Everything You Need to Know About Homeschooling Abeka Kindergarten

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This August I started my very first year of homeschool. Right now, our oldest is five and we made the transition from private preschool to homeschooling Abeka kindergarten. I was a bit overwhelmed at the start because I wasn’t sure how it would work between my kindergartener and my preschooler.

Additionally, our almost three year old was going to have to learn independent play during the day as well. It definitely seemed overwhelming. I know I’m not alone and other moms have similar feelings of trepidation when it comes to a new transition like homeschooling. After getting through our first week, I want to share everything I learned in my first week of homeschooling kindergarten with the Abeka curriculum.

Why Homeschool

Part of the reason why homeschooling is such an easy decision for my husband and I is because we were both homeschooled. Parents usually want the childhood for their children that they had, just with minor tweaking on things that we didn’t like in our own lives. So homeschooling, was a natural yes for us.

To boil it down, for anyone who’s considering homeschooling there’s several reasons why people choose to go that route. Our top reasons that we chose to go were because it offered us to individualize our child’s education, we could limit the amount of unhealthy exposures that come with public or private schools, and we love the flexibility homeschool provides.

Homeschooling is not perfect, though. We certainly had a list of things we didn’t want for our kids that we experienced first hand. Obviously, there’s the age-old argument that homeschool kids are weird, unsocialized, and struggle adapting to the real world. This can be a legitimate concern, but it’s also something that can be overcome.

From the get go, Bert and I knew we wanted our children in plenty of extra activities to overcome this obstacle. Also, knowing that homeschool takes less time than public or private school also gives our boys time to rest and relax before going to the activity on the agenda.

My Transition

Up until our oldest turned 5, I taught at a private school associated with our church. I did high school science (loved it) and English (meh) and honestly felt like I would miss it when I decided to quit. I really enjoyed the time I spent with the high school students.

After 3 weeks into homeschooling, yes I miss the private school setting and spending time with the teenagers. Honestly, though, nothing compares to the dedicated time I spend with my own children.

Before I started school, there were days that I felt like I didn’t have that time. I get easily distracted and focused on housework and then my own hobbies in the evening. Consequently, there are times that I put my boys to bed realizing I barely spent any time with them that day. That’s not so much the case now. We have roughly two hours of uninterrupted time that I spend with my boys. It’s honestly really fun and I’m learning more and more about their personalities because of it.

Abeka

There are so many curriculums out there that it can be hard to decide which curriculum will be the best fit. Again, choosing Abeka was an easy choice for me, simply because it was the one I was most familiar with. Not only did I grow up using the Abeka curriculum, I taught it at the private school that I worked at.

Aside from familiarity, I like how repetitious Abeka is. A lot of parents seem to disagree with me, but my boys seem to do much better with repetitive concepts. They grasp the concepts better because they’re reviewing them a lot. It’s also easier for me to be able to take a step back and spend some more time working on a concept that they’re not fully understanding. Abeka offers flexibility with that.

What I like about Abeka the most is that it does a great job of preparing students for college by high school graduation. I realize that college is not an answer for everyone. Personally, I want my children to be prepared for college in case they want to pursue that after graduation.

Abeka Videos

Many people like the video programs that Abeka offers. Although I may use them in older grades, they don’t seem very necessary to me for Kindergarten. This all depends on parental preference, though.

If you’re wanting a very structured classroom setting that resembles a traditional school setting, the video program may be exactly what you need. If you’re wanting to branch out and provide an atmosphere of learning without the rigidity and structure of a classroom, you may feel more confident going at it on your own.

What I Ordered

I’ve always been the type to question “but do I really need this”. For instance, it was typical behavior of me to show up to my first day of class in college without the required book material. I always wait until I figure out that I absolutely am going to use it before actually purchasing the book.

I acted the same way when I was trying to decide what I was going to buy. For sure, I wanted the full student kit. But did I really need all of the visuals in the complete teacher kit? And who actually needs a kindergarten curriculum? You’re teaching kindergarten, how hard can it be.

So, the first order I placed was the kindergarten student kit only. I will say, I ordered early to give myself time to order more if I needed to. After the books arrived, I spent the first night going over what I had. I quickly learned that I was going to need the curriculum. But I decided to forgo the flashcards and visuals. Aside from making a few charts and flashcards myself, I haven’t needed the teachers kit and am really happy I didn’t order the additional materials.

How It’s Going:

After our first week, I have little regrets. Having the curriculum has been so helpful because it is so diverse. You’re not teaching letters or numbers the same way each day and it allows you to give some variety into your lessons. Most of what the curriculum suggests that you use are items you have on hand already. Having a set lesson plan of what you’re supposed to accomplish each day gives me structure and helps to keep me on task.

I’m also thankful that I didn’t put money into the visuals, charts or games books. Those would be perfect for a large classroom setting; however when you’re just teaching one or two kids, it’s really not necessary. Especially if you’re focusing on teaching squirmy boys who would rather be outdoors, you want school to be as efficient as possible. Which brings me to my next point…

Keep It Short

My favorite part about homeschool, aside from the dedicated one on one time that we get every day, is that we have never gone over two hours from start to finish. Including all of the “extra” classes we do at the beginning and end (getting to that) it still only takes me 90 minutes to two hours.

