Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Kindergarten Must Haves

This blog post is all about what you need for homeschool kindergarten. I list supplies and categories of resources throughout this post, but the actual must haves for kindergarten are more nuanced than a list of school supplies. Because homeschooling is so different than traditional school. But I’m guessing different is what you’re going for & that’s why you’re diving into the homeschool life. This post is exactly what I’ve told numerous in real life friends and new homeschool mamas. Grab some coffee & read slowly. I’d even recommend saving this post, come back to it as your guide this year!! 

8 years in, I can tell you, this season of homeschooling our elementary school aged kids has been such a joy. The only regret I have is that I stressed out with my first kindergartener. Haha… it’s hard not to do, those sweet first born guinea pig kiddos. 

BUT – it is truly such a gift to your child to have time to be a kid + learn at their own pace with a parent in the safety of home. Home where they are known and loved.

YOU CAN DO THIS. I truly believe anyone who wants to can homeschool well and enjoy it. (More encouraging homeschool content on my new podcast – Everyday Homeschool on Spotify & Apple.) 

As I’m writing this post, I’m wrapping up our 4th child’s homeschool kindergarten year. He was very eager to keep up with his big brother and sisters in terms of “doing school with mom.”

Starting our 4th homeschooled kindergartener, I was reflecting on how different his kindergarten experience was from the first time we homeschooled kindergarten.

There were so many things I bought with our first two kindergarteners and didn’t need.

By now, I have a pretty firm grasp on what materials will help young children learn at home!

6 years into this homeschooling gig, I truly believe home is the best place for your children to learn and grow and parents are the best teachers for their children.

Kindergarten is such an exciting time! Typically, 5 and 6 year olds have a natural love of learning. They are easily pleased and enthusiastic about so much in life.

My homeschool kindergarten must haves are all about making sure that your homeschool is:

  • Effective & efficient
  • Tailored to your individual child
  • Fun! Seriously, there are no tears needed for academics when your child is 5 or 6 years old. 
  • Foundational – whether your child is already reading, thinking about it, or not even ready yet… homeschooling kindergarten should be a time of having fun, & learning new things.
  • Developmentally appropriate – I’ll mention a few resources for things like fine motor skills, reading readiness, short lessons and more!
  • Something you enjoy… because, let’s face it. If you have more than one child, you will be in your homeschool longer than any of your kids. (wink) So you might as well discover what you enjoy because you are way more likely to use something you don’t dread.

Books for Mom

Whether you’re feeling nervous or excited (or all of the things) about homeschooling, I recommend a few great books to get you started on your homeschool journey. Truthfully, one of the best things you can do for your homeschool’s success is start learning yourself. Personally, I’d skip homeschool Instagram and just dive deep on books & talking to other real life homeschool moms. (I recently started a free homeschool facebook group called Everyday Homeschool designed to answer real-life homeschooling questions and get encouragement from others who are in the same boat! Come join me there if that’s your thing.) 

These are my absolute top 4 homeschooling book recommendations for new moms. I have read them multiple times!!

YOU NEED THESE… especially if you grew up in public school like I did. The #1 thing I wish I could just instantly help all new homeschool moms understand is that HOMESCHOOLING IS SO DIFFERENT THAN TRADITIONAL SCHOOL. 

Alas, I didn’t really get it at first either. Even if you want to believe it, even if you know homeschooling will be a great thing, even if you don’t want to replicated traditional school… it’s so hard to do something radically different from the only thing you’ve ever known. Give yourself grace & time to learn and READ LOTS OF BOOKS ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING from those who have gone before. Trust the process. (Sorry for shouting at you in all caps. LOL) 

A few more books to keep on your homeschool-teacher-mom-reading list for the future.

  • Rethinking School – helpful for homeschool mindset!
  • The Call of the Wild and Free – helpful for envisioning and imaging the amazing path that comes from going down the unconventional school road. 
  • Weapons of Mass Instruction – this book is a deep dive into the original compulsory education laws in the USA and how state and federal schooling became the norm! (eek face)
  • Teach Your Own (updated edition) – written by the pioneer of the “unschooling” movement. Turns out by “unschool,” he just literally meant not-looking-like-school. Unschool has a lot of connotations in modern homeschooling. I found this book EXTREMELY helpful in our family’s goals of pursuing natural learning and high educational goal simultaneously.  

Personally, I choose to read really widely in an ongoing way. I think of it almost like “professional development.” I want to educate my kids well and build a home environment that’s conducive to enjoying learning together through great relationships.

