I have actually homeschooled all my kids at different ages with very few resources. Here is a post about how I teach everything for kindergarten with nothing but a notebook, a pencil, crayons, and a library card. In fact, I don’t buy many of the reading books I suggest. Instead, I rely on the public library.
Now, remember that minimalist homeschooling is NOT a specific curriculum or lesson plan – it is a mindset shift. Our resources are just ONE example of the *stuff* we accumulate while homeschooling.
>Read more about What Minimalist Homeschooling is NOT
With that said, I’m going to give you a run-down of what we have settled on, and used over and over again for our kids.
These resources get the job done simply, effectively, and relatively painlessly. I’ll give my opinions as we go along, so you can make the best choices for your family, your priorities, and your values.
PS – Not sure why I’m talking values, priorities and family individuality? That’s the minimalist homeschool mindset talking. There is a lot more to minimalist homeschooling than just choosing the most basic lesson plan, so if you’re eager to make a big change, join me inside The Simple is the New Smart Membership or at the Simple is the New Smart Podcastfor more top-to-bottom and from-now-on solutions to homeschool overwhelm.
Our family believes that children are best served with lots of free time, and a strong academic foundation. That’s a pretty straight-forward task during these years: our minimalist homeschool kindergarten & first grade curriculum includes reading, math, and handwriting.
Reading
Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Be forewarned: this book is dry, and somewhat tedious. BUT, it is 100% effective, quick, and foolproof for the parent-teacher. Heap on lots of snuggles and praise to make it tolerable to your little one. The exercises are repetitive by design, and it’s important for kids to master the skills in order to be a strong reader, but I do skip or shorten some lessons when I am confident that my child can handle a quicker pace. The book is non-consumable, so for less than $15, I have taught my children to read with a single book.
BOB Books
These simple books make the earliest readers feel accomplished. I only recommend the first set of BOB books for that very purpose – giving children books they can read themselves with very few skills. I pair these with free worksheets from This Reading Mama, and they LOVE it. By the way, This Reading Mama has a lot of fun games for early readers, too. I’m sure you could teach your child to read just with BOB books and This Reading Mama.
Biscuit Easy Readers
Once my children have finished their 100 lessons (actually, once they’re around lesson 80), they start reading easy readers out loud to me. Here are just a couple of our favorites.
Biscuit books are our favorite beginning reader series. Dick and Jane found their way into our home at one point, but my kids didn’t love them. Maybe yours will. Otherwise, I let my kids choose easy readers at the library.
The Frog and Toad books, and Little Bear stories are the classic easy readers for the next level of reading, and I think those are sweet must-reads.
Depending on the child, sometimes I follow-up with more phonics with them after they have finished their 100 Lessons, usually with a phonics workbook. Take your pick – I think they’re all pretty similar. I personally don’t teach spelling at these ages, because if I’m honest, I feel like first grade spelling is a joke: they will learn how to spell those words during the course of life without any deliberate attention to them.
Math
Miquon Math
I love, love, love Miquon Math because 1) I was raised with Cuisenaire rods, and 2) Miquon asks children to work with numbers in multiple different ways so that they emerge with strong number sense. As a result, my kids really understand mathematical concepts – not just rules. We use a logic-heavy math program after Miquon, so the foundation they get here is really important to me. The Miquon series includes 6 workbooks (orange through purple) that cover approximately K-3rd grade. You WILL want to get the Teacher’s Manual because the worksheets are not always self-explanatory.
Cuisenaire Rods
These are a MUST with Miquon Math, and we really love them, in general. You can buy the classic wood ones, or the interlocking plastic ones. We have a set of each, which isn’t very minimalist, but I have 4 children who honestly use them often. Here’s some proof:
Base Ten Set
Our base ten set has been invaluable when teaching counting, place value, carrying, borrowing, and more.
Writing
Handwriting paper from the Dollar Tree
Kumon Workbooks
The handwriting workbooks from Kumon are my favorite because if you stick with their series, you get a very comprehensive and logical progression through fine motor skills. The PreK books start with line tracing, and simple mazes, and then the books move through uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and words. Of course you can just use the handwriting practice you pull out of your own head and put on paper. If you want a done-for-you option, this is my choice.
You can also check out the other Kumon workbooks if you want to supplement with some word problems, or other skills. Just don’t go workbook crazy.
