Description
What does a Charlotte Mason Kindergarten day look like?
A typical school “day” for us was only about 45 minutes long (see more information on time below), including Morning Time, and generally looked like this:
- a single poem read every day
- Math time (and I’ve laid out the entire MEP Reception Math year for you!)
- one to two readings chosen from history, geography, literature, science, or nature study
- one handicraft per week
- optional time for copywork every day
The beauty of this curriculum is that you can truly make it yours. If you find a book that you’ve either read before and don’t want to read again or just don’t like, feel free to substitute it (and I do offer a suggestions for substitutions in a few subjects in the book as well)! If there’s a part of the curriculum that you don’t want in there, leave it out! Use this as a framework from which to build your own, unique kindergarten that fits your family’s needs.
Finally, if you have any questions at all about the curriculum, feel free to contact me and I’m happy to help however I can!
A little background on the curriculum…
I have always been of the mindset that it was better to wait on “school things” for my son, following a better-late-than-early approach. I hadn’t pushed him to start reading at an early age or tried to force any kind of structured preschool program on him and was quite happy with those decisions. When he turned six in August of 2016, I wanted to do something more “official” with him that fall, but I didn’t think he was quite ready for any of the Charlotte Mason curricula I could find. So, I started to look around for some kind of alternative.
If anyone else reading this has tried searching for a good Charlotte Mason Kindergarten curriculum, you’ll know that it can be pretty frustrating. I’d find a post that someone had put up with a beautiful book list, but no idea how to implement it on a weekly basis. I found posts with very intense curricula that looked like they’d take longer than even a typical Year 1 week would. And I found others that claimed to be Charlotte Mason but had pretty questionable book selections.
For this reason, I decided to make my own Charlotte Mason Year 0.5 Curriculum! And because it was so difficult for me to find one that I liked, I’ve decided to share mine with others who might be in the same spot. If you fall into this weird Year 1? Year 0? limbo, I sincerely hope it is a help to you!
Charlotte Mason Kindergarten Curriculum Notes
I want to emphasize that Charlotte Mason did not recommend any type of formal education for children before the age of six.
How much time daily in the open air should the children have? And how is it possible to secure this for them? In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mothers first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air. And this, not for the gain in bodily health alone––body and soul, heart and mind, are nourished with food convenient for them when the children are let alone, let to live without friction and without stimulus amongst happy influences which incline them to be good. (vol 1 pg 43)
My original impetus for creating this curriculum was the fact that my son’s birthday falls in August and when he turned six, I didn’t think he was quite ready for any of the Charlotte Mason Year 1 options I could find, so I decided to do a type of Year 0.5 with him. A great help to determine where your child might fall is the AmblesideOnline Forums where there are many, many threads in which other mothers have asked if they should go ahead with Year 1, or wait. I’d recommend starting there before you decide if this particular curriculum is a year you need or even want to add to your schedule.
If you’re planning on implementing Charlotte Mason’s philosophies in your own homeschool, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to read her books and familiarize yourself with her educational tenets. I can offer this booklist, schedule, and notes, but if you aren’t familiar with her principles or the techniques she suggests for education, it can be challenging to successfully use her methods to teach your children. You can most certainly do this while you are homeschooling (as opposed to doing it all before you start) as many mothers, myself included, do. I have yet to read through all of her volumes, but I’m making my way steadily through them and other Charlotte Mason-related resources and learning as I go.
A good starting place is Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For the Children’s Sake which will give you a great overview. However, nothing can replace Ms. Mason’s own words and the AmblesideOnline website offers all of her original six-volume series for free (or you can buy print copies on Amazon) as well as a modern paraphrase version. These books can be challenging to read, but are so worth it. If you find it easier reading along with others, the AmblesideOnline forums host several book groups that are reading through a volume at any given time.
