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life skills

How to Effortlessly Blend Kindergarten Homeschool Subjects & Life

July 21, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Blending kindergarten homeschool subjects and life doesn’t make it easy to determine kindergarten homeschool curriculum.

However, today I’m helping you to know how to effortlessly blend the kindergarten subjects with what you’re doing naturally every day.

Further, don’t forget up to this time you have not used any curriculum in your instruction.

Sometimes very little kindergarten homeschool curriculum is needed.

In addition, families vary in their needs, but all children benefit from a gentle and relaxed approach to the kindergarten homeschool subjects.

How to Effortlessly Blend Kindergarten Homeschool Subjects & Life

Moreover, it’s important to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

And it begins what the subjects that are foundational and the subjects that can be folded into your day naturally.

Beginning my journey 20+ years ago, I didn’t have to make a choice about common core and by the time the No Child Left Behind act was passed, I was well on my way to homeschooling.

Because the educational world can be muddled to trek through, I will give you a glimpse of what is important at this age.

Essential Kindergarten Subjects

Too, it’s important for you to first to know what subjects you need and want to teach.

1. Begin with the subjects your local homeschool law requires.

First, begin with your local law.

No, you don’t choose homeschool curriculum first because your local law could be relaxed or it could be rigid. And your curriculum can help or hinder you meet state law.

Choose curriculum after you’re familiar with the subjects you must teach.

2. Second, focus on math and language arts which are your essential subjects

Then, know what are foundational subjects for kindergarten.

Although curriculum companies tout that you need all subjects, the truth of it is that math and language arts are the key components.

How to Effortlessly Blend Kindergarten Homeschool Subjects & Life

But, I know you want details because that is what I needed to when teaching my first child.

What’s more look below at this list to see what skills you need to focus on.

ESSENTIAL SUBJECTS IN KINDERGARTEN
MATH | LANGUAGE ARTS (Tip: The subjects vary by age and grade.) For Kindergarten, the subjects are Reading, Phonics, and Writing.

SKILLS TAUGHT IN MATHSKILLS TAUGHT IN LANGUAGE ARTS
Know the ordinal numbers up to 10, but recite numbers to 100Names the parts of a book like cover, back, and inside pages. Understands which direction to hold the book And knows that a story has a beginning, middle and ending .
Knows how to compare two groups to understand the more than, less than and equal to.Recognizes the letters of the alphabet and understands that the letter represents sounds.
Recognizes shapes, and understand patterns ABC, AABBCC, ABBCC, ABAB, etc.
Identifies money.
Is familiar with conventional measuring tools like rulers, but starts with unconventional tools like a pencil.
Can see that we read right to left and top to bottom. Associates sounds with symbols for writing and begins with inventive writing which letters can be indistinguishable. And practices adding new words to his vocabulary.
Compares objects based on size and capacity.Can retell stories and can even act them out.
Counting by 10s and understands what is a pair.Begins to learn and recognize signs from his community like stop signs, etc.
Is familiar with a clock and the numbers on it.Recognizes his name and attempts to “write” it.
Becomes familiar with word that represent position like under, through, on top of, etc. Also, begins basic addition and subtraction by learning how to group sets and break them apart.Begins to sound out and read CVC words like cat, rat, and sat.

3. Decide how to pair kindergarten subjects with life skills.

Next, look at these skills above which are normally introduced in curriculum through a scope and sequence or order.

Kindergarten Subjects

So, you can either use a laid-out curriculum or continue to do what you’ve been doing up to this time in your child’s life.

For example, look at how I effortlessly blended the kindergarten homeschool subjects with life skills.

  • Reading aloud increases your child’s vocabulary, ability to retell, and encourages him to act out what he has learned.
  • Point out words or signs in your home and community to explain their meaning and what they say.
  • Provide plenty of pictures books to your child to look at and dream about.
  • Plant a garden to cover science, measuring, and “write’ on plant markers.
  • Instead of using the app on your phone, have your Kindergarten help with a grocery list.
  • Encourage your kindergarten to understand money by adding some to his piggy bank and paying for small items with your supervision.

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas

Also, here are more ideas of things you’ve probably already been doing.

