Episode 72: Kindergarten
Kindergarten can be a joyful but also a scary start to your homeschooling adventure. We’ve got you covered by providing you with some foundational ideas for Kindergarten that will allow you to teach from a place of peace. In our Coop Q & A, we answer the question, “What does a Kindergarten homeschool day look like?”
Watch
Listen
Show Notes
*some of our recommendations may include affiliate links, which means when you order them from Amazon, we will receive a small commission.
Scoop on the Coop
Jessica is basking in the one room school house approach to homeschooling since now her four-year-old is developmentally ready to join in the educational fun in his own way. Mandi loved the latest co-op adventure of going to France (an art museum lesson in San Diego) with her peeps!
Kindergarten
First, check out our most popular episode, Preschool, podcast episode 4, and also podcast episode 6, First Day of School which will provide you with resources and confidence for getting started to help you ease into this new milestone.
A) What is Kindergarten:
What could be better than a garden of children!?!
Definition: Google Dictionary “a school or class that prepares children for first grade. A child in kindergarten is typically 5 or 6 years old.
(in Britain and Australia) an establishment where children below the age of compulsory education play and learn.”
B) History of Kindergarten:
This German invention was inspired by Friedrich Froebel about 150 or more years ago, but really made popular for English speaking schools by Elizabeth Peabody around 1856, right around the time when compulsory school became a “thing” in Massachusetts (1857). The idea was to sing together, play with various toys and manipulatives, and enjoy some good ole’ fashion games together. Throw in some physical activity fun and philosophical questions, and that was Kindergarten. For historical context, check out our source here: Smithsonian Magazine - May 2017
C) Do we need Kindergarten?
We take a look at what a major educational publisher, Scholastic, says about Kindergarten. Although we have our own ideas in the homeschooling sphere, it’s helpful to see what the rest of society says is necessary for a child’s development at around the ages of 4-6. While their lens is what is appropriate for “schooling,” it’s important to note that there are still great take-aways that we can accomplish better ourselves in our own homes.
“Kindergarten provides your child with an opportunity to learn and practice the essential social, emotional, problem-solving, and study skills that he will use throughout his schooling.”
We talk about the good and the bad of this quote, as well as others. We also discuss the following three main purposes of Kindergarten that this Scholastic article presents (Source: Scholastic Article - What Makes a Good Kindergarten):
1) Develop self-esteem
What builds self-esteem?
According to kidshealth.org, self-esteem starts when your child is a baby. “It develops slowly over time. It can start just because a child feels safe, loved, and accepted. It can start when a baby gets positive attention and loving care.”
As your child grows - she feels good about herself when she can do tasks all by herself. Any time your child learns new skills — music, sports, swinging on swings, art, cooking, technology skills, and more - your child’s self-esteem will grow. Plus your encouragement can build up your child’s confidence as well.
The Coop’s View on Developing Self-Esteem
These are all activities that do not need a classroom! Your daily activities and sharing a life together can accomplish development of self-esteem. More importantly, what we think is most important to a child’s self-esteem is to know she is created with purpose and there’s a plan for her life. She is a child of God, and who she is and why she is here is a big deal because God designed her to be who she is with intention - for His glory.
2) Teach cooperation: Cooperation is the ability to learn with others, work on tasks together, and get along with peers and authority figures. A good Kindergarten should provide opportunities for a child to learn patience, practice taking turns, share with others, and listen to others. These skills of cooperation help with your child’s social and emotional intelligence that he will use through his school years and beyond.
How do you teach cooperation?
This article gives some helpful tips like modeling cooperation, playing games to encourage teamwork, taking time to problem solve with your child, allow your child choices throughout the day, and use specific praise instead of general praise.
The Coop’s View on Teaching Cooperation
Again, these are all activities that do not need a classroom!
Games: Playing games together is a huge way that we teach cooperation. Games involve taking turns, teamwork (depending on the type of game), problem-solving together, handling winning and losing, and even curriculum content for major subjects (math, reading, etc.). See our list of games below for ideas.
Adventures: Another way we teach cooperation is through adventures out and about, especially at public destinations like amusement parks, playgrounds, and museums. Our children learn social requirements, cooperating with children they do not know, and navigating new spaces and shared equipment.
Friendships: Lastly, friendships start truly developing at this stage, so make a time investment in meeting up with potential friends. Plan a weekly playdate, join a co-op, get involved in group lessons or your church Sunday school class. The best part is that you get to experience this learning milestone with your child and can focus on your child’s specific needs in this area.
3) Spark & Direct Curiosity:
This article offers the following 8 tips to develop a child’s curiosity:
1. Show them the world. Travel, camp, go on adventures to museums. Expose your child to other cultures.
2. Spend time together as a family. Take a walk, play a game, bake cookies, or go ride bikes at the park.
3. Encourage friends and family to give experiences rather than gifts.
4. Wonder aloud. Look around and ask “I wonder” questions like, "I wonder why the leaves are green?"
5. Encourage your child’s natural interest. Provide opportunities to read about or do the activities that pique their interests.
