How to Homeschool Kindergarten + Top Curriculum Choices

You have decided you want to homeschool your kindergartener, but where do you start? My hope is that reading this blog post will feel like we are having a coffee date where I answer all of your questions and you walk away feeling encouraged and confident that you can do this. I hope to give you practical tools and curriculum ideas and set you on your way to an intentional year with your child.

If you are brand new to homeschooling, this blog post shares seven clear steps to getting started including educational philosophies, the legal side of things, and more.

In this blog post:

Top questions about homeschooling kindergarten
Five intentions/goals for preschool and kindergarten
How do I legally homeschool my child?
What academic subjects should we cover in kindergarten?
Do I include beauty subjects and nature study during kindergarten?
How many hours a day does homeschool kindergarten take?
What curriculum do you use for your child’s kindergarten year?

Five intentions/goals for preschool and kindergarten

Here are the most important things to me during the kindergarten year:

A deep love for living literature
Unstructured, creative play
Obedience and the ability to pay attention
Practical life skills
Exploration and experiences in the outdoors

How do I legally homeschool my child?

Homeschool laws are regulated by each state, so you need to know what the local law requires of you and your child. Some states require a certain number of college credits from the parent who will be teaching them while others require a high school diploma. Most states will require that you officially declare your intent to homeschool and possibly name your school. Some states require attendance tracking, yearly testing, and/or a teacher’s evaluation. Some states have virtually no requirements at all. You can find out about your state’s requirements here.

What academic subjects should we cover in kindergarten?

If you are ready to introduce some academics to your child, I recommend starting with these four subject areas for their kindergarten year:

Math
Handwriting and copywork
Phonics and reading
Literature that touches a variety of topics (Bible, history, science, nature)

Don’t try to fit in geography or history lessons, fret about grammar, or memorize facts at this age. This is a year for easing in. It’s a year to cover the basics, enjoy some reading, and spend most of the day in play!

Do I include beauty subjects and nature study in kindergarten?

While it could be optional at this age, I have found so much value in incorporating subjects like Scripture, music, art study, poetry, and nature study into our home education, starting very young. Children are worthy of being exposed to truth, goodness, and beauty and it’s never too early to start. My children absolutely love the music, hand rhymes, poetry, projects, art, and more from Treehouse Nature Study, Primary Years.

Treehouse Nature Study, Primary Years can be used as the core curriculum for preschool or kindergarten. It’s so much more than nature study and includes copywork, living books, and opportunities for writing through notebooking.

How many hours a day does homeschool kindergarten take?

I recommend short “sit-times” at this age, and spread them out throughout the day. Find a curriculum that is enjoyable for both you and your child and that has short, manageable lessons. Math, handwriting, and phonics shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to an hour in total. Reading aloud varies depending on the interest and the attention span of the child. If you choose to add in art projects, nature study, and other hands-on activities like that you may spend another hour each day. To me, all of our day is learning, so it’s hard to put a timeframe on it. In an effort to give a straight answer though, I will say homeschool kindergarten should take 30 minutes to 2 hours a day, 4-5 days a week.

For a peek into our daily rhythm with a kindergartener, watch this video below:

What curriculum do you recommend for your child’s kindergarten year?

Here are my recommendations for homeschool kindergarten curriculum, based on what I have used or researched personally. These are all good picks, but the ones with the asterisks are the ones we are personally choosing to use with our son who is turning 5 in August this year.

Math

Kindergarten Math with Confidence by Kate Snow
Math-U-See Primer
Simply Good and Beautiful Math K*

We are choosing to use Simply Good and Beautiful Math K because it is full of color and games, which is a perfect opportunity for connection and will make a fun transition into formal schooling. We plan to switch to Math-U-See next year for first grade.

Handwriting and copywork

Wonder of Nature Collection
Handwriting Without Tears – My First School Book or Kick Start Kindergarten*, depending on starting ability
Copywork from any selection of scripture, poetry, or excerpts from books*
Morning Time Calendar, weather, and name tracing*

We will begin each day with our Homeschool Morning Time where we use the Morning Time Bundle to trace the day’s date and their name. We will work through the alphabet using the Wonder of Nature Collection, as well as practice letter formation using these hands-on strategies. As time goes on, we will add in copywork from Treehouse Nature Study, Primary Years poetry or other selections.

Phonics and reading

Explode the Code* (read my review in this post: Curriculum Review: Explode the Code)
ABC See Hear Do*
Dash into Learning*

We will work through all of these resources over the course of the year as he grows in his interest and abilities.

Literature

Reading aloud often from good, quality living picture books and chapter books is enough, but if you want to tie in some fun learning activities with your reading, I recommend using a literature-based curriculum to help guide you.

Sonlight
Beautiful Feet Books
Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row*

High quality book lists are essential for developing your child’s love for reading. I put together this booklist 100 Living Books for the Early Years with 100 selections of board and picture books, storybook collections and treasuries, poetry books your children will love, and novels that make great read-alouds for the younger years. We will also incorporate titles from Ambleside Online Year 0 Book List.

Related: Browse all of our free book lists here curated by season and age.

I plan to incorporate books and activities from Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row. We will also read aloud many, many books from both book lists (and more) this year and give him opportunities for play-based narration as much as possible.

I hope this post was helpful in answering some of the common questions about homeschooling your kindergartener. Ask any additional questions in the comments below!