I don’t agree with everything in every single book I read by any means. But I learn a lot and grow as a teacher by reading a wide range of perspectives and opinions about how kids learn. 

Library Card

The Importance of Reading Aloud

The most important thing you can do for your kid’s long term academic skills is to read aloud.

Aim for 15 minutes a day, but more is great!

If you want to dive REALLY deep on this, read The Read Aloud Handbook, 7th edition. Otherwise, you can just trust me and start reading to your kids.

Andrew Pudewa is one of my homeschooling mentors and he is a strong advocate for reading aloud. We discussed it on my podcast in this episode.

Building Independent Library Skills

Get your child their own library card if you haven’t already! It’s so fun for the kiddo & there are usually more permissible loan forgiveness options on kids’ cards. For years, I let them help me at the self checkout. It always raised my blood pressure. LOL, but now… they all check themselves out on their own cards!! 

When my oldest child was 5, we went to the library every week! It was close, free, and my kids were relatively contained. The kids read & played for hours. We go every week or two now and still check out gobs of books. 

Each kid brings a rolling backpack so they can cram it full of new books. I also have a huge tote bag.

We’ve had these rolling backpacks for years – they’ve held up so well!! (Kids travel with them as well.)

How to Find Great Library Books

I also show the kids where the non-fiction sections are that they’re interested in. If your kid is in a fish phase, find the fish books in the kids’ non-fiction section. They’ll all be together. (Watch out though, because after months of reading about fish you might end up caving to the Christmas request for an aquarium.) 

I also highly recommend using the hold system on the computer or your local library app or computer system. Any time I hear of a good book or see a fun booklist, I put it on hold. This also works well when my kids want to read something popular – we just get on the list. The books are ready for us on a special shelf. This is great for a quick library run too. Game changing!!

The best places to find great books are in books about books and websites with booklists. 

Here are a few of my favorites: 

How Not to Keep Track of Kids’ Library Items

Truthfully, we are sort of horrible library patrons. We have 20-70 books checked out at any one time. I have no system for keeping track of them in our home except trying to mentally note when I see library things in my kids’ rooms. Then on library day, I give everyone 15 minutes or so to round up materials from every nook and cranny of the house.

We do have one basket where all the audio materials go! (Buuuut, they’re rarely in there since kids’ are listening on their individual cd players or headphones.) 

I do open the emails that say “this is overdue,” and try to track it down. If we lose something permanently, our library has “read off your fines” for kids cards, or I just pay to replace it. $50 a year to the library seems worth all the benefit we get from it. Ha! Like I said, we don’t have a great system but we are avid library users.

Digital Library Stuff

Libraries also have audiobook apps that you can connect to your phone. Ours uses Libby, and I know others use Hoopla. I also use Everand (formerly Scribd.)

They have a wider selection than the library with tons of old books too! They don’t always have the brand new ones, though. It’s only $10 a month and you can listen to unlimited books. Crazy good deal for this homeschooling family!

Field Trips

AKA: Just go places!!!! Don’t worry about if something is “educational.”

So much of homeschooling is building relationships and investing in your kids. Adventuring together is a great way to help your kids feel loved & learn through play.

  • A trip to the library, grocery store, or new neighborhood park is great.
  • Indoor trampoline parks in the winter, exploring your whole town’s park system in the summer.
  • Venture to a nearby town and try a new park.
  • Interesting landmarks nearby – you can usually do a quick Google search and find a big list!
  • Nature outings – forest preserves, small trails, large trails, ponds, hills, fields, local farms, pumpkin patches or apple orchards.
  • Music – our city has a performing arts in the schools program where public and homeschool kids alike can come to shortened versions of theater performances. We’ve seen The Nutcracker, Cirque du Soliel, Kodo Japanese drumming, and our city’s symphony orchestra this way! And for just a few dollars per person. Your city may have something similar. 
  • Sometimes libraries or community centers host smaller performing arts groups too. You can also check out the local high schools or colleges for performing arts shows.

Adventuring in the middle of the day is so fun because there are way fewer crowds and lines. Many places offer homeschool discounts on specific days or times too. 

There’s no rule that says you have to do handwriting practice every day or complete a math worksheet to count it as a school day. The longer you homeschool, the more you will believe that statement deep in your bones. Life is full of learning opportunities. Enjoy the freedom that homeschooling brings and remind yourself that almost everything in your child’s day “counts” as learning.

(Come find me on Instagram @mrsreneecook for more real life homeschooling encouragement.) 

