Picking a Homeschool Curriculum. Our Story (Kindergarten)

This is one of the most challenging parts of homeschooling. You feel like you don’t want to go wrong with your child’s education.

There are a lot of factors involved when choosing the right homeschool program for your child. The age of your child. Your child’s learning style. What materials will fit your family beliefs and routines?

If you’re starting with a preschool or kindergarten child it’s just so easy. I feel.  You can pull together the materials yourself or if you have a few bucks to spare you can get a feel for a certain publisher you’ve heard of and try theirs.

This is what we did...

We’re a Christian family so right off we knew we wanted a Christian curriculum. I had heard good things about several publishers. Since Peanut wasn’t even a preschooler yet I wasn’t ready to dive into the cost of a full curriculum so we tried Little Hands to Heaven to get a feel for what teaching our young’un would be like. This is a Christian curriculum designed for 2 through 5 years old. It worked as a great introduction for our little family and the price was right (I think the book has since gone up).

This curriculum allowed me to see what was important when teaching my child and getting a feel for what a homeschool day was like.  Each day was broken up into about 5 activities. Bible, Finger Play, Art or Math, Letter Activity and a Bible Story.  There were a few reccomended books and also a song  CD to purchase that corresponded with each day. We still use the use books and CD to this day. I could see that Peanut loved the songs, the crafts, learning how to count and working with Mommy. She learned different stories of the Bible, the alphabet, and her numbers to 10.

During the summer break we evaluated to decide what we wanted to do for Pre-K. I thought about reusingLittle Hands to Heaven and supplementing with other materials but since we knew that we would move on when she was in first grade we thought it was important to test other programs. It was during this time we were hearing great things about Abeka and BJU and their DVD programs and I was itching to get started. So was Peanut. But while I may have a degree and be the daughter of a professor but when it came to homeschooling I was shaking in my boots that I would miss something. DVD Curriculum seemed the perfect plan for me. Complete books, supplies and Yaaayy another presenter so I could facilitate. Is this homeschooling? Yes it is. She’s at home isn’t she?..what about our daughter? Yeah I though she would get a kick out of it too.

So we reviewed the online samples for Abeka. While I know, based on a now college student former Abeka student’s academic record and plain old smarts, that Abeka can produce some amazing results I thought that their DVD presentation wouldn’t work for an only child. The classroom view gave me a feeling of being left out so I wondered how that would work for Peanut. Being an only child and all. So we ordered the BJU sampler DVD and watched it, and watched it, and before my little Peanut had even learned that R makes the sound “rrrrrr” she knew what “Bossy R” did. She L-O-V-E-D the sample DVD. All the different grades up to 6. She watched them over and over and was so excited to start Pre-K.  So BJU it was.

While pricey we went on and ordered BJU Pre-K (or K-4) DVD Curriculum. It was worth it for us. With probably about 15 to 30 minutes of preparation each night the daily classes had a set schedule of learning about the world around you, math, a little bit of exercise or working out the wiggles, and then english skills. There were story times and field trips. It was a year of learning to listen and follow directions along with preparations for Kindergarten. We made a cute little supply box and got to know our 2 teachers for the year. I've read reviews where others say there is too much prep work but I had just as much prep work with Litte Hands to Heaven.

Now we just finished up the Kindergarten year with BJU and again had a positive experience. We are glad we got an understanding of BJU does things with the Pre-K (or K-4) course. Having the curriculum all laid out before me really helped and I like the Biblical Truths class to reinforce what is learned in church and the home. Homeschooling does take preparation so each night I took again about 15 to 30 minutes to pull things together by watching the Moms Minutes and reading the text. It helps to know generally what is happening a week in advance in case you have to go to the store. One thing I would have liked would have been a complete craft kit but I pulled together my own.

Pros:

• It is very helpful that you get the DVDs, teacher’s text, work texts, and some (not all)manipulatives that will be needed during the year.
• We had class mascots and many other visitors we got to know and look forward to seeing.
• The production is done very well. The teachers are talking to your child not a classroom of other kids while your child watches on.
• Colorful, entertaining, and I felt she learned a lot.
• This year Peanut learned to...
  • count to 150
  • add
  • subtract
  • beginning fractions
  • read
  • beginning spelling
  • met missionaries
  • learned to memory several scriptures
  • created endless crafts (what to do with them now)
  • a little about various countries
  • some history
  • and much more

Cons:

• Sometimes the prep work can seem daunting. About halfway through the year I got the hang of it and was able to do it in about 15 minutes for 3 classes. Reading ahead a week or two helped.
• Again I would have like a craft kit.
• Expensive but Peanut is worth it

I also like that there are resources to use during the summer so Peanut’s newfound reading and math skills are not lost over the break.

I can really see the DVD portion of this curriculum being helpful for a larger family where mom does not have so much time to spend individually with each child. The higher grades (7-12) for BJU offer the option of using one or as many online/DVD courses as you wish.

I know DVD homeschool is not for everyone. Creative types may like to pull together their own curriculum. And some parents may like to do all the teaching themselves.  If you wan to know more about the BJU Hard Drive/DVD class option for Kindergarten check out the blurb and link below.

BJU Press K5 Hard Drive & Complete Grade Kit By Bju Press Give your students a top-notch education with ease! With BJU Press' Hard Drive kits, you can have all of the award-winning BJU Press Distance Learning content for a full year in the easy hard drive format. Let the experienced teacher capture your students' attention, as lessons work to help them understand and use inductive reasoning and critical thinking. The content installed on the hard drive is available for 13 months only before being automatically erased, giving you and your students plenty of time to complete the year's school work. Just plug it in to your USB 2.0 port and you're ready to go! The menu keeps track of lessons already viewed, so you can quickly get to the next. Preloaded with all of the teaching content for this grade, this Hard Drive Kit also includes a CD with teacher-prepared handouts ("Mom's Minutes") and the all the textbooks/print materials you'll need. The following resources are included for this K5 Kit: Hard-Drive with content available for 13 months only Beginnings K5 Teacher's Edition, 2 Volumes K5 Beginnings Student Worktext, 3rd Ed. K5 Beginnings Reading Books, Teacher's Edition, 3rd Ed. K5 Beginnings Reading Books K5 Phonics Practice Book K5 Beginnings Phonics & Review Cards, 3rd Ed. K5 Bible Truths, Teacher's Edition, 2nd Ed. Bible Truths K-5 Student Pack, 2nd Ed. Math K5 Teacher's Edition, 3rd Ed. Math K5 Student Worktext, 3rd Ed. Math K5 Student Manipulative Packet, 3rd Ed. Unifix Cubes (with instructions and 100 pcs.) System Requirements: Pentium Class, 1 GHz PC or equivalent Windows XP SP2 or Vista Available USB 2.0 512 GB RAM Best Viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution External speakers with adjustable volume control recommended