Our Kindergarten Curriculum Picks!

I love how excited kids are to learn when they are young. They are just soaking everything up and learning so much about the world around them! I love seeing the excitement in my kids' eyes when they learn something new, or they catch on to a concept they have been struggling with. Being here for all of those times is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling!

Recently, I purchased kindergarten curriculum for our 4 1/2 year old. Now, let me say first, I'm a big believer in not pushing young kids too early. I think pushing a kid to do something they just aren't physically or emotionally ready for is going to do more harm than good, and it's another reason that we homeschool. I want my kids to learn at their own pace, not at the pace that someone else feels they should be working at because they are a certain age. My older kids were not ready for Kindergarten at 4 1/2. But, my current 4 1/2 year old has begged to do school since he was 3. I mean he BEGS. He loves it. He wants to do more and more. He wants to learn how to read, and gets sad when he can't read a book on his own. He enjoys math and is actually really great at doing math in his head. I know he is ready for learning.

I chose My Father's World Kindergarten because it is a gentle approach to kindergarten. It is very hands on. I have no interest in having my 4-5 year old doing a bunch of worksheets all day. I want him to be exploring and experiencing life, not stuck at a table doing a bunch of worksheets. Even my older kids have very few worksheets that they do, and they are in 5th and 3rd grade currently. I definitely think they are better ways to learn. I kept being drawn to My Father's World (MFW) because of they way they approach kindergarten. MFW has games, hands on activities, and so many good books to read! We love reading books in our homeschool. All of our homeschool curriculum is literature based, so I felt kindergarten should be the same!


I really like the teacher's guide. Every day is laid out to tell me exactly what to do for the day. It's very easy to follow. I can just open and go! And with 3 kids doing school work right now, and a 2 year old along for the ride, easy is important for me! It also came with a lot of pages that we can cut and make games out of, books to staple together and read as he learns, math pages, etc.

I love the hands on activities that came with it! He's really looking forward to using the Cuisenaire Rod book and blocks! 

The big pile of books is my favorite thing! I love reading to my kids. It's one of my favorite things to do with them! I love getting to read books with my kids that I loved when I was a kid, or books that I just never read myself as a kid even though I should have! 

With MFW you can buy the Basic or the Deluxe set. The basic comes with everything except for all the books. You can definitely get those at the library or pick them up at thrift stores or wherever you can find them. I love building a home library of quality books, so I did go ahead and purchase the Deluxe set while it was on sale. I have another child who will use it, too, so it was worth the expense to me.

MFW contains everything you will need for Kindergarten. I do have a math book and phonics that I had started with him prior to purchasing this, so we are continuing with these books, too. They only add 10-15 minutes on to our work, so it has been a perfect fit. 

For math, we are using Singapore Essentials A. Singapore is a bit advanced, so I'm just taking this book at his pace. He currently does a page, front and back, each day. It hasn't been too hard for him yet, but I know Book B gets a little harder, so we may slow down as we get further into the book. We are about halfway through Book A. 

For phonics, I had started him on Abeka K4. Honestly, I wish I had purchased the K5 phonics for him. I feel K4 is moving a little slow for him, and most of the pages it comes with just include coloring. Some days he loves to color, but many days he has no desire to do that. I don't ever require it. If he wants to color, great! If not, we just talk about the page and move on. I do really love Abeka phonics. It worked with my older boys and I do plan to continue with Abeka phonics as my son gets older, probably through first grade. I have the teacher's guide, phonics workbook and Handwriting with Phonics book. I purchased the teacher's guide used at a homeschool resale shop, so it is a different edition than the workbooks. They don't match up perfectly, but I have no problems making them work together. 

So, that is our Kindergarten year! I'm really looking forward getting further into it. We have finished the first two weeks with MFW (which I will post about soon!) and so far my son and I both love it! I can't wait to see how much he learns during this school year!