manual
The Kindergarten curriculum is easy to teach , open and go curriculum. I spent A LOT of time looking for curriclum, and
even started to piece together Sonlight. But once my friend put the Kindergarten Teacher's manual into my hands, I felt relief wash over me. It was SO easy to read and even easier to implement. The materials were not weird items I had to buy each week. The books were classic books, very easy to find at any library. The student sheets were easy to navigate, and included everything I needed to teach my child to read!
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| I had the first edition manual |
Morning Routine
The lessons take us only 30-45 minutes a day, which is 100% developmentally appropriate for a kindergartner! I am no doctorate, but I do have a degree in Early Child Education. My biggest draw to this curriclum was the fact that My Father's World truly understands Early Learning and Brain Development. Kindergarten is a time of learning HOW to learn, fostering the love of learning through experiencing and making hands on connections with the world around them, through play and reading.
Our day starts out with a 100's chart, calendar, and short math lesson (all included in basic package).We then study the unit theme for the day. The beauty behind Unit Studies is how every subject has meaning, because they are all related together. Kids genuinely learn information only when it has meaning to them.
An example of a Unit (takes about a week to finish):
- Alphabet- letter T for Turtle
- Science-Fiction and Non fiction books on turtles
- Movement- Pretend to move like a turtle, then other animals
- Art/Fine Motor Skills of cutting- Make a Turtle out of a paper plate
- Reading- Aesop's Tale "The Tortoise and the Hare" & other books about perseverance
- Bible & Character Training- "I do not quit, I persevere", with a few verses on perseverance
Learn to Read
After our Unit study for the day, We then moved into our reading lesson for the day. The learning to read approach is WONDERFUL! It is a gentle approach that is developmentally appropriate for a kindergartner! The lessons themselves follow a simple routine that is following each week for each letter and blend.
I highly recommend the student sheets with the curriclum; they are essential if you are using this as your main learn to read curriclum!
Many critics claim the MFW Kindergarten is too light, but unfortunately I believe this is because the frightening trends in early childhood to dismiss play and push inappropriate standards on brains that are nor ready.
Kindergarten is a time to learn HOW TO learn, and to foster a LOVE OF LEARNING. Do we really want a child who graduate kindergarten reading on 2nd grade level, but hates school?
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| Days of Creation at the beginning of the year |
Optional Supplements to My Father's World
WHITE BOARDS WITH LINES-
MFW includes a lot of fun tactile ways to learn letters, but at the very beginning of the year, my boys were struggling (picture a lot of crying) with writing with the small pencils and tiny lines of the student sheets.
For some reason, they did better with the white boards. I think the problem stemmed from their perfectionism. They would erase so many times on the paper it tore, but the white erase gave them a little more flexibility to make mistakes. IOnce their confidence grew, we were able to use the student sheets and pencil majority of the time.
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