(Last Updated on January 29, 2025)
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here.
Year 1 Snapshot
This was our first “official” year of homeschooling. My oldest son was starting Kindergarten and our younger son was a toddler.
I was excited to finally be homeschooling after several years of reading about it and trying to plan ahead for the unknown. We’d already done preschool at home and, of course, he’d been learning at home since he was a baby, but I felt like this was the moment I’d been waiting for.
The real deal.
The moment of truth.
The first day of a new era!
The day when some of my friends scrunched up their faces and looked at me thinking, “Wait…. You were serious about homeschooling? You’re actually going to go through with this?!”
Well, much to their surprise and mine, we did go through with it, and here are the resources we used that first year.
Year 1 Curriculum Choices – Kindergarten
(There may be affiliate links in this post – click here to learn more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
- Bible & Character: Long Story Short by Marty Machowski
- Math: Math-U-See (MUS) Primer & Alpha and Starfall.com
- Phonics & Reading: The Three R’s by Ruth Beechick, the Logic of English Phonogram List (*FREE*), Starfall.com, phonics videos from Leapfrog and Preschool Prep Company plus games and activities found online (Check out my review of the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD)
- Handwriting: The Three R’s plus tracing and copywork printables and activities found on Pinterest
- Science: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) K-2
- Health & Safety: A Beka Book Health, Safety & Manners 2 (now out of print)
Other Fun Stuff
My son’s kindergarten experience also included a weekly co-op which was a HUGE blessing for us. At co-op he got a more “traditional” kindergarten experience. It seemed to be a good balance for him, meeting one day a week for four hours in his class of about ten students. They did arts and crafts, music lessons, a gentle introduction to Spanish, group games, and gym/sports.
We rounded out his year with dollar store maze & puzzle books, field trips, gymnastics class and Homeschool Open Gym at our local park district.
Click here to see Our Curriculum Choices – Year 2
And check out How to Homeschool Kindergarten: Curriculum Ideas & Lessons Learned for a summary of what I’ve used for Kindergarten with all three of my kids over the years!
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