My Father's World Kindergarten Curriculum

Being totally new to homeschool, I relied on a lot of recommendations. While a lot of the "big names" were highly recommended, we chose to go with a much lesser known company called "My Father's World. Their curriculm is divided into unit studies with a strong Christian world view. The kindergarten curriculum is based on elements of the Creation, and incorporates a lot of things that are naturally interesting to a young child. By the end of the school year we will have studied the solar system, plants, wild animals, birds, farm animals, rocks and jewels, insects, frogs, dinosaurs, the human body, reptiles, animal homes, birds, water and colors.


The first two weeks are dedicated to the Biblical account of the creation of man, and the children get a good grasp these first few days of what was created on what day. After that each unit is scripted out with lesson plans for 6 days. Each week has a theme to match that letter, and a character trait/Biblical principal to go along with the theme. You also focus on a particular number that week, and the teacher's manual suggests ways to incorporate learning the basic colors and shapes during this time too. For instance, Lesson 1 is the letter "s" for sun. The motto for the week is "Jesus is the light of the world." Each unit is full of Biblical references and ways to encourage your child to apply them to their life, hands on crafts/experiments and some cut and paste work. Phonics are studied, and a very gentle approach to math is taken encouraging counting and keeping a number chart to 100. Also included in the curriculum is science, Bible, art and music appreciation.

One of the best things about this curriculum is the cost. For less than $200 you can get the deluxe package and not have to buy any additional fiddly things. This includes a butterfly habitat, ant farm, classical music cd and more. If you live in an area with a strong library system, this is a good choice as they encourage you to use "living books" and I appreciated not having to buy a lot of extra materials. Our library was a great resource, especially since I can research and reserve the books online and have them waiting for me at the circulation desk. I typically got my lessons planned out and reserved my books a week ahead of schedule.

As of this writing we are on week 18 "zebra". Do we like it? Mostly. The topics have been a lot of fun, very interesting and easy to find materials to support. However, it has become apparent that this curriculum is really geared toward a younger kindergartener, and with Coleman's late birthday he really might have benefitted from a program that moved a little more quickly and had more formal math instruction. I found that I needed to add in a lot of supplemental activities get him up to speed where he really needs to be, and I don't feel he is fully where he could be. He is slowly learning to read, but the teacher's manual does not give a lot of specific explaination of WHY some of the sounds make what they do (for instance "ck" etc.)  and they just appear on word lists with no prior exposure during the lesson.  We will not cover long vowel sounds by the end of the year, which will put us at a disadvantage when we switch to our new curriculum in a couple of months. From what I understand, the phonics instruction really accelerates in their first grade program, but we have chosen a different curriculum for the next time around, so we will have to go back a full half a year of K in another program to make up for what we did not learn this time.

The main benefit of this program for us has been the sound Biblical worldview and the fact it has given me the confidence as a first time homeschooler to add and adapt a program to my child's interest. As a result, I feel comfortable to do our next year of unit studies on a geography based curriculum that will require me to pull in outside resources and materials and piece it together as well. It was a good gentle intro (for me) to schooling at home, but in hindsight I wish I had either accelerated the program and/or brought in a strong math program from the beginning.

Pros:

• Cost is very affordable for what could be considered an all inclusive curriculum (that I would use with a younger child).
• Subject matter is very engaging. Many of these topics are things that parents already have materials laying around to support the learning. Books, videos, games, puzzles, toys etc. are readily available featuring the topics for units. I found that our DVR was a very valuable tool in recording programs from Discovery Kids Network, Animal Planet, PBS etc on different topics then playing them back during the appropriate unit. Coleman especially loved "The Magic Schoolbus" series which tracks right along with a LOT of these topics.
• Gentle introduction to phonics for the reluctant or young reader. This program assumes you know NOTHING about the alphabet or numbers upon beginning. 
• Biblical worldview and very strong character basis throughout.
• Black and white pages are not terribly distracting for a child who might have issues with that.
• Not a lot of "busy work".
• Takes anywhere from 1-3 hours to complete. I would guess about an hour if you go strictly by the program, and more from there if you add a lot of stuff in to supplement.
• Lots of hands on activities and crafts are suggested, and given the subject matter a lot more can be found using a simple google search online.
• Makes use of local library instead of buying a lot of expensive books.
• Very adaptable to the individual child.
• Easy enough to organize everything and it fits in a small space.
• Does not require a lot of specialized manipulatives and materials.
• If you are willing to put a little more work into it, it can be a really fun program for an older child. Lots of field trip opportunities and hands on outdoor activities are available to track along with the curriculum.
• ANYONE could teach this curriculum.
• Very supportive message board on their site, and great yahoo group full of additional ideas for books and activity ideas.

CONS:

• Older children might be ready to move ahead at a much more rapid pace with the phonics/math, but not want to rush through the fun stuff such as learning about the animals etc. There are suggestions online at their yahoo group on how to make it a more effective program for a faster learner, but truthfully I prefer that the program itself do that for me. I expected it to be more in line with the standards set by our private and public schools and did not find it to be so regarding math and language arts. 
• No addition, subtraction or other more difficult mathematical concepts are covered. There is a bit of discussion regarding comparison of size etc. Also counting and drawing objects for 2 numbers each week. Again, this might track right along for a younger child, but at 6 my son was ready to do addition and subtraction, not just count to 14 and draw 14 stars. I ended up supplementing with a workbook from WalMart, but would have preferred to have a built in math program to give him a good foundation.
• Not a lot of handwriting reinforcement. Name, number and letter of the week are covered. Once you get to the word ladder pages the children are expected to write 3 letter words, but not many and not much practice in my opinion. I had to pull handwriting practice off the internet or make it up on my own.
• Black and white pages can also be seen as boring for a child who does not like to color.
• Basic phonics/math activities are the same every week, which for us have grown monotonous by week 18.
• Teacher's manual is not laid out in a handy grid format. Everything is put in specific places, but not in a super easy to read format.
• If you have a weak library system you might need to buy a number of books to really make this an interesting program.
• Program teaches blending, but does not give a lot of practice in this other than going through the blend ladder. Very few REAL words are demonstrated as examples of these blends unless you come up with them or ask your child to do so. Again, this is something you might expect a parent to just automatically do on their own, but if you are a first time teacher, it might not occur to you to do so.

Would I use this program again? Yes, but with a younger child or a child who was a slower learner. It was easy enough to add to the program to make the science/hands on parts more engaging for my eager, older student- but I would prefer a program where I had the option to leave activities out as opposed to have to go looking for them. I would also have supplemented with a seperate math curriculum. From the message board I have heard so many moms who have homeschooled large families that an easy approach is best and that it took them a long time to learn that themselves. I also would like to point out that the younger children in larger families are also absorping much more info from their older siblings than is obvious. What may appear to be a gentle introduction to schooling may actually be reinforced by things they are hearing while their older siblings are being schooled, or hearing what is being spoken around the dinner table by their brothers and sisters. Only or oldest children do not necessarily get this luxury, so they might benefit from a stronger program if they are ready for it.

 If you prefer a gentler introduction to schooling, or are also schooling older children- this might be a great option for you. This would also possibly make a GREAT 6 month crash course (by combining a several days within each unit) for someone who wanted to get their child ready for a more difficult K curriculum.