By age
Homeschooling Kindergarten
The year where doing less is genuinely doing better
Homeschooling kindergarten is the lowest-stakes, highest-anxiety year there is. The stakes are low because a five-year-old genuinely cannot fall behind; the anxiety is high because it's usually your first year and everyone's watching. You can do far less than you think you should.
On this page
What Illinois requires at age five
Very little, because compulsory attendance in Illinois begins in the fall for a child who has turned 6 on or before September 1. A five-year-old is generally not yet subject to the compulsory attendance law at all. You are not legally required to run a kindergarten year, report anything, or register anywhere.
Once your child reaches compulsory age, the same six broad subject areas apply as at every other stage. For the full picture, see Illinois homeschool law.
Not legal advice
This is general information, not legal advice. Compulsory attendance ages and their application to individual situations can change. Confirm current requirements with the Illinois State Board of Education before making decisions, particularly if your child is already enrolled somewhere or if a district has contacted you.
Last reviewed: July 26, 2026
If your child is already enrolled in a public kindergarten
Withdraw them properly in writing even though they're below compulsory age, otherwise the school keeps marking absences. See how to withdraw.
What to actually teach
Everything a kindergartener needs fits on one screen. Note how much of it isn't academic. That's not padding, that's the actual curriculum at this age.
Literacy
- Letter names and sounds
- Rhyming and sound play
- Being read aloud to, daily
- Retelling a story
- Writing their own name
Numbers
- Counting objects accurately
- Recognizing written numerals
- More, less, same
- Simple patterns
- Shapes and sorting
Body and hands
- Cutting, gluing, drawing
- Pencil grip
- Climbing, running, balancing
- Dressing independently
Person
- Following two-step instructions
- Taking turns, waiting
- Tidying up after themselves
- Asking questions about the world
Science and history at this age are simply the world: weather, bugs, the seasons, family stories, a museum, cooking. There is no reason to buy a kindergarten science curriculum, though nobody will stop you.
What the day looks like
| Morning | Breakfast, get dressed, a chore or two, genuinely part of the education |
|---|---|
| 15 min | Read aloud together on the couch |
| 10-15 min | Letters and sounds |
| 10-15 min | Counting and numbers, usually with objects |
| Rest of day | Play, outside, art, errands, library, helping cook, quiet time with books |
Total seated work: about 30 minutes, in short pieces. A five-year-old's attention span is roughly their age in minutes, so three ten-minute activities beat one thirty-minute one every time.
If you want to see how this scales up over the years, see what a homeschool day looks like.
The reading question
This is the one that keeps people up at night, usually somewhere around February. So, plainly: children tend to learn to read anywhere between roughly age four and age eight, and that whole range is normal. Reading early isn't much of a predictor of intelligence, and reading later isn't much of a predictor of struggle.
Keep working steadily on letter sounds and blending. A five-year-old who isn't reading yet usually isn't a problem to solve. There's no reading benchmark you're being measured against here, no date a child is supposed to hit, and nobody assigning a label when they don't.
When to look more closely
Persistent difficulty hearing and manipulating sounds in words, no progress at all over a long stretch of consistent instruction, or a family history of dyslexia are worth investigating rather than waiting out. Early support is genuinely more effective than late support. See homeschooling a child with special needs.
Do you need a curriculum?
No. Wanting one is still a legitimate reason to buy one, because a curriculum in kindergarten is mostly for the parent: it tells you what's next so you can stop wondering whether you're missing something.
If you buy anything, keep it to two things:
- A phonics program, the one subject where a sequence genuinely helps
- A math workbook, cheap, gentle, and satisfying for children who like finishing pages
Skip boxed all-in-one kindergarten packages unless money is no object. They're expensive, heavy on printables, and much of what's inside is things you'd do anyway. See what homeschooling costs for the numbers, and the styles quiz if you want a sense of which approach fits your family before you buy.
Is my child ready?
Almost certainly, because kindergarten readiness is mostly about you being ready to sit with them for twenty minutes. But if you're weighing whether to start now or wait a year:
Reasons to go ahead
They're curious, they enjoy being read to, they can sit for a short activity with you, and you feel ready to be consistent. That's enough. Age 5 is a fine time; so is 5½.
Reasons to wait
They're a young five, they're not interested in sitting, or you've got a newborn in the house. Waiting six months costs nothing at this age and often turns a fight into a pleasure. There is no penalty and nobody to notify.
Common first-year mistakes
- Recreating a classroom. A school room, calendar wall, and bell schedule are lovely if you enjoy them, but none of it is required, and it's easy to spend your energy there instead of on the reading aloud.
- Buying more than you'll use. The first-year curriculum splurge is close to a rite of passage, and a lot of it ends up on the shelf. Start small. You learn what your child likes by watching them, not by shopping ahead of them.
- Comparing to a schooled cousin. A kindergarten classroom spends much of its day on logistics your child simply doesn't need, so worksheet counts aren't really comparable.
- Pushing through tears. If something is causing real distress at five, it's usually the task or the timing rather than the child. Setting it aside until tomorrow rarely costs anything.
- Waiting on community because they're "only in kindergarten." This is a good year to build your own support network, while things are still relatively unhurried. See socialization.
Common questions
What about preschool, should I do anything at three or four?
Talk to them, read to them, and let them play. That is a complete preschool. Nothing formal is required at three or four, nobody is expecting anything of a four-year-old, and play genuinely is the work of early childhood.
Can my kindergartener join a co-op?
Yes, and it's a lovely age for it, short classes, hands-on projects, and other children on a predictable weekly rhythm. In the co-ops I've helped run, the kindergarten hour is the easy one. It also gets you into a room of other parents in your first year, which matters more than anything on the academic list.
How do I know they're keeping up?
At this age, the honest measure is whether they're growing more capable and more curious over months, not whether they hit a benchmark by a date. If you want a rough external reference, look at a grade-level skills list once in the spring, then put it away.
Start gently, and start with people
The academics at this age take twenty minutes. The part that actually needs building is your own support network, and kindergarten is the easiest year to do it, before life gets busier.
Finding your people What it costsSources
Claims on this page that aren't my own experience come from these, and are linked inline where they're made:
Last checked July 27, 2026. If something here is out of date, tell me and I'll fix it.
Free download
The Illinois Homeschool Starter Kit
A one-page compliance checklist, a withdrawal letter you can copy word for word, and a record-keeping log that fits on a single sheet. The paperwork part, done, so you can get on with the actual question of what to teach.
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