Transitional Kindergarten Homeschooling with Timberdoodle Curriculum

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Early Education across America and the world varies drastically, but if you find yourself in a place where your child is ready for something between preschool and Kindergarten academics, the answer could be found in “Transitional Kindergarten”.

Created in California for children who turn 5 between September and December (meaning they aren’t eligible to start Kindergarten until they turn 6), Transitional Kindergarten, also known as TK, is a year of early Kindergarten studies that offers more than Pre-K, but less than a full Kindergarten year.

Our family decided that TK would be beneficial because our child had a fall birthday and didn’t seem fully ready to start Kindergarten at the age of 5, even though as homeschoolers, we did have the freedom to do that.

However, I very quickly found a major dilemma. There is no “TK” homeschool curriculum.

Because it’s not a mainstream recognized grade level, there has been no available curriculum created for this particular year of study. Certainly, you can piece together your own program individual to your child, but that wasn’t something I had the time or energy for.

The solution? I decided to customize an Elite Kindergarten Timberdoodle Curriculum kit into two years of study. Surprisingly, this approach worked remarkably well for us and as we wrap up our second year, I wanted to share how we split the curriculum with ease and how you can set up a simple 2-year plan for your students as well.

Establishing Your TK Plan

Your TK and Kindergarten areas of study will branch:

• Language Arts
• Math
• Thinking Skills
• History & Social Studies
• Geography
• Science
• STEM
• Emotional Intelligence
• Art

Timberdoodle offers a unique aspect that you can customize your curriculum kit and make sure it’s just right for your child. There are numerous “placement tests” you can have your child complete to decide what level of material suits them best. You may find that you need (or want to) pull some elements from the Pre-K kit or even 1st grade, if you find that’s the level your child is at.

How Can One Kindergarten Kit Satisfy Two Years of School?

The Elite Timberdoodle Kindergarten Curriculum Kit is packed with materials, and while some children are able to complete the entire thing in one school year, our family found that it was a much more relaxed pace to split up the studies and spread it out. Because so many skills are being taught throughout the year, it’s simple to pull out the foundational materials from the more advanced ones.

Splitting Your 2-Year Focus – A Sample Plan

There are a few ways you can break up the two years, based on academic level and the length of the curriculum. A typical school year is around 180 days, equivalent to 36 weeks, though you’ll want to check into your state requirements in case they differ.

Your daily schedule will depend on your lifestyle and available time. It may also depend on your child. Some children will want to do a page from each subject every day. Others will be completely overwhelmed at the jumping around and will do better doing the daily staples (language arts, math, thinking skills) and rotating all the other subjects throughout the week.

We found that doing language arts and math daily kept consistent progress, and all the other subjects could be rotated, even if that meant doing 5-7 pages of the subject. It kept those subjects “special” and “fresh”. You may also finish all the materials for certain subjects earlier in the year, and that’s totally fine! You could choose to do Science for one semester, and Geography and History the next semester. It’s completely flexible for your family!

Here is a Sample Plan based on the 2022 Timberdoodle Kindergarten Elite Kit

Transitional Kindergarten (Year One) 30-60 minutes per day

Language Arts
• All About Reading Level 1 (Lessons 1 – 26) – one lesson per week, up to 20 minutes a day
• What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know – 5-6 reading selections a week

Math
• Math-U-See Primer (Lessons 1 – 15) – 3-4 worksheets per week

Thinking Skills
• Kumon Thinking Skills K – one page per day
• Gobblet Gobblers – play as desired
• Apple Twist – play as desired

History & Social Studies
• Here & There – read one topic per week

Geography
• Around the World Mazes – 2 pages a week

Science
• Skill Sharpeners Science K – 1/2 or 1 full unit per week (20 units in the book)

STEM
• ThinkPlay Gears Extreme – simple models as desired
• Mad Mattr Craftsman – as desired

Emotional Intelligence
• What’s Going On Here? – 1-2 cards per week

Art
• Animals & Their Homes Activity Box – 1 project every 3 weeks
• Scratch Art: Bugs – as desired

Kindergarten (Year Two) 45 – 90 minutes per day

Language Arts
• All About Reading Level 1 (Lessons 27 – 53) – one lesson per week, up to 20 minutes a day
• Italic Handwriting A – two pages a week
• Spelling You See A – 10 minutes a day

Math
• Math-U-See Primer (Lessons 6 – 30) – 3-4 worksheets per week
• Jump 1 Game – play as desired

Thinking Skills
• Kumon Thinking Skills K – one page per day
• Smart Farmer – play as desired
• Story Time Chess – work on game concepts twice a week
• OLSAT Test Prep A – ask your child about 6 questions a week and discuss why they chose that answer

History & Social Studies
• My Story K (religious kit) – one lesson per week or 180 Days of Social Studies for K (non-religious kit) – one page per day

Geography
• Skill Sharpeners Geography K – 2-3 pages a week
• Kids World Map Puzzle 100 – once a month

Science
• Look Inside Your Body – look through once a month
• Show Me Science: Slime, Crystals & More – 1 experiment a week

STEM
• ThinkPlay Gears Extreme – more advanced models as desired
• Mad Mattr Craftsman – as desired

Emotional Intelligence
• Happy, Sad, Feeling Glad – one 2 page doodle spread each week

Art
• I Can Doodle Rhymes – 2-3 pages per week
• Aquarellum Animal Postcards – as desired

You can view all of these materials individually on the Timberdoodle website here.

If you decide that Transitional Kindergarten is right for your family, I’d love to hear what you’re planning to do for homeschool curriculum! We found Timberdoodle to be the perfect fit for our early homeschooling years and truly believe it adds a hands-on component for active young children ready to learn.

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