The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

by Susan Wise Bauer

Kindergarten for four–year-olds accomplishes even less. Most four-year-olds have microscopic attention spans, immature hand-eye coordination, and a bad case of the wiggles. And normal

But try not to think of these curricula as schoolwork, or you may find yourself pushing a reluctant preschooler to “just finish that page” when her attention span has long since expired.

Kindergarten (Ages Four and Five) Reading Spend time every day reading out loud, as much time as you can afford. Learn basic phonics for fluent reading. Begin with 10 minutes, gradually working up to 30 minutes. Practice reading easy books. Writing Practice printing. Work up to 10 minutes per day. Copy short sentences from a model. Mathematics Learn to count from 1 to 100. Use actual objects to understand what numbers mean, 1 to 100. Be able to write the numbers from 1 to 100. Practice skip-counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Teach about math as you go about life. If you use a kindergarten math program, plan on no more than 30 minutes a day. General Learning Do fine motor work (coloring, cutting and pasting, stickers, etc.) for 10–15 minutes every day. Schedule active play daily.