History & Geography

About this course

Kindergarten social studies here is not dates and timelines. It starts with what your student already knows and works outward in four steps. The first unit is about the student and the family: full name and age, home, the fact that families are put together in different ways, family traditions, and that God gave each person the family they have. The second unit is the neighborhood, covering what a community is and the people who serve one, including police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers, and the local church, closing with what it means to be a good neighbor. The third unit is a first look at America, with the flag and what its colors, stars, and stripes stand for, the Pledge of Allegiance, who our leaders are, why we pray for them, and gratitude for freedom. The last unit walks through Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, and the days a family celebrates on its own, such as birthdays and anniversaries.

There are 23 lessons in all, spread over those four units, at roughly 25 minutes each. This is a short course by design, so it will not fill a slot every school day for a whole year. The lesson text is written as a script for you rather than for the student to read alone. It tells you what to say, gives you three or four questions to ask out loud, supplies a King James verse and a short memory line to repeat together, and ends with a simple activity using paper and crayons or something already in the house, such as drawing a self-portrait, counting the stripes on a flag, or making a calendar of family birthdays. Most lessons close with a short spoken prayer. After the reading comes a ten-question multiple-choice quiz that grades itself.

Nothing is assumed coming in. Your student does not need to read, write, or know any history. Everything arrives through conversation and drawing. You should plan to sit alongside for the whole lesson and to read the quiz questions aloud, since a kindergartner will usually not be able to work through them independently. Along the way you and your family may want to talk about your own traditions and holidays, since several lessons deliberately turn the discussion back to your household.

What the course covers

• My name, my family, and my home
• Family traditions and how families differ
• What a community is and who serves in it
• Community helpers: police, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers
• The local church and being a good neighbor
• The American flag, its colors, stars, and stripes
• The Pledge of Allegiance and praying for leaders
• Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Independence Day
• Birthdays, anniversaries, and special family days

What your student will be able to do

• Say a full name, age, and birthday, and describe the family at home
• Name community helpers and tell what each one does
• Recognize the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance
• Explain why we honor and pray for those in authority
• Tell what each major American holiday remembers
• Answer a ten-question quiz aloud with a parent reading along

Scope and sequence

All 4 units of History & Geography for Kindergarten, in the order they are taught.

Every lesson, by title

All 23 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 23 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.