Top School Supplies for Kindergarten

  • This exact spiral notebook with composition paper lines
  • Pencils – triangle shaped can help with pencil grip
  • Eraser – we only buy these white ones
  • Markers – I buy thick crayola ones & these super tip ones
  • Scissors – This medium size is perfect for Kinder -2nd
  • Glue stick, white glue & maybe a few other art supplies 
  • Ruler – basic wooden ruler will do; yard or meter stick is fun too! 
  • This double sided white board that has composition lines on one side, these fine tip markers
  • Different things to sort and count with for math – mancala rocks work well as do real coins.
  • Different colors of construction paper
  • Sketch book and/or drawing paper – these are the cheapest spiral sketch books I’ve seen 
  • Drawing books – such a fun way to work on all the same skills of handwriting & copywork. Our all time favorite drawing books are pictured below! They have gotten a lot of use in our home over the years.
  • Electric Sharpener for pencils – this one works well
  • Index cards – come in handy for making up games or creating flashcards. 
Homeschool book recommendations drawing books
This is my favorite brand for kindergarteners if I have to pick just one!! Very simple step by step.

Homeschool Day Plan & Teaching Tips

  • Don’t spend too much time on school work or “school time.”
  • Focus on short, easy lessons that build gradually … efficient & effective! 10 minutes one on one is WAY more effective than you’d think. Stop while you’re ahead and they’re loving it. But also, if they’re dying to do 5 pages in a row, let them go for it. Try to balance burn out and being disciplined.  
  • If you have older children in multiple grade levels and are a first time homeschooling parent, it might work well to teach kinder kid first while they do other things independently. Then, the kindergartener can go play & you can circle back to the older kids. This is what I do most days. 10-20 minutes of reading & handwriting practice with my kindergartener and then off he goes to play the day away. 
  • Reading practice, writing, poetry memorization, and math! Those are the core things that a kindergartener could work on 3- 4 days per week. (Also you can just live life together until the child is 6-7 and then start these things. They’d be fine!) 

4 days of “school” is plenty. 3 “school days” works really well too. I’ve also done block schedules… 2 days language arts/ 2 days math. That was fine too. 

After a few years, you realize kids are learning every waking moment, so you don’t need to stress about how many hours you spend pouring over workbooks and lesson plans. 

After all these years of homeschooling, I can confidently say your kindergartener can learn everything s/he needs to know in less than one hour of formal lessons per day. Plus read alouds and play! (All our kids do great in advanced math and have been reading by the end of kindergarten.)

The key is to make your 30-45 minutes of sit-down school work count. 

Break it up if needed so that the child can give his full attention to what you’re working on. 

Vary the activities greatly. One day, practice writing everyone’s names in the family in dry erase. The next day, write the first line or stanza of a poem the child knows in his composition notebook – use every other line. Then have the child copy it line by line. (Or however much is appropriate.) Another day, use a handwriting workbook. Copy basic spelling words in sidewalk chalk. A wise educator named Charlotte Mason emphasized keeping lessons varied & short. (There is a lot of bad Charlotte Mason inspired advice out there- lol but she did have some great teaching wisdom. Highly recommend reading her actual writing as opposed to all the “gurus” on instagram. Haha)

You can adapt any good curriculum to work effectively & efficiently.

Our 3rd kindergartener was obsessed with Cover Your Assets at age 5. He learned to make 100s and skip count by 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 50 from this game.

Setting Up a Homeschool Space

I have a big long homeschool room post, but don’t overthink this! You can do almost all your homeschool on your couch & floor. If you have a kitchen table or dining room table, that’s great too. We actually do have a dedicated home school room, but it’s more of an arts/ crafts/ computer space. 

We read aloud on the living room couch (while the kids do quiet activities), do writing at the kitchen table or coffee table, and math on the floor.

You will want a place (or a few places) to store stuff. Just make your house work for your needs. 

Note – no educational posters needed. I basically never have referenced a wall poster except our giant map, which we all love because we can read the words and see everything!! It’s actually pretty new to us though. For years, we had a smaller one. I’m also a big fan of our globe!! Referencing a map and/or globe every time places come up is the best way to familiarize your little ones with the earth and introduce geography. 

essential homeschool supplies globe

Plus, globes are cool looking, so ours is just out in the main family room area. Easy to access and cute!

really like these caddies for school supplies, but you can find all manner of supply caddies at TJ Maxx or Homegoods – look for outdoor silverware caddies.