For us, an average day doing Year 1 takes about 2 hours. In contrast, the kindergarten curriculum, without a morning time, takes about 20 minutes per day if you’re doing 4 days per week as we did (with a nature walk day on Friday). If you choose to do five days per week, it would take even less time each day. With the morning time that we did, it was about 40 minutes in all. Some days are longer than others, but for the most part, we usually began our days at around 9:30 to 9:45 and were done by 10:15 or 10:30.
Another note I want to add is that I did not require narration, a tenet of Charlotte Mason education for children ages six and up, during the kindergarten year. I would occasionally ask my son what he thought of or if he remembered anything in particular from a reading, but if he didn’t have an answer, I didn’t force the issue. Again, this is your call, but I felt this was not something I needed to require of him at this stage.
Also, a disclaimer in that this is not an exhaustive kindergarten curriculum for states in which kindergarten is required (especially as it does not include any kind of formal reading instruction). If you happen to decide to use this curriculum, please make sure you’re meeting your state’s requirements for subjects covered, etc, if necessary.
Finally, I want to suggest that this curriculum is meant to be flexible. Feel free to change it as you see fit, insert other books, leave sections out, whatever you need to do. Make it fit your family’s needs rather than the other way around!
Shannon Fidero (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Haley (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Heather Elder –
Amazing and well thought out curriculum. It’s sweet and beautiful and fun! Hands-down, I recommend this product. It’s very easy to customize it to your child’s strengths, hobbies and interest! I’m so grateful for this package!
Bethany S. (verified owner) –
I was looking for something transitional prior to Ambleside online year 1.
I like this document. It’s reasonably priced and it helped layout a weekly routine to help a new homeschool mom get a feel for rhythm.
It’s not a ton of books and all were easy to find used online. It offers a simple and gentle routine that is not overwhelming, especially as a mom of multiple young children. I also appreciate giving some form to ideas like “morning time.”
The pdf download was delivered in a timely manner and it prints well in black and white.
Very satisfied.
Kari Blankenship –
Was this review helpful to you?Jem Schouten (verified owner) –
Great product, very comprehensive overview and reasoning for choices made and allowed for flexibility within the curriculum. Any questions were answered really quickly and resolved via email promptly and politely. Rebecca has been most helpful during the purchasing process and I’m very happy with the layout and book choices.
Rachelle G. (verified owner) –
We are beginning our journey in Charlotte Mason and homeschooling and I absolutely love how Reb has pulled together such a beautiful curriculum. Even if we only get through half of it, it is so rich and full. Such a feast. Thanks, Reb for all of your hard work with this and for passing it on. Well done.
Vicki (verified owner) –
This curriculum looks lovely! I love that it uses good books that are found online for free.
Christina Hernandez (verified owner) –
This year 0.5 curriculum is perfectly put together with helpful tips and a list of supplies, a great resource for prepping your student for year 1.
Lara C. (verified owner) –
We are so excited to use this valuable resource for our son next year. It’s full of good resources, excellent advice and solid encouragement. It’s also organized in an easy to understand manner!!
abeanward –
Was this review helpful to you?Марина Тарасова (verified owner) –
Thank you!!!)
Graciela Colon (verified owner) –
So far I’ve loved the content of this curriculum! Looking forward to read it completely and start planning for the next academic year.
Lyndsey M. (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Christina F. (verified owner) –
It was received in a timely manner and with great customer service. Rebecca is quick to answer any questions. The product itself is thoroughly lovely and easy to use without being overwhelming. Its very well thought out and perfect for those with multiple children and a busy household.
Joanne (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Annie (verified owner) –
The cover on this is gorgeous and the book was well bound with a plastic spiral. I work in a creative services group and can vouch for this reprographic work. Well done, A Humble Place!
Christabelle Villanueva (verified owner) –
Great help! I like the summary over all. 🙂
Huibrie P. (verified owner) –
Excited to get to start this curriculum in a couple of weeks. I’m still gathering some of the books, but I’m pleased so far with each one I’ve looked through. The curriculum is so nicely worked out which is a great way for us to start out our homeschooling journey. Thankful to have found this as my oldest son is a new 6yo and I want to do actual school with him this year, but felt like AO y1 would have been just a bit too much yet.
