The BEST Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

Let’s jump right into our Kindergarten homeschool curriculum picks.

BIBLE STUDY

For our Kindergarten homeschool Bible study, we read through The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones. It includes 21 stories from the Old Testament and 23 stories from the New Testament. We own a lot of Bible storybooks, but one reason this one stands out is the emphasis on Jesus throughout the book. Even throughout the Old Testament, The Jesus Storybook Bible points to Jesus as Savior.

Let’s jump right into our Kindergarten homeschool curriculum picks.

In Kindergarten, learning to read was the primary goal of our language arts curriculum. This was accomplished with a combination of phonics practice, sight word study, and reading. Our main language arts textbook was Horizons Phonics & Reading – Kindergarten. The complete Kindergarten curriculum consists of four student workbooks, four teacher’s guides, four readers, an alphabet floor puzzle, and wipe-off tablet. While we purchased both the student workbooks and teacher’s guides, in hindsight, we would’ve been fine with just the student workbooks.

The Horizons Phonics & Reading program goes through 3rd grade, but the Kindergarten book is definitely my favorite. The full-colored workbook is highly engaging with matching, puzzles, and fill-in-the-blank activities. The workbook begins with letter recognition and will help students learn the fundamentals of short vowel sounds and reading small words. It is an excellent phonics program for children learning how to read.

In preschool, we used the BOB Books: Beginning Readers Workbook along with the companion books. We continued this series in Kindergarten with the BOB Books: Emerging Readers Workbook and companion book set. If you have a child that really doesn’t like seat work, I would not try to tackle two workbooks. I think Horizons Phonics & Reading is a little better developed as far as teaching alphabet sounds and blends, but if cost is a factor, the BOB Workbooks are an excellent and inexpensive alternative.

Another book that we used in preschool but would be helpful in Kindergarten (if this is your child’s first exposure to learning to read) is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It has sold more than one million copies and has 4.6 stars from 15,521 ratings on Amazon (as of this writing). While the formatting may look wonky (and honestly, kind of boring upon first glance), it is an extremely useful tool in helping children learn to read. If you stick with it, you will be pleasantly surprised at the improvement in your child’s reading ability.

Having children read aloud is essential when learning to read. Besides proper pronunciation, reading aloud will help with flow and delivery, which will be especially useful in later years. In Kindergarten, the primary books used for student read-aloud time came from the BOB Books collection. The workbook above highlights 3 different collections of stories, Advancing Beginners, Sight Words Kindergarten, and Sight Words First Grade. We would cover one worksheet per day and read the accompanying story. Typically, each story would be read three times total before moving on to the next story.

We also tackled these Literature Pockets by Evan Moor. The Folk Tales and Fairy Tales collection includes seven children’s tales with art activities and projects to bring the story to life. The K-1 grade book features The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Too Much Noise.

Daily read-aloud stories were an integral part of our homeschooling day. Typically, we would pop popcorn and sit outside on the swing (if it was nice outside), and really make this time something we all look forward to. In Kindergarten, the book was likely to be a picture book (or several picture books) or even an early chapter book.

It’s important to note that not all kids are capable (or willing) to sit through a long chapter, even if they are interested in the book. This can especially be true when you are schooling several age ranges. If you have a child that doesn’t want to simply sit and listen, that is ok. The best way to combat this is to give them something to do with their hands while you are reading. It could be a coloring sheet, play-doh, lacing cards, building blocks, etc. Just because they are doing something in addition to the story does not mean that they are not listening.

Below are book titles that were on our regular rotation for read-aloud stories. Reading should be fun so pick a variety of book styles and see what your child likes best. In Kindergarten and 1st Grade, my daughter could not get enough of Elephant and Piggie. She also surprised me by being able to sit through the Magic Tree House collection, which I personally think is one of the best elementary children’s fiction series out there.

If you’re looking for some great Kindergarten picture books, give one of these a try!

– On the First Day of Kindergarten by Tish Rabe

– The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

– Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire

– Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

– Ladybug Girl by David Soman

– Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

– A Peaceful Garden by Lucy London

– How to Catch a Unicorn by Adam Wallace

– The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

– If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

– Curious George collection by H.A. Ray

– Madeline by Ludwin Bemelmans

– Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

– Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

– Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

– The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

– Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin

– The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

– The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

– The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

– Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

– Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

– The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

– The Bad Seed by Jory John

– Let’s Go for a Drive! – An Elephant and Piggie Book by Mo Willems

In Kindergarten, we did not follow a formal writing program. Instead, I purchased a Primary Wide-Ruled Composition Notebook with Picture Space for creative writing. Sometimes a topic was provided and other times, I would have them come up with their own topic to write about. Creative spelling was encouraged as this was a time to attempt to work independently and have fun while writing.

