My third son is heading into kindergarten at home this year and after having a bit more experience, I know exactly how I’d like to plan out his year. I’m all for slow and simple and lots of space to be a kid, still! Today on the blog, I’m sharing about our simple kindergarten 2021-2022.

A picture of pencils and paper on a table.

I used to be a lower elementary teacher before staying home with the kids, so I assumed I had it all figured out before we started homeschooling years ago with our first. I was surprised to find out that my years as a teacher prepared me for not much. Kindergarten at home is nothing compared to my classroom! See this blog here about the homeschool vs. public school debate.

My take on kindergarten

I believe that this is such a wonderful age. An age to keep playing and exploring the world. There’s lots of time in the future to do older kid things. I love to allow a lot of space for play and rest and mud, of course. Our kindergarten tends to be slow and gentle. Coming from being a kindergarten teacher, it took me time to really figure out what worked for our family, but this has been it. However you do kindergarten, the biggest thing to remember is that this is a new experience. Both for the parent and child. And to go slow and enjoy the day to day. And that learning can also happen in organic ways beyond paper and pen.

An overview of our Simple Kindergarten 2021-2022

Language Arts:

  • Reading books together.
  • Letter and number recognition. We use a variety of ways to recognize letters from magnet letters, to printing, to drawing in sand.
  • Daily poetry. We’ll be reading through A Child’s Garden of Verses.
  • Handicrafts. We do a variety of handicrafts as a family, but I’d like to focus on simple things like learning how to use hammers, scissors, painting, and clay. I don’t really plan this area in detail. Here is a blog from my friend about 100 handicrafts for the early years.
  • Art. Everything from painting to pastels and clay sculpting.
  • Lots and lots of play.
  • Reading: Closer to the age of six or showing signs of being ready, we use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
  • Math. Arthur will be participating in Family Math Lessons from My Little Robins and MEP Math for kindergarten.
  • Arthur will be working on habits and family chores. Habits are so important to start at an early age from making your bed to getting dressed.
  • In a multikid family, they also get the benefit of being around for any family group work too and can join is as they are comfortable or interested.
  • We use literature selections and inspiration from Ambleside Online.

Our Simple Kindergarten Books and Supplies

I linked all of the books and supplies we use regularly in my Amazon shops: US shop and Canadian shop under “Kids’ School”. You’ll find things like:

  • Our devotional books
  • Math programs
  • Literature
  • Nature study books: garden flowers and foraging
  • Piano program books we use
  • General homeschooling resources and supplies

SAVE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE:

More homeschooling blogs of mine you may find helpful:

SIMPLIFY YOUR HOMESCHOOL LIFE ONLINE WORKSHOP

This 30ish minute session will help simplify your homeschool life by showing you how to examine and adjust your day to day from decluttering to planning and more. We will explore what matters most to your family as the basis for simplifying your homeschool life. You can access the past session in the Online Canadian Homeschooling conference here.

Other blogs on kindergarten from friends of mine:

Hi, I’m Kelly! I’m a mother of four children - three boys, one toddler girl - and our family lives on the beautiful east coast of Canada. I’m a past elementary teacher, turned stay at home, work at home mom eight years ago after I had my second child. I’ve found that the busier I’ve become and as my children age, that it’s become even more important to figure out what is most important to me and us as a family. Living a simpler lifestyle has helped us in so many ways in our home life - from better routines to faster tidying up times. It has been through my children that I have been inspired to learn how to effectively manage my time and to simplify in all areas of my home and life. I enjoy helping busy moms simplify home life by teaching flexible planning methods and skills. Enjoyed this blog and think it would be helpful to others? I'd love if you shared it. Thank you!