Read Alouds
Reading aloud to my children is not something I really consider “school,” but let’s face it: this is probably the most important thing you can do each day at every age. Here are our tried and true favorites at this age:
Pretty Fairy Tale Book
I do have the Blue Fairy Book for the older years, but at this age, we prefer the really pretty options from Usborne. Unfortunately, Usborne often switches their options, so I can’t recommend the one we have. Instead, I suggest that you choose one with pretty pictures, gentle language, and a ton of detailed stories in one book. While the rest of the books listed here can easily come from the library, this is one book I am glad we own.
Devotional Stories for Little Folks, and Devotional Stories for Little Folks, Too (Catholic)
The literature suggestions for Year 0 (PREP) and Year 1 (LEVEL 1B & 1A) at Ambleside Online, and Mater Amabilis.
Other Supplies
Here are some other items that we have found worth the investment in both space and money.
Scissors – make sure to get the good ones that actually cut. We also like the kind of scissors that convert between regular children’s scissors, and having a little spring action to help weak little hands open them.
Twistable crayons – Nobody likes crayons once they are dull, down to the paper, or broken. The result? A bunch of broken, unloved crayons that accumulate over time. I donated all of our regular crayons and invested in the twistables. Totally worth it.
Letter stamps – These are really helpful when the little ones are learning to read and spell simple words, and it makes a fun and interesting variation. Plus, my kids continue to use them even when they’re older to make cards and posters.
Do-A-Dot Stampers – I don’t know why my kids love these so much, but they do. These, like the letter stamps, are in our home to keep learning interesting and fun. You can find all sorts of free do-a-dot printables online. I tend to save them on my Preschool and Kindergarten Minimalist Homeschooling Pinterest Board, so if you like this idea, you can follow me on Pinterest.
Construction paper – We get ours in a jumbo pack from Costco
Pencil sharpener – Again, worth the investment to get a good one. We got ours at Costco, partially because of their awesome return policy, and I was sick of the short lifespan of all the other pencil sharpeners we had tried.
Creative supplies – a maker space with tape and recyclable materials, play-do or model magic, beads and string, glue, washi tape, stickers, a mud pit, water, watercolor paints, finger paints, or washable tempura paint… keep a few of your favorite creative supplies around for a while as an integral part of homeschooling kindergarten and first grade. Just remember: you don’t have to have them all, or keep them always.
ABCMouse.com
I have had a subscription to ABCMouse.com for much of our homeschooling journey. It is a great way to offer screen time that my kids enjoy, and that reinforces academic skills. ABCMouse is currently appropriate for toddlers through 8 years old, and they are continually adding content for older ages. I don’t love screens, and I have kids who dislike learning from apps altogether, so I use this as a supplement, and honestly, as an electronic babysitter when needed. therefore, it is an optional convenience for us, but a nice convenience just the same. We tried Time4Learning, and it did not suit us at all. ABCMouse is much more engaging and has more variety.
Education.com
I use education.com for all of my kids for worksheets, lessons, and games for skills I’d like to focus on a bit more. I think that the free membership allows 10 worksheet downloads per month. So this is an easy way to grab one needed worksheet for free without investing in a whole workbook. You’ll have to pay a small fee if you’d like additional access. I pay for the premium membership. I can make custom crosswords and word searches for my older kids, play games, and use exactly what we need when we need it – instead of collecting a bunch of half-done workbooks, or use-for-a-month-then-lose-interest apps. Again, this is an optional supplement, and it just plain makes my life easier to have access to exactly what we need when we need it – no more, no less.
What are your favorite minimalist homeschool kindergarten and first grade curriculum choices?
IMPORTANT NOTE: I combined kindergarten and first grade here because our “grades” are very fluid, and our goals in these “grades” are very similar. In fact, I used many of these resources during the PreK years for a couple of my kids. You can be the best judge of what your kids need, and when. Excluding any learning disabilities that need special consideration, I have consistently found that if children are not developmentally ready to focus, or work through the material, it is best to wait. Children always end up exactly where they are meant to be, and it’s more important to keep our children from hating the learning process than to have a “precocious,” or even “average,” child according to academic standards.
Where to next?
Here are some other ways I can help you cut the clutter and overwhelm:
- Listen to the Simple is the New Smart Podcast for bite-sized pieces of keeping you rhomeschool – and life – simple and intentional.
- Grab your Free Resources so that you can get started adding focus and value now, right where you are..
- Join me inside the Simple is the New Smart Membership to learn how to simplify, add focus and create the meaningful homeschool that you imagine.
