How do i homeschool my son starting kindergarden?

Question

how do i do it free or cheap? does anyone know of a good program that isn't a christian based program? i live in greenville nc.

Answer 1

Ambleside Online is a very good place to start. They are Christian, but you can leave those bits out. I know non-Christians who use it. It's not the same as the public school curriculum, but you don't have to follow that unless you want to.

Answer 2

You can also check out books from your local library. I wish you luck.  

Answer 3

A great website is learningpage.com.  They have unit studies in language, noth, and science for grades preschool through grade 3.  My girls love their activities and on each unit  they turn my hallway into a huge mural.  Also, you can get a complete Kindergarden curriculum from Walmart, Sam's Club, Barnes and Noble, or Hastings.  It is pretty complete and not too expensive (less than $30).  These are what I am using for my 4yr old Kindergardener.  Oh, btw they aren't christian based.  Also, here are some great websites ( the first 4 are missing the http to get them to work, you need to add it)

searchlit.org/index.php

resources.kaboose.com/games/read2.html

www.geocities.com/ladydirtold/homescho...

www.geocities.com/hs_hopeful/

http://www.nps.gov/

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading...

http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/

http://www.interdys.org/

http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/reading...

http://www.mandygregory.com/free_classro...

http://staffweb.peoriaud.k12.az.us/Teres...

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics...

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_ima...

http://www.sitesforteachers.com/index.ht...

Answer 4

K-12 is free in many states. Or you could homeschool privately.You could  get a book called What every Kindergartener Needs to know and use that as a guide. Along with the library resources, you could teach all the content covered in the book. Pick up an inexpensive math workbook at Walmart and you are all set. You don't necessarily need a program.

Best of Luck!

Jana

http://www.purehomeschooling.com/

Answer 5

Go to the World Book Encyclopedia website and check out their "Typical Course of Study" for K.  Print it out, and check stuff off as he masters each skill.  Over at www.homeschooling.about.com there's the same list, but with links.

Most of K skills can be addressed/taught just in the daily doings of normal life.  Cooking and doing laundry requires measurements.  Laundry also requires sorting and matching and talking about size and color.  Lots of things require time, like when to tv shows come on? go off? on what day? when is breakfast? lunch? dinner? bedtime?  When you have appointments, you can use the calendar and talk about the day of the week and month of the year.  When you're picking up toys, you can sort and match and talk about size, function, etc.  Bring out the fingerpaints to practice writing letters and numbers, or chocolate pudding on a smooth clean countertop (or vanilla, depending on the color of your countertops).  Color and draw and cut and paste, play with clay or playdoh.  If he really needs to and is ready to do worksheets, go to WalMart and get a huge workbook for PreK and K, for maybe $10 or so -- covers lots of concepts.  You can also print out hundreds of free printable worksheets from the internet.  Go to the library and check out books to read together -- including nonfiction as well as fiction, poetry (yes, Dr. Seuss! and lots of others), Where's Waldo.... Take a nature walk around the neighborhood, see what you can see of interest, see how it changes through the year, plant some seeds in a cup, visit a zoo, especially a petting zoo.  When you drive through town, talk about community helpers (the grocery store man, the mail carrier, the lady at the bank, etc.)  Tape the classifieds and dow jones pages of the newspaper to the wall, and give him washable markers to write/draw with.  Make collages out of cereal, pasta shapes, cut construction paper, odd bits and miscellany -- on a construction paper.  When you're shopping, ask him to get a can of C*O*R*N or B*E*A*N*S -- food labels and the grocery ads are great teaching tools, because the words and the picture are so closely related.  When he's ready to read, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" is very effective -- it uses the Distar phonetic alphabet to start, but by the time he's done, he will be reading about second grade level, and the book only costs $10-$15  I think.  I'm sure you'll come up with your own creative ideas once you get started!

Answer 6

I am using K12 (k12.com) for my daughter who is in 6th grade.  They offer kindergarten through 12th grade.  I don't know if it is within your budget, but it is not a Christian based program.  Also, you can simply buy books from a local school supply store or from various programs and not use the whole program of any one company. This is know as a hodge-podge curriculum and is how I taught my son, who is now an adult. If money is a big concern, you could buy a little at a time. Say reading and math materials and then add to as you can afford. I hope this is helpful.

Answer 7

I started teaching my child at home when she would normally have started Junior Kindergarten - at 4 years old.

I found the website for our local school board and logged on - I checked out all the things that the class would be doing that year, and made sure we covered it at home.

I think it was colours, shapes, the weather, the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes, all things we had actually already done.

For Kindergarten you can do much of it without a curriculum, get books from your public library.