Every year when I had a child ready for Kindergarten I got a little giddy because I knew I had another year ahead of me with my all-time favorite curriculum: My Father’s World God’s Creation from A to Z.
Packed with 26 units (one for each letter of the alphabet), the mom-friendly, bible-based, curriculum is jam-packed with amazing resources. And the best part? It is truly an old-fashioned kindergarten experience with sweet projects, books, and lessons that even provide simple scripting you can use.
When I began researching kindergarten curriculums for my now 20-year-old, I thought perhaps I had inadvertently searched for “master’s thesis”. Seriously the amount of busy work, reading, and preparation alone was daunting.
I am of the school of thought that children should be allowed to play, sing, dance, explore, and move through their first year of school at the pace appropriate for a five-year-old.
I see standards raising and the trickle-down effect is that in some districts, public school children entering kindergarten need to be reading to succeed.
Things move very fast these days, and frankly, I resent that when it forces small children to meet standards that put undue pressure on them.
There is no purpose in pushing expectations on such a young child; rather cultivate a love of learning and deepen their curiosity about the world around them.
Remember, you are homeschooling because you can educate your child in a way that meets all their needs including academic, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual.
God’s Creation from A to Z is such a well-thought-out curriculum that is such a joy to use. Let’s walk through some of the highlights (you can purchase components separately, or in a basic or deluxe package).
Here’s the website overview:
Clearly written step-by-step, 90-minute daily lessons in a grid lesson plan chart for each week are of great help to new homeschool teachers. Daily work is presented in four parts:
Part 1
Reading/Language Arts and Math
Includes 100 Chart and monthly calendar, poems, phonics-based reading lessons, and handwriting.
Part 2
Activities
Bible/character development lesson and the day’s special hands-on activity focusing on science, math, art, children’s literature, and creative thinking.*
Part 3
Read Aloud
Books and poems are scheduled in the Teacher’s Manual; included in the Basic and Deluxe Packages.
Part 4
Outside Time
Unstructured outside play for health and large motor development.
*Children ages 3-8 may learn together using these activities.
Let’s look at a couple of the weekly, letter-themed units.
Mm- Moon
“I am the light of the world”
Hh- Horse
“I obey right away”
Vv- Vegetables
“God gives me all that I need”
The best part of this curriculum is the biblical principles woven brilliantly into each unit.
The letter M allows us to reach into space and learn about our amazing moon, and how we are like the moon because we too reflect the light of the “son”!
A beautiful flashcard with the letter and the moon launches the week and the rubber textured letters let little hands feel, trace and hold an “M”.
A simple, scripted bible lesson drives this home and allows lots of room for discussion between parent and child.
My 20-year-old and I still joke about the “H”- Horse week, and how he “obeys right away” when I ask him to help me with something! It made a huge impression on him too!
Obedience is such an important biblical topic for younger children when you are training them and this unit does a terrific job teaching that.
Reinforcing each letter sound is the alphabet sound song which is sung frequently, (my kids and I can all still sing it!)
I love that nature walks and being outside are stressed as this is so valuable for everyone in the home. A butterfly garden and ant mountain are just two more wonderful hands-on projects that direct little ones to God’s creation.
Other resources available are classical music, award-winning children’s literature for storytime (titles may be available at your local library), 100-chart, calendar work, cut and paste work pages, mini-book creation, and the awesome projects, to name a few!
I remember tracing around each of my children’s little bodies to make a life-size “me” out of butcher paper, creating a zebra with his beautiful stripes, looking at a globe for countries and oceans, and playing hide and seek to teach, “you can’t hide from God”.
Truly some very special memories are made using this curriculum.
I have given it a very quick overview here, but this is the curriculum if you want a gentle approach that can be tailored to fit your needs as you see fit, is not intimidating, and has a solid biblical approach.
Gosh…I wish I had another kindergartener to homeschool!
My Father’s World also donates 50% of its profits to bringing God’s Word to the world. If that doesn’t tell you about their priorities, nothing will.
Check out their website for all their curriculum; I’ve used a lot of it and enjoy it all!
My Father’s World | Christian Homeschool Curriculum (mfwbooks.com)