6. Ask open-ended questions.
7. Prompt thinking. When your children ask a question, answer with, “What do you think?”
8. Let kids be kids. Allow plenty of free time and unstructured play led by your child
The Coop’s View on Sparking Curiosity
Do we need to say it…these are all activities that do not need a classroom!
Remember what Peter Gray says in his book Free to Learn:
“We have forgotten that children are designed by nature to learn through self-directed play and exploration, and so, more and more, we deprive them of freedom to learn, subjecting them instead to the tedious and painfully slow learning methods devised by those who run the schools.”
Curiosity is already there. Just be available to offer opportunities through living life together for your child to be “free to learn.”
D) The Coop’s Takeaways on Kindergarten:
This quote Teaching from Rest, by Sarah MacKenzie, captures our mission in homeschooling:
“The true aim of education is to order a child’s affections. To teach him to love what he ought and to hate what he ought. Our greatest task then is to put living ideas in front of our children like a feast. We have been charged to cultivate the souls of our children, to nourish them in truth, goodness, and beauty, to raise them up in wisdom and eloquence. It is to those ends that we labor.”
In Dumbing Us Down, by John Taylor Gatto, this quote is a helpful reminder that the goal of Kindergarten, and frankly education in general, is to help your child develop into the unique individual he is supposed to be. The purpose is not to teach your child conformity.
“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important: how to live and how to die.”
Your mission is probably similar to this in some way. If you don’t have a foundational mission, check out our Homeschool Starter Pack which walks you through that process.
Below are a few of our ideas for activities and organize learning, plus a list of helpful resources:
Activities:
Lots of free time
Play together - games, pretend, explore your yard, water beads, dance (brain warm-up dance, Movement & Music Episode, and Add Novelty Episode)
Adventure together - museums, camping, nature experiences, aquariums, amusement parks, playgrounds (bring topical books with you that match the experience)
Live Life together - cook/bake together, fold laundry, clean, run errands together, talk through making grocery list, etc.
Play groups - play cooperative games, share, take turns. Your family might be enough for navigating relationships, but if not, bring a couple friends into the mix. This is the age that we formed our Coop Group (for more about co-ops, check out podcast episodes 46, 47, and 49)
Organized Learning:
Read/Listen to books together
Watch documentaries (prewatch the film to ensure it’s child-friendly)
Learn songs and play kid instruments
Curriculum - reading/spelling & Story of the World, cursive, Bible,
Draw, make crafts, and write letters to family and extended family members
Teacher Development Tools:
Homeschool Starter Pack Volume 1 (by The Coop Homeschool)
Homeschool Starter Pack Volume 2 (by The Coop Homeschool)
Plan Your Year (by Pam Barhill)
The Brave Learner (by Julie Bogart)
Teaching from Rest (Sarah MacKenzie)
Read Aloud Family (Sarah MacKenzie)
The 3 R’s (by Ruth Beechik)
Curriculum:
What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know,
Spell to Write and Read or Spelling-You-See
Cursive First (with all the sounds of each letter)
Story of the World Audio CD’s read by Jim Weiss
Fairytales and Fables Audio CD’s told by Jim Weiss
Games:
Cooperative Games - taking turns: Mermaid Island, Hoot Owl Hoot, The Fairy Game
Strategy & Logic Games: Sequence, Rush Hour Jr
Card Games - winning and losing gracefully: War, Slap Jack
Skill Games: RummiKub - sequencing numbers, grouping numbers, Snug as a Bug in a Rug - color, number, shape recognition, Zingo! - word recognition, Pengaloo - memory, Spot It, Jr. - observational skills and speed
For more about using games in education, check out this post.
Reference Books:
Welcome to the Museum series like Animalium
Smithsonian series like The Human Body
Fun Books For Pre-Reading and Reading:
Check out episode 17, Reading Challenges
Elephant and Piggie: I Love My New Toy (Series of books by Mo Willems)
Coop Q & A
Question:
What does a Kindergarten day look like in homeschooling?
Answer:
What helps is if you put the order up on your white board or on a list (I made a velcro board, vertical, copying what our speech therapist used.) - to show the order of intentional time together.
Sample Day
Wake-up - set out books, water beads, art kit, or fun magnets for play with you & free play
Breakfast - Bible (read aloud story and discuss) and cursive, then words/reading curriculum at table (30 minutes)
Free Play
Sing songs together on carpet/rug: Greg and Steve, Circle of Songs, Can You Hear It book (10 minutes)
Play board game, practice math concepts with play cards, dice, Chess (1 hour).
Lunch - use for more table work - make playdough, color play, etc.
Help me with sorting laundry or cleaning windows (20 minutes)
Free Play
Afternoon lessons/sports (1-2 hours)
Dinner
Free play
Read aloud picture books or chapter books (20-60 minutes)
And/OR
Have an adventure day! Bring topical books to go with it. Listen to audio book or Story of the World in the car. Discuss your thankfuls in the car.
And/OR
Have a friend day! Discuss helpful socializing tools like sharing and listening to each other. Plan out 1-2 questions to ask the friends you will be seeing.
Enjoy being with your child and creating lasting memories for your child AND yourself! Kindergarten is a precious time to grow together as a family unit and get excited about new milestones of development.
The Coop Homeschool is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. See Disclosure Page for more information.