Homeschool Kindergarten 2017-2018

Hey there my fellow homeschool mamas! This will be our first "official" year of homeschool. Liam is 5 years old and we're starting kindergarten.

We did preschool and pre-k at home, but this year we are using a curriculum. We chose My Father's World. This is an affordable, biblical, hands-on, Charlotte Mason Based, unit curriculum. The thing I love about it, most, is that it is very hands-on for Liam. Liam is currently diagnosed, but is believed to have ADHD and sensory processing disorder. He begins therapy later next month. He has trouble focusing, gets very fidgety, and likes to touch EVERYTHING! Just through the research I did, I knew this would likely be a good fit. I wanted something that was mostly open and go, easy to use, a good fit for Liam, and affordable.

I also decided we will try "year round" homeschooling. It just seems beneficial for him to be learning all year. Most of the first couple of weeks at school are review. This way, we do 6 weeks on, 1 week off. So we still get plenty of days off a year, without feeling like he's going to forget everything.

How much is my curriculum? This part gets a bit hairy, but stay with me! My husband had a $100 amazon gift card he got from work. After analyzing the deluxe kinder package vs the basic, I noticed several of the books were available at our library. The ones that weren't, were cheaper on amazon, as well as a few of the larger supplements. I also wanted to get something for our calendar time activities and some of the supplies we would need for the year. Basically, I order the teacher's manual, student sheets, a couple of readers, and some supplemental supplies, everything else came from Amazon. I spent around $150 out of pocket. Since I ordered everything in the "off-season" it was 20% off their website. The deluxe was around $300 and the basic around $250. I did save quite a bit, the difference being we don't get to own all of the books ourselves and have to make sure we reserve them in time. The minimialist in me doesn't mind one bit. We also will be doing a few books a week along with the unit, so we more than likely have several to reserve anyways. This cost may sound high, but out of the top curriculum's I found, this was insanely affordable! The other one I considered was around $800 for everything. FOR KINDERGARTEN! Nope, I am happy with my decision!

Once I received the box, there was a bit for me to do. Kyle and I laid everything out by unit (week). Some things needed to be cut out for easy use each week. I ended up putting each unit in a sheet protector and putting it in a large binder. The cut outs went into a pencil case that can sit in the binder. Luckily, I had all of this on hand from preschool/prek, so no extra money there!

This week, I have been setting up the homeschool room/office/third bedroom. First, I had to clean it all out and purge. It's been our catch all for about 6 months. I decided to put the ABC chart up on the wall, as well as the memory verses. I put up our large calendar and our US map we got from Dollar Tree some time ago. I also added some cute Sesame Street & Cars decorations from Dollar Tree. I found "READ" & "LEARN" letters from Target for $3 a piece. Also at Target, I found some colorful bunting for $1. There was a ton! Enough to do one set over the window, the other on the opposite wall under my letters, and even a strand over the toy bins in our living room. Also in the room is our bookshelf, that holds our education books, extra notebooks and other supplies, arts & crafts, puzzles, sensory bins, etc. Basically anything education. For my "desk" I am just using the computer desk. On our computer desk, we have a pull out tray. We decided to put a kitchen chair in here with a booster seat for Liam. It has gotten the job done quite well while we've been working on review this week.
I also cleared off our bulletin board and threw up some of the materials we may need to reference frequently.

I am so excited for this year! I am so blessed and grateful I get to stay home and educate my children. I shutter to think what school would be like for Liam. I can imagine how frustrating it would be to be the teacher as well in that scenario! I know Liam will learn a lot and have fun!

What is your favorite curriculum? Do you do year round school? What month do you start school? What is your student's learning style? Keep in going in the comments! Thanks for stopping by!