Best Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum Choices

You want to choose the best kindergarten homeschool curriculum for your child like most parents do.

Although every child learns differently, the kindergarten curriculum choices I’ve listed here, is appropriate for different learning styles. This makes it ideal for most kindergarteners.

I’m homeschooling a kindergartener this year and he’s doing very well with this homeschool curriculum!

Best Homeschool Kindergarten Curriculum (By Subject)

In this post, I will list some of the best kindergarten homeschool curriculum choices for a variety of subjects.

I provide a little more detail for each subject matter, but I’ve also created a chart for a quick view of my top recommendations pertaining to the core subjects of Phonics/Reading, Writing, and Mathematics.

This post contains affiliate links of my recommended resources.

Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum – Core Subject Resources

PHONICS/READING

WRITING

MATHEMATICS

Kindergarten Reading/Phonics Curriculum

I use a few things for teaching this subject:

Hooked on Phonics – Levels 3 & 4

This phonics program has been around for years – because it works! The kindergartener I’m working with has a very short attention span and I needed something fun, short and engaging.

I share our experience using it in my Hooked on Phonics Review article.

The program consists of a colorful lesson book with no prep work involved, video lessons, and cute little readers too. He is really enjoying this program and doing really well with it.

It’s key to work at his pace and so I repeat each lesson twice to really solidify the lessons before moving on to the next one.

If your kindergartener did not learn his or her letter sounds in preschool, then it’s best to start with Hooked on Phonics Levels 1 & 2 first. My kindergartener already learned his letter sounds and beginning letter sounds, so he was ready for Hooked on Phonics Level 3-4 .

Alpha-Phonics

This is a book that teaches phonics in black-and-white with 126 short lessons. This book has been around for years and is very successful in teaching kids to read. It is not colorful but the lessons are short and will have your child reading at a very high level once completed. There is a teacher instruction section too.

Your child will read at a very advanced level which is beyond kindergarten, so you can take it slow with this program and complete it in 2 years.

This is an alternative inexpensive option to using Hooked on Phonics – or you can use it together with Hooked on Phonics. I’m now using this too in combination with Hooked on Phonics. I add in an Alpha-phonics lesson once a week whenever there is a lesson in Hooked on Phonics that is just review. This works great and switches things up a bit.

Bob Books

These are a set of simple beginning readers for kids. Bob Books have different levels. I got this one and this one to get started. We are going through the first set of books (Beginning Readers Set 1) right now and it’s going well!

Explode The Code 1 or A, B, & C

I love Explode the Code. Many people do as you can see by their reviews on amazon. Explode The Code is phonics based and the information is presented sequentially and systematically. It’s designed to help kids blend sounds to build their vocabulary and develop their reading skills. We started with Explode the Code 1 and then we are moving on to Explode the Code 1 1/2 to provide more practice before moving on to Explode the Code 2.

If your child is still working their way through the preschool level, I recommend you start with A, B and C levels first.

Kindergarten Sight Words Activities

Learning sight words in Kindergarten is important as part of their reading curriculum. There are many resources on the subject and you could even get a list of the sight words for free by searching online. Be sure to also practice the Pre-K sight words list.

You do want to incorporate some kind of games and activities so kids can learn their sight words. You could even use these specific Bob Books to help reinforce the sight words.

If you use all of these five things together, you will have a solid kindergarten reading curriculum.

Handwriting

Letters and Numbers Formation Practice

For Kindergarten homeschool writing, I don’t use a formal curriculum. I do know that may homeschoolers use Handwriting Without Tears with great success. The kindergartener I work with doesn’t struggle with writing so I didn’t feel an actual curriculum was needed for this subject.

The best way to practice Kindergarten handwriting is to print out tracing letters and numbers 1-20 and use sheet protectors in a binder.

This way your kindergartener could use dry-erase markers and practice over and over without wasting so much paper!

If you have a young kindergartener, have them start out with the uppercase letters first and then have them move on to lowercase letters.

When starting with the uppercase letters, there is actually a letter order that is best for beginning writers, so it’s actually best not to start with writing the letter ‘A’ first. This Kumon book goes over the exact order. (If you get this, I suggest you tear this book apart and use sheet protectors so your child can re-use this again and again!) Kumon also has a lowercase letters book and the First Book of Numbers 1-30 here.

Writing Journal

Kindergarten kids should be writing a sentence a day in a writing journal. It need not be a long sentence. At the start, they can copy a short sentence you write. Later on in the year, they may want to form their own sentences.

Words used in copy work could include actual sight words which is great for practicing, and words introduced during phonics. I recommend you use a writing journal that has a picture box at the top of the page such as this one so your kindergartener can also draw a picture (if they like drawing!) .

Kindergarten Read Alouds & Circle Time

I’m sure you’ve heard it a thousand times before but – reading to your kids is so important!

Choose a variety of literature, not just picture books. Try to consistently read picture books, non-fiction books, and poetry.

Go with what your child is interested in reading. It is ideal to choose repetitive books which are fun and enhance vocabulary as well as a love for reading. A few good choices would be Brown Bear Brown Bear and Llama Llama Red Pajama.

Incorporating music and nursery rhymes is also ideal during this fun, relaxed read aloud time – often called ‘circle time’.

It’s also important to know the date. Each day go over the date, the days of the week and months of the year with an interactive calendar.