Silverware caddy from Homegoods

I keep extra games and puzzles in our front coat closet turned storage closet with basic hardware store shelves. 

Bookshelves are helpful – the books will start to pile. I pull all the books I think we’ll use in a school year & put them on one shelf (read alouds & curriculum books). That way they’re not mixed in with all the other books.

Top shelf holds all materials we’ll be using throughout the year.

For years, I used a ‘morning time basket’ and just plopped everything we needed for morning time in there! Last year, I got a morning time cart because 4 school aged kids means more sets of things and having older kids means reading more books.

homeschool cart and room organization
Top shelf is books, folders, morning time materials; middle shelf is a plastic shoe bin holding our Van Gough prints, white boards, and dry erase markers; bottom shelf is random sketch books and colored pencil satchels.

My best tip is- purchase slowly. Add things as you actually are ready to use them. Don’t go crazy trying to set up a classroom in your home. You’ll waste a ton of money!!! 

Games

Board games teach all kinds of amazing skills. My kids love games and we play games a lot for fun. I don’t put these on school lists or require us to do them. This comes back to living life together and enjoying learning. 

Games are fun. Don’t put things your kids love on a school checklist in order to “make school fun.” We don’t need to entertain kids into learning. They naturally love learning. 

My kindergarteners’ favorite games over the years have been:

  • Spot it
  • Sleeping Queens (not my personal fave to play with them haha)
  • Cover Your Assets – the scoring for this taught my kids making 100s out of 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, etc. 
  • Nertz (and Solitaire)
  • Trash – great for 10 frame recognition
  • Speed
  • Chess – We use no stress chess to teach it to young kids! It’ll teach grownups too. Haha you know you’re a nerdy homeschooler when your kids learn to play chess at 5 years old… but seriously, it’s so good for logic & critical thinking. And they love it!
  • Slapzi
  • Ticket to Ride Jr. 
  • Monopoly Jr.
  • Clumsy Thief Jr. (Making Tens) 
  • Clumsy Thief (Making 100s) 

Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum 

There is no best curriculum. I know everyone says there is a best. And the mantra of people selling you stuff is “this is the best, it will solve all your problems.” But there just isn’t. 

The best curriculum is the one you want to teach!! You can modify almost anything. You don’t even really need curriculum… Also if you really want curriculum, go with your gut on what looks best to you. 

Can you tell I don’t want to tell you what curriculum to use!? 

BUT – since you’ve made it this far and really want to know, I’ll tell you my favorites for new homeschool families. These are the ones I recommend to the real life people I mentor and the ones that seem to work well for the vast majority of moms I talk to. 

1. Math With Confidence

This is my absolute favorite kindergarten math program – written by a homeschool mom who also has a PhD in Math from Harvard and who taught math for years. It’s the best. Trust me!! It’s a better math foundation than the other most popular curriculums (TGTB ahem) and it’s way easier to use than Singapore (which I used for years). Plus, there’s a great facebook group of parents helping each other! Rainbow Resource has the lowest prices year round. The publisher’s website (well trained mind) runs a great sale in late spring/ early summer each year too. It’s so cheap that I buy the actual books for my kids, but if you’re really pinching pennies, you can buy pdfs from Well Trained Mind. 

The program + Facebook group help you figure out what you need for manipulatives! 

2. My Phonograms + 100 Easy Lessons + Early Readers 

My phonogram kit is simple and straightforward. You go at your child’s pace and just learn the phonograms. I show you how to build words. Then start working your way through Teach Your Child to Read 100 Easy Lessons. You don’t need to follow the script exactly. Just use it to help your child get the gist of blending sounds together. At some point, if you get bored 100 Easy Lessons, you can grab other reader books from my Giant List of Leveled Reading Books and just keep plugging away at memorizing phonograms and building words. 

For some people, that’s too vague. They want scripted, open and go, step by step, tell me exactly what to say so I can make sure I’m “doing it the right way.” 

If that’s you…. I recommend Logic of English.

3. Logic of English or All About Reading

For a 4-6 year old, you’d start with Logic of English Foundations A. It’s pricey, but you can resell it pretty easily. If you’re homeschooling multiple kids, the only thing you’ll need to replace for future kids is the workbook. It includes spelling, reading, handwriting. All in one 🙂 

I actually used this (loosely – lol) for my 4th who just needed a slower pace and more practice than 100 Easy Lessons provided. It’s been fun!  

