Thursday, July 6, 2017

Our Kindergarten Year with Memoria Press, Abeka and Horizons & More



We did it! We completed our kindergarten year. This was my first time teaching kindergarten because the bigger boys were in private Christian school during the beginning years. I have to admit I was nervous. I had never taught a child to read. My oldest learned in school and my second son taught himself. I really worried that we would struggle to master skills but that didn't happen. I credit our success to wonderful curriculum and a child that loves learning. We kept our days short which I think made a huge impact. He was willing to sit for a bit usually an hour and up to two hours but mostly about an hour and 15 minutes a day.



So what did we end up using?


As you remember from my beginning of the year post (you can see that here) we had an ambitious line up. I did cut down some of it but not all of it.

Memoria Press - First Start Reading


Originally I had just gotten the first 4 books for a review. So I had intended to just use them but I was trolling the Memoria site and realized fast I wanted the whole reading and phonics curriculum. So I bought the readers, supplemental books and flash cards. I think this whole approach led to our success. I loved this program. My only complaint was that they added a 5th book (book E) and it was not scheduled during the school year. I get that summer work is important for maintaining the skills learned and leads to success in the following school year but I'm having trouble committing the time in our summer schedule. We have been so busy since finishing school. So I might have to complete some of it before we begin 1st grade in the fall. NOW - let me tell you something I liked this program so much I bought the entire curriculum for 1st grade. Yep- I went with a box curriculum. It is already to go on my shelf and it looks amazing.

 

Patriotic Penmanship


We had originally dropped this because Memoria Press has a bunch of handwriting but about mid-year we started back at it. I use it on the lighter writing days to fill out that portion of J-mans learning. He struggles with fine motor skills and being a lefty. His handwriting isn't perfect but with Patriotic Penmanship it is improving. (This was a review from last year too.)

Horizons Kindergarten Math


Originally we had started with Math Lessons for a Living Education from Masterbooks. Well I loved that curriculum. It was so sweet with the stories and gentle approach. Jace on the other hand was not a fan. He moaned when it was math time and didn't want to hear the stories. He just wanted to move faster than it allowed. So I switched him to Horizons and he soared! He flew through the curriculum and easily mastered the concepts. I was so amazed at how much he loved math. (I want to add here that each of my kids uses a different math because you really need to find the one that appeals to your child so they will have success!)

 

 

 

 

Abeka History & Science


I had picked these books up used at a local book sale and I'm so happy I did. They were perfect for Jace and keeping his attention. We worked on both once a week and managed to make our way through the books.

We also did art projects, read lots of books for science, bible and fun. We had several field trips and watched educational television. Overall I feel like those things rounded out his learning. The above was our main cores but the rest rounded it all out.










ARupLife.com  did receive product from memoria press and patriotic penmanship some time ago but not for this exact review, we just loved it all that it was worth mentioning again.  This post may contain affiliate links, which means that by clicking on an affiliate link I may receive a small amount of money. We only give our honest opinions of products. This post is in accordance with the FTC 10 CFR, Part 255 concerning the use, endorsements or testimonials in advertising.

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