I love the flexibility that that brings! Only spending two hours on actual school allows the boys ample amount of time to play. I can totally see how older grades are then able to be involved in so many more extra curricular activities, and that they’re able to do it all well! They have so much extra time to dedicate to them.

Additionally, there are some days that they just do not want to focus. I’m able to make school go fast. We do the bare minimum for the day to be done. I also allow for short breaks between subjects. Likewise, on other days, they want to do more at the end of the school day. On those days, we do the “extra” activities like Art.

What A Normal Day Looks Like

I start our homeschool after breakfast dishes have been cleared and a cup of coffee is poured for me. My three boys are almost 3, 4, and 5. Because two of the three technically don’t have to be in school in our state, but all three boys enjoy spending time together, this year our homeschool is Kindergarten only.

I made this decision because I wanted to make it the easiest on my part, especially when I’m expecting a baby right in the middle of all of this. I realize that this makes things more challenging for my second son. However, I’m not worried too much. I’m planning on having him repeat everything next year when he is Kindergarten age.

Bible

We start the school day with Bible, and this is where I have all three boys pay attention. I know a lot of parents that don’t do the Bible curriculum through Abeka, and I understand why. Especially at an early age, you can do your own Bible by simply reading a Bible story each day.

I chose to do their Bible curriculum because, again, I wanted the accountability and structure. I’m really bad at being consistent. It’s an area as a parent that I feel like I lack in. So, I didn’t want to “make my own” curriculum because I felt like I wouldn’t keep to it.

What I love about the Abeka Bible curriculum is that there’s consistency in each story and they do reviews frequently (almost every other lesson) to make sure the child understands the story. They give you questions to ask your child about the lesson, or doctrinal drills to be sure they understand basic foundational truths. That really gives the impression that the child is able to have a chance to share and speak.

Aside from the basic Bible stories taught, we’ve learned so many verses so far. As I’m writing this, we’re wrapping up our first month and have learned almost 9 verses. And yes, my three year old is learning them too.

Letters and Numbers

After Bible is over (that takes up 20-30 minutes), I let my youngest go play. He’s usually quite ready by that point. For the next 45 minutes to an hour, we work on letters and numbers. I will say at this point, my boys ace the numbers part and struggle so much with letters.

So, at the moment, letters takes the most time and also can be the most frustrating. At times, I’ve realized it’s best to just stick to the curriculum. I try not to over stress about them grasping the concepts. Again, because Abeka is so repetitious, if they don’t grasp it on day one of a new concept, they have ample amount of time to get it further down the road.

All the Extras

After letters and numbers are over, if it’s obvious that they’re ready to be done, that’s when our day ends. Some days (my oldest especially) someone asks if we can do something else. This is when I throw in the additional stuff.

Science

I’m not a fan of the History or Science books that Abeka offers for Kindergarten. They seem to be pretty basic, honestly. My boys absolutely love learning about animals and nature in general. So, I’ve found a few books that I use instead.

First, I read these devotions to my son at the end of the day and he loves them. Each day gives you a new animal to learn about and some cool animal facts along with a biblical concept to apply. I pair it by pulling up YouTube videos of that particular animal so that he can better visualize it. Who said screen time couldn’t be educational?

I found a copy of one of the books in this series at a book giveaway. Once I’m done with the devotional book, I for sure am going to order the other books in this series. What I really like about them is that there are review pages and simple diagrams and concepts that kids at a Kindergarten level can understand.

Every now and then, I get really creative with them. I decide to do a simple science experiment that helps them better grasp a concept. If you’re wanting some more information, check out this post I wrote.

History

So far, History has sort of stumped me. I’m not really sure what exactly to do for the boys in this area, but I know that I want them to learn more than what the Abeka Social Studies book is offering for them. Right now, I’m focusing more on geography. This also has to do more with hands on learning and games, rather than book work or filling out a worksheet.

After a trip to Barnes and Noble, we have a puzzle of the United States, and a United States Bingo game. We typically play it after lunch while my youngest is napping, and it’s just a fun way to introduce the states and capitals. Peter and I’s extended family lives in quite a few different states around the nation, so it’s fun to show the boys where everyone lives.

Other Educational Activities

Most of these activities are done in the afternoon after lunchtime. Some of them are utilized during quiet time. Most of the time I’m not heavily involved in the activity, so I’m able to focus on housework while they’re at independent play. I also am trying to increase their right brain creativity areas and the best way to do that is to encourage hands on learning on their own.

Of course, we have the typical stash of crayons, coloring books, watercolor paints, and play doh. I don’t let them get all of this out at once, by the way. That’s a recipe for disaster in my opinion. So rather, they pick something to do from that.

I also have about six or seven floor puzzles of animals, farms, or other “boy fun”. Of course, some days we simply read books together. Sometimes I read to them; other times I have them read to themselves while I read a book as well. We also have the infamous Lincolns logs, blocks, and Legos to encourage their engineering mindset.

But lastly, I ordered these magnetic sticks that my boys play with practically every day. I can’t say enough about how much I love these and am so glad I purchased them.

Is Homeschooling Abeka Kindergarten Worth It?

In summary, what are my initial thoughts on this school year? So far, I’m so thankful I did it. I love the flexibility it offers our family and the one on one time I have with my sons. Abeka offers structure and ideas I need to help my child best succeed. Overall, I have plenty of pros and can’t think of very many cons.

If you’re on the fence or are considering homeschooling in the future with your child, let this post be an encouragement to you to give it a shot.