education

...... This is the type of educational guide I had been looking for!

...... As a busy mom & entrepreneur, I don't desire to homeschool my kids presently, but want to be an active leader and main influence in their education. This series gives me well-rounded view of topics, learning skills and levels for me to present and work on with my children, in additional to their public school and private preschool education.

..... My preschooler, age 4, has particularly benefitted from, for example, reading additional stories about some of our presidents when he made "Washington" and "Lincoln" related art at preschool. We've also used many of the math sorting/classifying/counting/identifying shapes skills as a normal, integrated part of his day as he plays.

. Overall, I view this series as a springboard for us as a family to concentrate on topics, skills, stories, etc., as the kids need them or are interested in them. We've already pulled out my grandmother's 1960 encyclopedias to look up more about a topic; searched the internet about another topic; got engrossed as a family in one of the science experiments; and checked out a library book about one of the stories they have included in an abridged form.

..... I would love to also see a related workbook for this series.

When I bought this book, I expected to see more of a checklist of what my child needed to know for Kindergarten and what my child would learn in Kindergarten. As a former Kindergarten teacher, I have an idea of what is needed, but I wanted it in writing. What I got was different, but not bad.

This book is devided into sections: reading, writing, art, etc.
There are whole stories, poems, songs, and lessons for a kindergartener. While I don't expect that it will be enough for teaching a whole year of Kindergarten at home, I think it will be a great start. The emphasis is placed on reading (rightly so I think). I would like to see more in the math section though. I find that the art section is lacking, while the Social Studies section has much more than I would expect a Kindergartener to know. I hope I'm pleasantly suprised in that area.

For information purpose it is not in a themematic form. It does cover many of the things that you would expect to see in a classical education (artists, authors, paintings etc). But it is lacking if you want a fully classical education.

While there a few resources, there are not near as many as I would like to see. I'd also like to see a comprehensive, overall list of what a child is expected to know before and after Kindergarten.

While it seems that I have discussed many of the points I see that need improvement, I think this book is great. It is probably the most comprehensive one book you can find for helping your child in Kindergarten. This would be a great start for homeschooling parents who don't want to spend a lot of money. It is a great book for parents who want to help their child learn prior to and during kindergarten but aren't really sure what to do.

I would buy this book. Just be aware of the limitations and be prepared to suppliment those areas.

The Book "What Your Kindergartener Need To Know is a great book to use to get your child started in learning. Even if you didn't get your hands on it before Kindergarten it is a good review and will help you to see if you child has suffered any "gaps" in their knowledge to date.

Since different states and school systems have different opinions as to what a child should know at what age, this book may not necessarily cover what your child has or is about to learn in your local school. From my analysis, the book covers more information from a cultural awareness perspective. This means that is basically is filled with things your child should have been exposed to by this point. They may not KNOW these things or be able to recite everything from this book, but they should have some awareness or have had some exposure to it at this point.

When my children and I received this book, our first Core Knowledge book by Hirsh, we went through the books table of contents page with a pencil and marked off everything they knew. My children are in the 3rd and 1st grade, and the 1st grader "KNEW" much more of the items, which to me means she remembered more items since she had been exposed to them more recently. Although the word KINDERGARTEN was written boldly across the front, they took great joy in my reading the fables and testing them on the geography and math question at bedtime.

I purchase these books in anticipation of beginning homeschooling, but we could not wait to get started on this series. I recommend this and the other books in this set to anyone considering homeschooling or even school-schooling. It is great fun to interact with your children and amazing to find out what they actually know.

Contents include, but are not limited to:
Teaching your child to read and write
Introduction to literature
Nursery rhymes, poems, and Aesop's Fables
Children's Stories like Three Billy Goats Gruff
Simple history and geography, especially American
Visual arts and music
Math and math readiness
Science including plants, weather, animals, and the human body, all at a "Kindergarteners Level"