I personally don’t think you need to worry about anything super structured for homeschooling the preschool and kindergarten years. And depending on the kid, 1st grade can be pretty darn laid back, too. I try to reassure first time homeschoolers that these early years are not difficult. You can both find your way without worrying about ‘getting behind.’
Here’s one of my favorite quotes about these beautiful, short years:
Childhood is short and fleeting – and important – don’t let them miss the opportunity to fully experience it and be a child during those very important golden years.
It’s from this marvelous article about how relaxed you can be about a homeschool curriculum for preschool and kindergarten.
All of that smelling the daisies and stargazing is marvelous, but sometimes you get a child who is very ready for school, and quite excited about pencil and paper desk work. For those children (approximately ages 3 – 6), here are some ideas, but please, remember, don’t push this stuff on kids who aren’t ready. If this causes crying (yours or the child’s!), back off. If they gobble it up, give them more. And my heavens, don’t feel pressure to buy everything on this list!
Though there are affiliate links throughout, I’ve used every single item listed, and can personally recommend them! Look them over, read the reviews (most links will take you to Amazon), and pick what you think your child might enjoy.
General Resource
The E. D. Hirsch books are great. They are available for every grade, and if pennies are tight, you could just get these books and make a really robust curriculum from them with a little elbow grease. They cover all the subjects and make great springboards into other projects.
What Your Preschooler Needs to Know
What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know
Multi-Subject
There are lots of broad-subject workbooks out there, we’ve tried a few including Comprehensive Curriculum workbooks, which I like okay, but Brain Quest workbooks are our favorite.
Brain Quest Workbook: Pre-K
Brain Quest Workbook: Kindergarten
Pre-Reading
Pre-Reading Skills (My First Bob Books)
Phonic Workbook: Level 1 (Usborne Very First Reading)
Phonic Workbook: Level 2 (Usborne Very First Reading)
Beginning Reading
Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers
Bob Books Set 2-Advancing Beginners
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Meet the Sight Words DVDs
Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD
LeapFrog Talking Words Factory DVD
Letters, Numbers, and Early Writing
Ready for Writing [With Marker] (Usborne Wipe-Clean)
Ready for Writing (Usborne First Learning)
Letters (First Learning)
ABC Sticker Book (Sticker Books)
123 Sticker Book (Sticker Books)
Letter Tiles
When they are ready for penmanship practice, start with Getty Dubay Book A, we’ve been so happy with these workbooks. My children are developing gorgeous handwriting.
Here’s a free Practice writing A-Z letters workbook you can print.
Preschool – Kindy printable handwriting paper by Donna Young. I also have some here that is portrait orientation.
Kumon makes some high quality workbooks for a good variety of subjects for this age set like My Book Of Numbers 1-30. Check them out for mazes, cutting with scissors, letters, tracing, and more.
Basics
Note: I never really had to ‘teach’ colors and shapes. We read a lot and talked about our surroundings a lot, and my kids knew these things by the time they could speak. However, we like these books, and if your kids need some formal basics, these are great.
Shapes (Usborne First Learning)
Shapes (Usborne Sticker Books)
Opposites (Usborne First Learning Activity Book)
Wikki Stix Basic Shapes Creative Fun Kit
First Shapes (Usborne Look and Say) – This is a board book, but the shapes are raised, and fun for little ones to feel and find. It appeals to babies all the way to the preschool / kindy set.
Early Math
We love Singapore Math! My 4 year old was ready for Textbook B, and will start Singapore 1A when he is 6. Since Singapore math usually runs a half grade to a grade ahead (depending on your area and your schools), IF they are ready to start early with these, you can give them a big head start. But please, don’t feel pressured to push them into it, if they aren’t ready you’ll only damage their desire to learn. Visit Singapore Math and take a peek at some of the sample lessons, it’ll help you figure out what you’re child needs.
Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics Textbook A (Standards Edition)
Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics Textbook B (Standards Edition)
Telling the Time
Early Math Manipulatives (useable through upper grades too)
50 Counting Bears with 5 Cups
Snap Cubes, Set of 100
Plastic Pattern Blocks (Set of 250)
Pattern Block Activity Cards
Sequencing Beads
Learning Resources Primary Bucket Balance
Beginning Grammar & Language Arts
If your child already knows letter names and letter sounds, you can skip right to Explode the Code Book 1. Otherwise, start with the primer books:
Get Ready for the Code – Book A
Get Set for the Code – Book B
Go for The Code-Book C
Spelling
I don’t normally recommend anything really structured for this age, but my little B. was really excited to start spelling practice at age 3, so here are some resources we use and can wholeheartedly recommend.
All About Spelling – We’ve loved their flashcards for this age, you can start by memorizing letter sounds, and move forward as the child is ready.
Free Kindergarten Spelling Lists.
Spelling City has beginner spelling lists you can plug into their many different games.
