Winter Archives -

Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for February

JenMHowell — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 22:08:06 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in February! 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.

February is often Ohio’s coldest month of the year, so let’s warm our hearts by celebrating love. While the skies are still gray and white, and the trees are still bare, inside the home, the bakers and chocolatiers and crafters will stay busy rolling dough, sudsing wool, and making treats.

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

Theme and Festivals

Our themes for this month are love and birds. Who doesn’t love a couple of lovebirds? With the trees still bare, it’s easier to birdwatch, and we can learn their songs, as well.

Our celebration this month is Valentine’s Day. We’re planning a special Valentine’s tea to celebrate the holiday with my parents.

Here is our February 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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February Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Love, birds

Festivals: Valentine’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

Monday: Bake strawberry heart hand pies

Tuesday: Watercolor with red and purple

Wednesday: Wet felt soap with pink wool

Friday: Handwork from Whole Family Rhythms

Week 2

Monday: Bake heart cookies (freeze some for Friday’s tea)

Tuesday: Cut hearts out of last week’s watercolors and glue on pressed flowers to make Valentine’s cards

Wednesday: Model heart with beeswax; chocolate truffles step 1

Thursday: Chocolate truffles step 2

Friday: Valentine’s Day tea

Week 3

Monday: Brownie hearts

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, purple, and blue

Wednesday: Model lovebirds with beeswax

Friday: Pinecone bird treats

Week 4

Monday: Bake strawberry cake

Tuesday: Watercolor with red and blue

Wednesday: Model bird nest with beeswax

Friday: Popcorn, cranberries, and/or dried orange slices garland bird treat

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for January

JenMHowell — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 18:04:58 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in January! 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.

January in Ohio brings gray skies, dull landscapes, and bitter cold temperatures. It feels like the longest month of the year, especially without a cozy Thanksgiving or festive Christmas to break it up. However, the themes I’ve selected for this month lend themselves to some enjoyable handwork, so I’m hoping the delight we find in these and other activities will whisk us merrily through the winter.

The watercolors I chose for this month reflect what we see in the natural world around our home. We’re baking challah several times so my daughter can grow in the skills of kneading and braiding.

Theme and Festivals

Our themes for this month are snow and stars. We don’t always get snow in January, but it’s more common than in December. We are likely to have at least a few clear nights to gaze at the stars.

Our celebration this month is New Year’s Day. We’ll go to my parents’ house, and some of us (me) will eat sauerkraut with them. My mom also makes pork chops and mashed potatoes.

In addition, we will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Here is our January 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!

January Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Snow, stars

Festivals: New Year’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

Wednesday: New Year’s Day

Friday: Ice sun catcher

Week 2

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with blue, then add salt

Wednesday: Model snowflake with beeswax; braiding

Friday: Paper snowflakes

Week 3

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with blue and purple

Wednesday: Model snowman with beeswax; braiding

Friday: Snow globes

Week 4

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with purple, then add salt

Wednesday: Model stars with beeswax; braiding

Friday: Kite paper window stars

Week 5

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with blue, purple, and yellow

Wednesday: Model constellations with beeswax; braiding

Friday: Handwork from Oak Meadow

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for December

JenMHowell — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 13:44:24 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in December! 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.

The watercolors I chose for this month reflect the festivals we celebrate and the blue sky over the snow.

Theme and Festivals

Our theme for this month is festivals, since there are so many we celebrate!

Our celebrations this month include Advent, St. Lucia Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, my older daughter’s birthday, and my niece’s birthday.

Every year, we make a variation on an advent spiral, and for each week of advent, we read scripture that leads up to Jesus’s birth.

We celebrate St. Lucia Day because I enjoy Scandinavian culture. I haven’t told my daughter the story of St. Lucia because I feel she’s too young to hear it. However, we enjoy making lussekatter (Swedish saffron rolls) and lighting candles. I’d like to make peg people figures dressed in the clothes the Scandinavian girls wear for this holiday and possibly sew the clothes for my daughters, too.

Throughout the month, we’ll spend a lot of free time making Christmas gifts. I try to tie in recent handwork when we plan gifts that my daughter will give to people. One year, she wet felted Christmas ornaments. This year she might be able to weave something small or roll beeswax candles. We freeze the cookies we bake during the first few weeks of December and then give out cookie plates to close friends and neighbors on Christmas Eve.

My favorite tradition on Christmas Eve is to go to church for the candlelight service. On Christmas Day, we visit family and exchange gifts. We go to my parents’ house on New Year’s Eve.

Here is our December 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!

December Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Festivals

Festivals: Advent, St. Lucia Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, 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 Linzer cookies

Tuesday: Watercolor with yellow

Wednesday: Model wreath with beeswax

Friday: Roll beeswax candles for St. Lucia Day

Week 2: St. Lucia Week

Monday: Bake blizzard cookies

Tuesday: Watercolor with yellow, blue

Wednesday: Model candle with beeswax

Thursday: Prep lussekatter

Friday (St. Lucia Day): Bake lussekatter; make Swedish hearts

Week 3

Monday: Bake cutout cookies

Tuesday: Watercolor with blue

Wednesday: Model Christmas tree with beeswax

Friday: Make gifts

Week 4

Monday: Bake chocolate crinkle cookies

Tuesday: Watercolor with red, green, and yellow

Wednesday: Christmas Day

Friday: Pomander balls

Week 5

Monday: Bake gingerbread (and serve with homemade whipped cream!)

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

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