I’ve had a lot of people ask what curriculum we use for homeschooling, so I wanted to give a quick overview of what we’ve tried for pre-K and kindergarten. I won’t get into every detail, but I’ll share what we used, what we liked, and what we maybe didn’t. Maybe one day I’ll have time to do a full review of each, but for now… here’s a snapshot of what we’ve done.
Pre-K
For pre-K I keep it very simple – reading books, learning through play, and engaging in everyday life activities. I do like to print out some worksheets I find through various websites to let the little ones feel like they have schoolwork too. I use a lot of the resources at “For the Love of Homeschooling.” There are so many amazing free and inexpensive units and resources there. We’ve enjoyed everything we’ve used so far – anything from country unit studies, scavenger hunts, to scripture packs, etc.
At this age, though, I’m a big fan and believer in just letting them learn through play. It’s important for children to be children and play. I don’t like how society has put such pressure and stress on children starting school younger and younger. I don’t think your 2 year old has to know their ABCs or they’re deemed “behind.” I hate that. My second child was reading by 2.5–3 years old, but that was because he wanted to, and it came very naturally to him. I never forced him to learn or do school, but when his older sister was doing “Hooked on Phonics,” he would join in whenever he wanted and naturally learned how to read! He has always been very academically inclined, but I never made it a priority when he was really young.
Kindergarten
We started with “Hooked on Phonics” for language arts/reading. I really liked it, but around the 2nd-grade level, I felt like it just wasn’t quite enough. I started both Olivia and Joshua out with “Hooked on Phonics,” and I plan to do the same with James this upcoming year if he decides he wants to start school. He’s only 3 years old, so just like I did with the older two, we will do “Hooked on Phonics” when he wants to do it. I won’t force him, though.
Once I felt like we had gone as far as I saw beneficial with “Hooked on Phonics,” we started using “The Good and the Beautiful” for both language arts and math. I really enjoyed it. The lessons were short, and there was very minimal prep work – any prep work that needed to be done was mentioned at the beginning of the lesson and it was very easy, such as cutting things out or getting paints out. I really appreciated that it was open-and-go. The artwork is really beautiful, which is a huge plus for me. It’s not really a religious-based curriculum, though it does mention Jesus in one lesson (I can’t remember which lesson or if it was in language arts or math).
I absolutely love how the booster cards and booster books work for kindergarten and 1st grade. “The Good and the Beautiful” includes handwriting, spelling, poetry, geography, grammar and punctuation, and art. They say they also include literature, but it’s their own books, so I don’t really like checking the box for literature with this curriculum. When I think about teaching literature, I think about more classic books or living books, such as “Little House on the Prairie,” “Peter Rabbit,” “The Little House,” etc.
As far as their math program is concerned, I don’t have any complaints. We really enjoy it, and it’s also open-and-go and easy to use. It has a math box with the necessary math manipulatives, and it’s all very well done.
For science, we just learned through books and a few pages of different workbooks here and there. I got the kindergarten-level “Nature Reader” from Christian Liberty Press, and we read through it and enjoyed it very much. It goes A–Z with each letter of the alphabet being a different animal. For example, “A is for Alligator” and “B is for Beetle,” and so on. I also used “God’s Amazing World from Apples to Zebras” by “My Father’s World.” We loved this book as well and liked having some variety since it wasn’t only about animals. We did zoo trips, watched YouTube videos on different animals, and read a lot of National Geographic Kids readers on different animals such as elephants, lions, and otters. My kids love animals and love reading, so this was great for us. We also watched several National Geographic/Disney documentaries on different animals available on Disney+.
For history/social studies, we just read books. We read “Little House in the Big Woods,” “Farmer Boy,” and a couple other readers like “Red, White, and Blue: The Story of the American Flag” by Penguin Young Readers. For books like the “Little House on the Prairie” series, we’d discuss how life was different back then – I’d ask them questions like, “What do you think would be the hardest part about living in that time?” or “How would life be harder or easier back then than it is now?” A lot of these books also cover other subjects such as literature and civics. Social studies is just taught by living life. We have so many discussions about government, how our government works, community, etc.
Even though “The Good and the Beautiful” does include spelling, I decided to supplement with “All About Spelling” because I want to be sure my kids have a strong foundation and understanding of spelling and all the spelling rules. This is probably the most “overwhelming” curriculum I use, but it’s not actually overwhelming. It looks a bit overwhelming because of the layout of the teacher manual, but it’s honestly very straightforward and easy. It does have a lot of pieces, though, but I don’t mind it. There are letter tiles (you can purchase either/or/both physical letter tiles or their letter tile app), lots of cards, and a few other manipulatives, but I think it’s a good curriculum and I’ll probably continue to use it. We have only done maybe 9 lessons out of 25, but as I mentioned previously, we’re just using it as a supplement because they are getting spelling from their LA curriculum.
“The Good and the Beautiful” also includes writing and handwriting, but I use “Handwriting Without Tears” in addition. Our kids are writers, so they are ALWAYS writing stories, plays/musicals, and books.
We do a lot of stuff outside the home that covers things such as music, PE, drama, etc. So I really don’t sweat that stuff at all. In our state, I’m legally required to teach the United States Constitution and flag etiquette, reading, writing, speaking, math, history, civics, literature, and science.
I’m hoping to start doing some flip-throughs of the curricula we use, but that will require more time, so I haven’t done it yet. If you’d be interested in something like this, let me know! Comment on this thread, write me on social media… something! I don’t want to put in all the time and effort if no one wants the content. However, I’d be more than happy to work on it if I know it’s something people would be interested in!
Synopsis of Curricula we use:
Language Arts
- Hooked on Phonics (first learning phonics and how to read)
- The Good and the Beautiful (starting in kindergarten)
Spelling
- All About Spelling
Handwriting
- Handwriting Without Tears
Math
- The Good and the Beautiful
History, Literature, and Civics
- Books such as the “Little House on the Prairie” series, living books, and readers on topics like the American Flag
Science
- Books such as “God’s Amazing World from Apples to Zebras”
- Documentaries
Fearless Joy 