My Kindergarten Checklist

Kaelyn working hard

I have seen great strides in Kaelyn, my beautiful, smart six year-old.  She is already reading.  Having my children learn to read lets me know that I am doing a good job.  I do have to say that she has learned to read the quickest out of my four children.  It's not that she is brighter than the others.  It is because she has lots of teachers around her in the form of siblings.   

Kaelyn has been finishing up lots of her workbooks.  I've been wanting to pinpoint her progress.  How do I figure it out?  I'm turning to World Book's (an online encyclopedia) website.  It has a webpage devoted to showing the typical coursework for each grade, starting from preschool to 12th grade.  You can find it here:

Typical Course of Study for each grade.

The following list is a sampling of the Kindergarten list:

Social Studies

__holidays
__cultures
__family,
__home
__school
__community
__work
__safety
__human needs
__awareness of self and other

Science

__five senses
__animals
__plants
__seasons
__weather
__seasons
__hot
__cold
__light
__colors
__sun and moon
__planets
__Earth
__measurement
__experiments

 

Language Arts

__phonics
__reading along
__listening to different genres
__familiarity with fairy tales and fables
__drawing
__role playing
__following directions
__brainstorming ideas
__retelling stories
__beginning writing process
__printing

 

Health 

__cleanliness

__choosing right foods to eat
__body parts
__exercise

 

Math

__count to 20

__count items

__more than

__less than

__same amount

__first, second, third positions

__basic sets

__simple addition 

__simple subtraction

__number line

__approximating

__shapes

__calendar 

__clock 

__money

__problem-solving

__charts 

__graphs 

I will print out the above checklist.  I'll quiz her, verbally, on some of these concepts.  Whatever we haven't covered, I will address during the summer.  The great thing about homeschooling is: we can extend the teaching/learning time.  

I cannot claim credit for finding this website.  It was long ago that I was directed to the Typical Course of Study at the World Book Website.  Another homeschool mom informed me about the website.  I recommend that if you do not have clear direction of what to teach while homeschooling, this website will at least give you a list of what needs to be taught.  Admittedly, some topics are covered several times throughout a child's learning career. 

How about you, my readers?  How do you assess your children's progress?  Do you look for progress based on their activities?  Or do you use a formal test to find out how much your children have learned?  If you want to skip expensive tests, you can always visit Typical Course of Study.  You can also use that website to plan for the teaching content for the next year.

I hope your children have enjoyed their learning time; Kaelyn has clearly loved learning with her fun workbooks and worksheets.

May God bless you all with His wisdom and peace.

This has been an entry for Thorough Thursdays.  Hope you liked it.