Literature Based Kindergarten Curriculum

 

Clip art courtesy of http://etc.usf.edu/

I am so excited to share with you the literature based kindergarten curriculum I have put together for my son who isn’t quite ready for year 1 in Ambleside Online. I will be using AO with the older children, but I wanted something gentle before we started AO with him. Based on Kathy Jo DeVore’s Pathways and some of the book choices suggested in Ambleside year 0.5, this is what I have put together.

Before you think it looks like a lot of reading, let me explain that I don’t plan to do all of the reading at once. We will do Bible and Poetry in the morning. Then we will do the science/ history readings along with other subjects during regular school time. The literature selections will be done in the evening before bed time. You will notice I didn’t put “week 1,…” but instead numbered the days. This was to make it easy on myself in case we miss a day here or there. So this may take more than 36 weeks, but I am alright with that.

Here is the list of books needed to use these- the link to the actual curriculum is at the bottom. But feel free to substitute any books you may like better. Make it your own! 😉

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BIBLE READINGS

Missionary Stories with the Millers
Right Choices
The Jesus Storybook Bible
The Children’s Book of Virtues
Devotions for the Childrens Hour

LITERATURE

Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon
(Includes My Father’s Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragons of Blueland…or you can purchase the books separately)
Tumtum and Nutmeg
A Bear Called Paddington
The Hundred Dresses
The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook
The House at Pooh Corner
Uncle Wiggily Bedtime Stories
Mouse Tales
HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics
The 20th-Century Children’s Book Treasury
A Treasury of Curious George
Mad About Madeline
The Danny and the Dinosaur Treasury: Three Huge Adventures

READINGS FOR SCIENCE AND HISTORY(most of these we have in our Yesterday’s Classics eBook collection, but they may be free online too)
Stories of Great Americans For Little Americans
Kindergarten Gems
Fifty Famous People
Little Wanderers
Among the Forest People
Among the Pond People
The Burgess Flower Book For Children(I know this book might be pricey, but it is SO beautiful! Check for it used on places like eBay. Or you could substitute a book you already own)
Among the Night People
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children
One Small Square: Backyard
The Berenstain Bears’ Science Fair
(This is one of the books included in The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature)
POETRY (I selected one poet to study per week to give a nice introduction to all of the wonderful poets out there)
Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected For Boys and Girls

Math and Language Arts are blank so that you can use what works best for your children.

For art I did add Artpac 1 (Art With a Purpose) because we love it, but that is optional.

For the memory work part, we will be using the Simple Charlotte Mason memory box for shorter poems and Bible verses

As far as the other aspects of AO including hymns, folksongs, artists, etc. I will just let him jump in with the older kids when he wants to do that. I am not making it mandatory. 🙂 Below is the link of the curriculum you can download and use for your own children. Enjoy!

Literature-Based Kindergarten