What to teach in kindergarten: a month-by-month scope and sequence for home

Kindergarten at home covers four main areas. What follows lines up in general terms with what many US public kindergartens teach (many states base their standards on the Common Core or something similar), and it works well for UK, Canadian and Australian families too, since the core early skills are much the same.

• Reading: letter sounds, blending sounds into words, short vowels, digraphs (sh, ch, th), blends, silent e, and 50 to 100 sight words. See our kindergarten sight words list.
• Writing: correct letter formation, writing words by sound, then simple sentences with a capital and a period.
• Math: counting to 100, numbers to 20, comparing, adding and subtracting within 10, shapes, measuring and sorting.
• Science and social studies: seasons, weather, plants, animals, the five senses, family, community helpers and maps.

About 30 minutes of focused learning a day is enough for most 5 year olds.

What's inside the Kindergarten at Home Curriculum

The Kindergarten at Home Curriculum follows this kind of sequence in 36 weekly plans, for about 30 minutes a day. It covers phonics in order (letters, short vowels, digraphs, blends and silent e), 70+ sight words, a little decodable story and questions every week, math from counting to 100 to adding and subtracting within 10, shapes and measuring, and a science or social studies theme each week.

It comes in three printable books (weeks 1–12, 13–24 and 25–36) plus a 19-page Parents' Guide, 687 pages in all, including 48 tracing pages, 28 reading pages, 19 math pages, 12 draw-and-write pages and 8 counting and number pages. It is an instant PDF, black and white, prints on US Letter or A4, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

This is a typical order for a September start. If you start in January, begin at the top row anyway. Move faster or slower depending on your child.

Our guide on how to teach letter sounds goes deeper on the reading column.

Use this to see where your child is, not to grade them. Many children meet some of these goals in first grade, and that is normal.

Reading

• Knows all letters and their most common sounds
• Blends and reads CVC words (cat, sun, pig)
• Reads words with sh, ch, th and simple blends
• Reads common sight words by sight
• Retells a story's beginning, middle and end

Writing

• Writes first and last name
• Writes letters correctly, mostly from the top
• Spells simple words by sound
• Writes a short sentence with spaces, a capital and a period

Math

• Counts to 100 by ones and tens
• Counts objects to 20 and writes numbers to 20
• Compares numbers and groups (more, fewer, the same)
• Adds and subtracts within 10 with objects or drawings
• Names flat shapes and solid shapes (cube, sphere, cone)
• Compares length and weight

Learning habits

• Sits and focuses for 10 to 15 minutes
• Follows multi-step directions
• Tries again after a mistake, with encouragement

Still deciding whether your child is ready to start? The kindergarten readiness checklist covers the skills that come before this list.

1. Morning warm-up (5 minutes). Day, date, weather, letter of the day. A page from Good Morning! Kindergarten Warm-Ups works well here.
2. Phonics and reading (15 minutes). New sound, blending practice with letter cards, then read the week's little story.
3. Math (10 to 15 minutes). Hands-on first: counters, ten-frames, dominoes. Then one page.
4. Read-aloud (20 minutes or more). Picture books and simple chapter books above your child's reading level.
5. Afternoon theme (2 or 3 days a week). A science activity, a nature walk, a map game or an art project.

Our full guide on how to homeschool kindergarten covers setup, schedules and record keeping.

The order matters more than the materials.

1. Sounds before names. Say /m/, not "em," when teaching reading.
2. Blend early. Once you have s, a, t, p, i and n, you can make sat, pin, tap and nap.
3. Add sight words slowly. Three or four a week, practiced in sentences, not only on cards.
4. Read decodable text. Little stories that use only the sounds your child knows build confidence.
5. Keep reading aloud. Vocabulary and love of books come from you reading to them.

Script for blending: "Let's say each sound. /s/ /a/ /t/. Now say them faster. Sss-aaa-t. What word is it?"

Kindergarten math is about understanding numbers, not speed.

• Count real things. Snacks, stairs, toy cars. Touch each one once.
• Use a ten-frame. It shows 7 as "5 and 2 more" and 13 as "10 and 3 more."
• Tell story problems. "There are 4 ducks. 2 swim away. How many are left?"
• Play games. Dice games, dominoes, Snakes and Ladders and simple card games all practice counting and adding.

• Starting with too much. Thirty focused minutes is plenty. More often leads to resistance.
• Teaching letters alphabetically. Starting with s, a, t, p, i, n lets your child read real words within weeks.
• Worksheets before hands-on. Use objects first, then the page.
• Comparing to schooled friends. One-to-one learning looks different, and that is fine.
• Skipping fine motor. Cutting, play-dough and drawing build the hand strength needed for writing.

You can teach kindergarten using the scope and sequence above, library books and free resources. Plenty of families do. The trade-off is planning time and keeping skills in order. To try our page style first, download the free printable book.

A planned curriculum helps if you want each week laid out so you can open it and start. Ours may suit you if you want phonics, sight words, math and a weekly theme in one place, secular materials and 30-minute days. It may not suit you if you want video lessons, a boxed kit with manipulatives, or you can't print at home.

Print the first month of the scope and sequence above, check where your child is with the skills checklist, and begin at the right row. Browse more for this age on the kindergarten page.

If you'd rather have every week planned, the Kindergarten at Home Curriculum follows this order across 36 weeks. The Complete Kindergarten Bundle adds the morning warm-ups, the readiness kit, the enrichment super pack, the kindergarten sight words book and CVC word practice.