I know that as homeschoolers we have the freedom to venture away from the ways traditional schools do things. And I also know “Calendar Time” is pretty much standard in every classroom across America in Kindergarten (at least it was when I taught over 5 years ago).

However, as a homeschool mom I see value in incorporating Calendar Time into our homeschool. And here is why.

1. It teaches numerical order. We start Calendar Time by me telling Little Bug what day it is and then I ask her to find that number on the calendar. In the picture below the date was July 30th. She started at the 1st and was counting until she got to 30, pointing to each number along the way. A couple days later, it was time to make the calendar for August. Little Bug said, “Ta-da!!!” after she had put the numbers in order from 1 to 31 for the month of August. I gave them to her in groups of 10.

2. It teaches number recognition. Once she found the 30 we talked about the number 30. (That it has a 3 and 0.)

3. It teaches the days of the week. Little Bug already knows her days of the week so this is just good reinforcement for her. After finding the 30th, she looked at the word at the top of that column and we figured out it was Tuesday. Then, there are pockets for today, yesterday and tomorrow.

I first have Little Bug place the 7 Days of the Week cards in order on the table. Then she figures out what yesterday was and what tomorrow will be!

4. There is a science component. It teaches about weather and seasons. There are 9 Weather cards and 4 Season cards.

The last thing we do during Calendar Time is to step outside and observe the weather. Then Little Bug finds the cards that correspond with that day’s weather and she places them in the weather pocket.

I bought our Calendar and Weather Pocket Chart off Amazon!

- Elaine