  • Take care of a pet and learn to measure the pet’s food or medicine.
  • Practice and recite rhymes. Rhymes are not just child’s play but the foundation to hear rhyming and syllables of a word. These skills are the beginning of phonics. Eventually, the sounds will be put to writing to learn spelling. It’s important to rhyme.
  • Use paint brushes, q tips, sticks, to ‘”write” with.
  • Bake cookies and learn fractions and the measurements on the cups.
  • Take a nature walk and look for patterns in nature. For example, look at the repeating patterns of petals and the seeds in the head of a sunflower.
  • Do crafts and make a clock with moving hands.
  • Play games like uno and dominoes to learn number and additions.
  • Use popsicle sticks and glue on 10 beans and use as a counter for 10s, 20s, and etc.
  • Use these fun rock crayons which encourage the correct grip prior to holding a pencil.
How to Effortlessly Blend Kindergarten Homeschool Subjects & Life

Moreover, as you can see all of this can be done without worksheets. Puzzles, play props, and play-doh should still be part of kindergarten.

Do not give up what you’ve done for the first five years of your child’s life. Learning doesn’t always have to be divided into subjects.

Finally, if you need a curriculum, remember to use it as a framework, but do not make it the ultimate way a child learns.

What things are you naturally doing with your kindergartner each day where you’re blending learning and living?

How to Effortlessly Blend Kindergarten Homeschool Subjects & Life

Other Homeschool Kindergarten Resources

  • Homeschooling Kindergarten: What Subjects to Teach and For How Long?
  • Delightful Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum Which Promote a Love of Learning
  • 21 Fun All-In-One Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum
  • BEST Free Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum With A Gentle Approach (List)

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Homeschooling, Teach Kindergarten Tagged With: homeschool subjects, homeschoolanguagearts, kindergarten, language arts, languagearts, life skills, skillsubjects

15 Old-Fashioned Useful Skills Homeschoolers Love To Teach

May 17, 2020 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether you didn’t learn these skills in school or you’re determined to give your children the best education, there are 15 old-fashioned useful skills homeschoolers love to teach.

Besides, teaching only academics and not life skills is a huge flaw in the educational world. We don’t want to repeat that same nonsense thinking.

Old-Fashioned Skills for Today’s Kids

So we choose to intentionally teach what other educators view as vintage or old-fashioned because we know some obsolete skills prepare today’s kids for adulthood.

Look at these 15 skills, academic or otherwise which homeschoolers still love to teach.

1. Cursive writing. Unless a child has a special need, most homeschooling parents know that learning to write and cursive writing are valuable skills.

Beyond the fact that most early documents were hand-written, cursive writing supports hand-eye coordination and can reduce letter reversals.

Look at some of my tips below about how I teach writing.

  • How to Teach Cursive and Composition With A Fresh Perspective
  • Cursive Matters; Handwriting Style Doesn’t + Free Resources
  • 5 Creative Ways to Boost Handwriting in Older Kids

2.,3.,4.,5.,6. Finance, accounting, budgeting, money management and writing a check. Today’s kids learn early how to use a debit or credit card without knowing what is a budget or knowing ways to rein in their spending.

Subjects Not Taught in Public School

Distinguishing between a need versus a want is an extremely valuable skill to teach kids. Not teaching a kid about finances while in middle or high school or even earlier may set him up for much debt later in life.

Too, many places of business still use paper checks. Teaching our kids both how to write out a check and how to make a bank deposit in person are necessary skills for adulting.

7. How to do taxes. My kids started working while in high school and although they didn’t make enough to have to prepare a tax return, we still helped them prepare one.

When a child is living on his own he’ll have a basic understanding of tax deadlines and taxes. He manages adult responsibilities way better than if you had never introduced basic tax how-tos.

8. How to cook from scratch. The pandemic of 2020 is a perfect example of how life can throw a huge curve.

Because we want our kids self-sufficient, teaching them to cook from scratch like baking basic bread or from what is on hand saves money, teaches independence, and can be healthier.

Look below at a few ways I incorporated this into our learning day:

  • Make victory soup when studying about the countries of World War II.
  • Make soups from South America.
  • Make butter while learning about the Life of Wyatt Earp.
  • Make Zopf (Swiss Style Bread): Day 3 Hands-on Learning

School Doesn’t Prepare Us for Life

9. How to fill out a job application and how to do a job interview. When I helped my first teen fill out a job application, it was hilarious.

