The Ultimate Homeschooling Booklist for 3 to 5 years old
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Pre-K
Reading Teaching
I don’t use a curriculum to teach my kids reading. I find those curriculums are expensive. Second, I wasn’t sure if it worked the best for my kids. I went cheapest route to test it out. I am glad did it because so far both my 7 and 4 years old are reading. I am happy with the result.
If you ask me that “do I need a curriculum to teach my Pre-K reading?” My answer would be no based on my experience, but at the same time, I am courage you doing your own research based on other’s suggestions on which homeschooling books and find what works for your kids. I hope you will find this list helpful.
Reading Practice
My daughter loves going to library. She feels independent there because I let her go and finds her books and talks to librarians for help if she needs to. Through borrowing books, we have discovered so many different books for beginner and level 1 that are educational and fun to read.
Some of the books she loves that she can read everyday and asks me to buy them. I don’t buy them all but some to keep her busy with reading when I am not available for her.
You can check them out on Amazon. But before buying, don’t forget to take advantage of your library. Library has been saving me a lot of money since we start our homeschooling journey.
I use these books for independent reading (she reads on her own or reads to me) and read aloud (I read to her). During my reading aloud, I also ask her questions for comprehension.
Math Learning
I use text books to teach her math because I want to learn what topics I need to teach for Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten. I use them as guidances but not follow the particular method.
My goal last homeschooling school year, 2020-2021, was teaching to recognize numbers and read math sentence. I want her to get familiar with numbers and math concept. We worked a lot on numbers recognition and counting with different objects.
Extra Practices
I use a lot of repetition in our homeschooling. I believe in deliberate practice and deep work. These practices will create a wonderful work habit for kids at a young age. And I have seen the results from my 7 years old boy after a year of practicing piano, 2 years of Shaolin martial art, and focusing practice on his independent work. I got these ideas from reading couple books on deep work and high performance habits. You can check out my self-development book list.
I use workbooks for this purpose, deliberate practice. My daughter enjoyed these books more than I expected.
Manipulative sets for reading and math
I use these sets for both Pre-K and Kindergarden. When it gets easier fr her, I add extra steps in. For example, when she uses What Comes Next set this year, I ask her questions what comes next and let her talk. I also use this for my 1 grader to write it out.
Homeschooling Kindergarten Books
Reading
We are still working on the reading book from last year. I think we will finish this book in couple more months before holiday. And then I will look into a new homeschooling curriculum or maybe she just need more practice on her reading. I will put more up date as we go.
Math
In 2021-2022, I used Kindergarden Dimension Singapore Math curriculum. You can find out more here. So far these work books are easy for her. However, because I want her to practice on her reading and comprehension on math problems, I didn’t want to push her go to the next level yet. Giving her time to practice helps her improve her confident and master what she has been doing.
In addition, I also practice skip counting with her.
Other subjects: social study and science
Other subjects like history, science, social study, geography, I teach both of them together.
Extra practice for math and reading
She is good as sounding out and loves writing. I practice with her listening and spelling.
