I’m back, and I’ll be laying out how we will be homeschooling kindergarten this upcoming year for our second oldest! Our oldest *technically* finished her kindergarten year this year, so this will be the first time we’re repeating a grade. Woohoo! Not a ton is changing from what our oldest did, or even from what our second has been doing in her preschool year. Check out our homeschool curriculum choices for math, language arts, and science/social studies for kindergarten this year!

Subjects for Homeschooling Kindergarten

Like I mentioned in my first grade homeschool curriculum blog post, with the homeschooling option our family has chosen in our state, we are required to cover five subjects: reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Thankfully we don’t have to record certain amounts of days or hours spent. For consistency purposes, our weekly plan will look the same for both school-aged kiddos:

• Math: 4x/week
• Reading Instruction: 4x/week
• Language Arts: 4x/week
• Science: 1-2x/week
• Social Studies: 1-2x/week

Homeschool Curriculum

Kindergarten Math Homeschool Curriculum

From the beginning, we have used The Good and The Beautiful for our mathematics curriculum. In this stage of our lives, having an open-and-go option that has both teacher and student materials is amazing (if not life-saving). E has already completed the preschool and K-prep work from TGTB, and is halfway through the Level K work. She is definitely not jumping at the bit to do her schooling like her big sis, and since she’s so young we haven’t been pushing too hard. One of the best things about homeschooling is meeting kiddos where they’re at. If there’s resistence, especially under the age of 7, it’s likely because they’re not ready! Our plan is to finish up Level K math, then move into Level 1 when we get there.

Aside from the open-and-go, virtually no-prep aspects of TGTB, this program is one of the most affordable out there. Remember, you can download K-8 curriculum from TGTB website for FREE! If you opt for the hard copy, which we had done until this year for both math and LA, shipping can be pricey depending on your location (around $15 for us). You definitely want to purchase everything you need at once so you aren’t paying the shipping costs again and again.

Homeschooling Kindergarten Reading and Language Arts Curriculum

Our core lessons for language arts again come from The Good and the Beautiful curriculum. Both of our girls have pretty quickly picked up on the concepts taught through the program, and they love the illustrations that accompany the lessons. This isn’t changing for homeschooling kindergarten this year!

The bulk of reading and phonics “instruction” with TGTB comes through the booster cards and books. E will finish up the Booster Books + Cards (A), then move into the Booster B set. Alongside the Booster Cards, we do a LOT of daily reading. We’ve been very intentional about fostering a love of reading from the beginning, so we always try to get in as much quality reading time together as possible! This leads to exposure in vocabulary, fluency, and expanded horizons.

I’ve also become picky with the types of books we read. If you are familiar at all with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education, she talks a lot about the difference between beautiful living books and what she deems “twaddle.”

The language arts with The Good and the Beautiful ties together writing, reading concepts, spelling, light handwriting, social studies/geography, art, and nature. This fall, our daughter will begin the Level 2 Language Arts curriculum. With beautiful graphics and the student and teacher instructions laid out in one place, TGTB LA is one of the favorite parts of our school day!

If you purchase TGTB LA as a hard-copy set, it costs about $70. That cost includes the workbook, the Reading Booster Cards and the accompanying Reading Booster Books! But again, you can also download all of this for free and print yourself to make homeschooling kindergarten even more affordable.

Science Homeschool Curriculum

In these early years, very little (if any) of the science curriculum is skill-based. So one of my favorite ways to tackle science is by making it a family/group subject. All the kids participate in the lessons to whatever level is challenging but do-able! This coming fall, we are going to continue pulling from appropriate seasons within our year-round nature study for homeschooling kindergarten and first grade. You can find so many nature study resources out there, but I made the investment a couple of years ago to purchase Treehouse Schoolhouse’s Nature Study for the early years. It’s something we’ve used again and again, and we still haven’t gone through every unit. The recommended picture books are amazing for young kids, and they typically fall into Charlotte Mason’s living book category (which around here is a VERY important piece in our homeschool literacy practice!).

We will also be incoporating different science lessons and experiments throughout the year. We have a few thrifted books to pull from, as well as access to local libraries that check out STEM/STEAM kits! I’m also not above a quick Pinterest search to find something fun that everyone can participate in and enjoy. Science experiment resources we have and will use:

• 365 Science Activities from Usborne
• Dr. Jupiter’s My First Science Kit

As for deciding what will be happening that week? On the weeks we have our homeschool co-op, we will do an experiment! The weeks we are off, we will have two days available to work through our nature study.

Homeschooling Kindergarten: Social Studies Curriculum

Okay. I NEVER enjoyed history or social studies in school. I hated memorizing dates, names, timelines, states/capitols, etc. The one time I enjoyed anything in a social studies class was when we made replicas of the battlefields in World War II. I liked creating art, and it was so much fun to paint, decorate, and display everything. But the curriculum we started this past year is absolutely phenomenal. Social studies is now everyone’s favorite time of the week…including mine.

Social studies is another subject we learn about as a family group. We are using Beautiful Feet Book’s Early American History (K-3) curriculum. And when I say is it amazing…wow. The books that accompany each unit are thorough, engaging, and the epitome of a living book-based curriculum. You will just have to go check it out, as you can download the scope-and-sequence for free. You can also access the accompanying book list that goes with the curriculum. Because we only do 1-2 lessons per week, it lasts us two(ish) years. By the time the next group of kiddos will be ready to officially begin social studies schoolwork, the older two will be onto the next thing. We will get to go through this curriculum 2-3 times and get our money’s worth. And like I said…social studies is EVERYONE’S favorite time of the week!

Additional Elements in Our Home Education

Alongside the formal academic studies, our home education plan also contains Bible reading/scripture study, chores/lifeskill training, and learning/practicing healthy habits. These will be family group practices, and the hope is to incoporate these in a new, more consistent way this fall! I’ll share more about how our daily rhythm will change slightly in another post to come.

So there you have it! Our curriculum plan for homeschooling kindergarten as our second daughter’s first “official” year of home education. One of the best parts of homeschooling is that I get a front row seat to the lightbulbs, questions, and incredible ideas that learning sparks. I would never trade those moments, plus all the others, for the world. Home education has given our family more time together to strengthen our bond, and as we continue down this road and tackle challenges and changes, I am so grateful for the options and opportunities my babies will have to lead their own learning journies.

If you missed what our first grade homeschooling curriculum looks like, check it out here! Have any questions on homeschooling kindergarten? Just send me a message!

To learn more about our family’s homeschool journey, lifestyle, and interests, go check out my other blog posts and give me a follow over on Instagram!