Here is a list of curriculum I used for my oldest son Ephraim for Kindergarten. Ephraim has Sensory Integration Disorder but gets better with it each day. He is an intense learner, a nerd you could say. I don’t have any problems with him sitting down to do his work. He does get extremely emotional when he can’t figure out something fairly quickly.
Ephraim finished the curriculum for the following subjects. I’ve given each a grade based on how it worked for me teaching it and Ephraim learning it.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, Haddox and Bruner
SCORE: A+
When I first opened this book, I hesitated to use it because of all of the funny characters it used with each lesson. Nevertheless, I decided to try a few lessons to see if it would work. To my surprise, not only did it work on Ephraim, but it also worked on my 4-year old Caleb. Each lesson only took about 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to teach. We completed all 100 lessons and Ephraim is a confident reader who can decode many words on his own now. This book is good stuff and will have your child reading by lesson 30.
MATH
Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics Textbook B by Cavendish
SCORE: A+
Ephraim was already ahead in math and so we skipped Textbook A and went right to Textbook B. This was the perfect level for Ephraim and he enjoyed learning each new concept. This textbook is in full color and loaded with pictures to help the child learn each concept. The only sections Ephraim struggled on were 17 (tens & ones place) and 20 (money). If your child likes math, I highly recommend this curriculum.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Social Studies K by A Beka Book
SCORE: B
This curriculum covered all the basics for
- Community Helpers
- America: Our Great Country
- Children of the World
I give this a score of B because it has plenty of activities for the children to do but it lacks instruction and guidance or tips on how to teach each lesson. Ephraim now has a basic understanding of having pride in our country, geography, and different cultures around the world.
WRITING
Beginning Alphabet & Numbers by Crayola
SCORE: B
Practice makes perfect. This is a basic writing tablet to practice ABC’s and 123’s. The pages tear our easily for photocopies and the illustrations are in black and white which is much easier on the printer than the full-color writing tablets. I’ve purchased a lot of writing tablets but I always came back to this one when I really wanted Ephraim to sit down to do a lengthy practice to perfect his letters. My only disappointment with this tablet is the number section is very weak. But after practicing with all the letters, Ephraim could write the numbers fairly easily.
SCIENCE
I could not find a suitable curriculum for this area of study. I pretty much developed my own curriculum and studied things like:
- Plants
- Weather*
- Space/Solar System*
- Bugs/Insects
- 5 Senses
- Water
- Gardening*
- Animals
- My Body
- Snakes/Alligators
- Birds of Prey*
- Fossils
We checked out books from the library on each topic and completed worksheets that I found on Scholastic Printables.
*a field trip was taken to learn more about this subject.
MUSIC
Essential Elements 2000 for Strings – Violin Book 1 by Allen, Gillespie & Hayes
SCORE: A
Ephraim did very well with this book. I think he is a little gifted with music so learning the notes and how to read music is easy for him. This book has great illustrations to teach the child how to hold the violin and the bow. The thing I like the most is the software and CD that come with the book for play-along sessions. Ephraim loved when he played his piece along with the CD. It made him focus more on getting the music and timing right.