Other Popular Kindergarten handwriting Books Include:

– Handwriting without Tears – Kick Start Kindergarten
– A Reason for Handwriting – Level K
– DK Workbooks – Handwriting: Printing Kindergarten

Horizons Kindergarten Math is a wonderful introductory math program. It is a traditional math curriculum and is not common core aligned. The math set comes with two student books and a teacher’s guide. Although you may find that teaching Kindergarten math is pretty straightforward, I like that the teacher’s guide gives you additional practice ideas as well as guidance on the order of teaching the lesson for the day.

The first student workbook covers very basic, beginner level math, which is ideal if your child has never been exposed to these concepts before. By the second book, things get progressively harder with simple single-digit addition, calendar work, number lines, etc.

By the end of the year, you will have covered counting to 100, skip counting to 100, values of single-digit numbers, place values for 1’s and 10’s, learning before and after, addition and subtraction with single-digit numbers, coin recognition, time to the quarter, calendar work, line graphs, and bar charts.

Which grade level should you start with for your Kindergartener?

If your child has completed preschool, at home or at a facility, you might find the Kindergarten math to be quite easy for them. I know this to be true with other homeschooling math programs as well. To determine whether to start your child with Horizons Kindergarten Math or Horizons Math Grade 1, you can have your child take the Horizons Math Readiness Evaluation, Part A to determine which level is the best fit.

In our household, we did opt to start with Grade 1 and it has worked out great for us. However, it does seem that the odd years are a little more difficult. Grade 2 felt like more of a review and master year, whereas Grade 3 was definitely more challenging.

Since we started with Horizons Math Grade 1, we also included addition and subtraction flash cards as part of our Kindergarten math curriculum. It’s also a good idea to purchase a solid set of manipulatives since you will be using these again in 1st grade, 2nd grade, and even into 3rd grade.

Addition flash cards 0 – 12
Subtraction flash cards 0 – 12 

Play Money 
Big Time Student Clock
Base Ten Blocks

Here are a few other Kindergarten Math Programs we considered:

– Abeka Number Skills K5
– Saxon Math K
– Singapore Primary Mathematics Student Book Kindergarten A

In Kindergarten, history and social studies are optional subjects. Yes, it is never too early to introduce students to history, but it is second to reading and math. If you are already feeling overwhelmed with those two subjects, there is absolutely no reason to add anything else.

Our Kindergarten social studies curriculum was based primarily on what I would call “calendar time.” It was very informal and only took a few minutes each day. During calendar time, we would discuss the days of the week, months of the year, terms like yesterday, today, and tomorrow, as well as discuss any important holidays or activities, the seasons, and the weather. If the day fell on a holiday or a holiday was coming up, we would likely read a storybook that related to that holiday as well as a craft.

Since homeschooling is based in the home, there isn’t going to be diversity within the classroom unless you bring it in. I wanted to introduce a cultural studies aspect to our social studies curriculum as well. We read through Matt Lamothe’s book, This is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Children from Around the World to explore the cultures and customs of children around the world. It shows what the children eat each day, what their classroom looks like, and where they live.

For Kindergarten science, we also kept things very informal. We read a page or section each day out of DK My Encyclopedia of Important Things. If I wanted to expound on a topic, we might watch a video or complete a related activity.

Along with the Big Book of Space, other popular National Geographic Little Kids First Books include:

– National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Why
– National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Dinosaurs
– National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals

To really make science something to look forward to, we would implement hands-on learning through a weekly science experiment. This Science Kit from Learning Resources is perfect for Kindergarten aged children. We did every single experiment in the kit. While you could piece together different science experiments for your lessons, this all-in-one kit made planning much easier.

Our FREE Intro to Space unit study is ideal for children in Kindergarten through 2nd grade. This STEAM-based unit study introduces early elementary students to space basics such as the sun, moon, planets, stars, and more. It is filled with a base textbook, engaging picture books, and hands-on activities.

In Kindergarten, there should be plenty of opportunities for fun and exploration. Along with our weekly science project, we included lots of craft time and activities to work on fine motor skills.

Here are some of the kits, books, and activities that we worked through:

Melissa & Doug Scissor Skills Activity Pad and Tape Activity Book

Paint by Sticker Kids Zoo Animals

Melissa & Doug Underwater Ocean Floor Puzzle

Wooden Pattern Blocks Set

Picasso Tiles Magnet Building Tiles

LEGO Classic Large Creative Brick Box

Play-Doh Fun Tub Playset

While the majority of our school day was screen-free, I love it when screen-time can also be educational time. For preschool and Kindergarten, we had an ABC Mouse subscription. Reading and math practice was never a chore when online games were involved.