You hear some people say kindergarten is a waste of time, while others have the opposite viewpoint. Even at my age I can remember kindergarten somewhat. It seemed to consist of mainly getting read to, coloring with crayons or painting and taking a nap on the floor. Not too exciting huh? And not very educational either. I think one of main goals of kindergarten in the public school system is to teach kids to obey. Stand in lines, be quiet, do as you're told, raise your hand to ask a question and come back every day at the same time. Sounds kind of like America today, doesn't it?
If you want to consider kindergarten homeschool why not make it educational and fun at the same time? You can really jump start their learning with even one year of a kindergarten that actually pre-teaches. That is, teach them how to learn before the teaching actually begins. Maybe I'm not clear enough yet.
You see kids at this age are craving to learn. Their little brains are like dry sponges ready to absorb any knowledge thrown their way. We could take advantage of that and pre-teach reading, spelling, math and penmanship.
This kind of schooling doesn't have to have set hours. It can just fit into a normal day. For example, begin talking to your kids; a lot. And not baby talk. Talk to them like a grownup so they will begin to lay a foundation in their minds of how words work, are phrased and put together to mean things. Get them interested in what you're doing at the time and tell them why you're doing it. Keep them in the kitchen when you're cooking and explain why you do things the way you do. Do this at least 30 minutes a day and soon they will be repeating some of the same words and asking loads of questions. There have been reports that suggest that children that come from homes where there's not much talking have a hard time learning to read.
Reading. Start reading to them at an early age. Give them an old book to call their own, even though they may not read yet. Read to them a lot. Start with picture books explaining what all the pictures mean as you read. Move on to longer books without pictures and stop occasionally and ask them questions about what you just read. It will make them curious to stay focused on the story.
Read the same books over and over. Repetition builds literacy, even if it drives you crazy! Record your reading on tape if it really starts to get to you and they can replay them as many times as they want. You're trying to get them to love books and reading. This kind of exercise makes them want to learn reading fast.
Spelling. All we do here is buy some alphabet blocks and with the alphabet song, learn the alphabet. It goes pretty quickly. Then after they learn, you can be talking with them in the kitchen for example and tell them, " I know you can't read yet, but would you please go to the pantry and get me the can with the word on that starts with a C. That's corn". They'll delight in this game.
Writing. We'll try and accomplish just two things. Teach them how to hold a standard pencil and do writing exercises. The exercises are counter-clockwise circles. Why? Because most loops made in cursive writing are made counter-clockwise, which is difficult for most young people to learn. If you start imprinting that in their brain before they learn to write, they will have a much easier time of it. Just have them draw counter-clockwise coils of circles like a continuous slinky toy or swirls of smoke from a chimney or locomotive. Before long they'll have it down cold.
Math. Little brains at this age need physical objects to learn to count. Their brains aren't matured enough yet to do it well any other way. That's why you see the counting on the fingers and toes so much. Just get some beans or other small objects and practice adding and subtracting by adding or taking away objects while you say out loud what you're doing. For example, "If I take one bean away from three beans, how many beans are left?" They will catch on very quickly like this.
Without needing anything extra but the time to do it, you can create your own kindergarten homeschool and be successful.
A J Adams has had a keen interest in home schooling for a number of years. With several public school teachers in his family, he has had many discussions regarding current school problems. He's heard many suggestions, one of which was the growing number of children being home schooled. After a thorough period of research, he decided to write an article about kindergarten homeschool. He will be submitting more in future articles. Mr. Adams also owns and maintains a website with his wife at http://www.elementary-home-schools.com where you can get a free 10-part mini-course on homeschooling and watch a touching video made by a young man to thank his mother for her many years of homeschooling him.
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