Literature
For the 3 – 4 set, I’d stick with mostly good picture books and poems. Ambleside Online Year 0 has great picture book recommendations if you’re doing preschool with a younger child.
The Real Mother Goose
When We Were Very Young (Winnie-the-Pooh) (age 3 and up)
Now We Are Six Deluxe Edition (age 5 and up)
Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales (Peter Rabbit) (age 1 and up)
A Treasury of Curious George
History & Geography
GeoPuzzle Asia – Collect them all! This one is for Asia, but click the links on the page to view Europe, the world, Africa, Latin America, and more. The puzzle pieces are chunky, sturdy, and great for the 4 and up set. Love these.
The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories (This makes a great early reader, too)
Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World
Illustrated Stories from Around the World (Wordy, might want to summarize for little ones with shorter attention spans, great stories, though).
Sticker Dolly Dressing Around the World
If you’ve got older kiddos, the littles can listen in while you read A Child’s History of the World or play the marvelous Story of the World CDs. Whether they’re absorbing much of it isn’t much of a concern, they’re getting exposed, and later when the stories are more interesting, they’ll have a familiar ring… however, I wouldn’t try to do either of these with 3 – 5 year olds on their own… and probably not most 6 year olds either. In depth history can come later.
Science
I think science is a great subject to really engage a child’s own interests, there are so many things you could do! Dinosaurs, bugs, plant life, planets / outerspace, and more. I like to start with health science at this age unless the child has a stronger interest.
See Inside Your Body
Look Inside: Your Body (Usborne Look Inside)
First Encyclopedia of the Human Body (First Encyclopedias)
What Makes You Ill? (Usborne Starting Point Science)
Why Do People Eat (Starting Point Science)
Art
I love Deep Space Sparkle for our art inspiration! Check out her free Kindergarten Art Lessons. If art intimidates you, you can also buy complete art lesson plans in her shop.
Complete Book of Art Ideas – love this book too, for ages 4 and up, though many projects can be done with younger kids.
Second Language
First Hundred Words In Spanish (Usborne First Hundred Words) (Check out this book for French and other languages, too)
I also really like the Barefoot Books early language exposure books:
See all their Spanish & other language books here.
Affordable Pre-K / Kindy Curricula
I haven’t tried either of these, but I hear they are well organized and quite good:
Letter of the Week Preschool Curriculum with lesson plans.
K4 Curriculum an ‘early’ Kindy program geared for kids ages 4 – 5.
Free Curricula
Ambleside Online has a free Year 0, and Year 1 program (among many others) for this age group.
Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool has free homeschool lesson plans and links to activities for Getting Ready 1 and Getting Ready 2, which look to be her Pre-K and K levels before launching into her 1st – 8th grade levels.
LDS? Milestones Academy is based on Ambleside & features free (with purchased subject-specific items) Year 0, Year .5, Year 1 schedules, booklists, and curricula planning (she has all the years through highschool as well).
NOW WHAT?
Okay, so all the resources can feel overwhelming, right? Here’s what you do. At this age level, remember, don’t panic. You’re just looking for stuff your child might enjoy. He wants to learn to read? She can’t get enough art? Pick out resources for what your child is interested in. You don’t need a big scary lesson planner, I pinkie promise. If you’ve got a child who seems really ready for school like my Mr. B. was this year, then make a rough plan like so:
Pick your subjects. Mr. B is doing Spelling, Singapore Math, Reading with Bob Books, Copywork pulled from Bob Books, Explode the Code Book 1, and a Brain Quest Kindy Workbook. He also plays with Counting Bears, Pattern Blocks, Pentominoes, and a scale/balance. Click to take a gander at his schedule for this year:
That’s laminated and stuck to the fridge with a magnet. He can check things off each day with a dry erase marker as he gets them done.
Make a rough plan for a morning or afternoon schedule. Be loose with it. If you’re working with older children, you can spend some dedicated time with your preschooler / kindergartener while they are doing solo work.
HAVE FUN. Don’t forget! It’s super low stress at this age. They are usually little sponges, eager to learn lots of things. Keep it fun, and low key! Add in educational DVDs or iPad / Tablet games if you need to keep them busy while you work with older children. Don’t try to keep a 3 – 6 year old occupied for 8 hours a day, there’s no need to make either you or the child go bananas.
etcetera
There are piles and piles of resources online. You can search google or pinterest for links to make free homeschool lesson planners, find tons of printable worksheets for this age. You can also check out booklists for pricer paid curriculums like Sonlight or Timberdoodle and see if any of the books or helps they offer strike your fancy.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a list of things we’ve tried and liked! Do you have preschool or kindergarten resources you love? Add them in the comments below — I’m sllloowwwly working on lists like this for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade (that’s as far as we’ve homeschooled so far, folks!).
Photo credit: Lyn Lomasi, used under Creative Commons License
Wives & Daughters
Sorting out school
2013 – 2014 School Plans
Battle of the Blues