Homeschool kindergarten: a free, gentle plan with a sample schedule

A homeschool kindergarten year can be gentle and free: about 60 to 90 minutes of sit-down learning a day, split into short pieces of reading, math and read-aloud, with the rest of the day for play, outdoors and hands-on work. The core of kindergarten is learning letter sounds and blending them into words, counting and small sums to 10, and hearing lots of good books. Peabody (peabody.kids) wrote this plan. Peabody is a free reading and learning site for kids, free through the end of 2026, and we say below which parts of it fit a kindergarten day and which parts it can't do. The other resources named here aren't ours, and nobody paid to be listed.

Five-year-olds vary enormously. Some are reading short books; some are still learning which way a page turns. Both are normal. A homeschool lets you start where your child is, so treat everything below as a menu, not a checklist.

What does kindergarten cover?

None of this needs to be bought. A library card, paper, crayons, a pack of cards and some blocks cover most of it.

A sample homeschool kindergarten schedule (60–90 minutes)

This is one day that many families find workable. The times are a guide; stop any piece early if it is going badly, and stretch it if your child is asking for more.

That adds up to roughly 60 to 90 minutes of sit-down time, much of it a grown-up reading aloud. Very few kindergartners can focus on one thing for long, so short pieces with movement between them work better than one long sitting. There is no research-backed ideal number of minutes, as we explain in how long should kids read.

A weekly kindergarten schedule

Two new letter sounds a week is a comfortable pace for many children; some go faster. If a sound isn't sticking, spend another week on it. Nobody is checking.

How to teach reading in kindergarten

The order that works for most children: play with sounds by ear first (rhymes, "what does sun start with?"), then teach letter sounds a few at a time, then show them how to blend sounds into words, then give them books that use only the sounds they know. Add heart words two or three at a time. Our step-by-step guide, how to teach a child to read, covers each step with games you can play today.

Teach letter sounds in a planned order, not A to Z. Peabody's phonics scope and sequence is one free order: s, a, t, p, i, n first, because they make dozens of short words right away (sat, pin, tap). Many kindergartners work through roughly the first seven of its sixteen steps in a year, which is short vowels and the sounds sh, ch and th. Slower is fine.

Keep reading aloud every day, including books well above what they can read. That is where new words and ideas come from.

Using Peabody in your homeschool kindergarten

Peabody has pieces for each part of the kindergarten day. Here is how they fit, with what you do.

1. Reading, 5–10 minutes, Monday to Thursday. Open the free library at level 1, Peabody's beginner level, where stories like I See a Boy, Can I Pet It? and Dot and the Log have a few words a page. A new story is read aloud page by page the first time by default, and any word can be tapped to hear it. Sit beside your child: point to each word, and let them take the words they know. Each story ends with a few short questions. Our post on free AI stories for kindergarten has more on reading these together.
2. A sound or word game, 5 minutes, two or three days a week. A kindergartner's games start on first sounds and rhymes, where Peabody says a picture's name and the child taps one of three big boxes. As those get solid, phonics and sight words follow. Gentle choices: Critter Farm, Dino Dash and Word Blocks. The sight word games page and the kindergarten and first-grade sight words cheat sheet cover the Dolch lists.
3. Math, 5–10 minutes, three or four days a week. Peabody's kindergarten math path has 26 short lesson parts, from adding to 10 and counting to 20 to shapes, the days of the week and number bonds to 10. Ten right answers finish a part, a wrong answer makes the next problem a little easier, and a lesson can be read aloud for a child who can't read yet. Practice starts on counting and making ten; Rocket Number Blast and the counting games page are good places to start. If your child is younger or needs a gentler start, the Pre-K math path is there too.
4. Friday treat, 10 minutes. Make a story together with the free AI story maker about something your child loves, then read it to them. Or colour a page in the Art Studio.

A child starts with one tap from the front page and needs no account. A free family account adds a grown-up page that shows their recent stories, how their time splits between reading, math and games, and which letter-sound patterns are sticking.

What Peabody can't do: it is not a boxed curriculum. It has no handwriting, no teacher's guide and no test, and it never records your child, so it cannot hear them read. At this age, the most important reading work, sitting together with a book, is yours. Keep screen time short; the plan above uses Peabody for 10 to 20 minutes a day at most.

Read-alouds and library books for kindergarten

Some easy wins:

• Rhyming books and nursery rhymes, for hearing sounds. Pause before the rhyme and let them fill it in.
• Simple non-fiction about whatever they love: diggers, sharks, space, bugs. Ask your librarian for the "easy non-fiction" shelf.
• Folk tales and fables, which children enjoy hearing again and again. Peabody's library has short retellings like The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, which you can read to them before they can read them.
• Read-alouds by someone else. Storyline Online has picture books read aloud by actors, free, for a rest from your voice.

Let your child pick at least one library book each week, even if it is the same truck book for the fourth time. Rereading is good practice.

Outdoors and hands-on learning

A lot of kindergarten learning happens away from the table:

• Counting walks: count steps, birds, red cars.
• Kitchen math: measuring cups, halving a sandwich, setting the table for five.
• Sound hunts: "find three things that start with b".
• Building and drawing: blocks, playdough, scissors and glue all build the hand muscles for writing.
• Weather and seasons: a weekly look at the same tree.

If it is raining, Peabody's Workbench has real-world builds with a grown-up, shown step by step.

Learn more elsewhere

• Reading Universe, free lessons, videos and decodable texts for teaching reading, kindergarten to 3rd grade
• Starfall, with a free Learn-to-Read section and a paid membership for the rest
• Khan Academy Kids, a free app for ages 2 to 8 with no ads
• Storyline Online, picture books read aloud
• HSLDA state law pages, to check your state's homeschool rules

Questions parents ask

Do I need a curriculum for homeschool kindergarten?

Not a bought one. A planned order for letter sounds, a library card, daily read-alouds, and simple math with real objects cover the core of kindergarten. Free tools like Peabody (free through the end of 2026), Reading Universe and Khan Academy Kids can add structure and practice.

How many hours a day is homeschool kindergarten?

Sit-down learning often takes 60 to 90 minutes a day, broken into short pieces, and much of that is a grown-up reading aloud. The rest of the day is play, outdoors and hands-on projects, which are learning too.

What should a kindergartner know by the end of the year?

Many kindergarten programs aim for knowing most letter sounds, blending short words, reading a few heart words, counting to 20 or beyond, and adding and taking away small numbers. Children vary widely; a child who is not there yet is not failing. Keep going at their pace.

Is homeschool kindergarten required?

It depends on where you live: states set different ages for compulsory school, and some do not require kindergarten at all. Check your state's rules on your state education department's site or HSLDA's page for your state.

How much screen time should a homeschool kindergarten use?

Short is best. The plan above uses Peabody for about 10 to 20 minutes a day, with a grown-up nearby, and keeps reading aloud, play and outdoor time as the main part of the day.