If you are of the Christian faith and want to incorporate some Bible time, you could do this as part of your read alouds portion of the day. A good book to use is The Complete Children’s Illustrated Bible. Another very popular best-selling book loved by homeschooling Christians is Indescribable:100 Devotions For Kids About God and Science.

Critical Thinking Skills

Don’t overlook this section.

In the early years, it’s important to exercise those minds for higher learning. Building critical thinking skills will help kids in all the other subject areas.

One of the best critical thinking books out there for Kindergarteners is Can You Find Me?: Building Thinking Skills. It doesn’t require any writing. You could do this on the couch by just reading a page to your child and having them answer the questions. You don’t have to do this every day.

Another great logic activity is called Brain Quest. It’s basically a series of cards with questions on them to answer. Again, there is no writing involved.

Best Kindergarten Math Homeschool Curriculum

I did so much research before choosing a homeschool kindergarten math curriculum.

I wanted to be sure of my choice.

I decided on Horizons Math K.

Horizons Math For Kindergarten

This program is great for both visual and kinesthetic learners.

The Horizon’s Math set for kindergarten includes two workbooks and a Teacher’s guide with some extra practice sheets at the back of the teacher’s guide that could be copied and used if your child needs any extra practice on writing numbers and such.

If you go for this curriculum, and you’re a first time homeschooler, get the teacher’s guide. There are great teaching ideas for each lesson and you don’t want to get stuck wanting to help your child understand a concept and not having the resources for it.

There are 180 lessons total and each lesson is only 1 page front and back. This is great so that kindergarteners (and parents!) don’t get overwhelmed. Some other math curriculums have too much or too little. This is just enough information presented.

The Horizon’s Math program uses the ‘spiral’ approach to teaching math. This means that the material is presented in such a way that new concepts are introduced and reviewed consistently. I love this approach becomes it ensures that new concepts are learned and mastered through review.

If you prefer the ‘mastery’ approach to teaching and learning math where you completely master a concept and then move on to the next and not doing review of previously learned concepts, then the Math U See Primer is a good way to go for kindergarten.

I personally like the spiral approach to math and my kindergartener needs the review, so I went with Horizons Math for that reason too.

I love how colorful the pages are, making it enjoyable for kids to do math.

It is Christian based, but at the kindergarten level, I haven’t seen anything religiously based other than 1-2 word problems.

Check out the workbooks here.

You can also read my full Horizons Math review here.

Math Manipulatives Set K-Gr.3

To help teach your kids many mathematical concepts in the younger years, having a set of math manipulatives handy is very helpful. Those kinesthetic learns especially love them and they really do help solidify certain math concepts.

I wanted to be prepared for the next few years so I bought this math manipulatives set.

It wasn’t cheap and if you you’re on a budget you could buy a few things from different places like the Dollar Tree and Walmart.

I just didn’t want the headache of seeking out different things and missing out on some. I don’t have time for that and I have peace of mind that I have everything for the next few years and it can be used over and over again with several children.

Kindergarten Science, Social Studies, & Art Curriculum

I grouped a few subjects to talk about here because these should not be the primary focus when looking for the best kindergarten homeschool curriculum. In the younger years (at least until Grade 3,, it is more important to focus on the core, which is reading,writing, and math.

If you have older children working through these subjects, your kindergartener could benefit by listening in during read-alouds pertaining to these subjects.

If you don’t have older kids at home, incorporating some read-alouds that integrates these elective subjects is a great way to expose your kids to these subject matters. This one is a a good one and also this one.

If you still want to formally introduce Science and Social Studies with written work that could be done doing one page a day, the 180 Days of Science, and the 180 Days of Social Studies are really good options. They are simple, one page lessons that you could alternate between doing one a day of science and one page a day of social studies.

A very popular book to introduce art in the younger years is this book here.

What To Consider When Choosing The Best Homeschool Kindergarten Curriculum

Before you decide on the best kindergarten curriculum for homeschooling, consider a few things that may help you narrow down your curriculum choices.

Country or State Laws

What laws are their with regards to homeschooling in your particular area? Some states have certain requirements on curriculum standards to homeschool. Others don’t have any requirements. In the United States, you can check out your state requirements here: https://hslda.org/legal/.

Homeschool Style

There are six main homeschooling styles or approaches. You can choose one or a combination of many. There is freedom in homeschooling! It will all depend on your own personal view and preferences. There are homeschool books that can present your options and help you decide.

The six main homeschool styles include:Classical, Traditional, Charlotte Mason, Unschooling, Unit Studies, and Eclectic.

Age

Is your child a young kindergartener at the start of the school year? If so, you may want to either start slower with the curriculum or wait one year to begin formal kindergarten studies. Engage your child with simple learning activities instead.

Learning Style

Do you know how your child learns best? It may help you choose an appropriate curriculum to match their style.

Note that this post is all about the best kindergarten homeschool curriculum and will hit all learning styles!

Whether your child is visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic learner, the kindergarten curriculum chosen here is ideal for multiple learning styles in each core subject (reading/phonics, writing, and mathematics).

If you’re not sure what type of learning style works best for your child, don’t worry about it! They may do well with various learning styles and even if they don’t and you’ve chosen the wrong curriculum for the way they learn, you can always change it.

It doesn’t have to be set without making changes. Sometimes as homeschoolers we have to adapt and make necessary changes to improve our homeschool.

Final Thoughts

While there are many curriculums out there, I truly believe this is one of the best kindergarten homeschool curriculum choices! I hope you found this helpful and feel free to leave me any questions or comments below.