Where do I start?!

[Celeste]

DD will be starting Kindergarten next year. I know I need to send a letter of intent to the county Superintendent. I'm not sure if I will kind of piece together my own curriculum, or buy one. I feel confident to piece together my own, I guess I just don't know how to keep track of everything if I'm printing out stuff here & there from the internet, using certain workbooks, etc. I already have Hooked on Phonics for K, and a Kindergarten set of computer games for all different subject areas. I looked over the benchmarks for the state. I guess I just don't know how to organize myself, in case the county wants to see my records. Also, not sure how long it should/will take me each day? An hour? 2? Any help or advice is welcome!!

[leeuhhh]

it took us maybe an hr a day while we were doing K. i'd suggest a packaged curriculum till you learn the ropes, or a free online curric or something more structured. then when you start feeling more comfortable you can switch things up. right now i buy (for my 2nd grader) a pieced together curric, but we use a lot of it more as a guide. i tried winging it last year and i dont think we got enough accomplished.

[By Grace]

For us, I don't generally use a "packaged curriculum" until the child is reading well independently, which is usually about halfway through 1st grade. Until that point, we focus on reading skills however it grabs their interest, very basic math concepts, and learning to write letters. They play educational computer games (like Reader Rabbit), watch educational videos (like LeapFrog), play with puzzles and blocks and dolls and trains, read books together, and occasionally we sit down and do some focused work to get them reading.

With DD1, we "unschooled" like this until some point in first grade, and we sat down one day and gave it about 3 hours focused effort. By the end of that time, she was starting to read simple words. I gave her leveled readers after that off and on, and her reading level increased without a lot of work from me.

DD2 needed more help than that, so we used HOP 1st grade, and that got her over the hump. Then lots of practice with leveled readers, reading aloud to anyone who would listen (Daddy and Grandmommy did their job and poured on the praise!), and we also started Singapore Math 1A at this point, moving very slowly.

I have HOP K for DS1 (who is just now 4), but I don't know how much we'll use it until I see how well he takes to school work in a year. I picked it up super cheap at a consignment sale (score!).

Even after they're reading, we only do a math program, reading, and writing (handwriting plus a very basic grammar program)..and Bible. We don't add history or science until 2nd grade.

Depending on your state's laws, you may not need to do any reporting until 1st grade. In my state (Georgia), kids start in ps in K, but hs'ers don't have to report until 1st grade, which doesn't technically begin until the child is 6 as of Sept 1. So with my Sept DS, who just turned 4, we'll start him on his "K" stuff next year, and 1st grade the following year, but he won't actually BE in 1st grade until the NEXT year when he's been 6 for nearly a year already, which is the point where I have to start reporting on him to the County.