Although he knew what it was from the exploring career opportunities course in high school, preparing one was quite different. To this day, he still thanks me and his dad for helping him to look at his set of skills both strengths and weakness realistically.

However, nothing compared to seeing him get ready for his first job interview. He was pretty comfortable looking to apply for a job that required a dress jacket. Just a word of advice, be sure your teen knows how employees are expected to dress after you go over your dos and don’ts for a first-time job interview.

10. Learn to read a map. I love GPS too, but if you’ve ever hiked or walked in a remote area your cell phone is not really a good bet.

Besides learning about scale and distances, a map can teach local geography and can teach us what is around us. No cell phone service needed.

Things No Longer Taught in School

Maps are engaging and foster a love of learning about places along the way instead of just getting to a point like a gps. We can use both in our everyday and not let a generation grow up equipped without engaging with a map.

11. Diagramming a sentence. To understand how words need to be arranged in a sentence to make their thoughts clearer, kids need many ways to learn word arrangement.

When kids have to break down or diagram each part of a sentence it leaves no room for ambiguity. This teaching technique still helps many students.

12. Auto upkeep. Whether the tires need air or not, when and how to change the oil, and basic upkeep to maintain your safety and the life of a vehicle are important skills to know.

13. Home Economic skills. I know home economics courses are now called some fancy name like Family And Consumer Sciences. That is another post for me, but kids need to know how to read recipes, count food portions, food storage, food prep ideas and how to eat healthy. And while we can teach these skills separately, it’s much easier to teach them while on the job.

Assigning your kids the responsibility to make a grocery list or a meal for the family works. I started with easy meal ideas for my kids to make for the family and as they grew, so did the cooking skills.

Benefits of Life Skills

In addition, teaching a kid basic sewing can be a lost skill. Back in the day learning basic sewing skills was a must because all clothes were hand-made. Learning how to sew on a button is still a valuable skill.

14. Latin. Latin used to be taught at in a lot of public schools Today, not all homeschoolers teach Latin, but a lot do.

We see the value of teaching our kids the roots of modern-day language and how to analyze root meanings. The deductive reasoning used while learning Latin helped my kids to know how to critically think.

15. High School Shop Classes. Classes like woodworking, metal, and drafting classes seem to be dwindling.

Those types of hand skills are being lost. Electricians, plumbers, and carpenters are valuable skills needed in our community.

Also, these classes were taught in high school so that a teen had time to pursue passions and some of the classes were segues to a higher degree.

These skills are not outdated in our home, but they are skills which propel our kids to the future. A future where our kids are truly prepared for whatever comes their way.

Old-Fashioned But Timeless Skills

How can a kid learn about the human body without preparing a meal?

How can a kid value how fast human history changes unless he can read the thoughts of the founding father in their handwriting  – cursive?

How can a child not be saddled with debt and stress the rest of his life unless we teach him now how to save and when to spend?

Look at some of these other reads:

  • How to Know What A Homeschooled Child Should Learn Yearly?
  • How to Mesh Your Personality With Homeschooling When They Collide
  • Homeschooling Kindergarten : What Subjects to Teach and For How Long?
  • Teach Your Homeschooled Teen the Art of Studying (without nagging)
  • 6 Best Homeschool Hacks Teaching Multi-Aged Children

We don’t have to make a choice between academics or old-fashioned practical skills a child should know. We want them both!

Hugs and love ya,

2 CommentsFiled Under: Be an Exceptional Homeschool Teacher, Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Multiple Ages of Children, Homeschool Simply, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, How To - - -, Teach/Which Subjects to Teach/Cover EVERYTHING Tagged With: homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool highschool, homeschool lifestyle, homeschool mistakes, homeschoolcurriculum, life skills

Essential Life Skills – A Homeschooler’s Other Curriculum

March 2, 2019 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

More and more parents these days are dropping their kids off at the front door of public school and are expecting teachers to do it all — teach the three Rs and life skills necessary for kids to live as functioning adults in society. As homeschoolers we have an advantage; we know that essential life skills are a crucial part of our curriculum.

With the growing concept of adulting – when young adults are learning life skills for the first time as they move out on their own – it would seem that the formula public school tends to use which is an academic approach isn’t working. And homeschoolers aren’t immune to this problem.