Brittany (verified owner) –
Looking at the Ambleside book list gave me anxiety. I had no idea how to make sense of it or make “it” happen. I am SO thankful for this taste of the structure of Ambleside for my very bright kinder. It is thoughtful, informative, and well laid out- whether you’re type B like me or type A.
andrea simi (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?David (verified owner) –
Thank you for such a well thought out plan. As a first time homeschooling parent, I was overwhelmed by the volume of choices for a Kindergarten curriculum. At first, I thought some of the readings were going to be too “old” and uninteresting to my son, but he has taken to them quite well. I think this curriculum will work quite nicely and leave him excited to start a Charlotte Mason First Year!
Wyndi (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Lindsay Hamby (verified owner) –
We are in Week 4 of Rebecca’s kindergarten curriculum and it has been such a gift! My creative, DIY self was terrified of a restrictive curriculum but I work part-time and do not have capacity to start from scratch doing all my own research. This curriculum was exactly what I needed! Thoughtful suggestions, well curated book lists, materials I already keep on hand, handicrafts that dont involve gobs of toxic glue and plastic shiny things that end up in landfills hours after they are made… I feel adequately resourced, but with plenty of wiggle room to add things that are meaningful to my specific family and scratch the things that don’t make sense for us. I have not yet used Rebecca’s art resources, but intend to and I’m so grateful for the wealth of knowledge and time she has generously shared here.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Joselin Blair (verified owner) –
As a new to the CM teaching methods, this curriculum was so informative and perfect for my 4 year old son as I prepare him for K. All the perfect links for the right information! Will be purchasing 2020-2021
Katie (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Amanda S. (verified owner) –
I bought this in preparation for my youngest son who will be starting Kindergarten in Fall 2020. With 3 other homeschoolers at home, I am all about having such a detailed plan already done for at least one of them!! And the supply lists are great! I don’t have to look through all the lessons and figure out what I’m going to need and hope I don’t miss anything. I honestly cannot wait to start this with my son in September.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Stephanie Stanger (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Jessica Phillips (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Marianne Lunel (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Melissa (verified owner) –
This was just the motivation I needed to get started with plannning. We have not begun using this just yet, but I have looked everything over and gathered materials. I was able to get most of the books from the library and others free on Kindle. We will be customizing it a bit but it makes it very easy to do so. Thank you for putting this resource together!
Julia (verified owner) –
Was this review helpful to you?Christina K. (verified owner) –
I absolutely love this kindergarten curriculum and we can’t wait to start! Everything is broken down into weeks and then even further to days. There is a supplies list, book list, morning time explanation and more! Every time I had a question while reading it, it was soon answered in the content! We may be changing some of the reading but overall, I love everything about this curriculum.
Angelina S. (verified owner) –
I’m a first-time homeschooling mom and I’m so glad I got this curriculum for my kindergartener! Everything is so thoughtfully laid out and she goes above and beyond with tips, recommendations, and alternatives to the wonderful books suggested for this curriculum. For me it was a great, budget friendly choice for kindergarten curriculum. I work remotely part-time and also have a toddler and this “open and go” is going to be perfect. The only prep I’ve had to do is put bookmarks in books…and she also sends you bookmarks as a thank you!!
Nadia (verified owner) –
This product is excellent and just what I needed as a gentle start to formal education for both of us. Thank you.
Toni E. (verified owner) –
This curriculum has been such a blessing. We decided to homeschool this year due to the pandemic, and I am loving the time that I get to spend with my kindergartener. He’s learning so much, and I’m so appreciative of the thoughtfulness put into this curriculum. It encompasses everything that we need – art, poetry, nature study, science, reading, literature, and much more. I was lost in the multitude of options out there for homeschooling, and this has been a breath of fresh air.
Katya (verified owner) –
We absolutely love the curriculum! it’s all we are using for my kindergartner. We love everything about it. I’m so thankful for coming across your curriculum. It has changed our world!