Kindergarten Take 2

Without a doubt this was the most difficult decision I have had to make about my child’s education.  Not for my daughter.  But for me.  In my own head I was turning this whole thing into a “I’m a failure” moment.  Why was I doing this?

My youngest is a “look squirrel” kinda kid.  She is loving, caring, hysterical and very smart little 5 year old.  But she is easily distracted.  She will not only cut you off when you’re talking but she does it to herself at times.  It’s not because she doesn’t care or isn’t listening it’s just that when something pops into her head she just has to tell you about it.  She is so excited to share it with you that she can’t possibly contain herself.

Here comes a confession that I truly dislike saying.  I don’t want to fess up to this because I’m a homeschool mom and I should know better right?!  I spent nearly the entire year last year teaching Bekah (my 5 year old) Kindergarten and I was beyond frustrated.  She was not at all like teaching her sister when she was in Kindergarten.  She wanted to do the worksheets that wasn’t the problem at all.  That she absolutely LOVED!  But when it came to reading – that’s when I became frustrated.  She would argue with me that she only wanted to read from right to left.  I wasn’t being fair because I let Sissy read however she wanted.  I would tell her I didn’t make these rules but we did need to follow them.

This was literally a daily occurrence.  She wanted to read but only the way she wanted to do it.  No one was going to tell her how to do it.

I found myself comparing her to her sister on a daily basis.  Thankfully I kept these thoughts in my head but this was the struggle for me.  I wanted her to learn just like her sister did.  I was trying to force her to become her sister and she pushed back – and pushed back hard.

How I will teach Kindergarten This Time Around

Learning from my mistakes I made last year is my focus this year.  I will keep myself from comparing her progress or learning style to her sisters.  I mean that is one of the reasons we homeschool isn’t it?  So we can tailor our child’s learning experience to them.  Why wasn’t I doing this?

Here are the top 5 changes to our Kindergarten school year:

1. Reading will be our second subject of the day.  Bible or Worldview is always our first subject but Reading will be the second for Bekah.  Since she loves her worksheets so much I will leave those as a prize for finishing her reading.
2. Reading will only be 15 minutes at a time.  Since the attention span isn’t very long we will cut down our focus time on the subject she’s not a big fan of.  If we need to do another 15 minutes at a later time we will do that.  But no longer at any one sitting.
3. Reading will be a snuggle time.  Bekah is my little snuggle-bug so this is an absolute MUST!  She is my kiddo that literally has a quote of snuggle time that she needs to meet each day or her day just can not go right (I’m secretly praying this never comes to an end).
4. Reading will become action filled.  Both of my girls are incredibly active and animated but Bekah is at a whole new level for this.  Everything is a show and very dramatic.  So this year she will have time after her reading to act out what she just read for her sister and I.  We may even turn it into a little something for Daddy in the evenings.
5. Reading Logs Work.  I’ve created a fun monthly Reading Log for Bekah to record every time she does her daily 15 minutes of reading.  All she needs to do is coloring in one little image and she’s good!

Now, this is also going to be a year where Bekah is driving the pace.  If she needs to take it slow we will take it slow.  But if she moves quickly I also have her 1st Grade curriculum ready and waiting.  It’s all up to her.  No pressure.  No timeline.  Purely Bekah letting me know when she is ready to move on.

This could be Kindergarten Take 2 plus 1st Grade – we will just have to wait and see.

For JULY 2016 ONLY you can get your hands on this new learning pack {for free} all you need to is subscribe to HomeschoolinMama.com!  Seriously, it’s that simple!

Don’t want to Subscribe?  No problem!  You can still download your own copy for your little one.

Just visit one of my online shops and make your purchase!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

Educents