Essential Life Skills a Homeschoolers Other Curriculum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

No matter in what form they educate their children, parents who try to do and be all things for their kids are doing them a great disservice. Additionally, if parents are trusting (aka hoping) that life skills will be caught, rather than taught that only seems to work out when they pick up something we don’t want them to, right?

As homeschooling families we have not only the privilege, but the responsibility to teach our kids these all-important life skill sets that make for a well-rounded and capable grown-up.

Too, we all know that skills taught like this should begin early. I focus on the teen part of life in this article because really it’s the time to maximize what we’ve been teaching them all throughout the years.

From the mouths of homeschoolin’ mommas who have been traditionally schooled comes this list of skills they didn’t learn in school. The teen years are a great time to make sure your kiddo gets these skills down while still living under your roof. And even if they’re in high school, it’s never too late for a crash course.

And they will thank you for it down the road!

And if you’re looking for curriculum to help you teach life skills, you’ll love Skill Trekker. There are 500+ skills (and counting) in the program.

Domestic Life Skills for Homeschooled Kids

  • basic cooking and cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, grocery shopping (online and in real life)
  • how to sort laundry properly
  • basic and advance home maintenance
  • basics of human anatomy and well-being
  • how to access home services
  • how to garden or at least grow and care for one plant
  • how to care for pets, their health and animal CPR
  • how to sew is not a lost skill about homeschoolers and basic alterations
  • how tos of basic couponing
  • how to change a diaper
  • lawn maintenance
  • simple electrical and plumbing know how
  • how to menu plan

Auto Care Skills for Homeschooled Kids

  • how to buy a car and basic car care (oil and filter changes, how to check oil, change a tire, etc)
  • determining the value of a car using the Kelley Blue Book
  • how to keep an auto compliant with local law
  • how to pump gas

Workplace Skills For Homeschooled Kids

  • learn how to fill out a job application
  • learn how to prepare a resume
  • prepare for a job interview
  • understand how to work with others in a workplace environment
  • how to be on time for a job

Small business management, which is so relevant to many of today’s entrepreneurial homeschoolers, was and still is often reserved for college, or at least specialized trade school programs.

Your entrepreneurial kids may enjoy the boxes from Boss Club which teach kids how to be entrepreneurs. You can click on the picture below to see how they build skills for helping your kids.

Health Care Skills for Homeschooled Kids

  • basic hygiene
  • understand how to take care of their basic health
  • understand differences in how food is grown or processed
  • how to give consent for procedures
  • CPR and basic first aid
  • understand how to use medicine versus natural remedies
  • how to notice and be caring when others have special needs like dementia, seizures, or panic attacks
  • how to give basic elder care

Financial Education for Homeschooled Kids

Last, but certainly not least, many homeschool moms failed to receive an adequate, or sometimes any, financial education while in school.

  • how to handle and maintain a checking account how to prepare and file taxes
  • how to create and stick to a budget
  • how credit works
  • the basics of a mortgage and how it works
  • value of saving and preparing for retirement
  • how to apply for insurance and discern what’s necessary

So there you have it, skills that haven’t been taught in school in the past, and most likely aren’t today.

As homeschoolers we have an advantage; we know that essential life skills are a crucial part of our curriculum. Click here to grab this list!

These aren’t fluff topics; these are concepts and abilities that will enable your teen to be a fully functioning adult and even perhaps put him ahead of many of his peers.

Don’t make your teen fumble with adulting when you can arm him with these basic essentials!

You’ll also love these other tips:

  • A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives
  • When It’s Your Fault that Your Homeschooled Kids Don’t Do Chores
  • Successful Entrepreneur-3 Best Homeschooled Teen Resources
  • 14 Fun and (maybe Frugal) Homeschool High School Electives
  • 45 Ways to Define Homeschool Curriculum – Is Your Definition Holding You Back?

Hugs and love ya

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Gauge Homeschool Progress, Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Boys, Homeschool Multiple Ages of Children, Homeschool Simply, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, How To - - -, Teach/Which Subjects to Teach/Cover EVERYTHING Tagged With: homeschool challenges, homeschool lifestyle, homeschoolcurriculum, homeschoolhighschool, life skills, middleschool, teens

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