Here are some ideas to get you started with homeschooling your kindergarten child! These are based on Waldorf and Charlotte Mason education models, so there is no formal schooling yet, such as language arts or math lessons. Instead, the activities reflect the seasonal rhythm of the year to give children a sense of time, place, and connection.
We’re starting our homeschool year in September, which means our first day will be on Labor Day. I’ll make a “First Day of Kindergarten” sign and take pictures of my daughter outside. In the afternoon, Grandma will join us, and we’ll go out for ice cream.
September in Ohio starts out green and hot, although the mornings tend to be cooler. As the month goes on, tree leaves turn yellow and begin to fall. The watercolors I chose for this month reflect what we see in the natural world around our home.
Theme and Festivals
Our theme for the month is apples. Near the beginning of the month, we go apple picking at a local orchard. There’s a Johnny Appleseed museum in Ohio that I’d like to visit, and I also just found out there’s a Johnny Appleseed festival!
Our celebrations this month include the first day of autumn and Michaelmas.
To celebrate the beginning of autumn, we’ll invite my daughter’s friends over for a tea party. They drink iced tea and eat a dessert, and I usually have a craft for them to do. One year we did apple stamping with apples cut in half and dipped in paint. Another time, we made wet felted acorns. This year, I might make an assortment of tiny hats and scarves and let each child make and take an autumn peg doll.
Here is our September schedule. We follow a four-day schedule because of our Thursday co-op. I can’t share some of the handwork and beeswax modeling we have planned because they come from other curriculums, but I’ll let you know where you can find them. I’ve also created my own handwork resource.
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September Homeschool for Kindergarten
Theme: Apples
Festivals: First day of autumn, Michaelmas
Daily homeschool schedule
During breakfast: Bible study; read a poem.
Lavender’s Blue circle time (movements with seasonal songs and verses).
Main activity
During lunch: Folk song, picture, composition, or hymn from Ambleside’s schedule. Then I read aloud. We’re currently working through the free reads on Ambleside’s Year 0 schedule.
Monday afternoon: Nature study
Main activities
Week 1
Monday: Bake apple pie
Tuesday: Watercolor with green
Wednesday: Model with beeswax, finger knitting, peg doll clothes (patterns from Whole Family Rhythms)
Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue
Week 2
Monday: Bake apple bread
Tuesday: Watercolor with green and yellow
Wednesday: Model with beeswax, finger knitting, peg doll clothes (patterns from Whole Family Rhythms)
Friday: Make stamps from apples and potatoes, and use paint to stamp them on paper
Week 3
Monday: Bake apple hand pies
Tuesday: Watercolor with yellow
Wednesday: Model with beeswax, finger knitting, peg doll clothes (patterns from Whole Family Rhythms)
Friday: Make autumn peg dolls (craft from Whole Family Rhythms)
Sunday: Bake apple cider donuts; autumn tea party
Week 4: Michaelmas Week
Monday: Day off
Tuesday: Tell the story of St. Michael and the dragon; watercolor with yellow and orange
Wednesday: Model sword and shield with beeswax; finger knitting
Friday: Make a cardboard sword and a cardboard shield; we might make a cape from a silk scarf or from thrifted fabric
Sunday: Bake dragon bread; celebrate Michaelmas (we’ll invite my parents over for a special dinner and read or act out the story of St. Michael and the dragon)