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Kindergarten homeschool your child can start on their own: lessons read aloud, answers by tap or voice, and every unit of the year in order. Use this page to convert homeschool research into a concrete next action, decide what Kindergarten Lessons a Child Can Run Before They Can Read should change in the next week, preserve an assigned owner, dated action, saved artifact, and follow-up review, and take this next step: choose one implementation step, save the evidence, and schedule a review.

Kindergarten Lessons a Child Can Run Before They Can Read

Everything you need to plan kindergarten homeschool: what your child actually has to learn this year, how a lesson works for a child who is not reading yet, how long the day should be, and the handful of checks that tell you it is working.

By Andrew Garber, founder of TheHomeschoolingCompany. Reviewed August 12, 2026.

Typical age range: 5-6

Take the free placement diagnostic to see where your child should start, or try the free placement tests.

Kindergarten Subject Paths

Reading

Hearing the separate sounds in spoken words, matching each letter to its sound, blending two and three sounds into a word, and recognizing the most common words on sight.

English Language Arts

Holding a pencil, forming uppercase and lowercase letters, writing their own name, labeling a drawing, and telling a story out loud in the order it happened.

Math

Counting to 100, counting a set accurately, comparing which group has more, reading and writing numerals to 20, and naming and building basic shapes.

Science

Noticing and describing weather, living and non-living things, the five senses, and what happens when you push, pull, drop, or float something.

History

Family and community, then and now, holidays and why they are kept, maps of familiar places, and what different people do in a neighborhood.

Kindergarten scope and sequence

Each core subject's kindergarten units, in the order your child works through them. Placement can start a subject earlier or later in the list.

Math

Counting to 20
Comparing quantities
Joining and separating to 10
Shapes and space
Measuring and sorting

Reading

Print awareness
Phonological awareness
Letters and sounds
Listening comprehension

Writing and language

Drawing and telling
First writing
Speaking and listening

Explore: science

Watching and wondering
Objects and materials
Pushes, pulls, and sound
Weather and sky
Living and nonliving
Animals around the world
Your body
Dinosaurs and long ago

Explore: history

Then and now
People we remember
Holidays
Family stories
The first Thanksgiving

Is my child on grade level for kindergarten?

Each question below is a skill taught early in the kindergarten year. A child who can do most of them is ready to start the grade. Several misses in one subject usually mean starting that subject a unit or a grade earlier.

Math: Can your child count forward to 20 by ones?
Math: Can your child tell which group has more?
Math: Can your child join two groups and find the total?
Reading: Can your child hold a book and turn its pages correctly?
Reading: Can your child recognize words that rhyme?
Reading: Can your child name the letters of the alphabet?
Writing and language: Can your child draw a picture to share an idea?
Writing and language: Can your child write their name?
Writing and language: Can your child listen while someone else is speaking?

Take the free diagnostic or try the free placement tests.

Planning a Kindergarten Curriculum

Your child can start without you

Every question is spoken and every answer is a tap, a drawing, or their own voice, so your child can begin a lesson without you reading the screen to them.

Short blocks that end on purpose

Lessons are sized to the attention a child this age has, and stop at a point your child reaches rather than running until the plan is finished.

Progress you can watch them do

Saying the first sound in a word, counting out a set, writing their name. The checks are the skills themselves, not a pile of finished pages.

Kindergarten Project Examples

A weather chart the child keeps

The child records the weather every morning for two weeks with a drawing and a word, then counts the days and says which kind of day was most common.

A story retold in order

After a read-aloud, the child draws what happened first, next, and last, then tells the story back from their own three pictures.

A sorting collection

The child gathers objects from around the house, sorts them by a rule they choose, and explains the rule to someone who has to guess it.

How to Plan and Run the Kindergarten Year

We Read Every Lesson Out Loud

A kindergarten learner cannot read the screen yet, so the lesson speaks. Your child hears the question, then each answer, and replies by tapping a picture, saying it out loud, or tracing a letter.

We Teach the Skill in the Order It Develops

Sounds before letters, amounts before numerals, sentences before paragraphs. The path follows the order children learn in, so an extra month on one step does not cost your child a year.

We Keep the Directed Day Short

Lessons run in short blocks with an ending your child reaches. Attention at this age is measured in minutes, and a lesson that finishes well teaches more than a longer one that ends in a struggle.

Kindergarten Learning Goals

Hearing and saying the separate sounds in a spoken word
Matching each letter to the sound it usually makes
Counting to 100 and counting out a set of objects accurately
Writing their own name and forming most lowercase letters
Retelling a story that was read to them, in order
Sorting and describing objects by shape, size, and color
Working at one task for ten to fifteen minutes without a reset

Questions About Kindergarten Homeschool

How does a kindergartener use a curriculum they cannot read?

The lesson reads itself. Your child hears the question, then hears each answer, and taps the one they want. Nothing on the screen asks them to read first, so they can get going while you are with an older child.

How long should kindergarten homeschool take each day?

About ninety minutes, in short blocks. Kindergarten attention runs in minutes, not hours. A fifteen-minute lesson that ends well teaches more than a forty-minute one that ends in a standoff.

What should a kindergartener actually learn this year?

Four things carry the year: letter sounds and blending them into words, counting and comparing amounts to twenty, writing letters legibly, and retelling a story they heard. The rest is exposure, and exposure does not need a schedule.

Do I need to teach reading in kindergarten?

You need to teach the sounds. Children start reading anywhere between four and seven, and the order matters more than the date: hear the sounds, match them to letters, blend them, read the word. A child still blending in May is on time.

How do I know my kindergartener is on track?

Ask them to do the thing. Can they tell you the first sound in a word, count out seven blocks, write their name, and retell yesterday's story? Those four answers tell you more than a folder of finished worksheets.

What if my child will not sit still for lessons?

Shorten the lesson before you shorten the day. Five focused minutes three times beats one fifteen-minute standoff. Move the hardest thing to when your child is freshest, and let them move in between.

Does kindergarten count toward my state's attendance requirement?

It depends on your state. Some start compulsory attendance at six or seven, which makes kindergarten optional. Others want notification the year your child turns five. Check yours before you assume either way.

Should I use worksheets in kindergarten?

A few, mostly for handwriting. A worksheet records that your child did something. It rarely teaches the thing. Talking, counting real objects, and reading together move a five-year-old further in the same ten minutes.

Related Kindergarten Resources

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