Spring Archives -

Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for May

JenMHowell — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 18:13:32 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in May! These activities 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.

Even though the official start of spring was in March, May is often when it feels like spring is really ushered in. Flowers are everywhere, and green leaves cover the trees. We see bees out and about and even the occasional butterfly. In Ohio, we plant most of our vegetables and flowers in mid to late May, after the danger of frost.

The watercolors I chose for this month reflect Memorial Day and what we see in the natural world around our home.

Theme and Festivals

Our theme for this month is gardening. On our property, we have several native plant gardens and a raised bed with strawberries, herbs, and vegetables. Most of our gardening activities in May involved cutting and clearing dried out stems from the previous year’s flowers, but we do get to plant our tomatoes and any herbs that didn’t survive the winter.

Our celebration this month is Mother’s Day. We’ll either take my Mom out for tea this month or have afternoon tea at our house. We’ll also observe Memorial Day at our city’s parade and ceremony.

Here is our May 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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May Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Gardening

Festivals: Mother’s Day

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

Friday: Paint rocks to look like insects

Week 2

Monday: Bake honey cake

Tuesday: Watercolor with green, yellow, and blue

Wednesday: Model a bee with beeswax

Friday: Thumbprint bumblebees

Week 3

Monday: Bake Very Hungry Caterpillar cake

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple

Wednesday: Model a butterfly with beeswax

Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue

Week 4

Monday: Make bug snacks

Tuesday: Watercolor with red and blue

Wednesday: Model a flag with beeswax

Friday: U.S. flag craft

Week 5

Monday: Fruit pizza flag

Tuesday: Summer break!

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for April

JenMHowell — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:58:07 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in April! These activities 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.

At this point in the year, I’m ready for summer, a season April doesn’t quite fulfill. Some years we get two feet of snow in one day, but other years there is a noticeable increase in temperature. The timing of the flowers blooming can also vary. When I moved from Florida to Ohio at the end of April several years ago, the redbuds and dogwoods were weeks from blooming, however, this year they bloomed very early.

The watercolors I chose for this month reflect the Easter season and what we see in the natural world around our home.

Theme and Festivals

Our theme for this month is flowers. Besides the white dogwood and purplish-pink redbud flowers, we might see tulips, daffodils, and native Ohio wildflowers in the woodlands and the bog.

Our celebrations this month are Easter and my brother’s birthday. We go to the Good Friday service at our church, the Easter breakfast, and the Easter service. It’s always a beautiful, joyful morning.

Here is our April 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.

Sign up here!

April Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Spring, rainbows

Festivals: First day of Spring, birthdays

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

Tuesday: Watercolor with purple

Wednesday: Model a flower that’s blooming with beeswax; finger knitting

Friday: Fingerprint flower art

Week 2

Monday: Bake lavender tea bread

Tuesday: Watercolor with purple and green

Wednesday: Model lavender flowers with beeswax; finger knitting

Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue

Week 3

Monday: Bake focaccia with vegetable flowers

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, orange, yellow, and green

Wednesday: Model a flower that’s blooming with beeswax; finger knitting

Friday: Paint with flowers

Week 4

Monday: Bake hot cross buns

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, purple, yellow, and green

Wednesday: Model a lily with beeswax; finger knitting

Friday: Flower pounding

Week 5

Monday: Bake rosebud tea cakes

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple

Wednesday: Model a rose with beeswax; finger knitting

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for March

JenMHowell — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 19:40:22 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in March! These activities 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.

March makes me happy. Yes, it’s still cold, but it’s the start of spring, and flowers begin blooming. There is hope for warmer days and an abundance of sunny skies. It’s also my birthday month, which, I admit, was more fun when I was younger, but I still enjoy celebrating it.

The watercolors I chose for this month reflect what we see in the natural world around our home.

Theme and Festivals

Our themes for this month are spring and rainbows. As rain and thunderstorms take the place of snow in March, seeing rainbows is a possibility. Rainbows can also represent all the colors we see starting to return to the earth.

Our celebrations this month are the first day of spring, my mom’s birthday, and my birthday. To celebrate the start of spring, we choose a Saturday for Spring’s birthday party, an idea that came from Lavender’s Blue. We invite my parents and grandma over for lunch or tea and dessert. Since my husband and I like to make Jesus’s resurrection the sole focus for Easter, Spring’s birthday party is when we dye eggs, give gifts like rain boots and special toys to our daughters, and hide eggs to find. Last year, my mom made a bunny cake, one of my favorite desserts when I was a kid.

Here is our March 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.

Sign up here!

March Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Spring, rainbows

Festivals: First day of Spring, birthdays

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 maple donuts

Tuesday: Watercolor with green

Wednesday: Model eggs with beeswax; rainbow weaving

Friday: Sprout chia or grass seeds indoors

Week 2

Monday: Bake meringue cookies

Tuesday: Watercolor with blue

Wednesday: Model rain drop with beeswax; rainbow weaving

Friday: Handwork from Whole Family Rhythms

Week 3

Monday: Bake sun bread

Tuesday: Watercolor with yellow

Wednesday: Model sun with beeswax; rainbow weaving

Friday: Bake bunny cake

Saturday: Spring’s Birthday Party; dye eggs

Week 4

Monday: Bake carrot muffins

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple

Wednesday: Model rainbow with beeswax; rainbow weaving

Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue

Week 5

Monday: Bake hummingbird cake

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