Have you ever felt intimidated by the thought of homeschooling kindergarten? There’s certainly some pressure that comes along with laying a solid educational foundation while passing on a love for learning to our children.
I’ve felt that pressure throughout the years, but I’ve learned that homeschooling kindergarten — or any grade level — comes down to being equipped with the right resources. That’s why I’m excited to share what I’ve learned about Kindergarten Stepping Stones.
*I received a complimentary Kindergarten Stepping Stones unit for review.
I was compensated for my time to create this post,
but I was not required to give a positive review.
All opinions are my own. See disclosure for additional details.
Kindergarten Stepping Stones Review
The goal of Kindergarten Stepping Stones is to help make the invisible God visible to each child. Through nine cross-curricular units, children are invited to explore a variety of themes.
Each themed unit is designed to be covered over a month’s time. That month centers around a theme-specific concept, a Bible Story book, and four picture books.
Through these materials and the Teacher Manual, children are introduced to a good mix of instruction, activity, and play that integrate Bible and worship, language arts, phonics, math, science, social studies, art, music, dramatic play, and technology.
Kindergarten Stepping Stones Teacher Manual
The Teacher Manual does a great job of thoroughly explaining the curriculum components. It contains a general overview of the curriculum, help for making the most of the Daily Lesson Guides, tips for assessment, and additional resources for use throughout the material.
Kindergarten Stepping Stones Daily Lesson Guide
Kindergarten Stepping Stones includes a fantastic lesson guide for each themed unit. The lesson guides are divided according to the picture books, known as trade books, and include a story overview, author background, planning overview, and target skills.
Within each section, the lesson guide breaks down the unit subject-by-subject. That happens through a weekly planning grid, activities, materials lists, and background information to help take the picture books across multiple subject areas.
Our Experience with
Kindergarten Stepping Stones
This kindergarten curriculum was designed with Seventh-day Adventist schools in mind, but I find it to be easily adaptable for homeschool families of any Christian denomination. All faith-based concepts we encountered through Kindergarten Stepping Stones completely line up with our family’s non-denominational leanings.
And, while I don’t typically gravitate toward school-based materials for our homeschool use, I found this to be incredibly flexible for homeschooling. There was more than enough material for us to use across all subjects, making it easy to customize it to meet my daughter’s needs.
Many homeschool families prefer to let good books do the heavy lifting when it comes to education. We are one of those families! Thankfully, Kindergarten Stepping Stones is built on great books.
We adore the books we’ve encountered through our Stepping Stones experience! Each book was engaging, fun, and easily encourages further explanation of the theme through other subjects. Here’s what we read through the Moving On unit:
- Papa and the Pioneer Quilt – our favorite of the four trade books. This is a precious story of a family’s Oregon Trail journey.
- A Day on the Prairie – a book about the sights and sounds found throughout a typical prairie day.
- Iron Horses – a fun read with a big story. This book is a look at the beginnings of the transcontinental railroad.
- Arbor Day Square – a book about a prairie community coming together to bring beauty to their new surroundings by planting trees for generations to come.
Prairie life was the focus of our Moving On unit and the common denominator found among our trade books. We loved every minute of our prairie theme!
We started each week by introducing one of the books and discussing what life was like for the characters. Then we moved into lesson plans from the Daily Lesson Guides to explore the story and setting from a cross-curricular lens.
By allowing the books to be the foundation of our days, my daughter stayed excited about all she was learning about prairie life. Despite thoroughly covering several subjects each day, she never felt overwhelmed by any of it. Instead, she was happy to continue learning.
Bottom Line: Between the book-based foundation, comprehensive lesson plans, and goal to help children become more aware of God in their lives, I’m a fan of Kindergarten Stepping Stones! This is a curriculum I’m happy to have found and I think you’ll enjoy using it with your children, too!
Get Connected with Kindergarten Stepping Stones
You can visit the Kindergarten Stepping Stones website to learn more about this fantastic curriculum or Kendall Hunt Religious Publishers website to purchase the curriculum for your child.
You’ll also want to get connected with Kendall Hunt RPD through social media. By following them on Facebook and Twitter, you can keep up with their latest offerings and news.
Want to know more about our experiences with Kendall Hunt Religious Publishers? Check out my By Design review for information on their elementary science curriculum.
Do you have experience with Kindergarten Stepping Stones? Share your thoughts in the comments below!