Kindergarten, The Charlotte Mason Way
I am so excited to share with you more about A Quiet Growing Kindergarten! I wrote this curriculum because I love educating my children in the Charlotte Mason method but also feel like there is a huge gap when it comes to the kindergarten age group.
Entering into kindergarten for the third time, I knew I wanted more than just a book list for my child, but also nothing too rigorous or formal. I wanted something that truly aligned with what Charlotte Mason envisioned for this age.
A Bit of Background...
A Quiet Growing Kindergarten centers itself around two Charlotte Mason ideas:
1. Charlotte Mason's idea of a "quiet growing time": "In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother's 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." (Home Education, p.43)
2. Her list of attainments for children of the age 5 or 6, as found in an article she wrote for the Parents' Review (Vol. 2, p. 308-317) as follows:
"With the child's earliest lessons. Here, for example, is the sort of work that will be set for the first (lowest) class:
To recite, beautifully, six easy poems and hymns.
To recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm.
To add and subtract numbers up to ten, with dominoes or counters.
To read--what, and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child; children vary much in their power of reading.
To copy in print-hand from a book.
To know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows.
To describe the boundaries of their own home.
To describe any lake, river, pond, island, etc., within easy reach.
To tell quite accurately (however shortly) three stories from Bible history, three from early English, and three from early Roman history. (*To Note: AQGK substitutes Early American and Native American history for early English and Roman history)
To be able to describe three walks and three views.
To mount in a scrap book a dozen common wild flowers, with leaves; to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
To do the same with the leaves and flowers of six forest trees.
To know six birds, by song, color and shape.
To send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed.
To tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog, or cat.
To name twenty common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences.
To sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song.
To keep a caterpillar, and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.
Download A Quiet Growing Kindergarten Book List Here
So, if you've read through this list and are anything like me, you're probably a little bit intimidated and also left wondering how a child can attain these things while also having that "passive, receptive" "quiet growing time".
Let me tell you how. I believe this list isn't a check list, but rather an outline for the beauty we can spread before our children when they are in kindergarten. It is the parents' job to bring before them a wide feast of ideas, without pressure, and the child's job to receptively and passively enjoy!
A Quiet Growing Kindergarten makes this easy for you. I've taken all of these lofty and worthy ideas and broken them now into a tangible and manageable curriculum.
Download A Quiet Growing Kindergarten Book List Here
A Quiet Growing Kindergarten
A Quiet Growing Kindergarten is a 36-week Charlotte Mason kindergarten curriculum. These are the subjects you'll cover each week with you child:
Bible & Prayer
Hymn Study
Folk Songs
Memory Work, Poetry & Recitation, Tea Time
History (Early American & Native American history substituted for CM's early English and early Roman history)
Science
Geography
Nature Study & Nature Walk
Handicrafts
Literature
Math/Reading/Copywork (to be selected separately. I recommend Living Lessons in Handwriting and Living Lessons in Reading for Copywork and Reading. Both Charlotte Mason curricula are found in my shop!)
The included teacher's guide gives you detailed instructions on how to teach each subject in a Charlotte Mason way, ideas for afternoon and outdoor occupations, a book checklist, a supply checklist, optional teacher's enrichment reading, folk song playlist, amazon shopping list and a sample schedule.
You will also find these printables for use alongside the curriculum:
Bird Log
Tree Log
Flower Log
7 page Caterpillar Observation Journal
9 poems
6 parables
3 Psalms
Download A Quiet Growing Kindergarten Book List Here
Each week is laid out in a grid format, and each day should take less than 90 minutes to complete. Mondays also include Poetry Tea Time and all of Friday is a lighter schedule with nature walks and time for a family read aloud chapter book.
A Day with A Quiet Growing Kindergarten
A typical day (Monday-Thursday) of A Quiet Growing Kindergarten is scheduled like this:
- Bible reading, prayer, hymn study and/or memory work
- History, Geography or Science reading
- Literature (fables, fairy tales, etc.) reading, Poetry, French or Folk Song
- One handicraft per week (baking/cooking, story writing, nature journaling or sewing)
- Daily time scheduled for Math or Reading or Copywork, 2 each day, or as selected/determined by the parent
Friday has a unique schedule of Bible, prayer, nature walk, nature log, read aloud and then space again for math or reading or copywork.
A Quiet Growing Time
The rest of the day is to be spent outside, exploring and digesting all that they have heard. This is the "letting alone" that Charlotte Mason talks of, giving children room and space to grow. In A Quiet Growing Kindergarten there are no tests or exams or narrations required. It is meant to be a resource to kick start you and your child on the path to a Charlotte Mason education while your child enjoys the beauty of their home-life and world.
Download A Quiet Growing Kindergarten Book List Here
It is my hope that A Quiet Growing Kindergarten would enrich your life and learning together! You can find it in my shop today!