All About Reading will also work. It’s EXTREMELY similar in principles to LOE… it’s just laid out differently. I’d recommend printing samples from both and reading through them and seeing which you like better. 

Both will help your child with letter recognition, phonics sounds, and the basics of learning to read. 

4. Poetry Memorization 

​All my kids have been working from IEW’s poetry memorization kit for years. You buy it once and it lasts 10+ years. 76 carefully chosen selections of increasing difficulty. Poetry at first, and famous speeches in later years. It’s such a gift. 

We have the full kit – teacher & student book & audio files of the poems. We memorized together for a long time, but now my older kids have taken off at their own pace and I just work with my youngest. 

If you want to learn more about the benefits of poetry memorization, search “andrew pudewa poetry” in your podcast app and listen to an episode or two. 

If you only do 2 “academic” things with your five year old…. read to them and have them listen to the same poetry over and over so they memorize it. It will build THE BEST language foundation.

5. Musical Memory

​I have many articles about the benefits of memorization with young kids. You can read them all here!

musical memory app
Download on Android or Download on Apple

​Long story short – kids love to memorize and it’s so good for them!! Plus, everything they memorize now provides this foundation of content and knowledge for them to build on later. 

I know that’s backwards from modern educational practices, but think about it….

Can you think critically in a language you don’t speak? 

​Can you think deeply about how to factor numbers, invert fractions, and solve for X if you can’t easily recite the skip counting sequence of 6-12-18-24? 

Can the Holy Spirit bring to mind a scripture in your moment of need if you haven’t committed it to memory? 

So what should your child memorize?! 

Well, anything!! There are TONS of options. 

I have created an academic memorization program that is 100% comprised of fun songs organized in simple playlists. It covers math, science, English grammar, Latin and Bible.

It’s all built into an app called Musical Memory. Download it for free and start a month long free trial. Hundreds of kids use and love these songs!! 

Calendar

Basic Dry Erase Board Calendar – all of our kids have mastered the calendar by age 6.5 with this super simple & cheap calendar.

A few days a week (not very systematic about this) we sing these songs for days of the week and months of the year. 

I help the child write in the month towards the beginning of the month. He fills in the dates as the month goes on. (Around the age kids figure out how to write numbers up to 90, they seem to like to write all 28-31 days up front and then cross out the days…. doesn’t matter.) 

After several months, they get the gist. 

You do not have to spend 15 minutes on “calendar time” every day. 

Try to let the child fill it in at least a few days a week. Talk about your family schedule on a regular basis. Conversations like this are the key to understanding:  

“We’re going to Grandma’s on Tuesday! Today is Sunday… Sunday, Monday, Tuesday…. 2 days!” [Count Monday and Tuesday your fingers so they see you don’t count Sunday when counting how many days.] 

That conversation a million times over for a 5 or 6 year old will solidify the calendar.

The Most Important Thing During Your First Year of Homeschooling

Play. Free play. Every day. 

This isn’t a modern cliche… it’s extremely well researched that one of the basic needs of your child is play. 

Play is how children learn. 

We don’t have to entertain them, we don’t have to bribe them to learn or create fake play opportunities during reading lessons. 

​Children who are developmentally ready to begin sitting down and learning can work on school for 10 or 30 or 60 minutes and then spend the rest of the day playing, being outside, completing chores, etc. 

All the homeschool parents I know seem to have started out their homeschooling journey trying hard to “be different,” but basically following a school-at-home model. Then something “clicks.” A lightbulb goes off for parents as they watch their kids develop a love of reading; play pretend from the stories they’ve heard; get basic number recognition from books, grocery stores, calendars, etc.; offer to help make a shopping list or practice letter writing in a note to Grandma. 

I went through the same “ah ha” journey of realizing – my kids are wired to learn. I can create an environment conducive to learning, read to them, have conversations, and let their little minds do the rest. 

And over time, they’ll learn and thrive and become who God created them to be. My job is only to be faithful. 

So much more could be said, but for now, I’ll encourage you to: 

  1. ​Lean into God’s calling on your life!! If He’s leading you to homeschool, He’ll equip you to do it. 
  2. Remember that your children were given to YOU. Who better to be their primary teacher? No one loves them more than you do or knows them better than you do. Homeschool moms aren’t superwomen. We’re mostly very average. LOL and we’ve said “yes” in faith and learned along the way. 
  3. Start reading the books I’ve recommended above. 
  4. Give yourself (and your kindergartener) lots of time and grace. There’s no rush.

Related: 

kindergarten homeschool must haves