Homeschool Pre-Kindergarten
Ages 3–4
Pre-K is built out of talking and hands. Every academic skill later rests on vocabulary, hearing sounds, and fingers strong enough to hold a pencil.
Plan this yearEverything Pre-Kindergarten covers
The full scope and sequence, on the page. No signup to read it.
📖 Reading
Hearing the first sound in a word
Can tell you what sound a spoken word starts with — /m/ in milk — without seeing it written.
Rhyming
Notices when two words end the same, and can offer a third — even a nonsense one.
Recognising letters — starting with their own name
Spots the letters in their own name and names a handful of others by shape.
Listening to a story and telling it back
Can say what happened first, next and last using the pictures as a prompt.
✏️ Writing
Holding a crayon and making marks on purpose
Grips a chunky crayon with fingers rather than a fist, and draws lines and circles they meant to draw.
Cutting with scissors
Opens and closes safety scissors with one hand and snips across a strip of paper.
🔢 Math
Counting things, one touch per number
Touches each object exactly once while saying one number, and knows the last number said is the answer.
Seeing how many without counting
Says "three" at a glance for up to three or four objects, no counting required.
Sorting into groups
Puts objects into groups by one rule — colour, size, or type — and can say what the rule was.
Making and continuing patterns
Continues a red-blue-red-blue pattern and can say what comes next.
Naming and spotting shapes
Names circle, square, triangle and rectangle, and finds them in real objects.
More, less, bigger, smaller
Compares two groups or objects and uses the right word for the difference.
🔬 Science
The five senses and describing words
Names the sense they are using and offers a word for what they notice.
Weather and the seasons
Describes today's weather and picks clothing that matches it.
🌍 Social Studies
My family, my home, my helpers
Names the people in their family, knows their own full name, and identifies helpers like a doctor or a firefighter.
🧭 Study & Life Skills
Following a two-step instruction
Hears "put your shoes away and then wash your hands" and does both, in order.
Dressing, tidying, and doing it themselves
Puts on a coat, manages shoes, and puts toys away when asked.
What you will have in June
- Attendance — days and instructional hours, derived from work actually finished.
- Report cards — one a quarter, with the level each strand started and ended at.
- A portfolio — finished work, collected as it happens rather than assembled in a panic.
- A reading log — in the app and off it.
We keep records. We do not give legal advice and we never certify compliance — check with your state’s department of education.
When to ask for help
- By four, still not putting three or four words together into a sentence.
- Cannot follow a simple one-step instruction without it being repeated several times.
- No interest at all in books, or won't sit for a two-minute picture book by four.
- Doesn't respond to their own name, or seems not to hear you in a quiet room — ask for a hearing check first, before anything else.
- No hand preference at all by four and a half, plus real difficulty with any pencil or scissors work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many hours a day is Pre-Kindergarten homeschool?
We default to three hours a day across 180 school days, and you can set it anywhere from one to five. At this age Ten minutes is a full session at three and four, and it should feel like a game you stopped early rather than a lesson you finished. If they wander off, you got what you came for.
What if my child is ahead or behind in one subject?
Each of the six strands has its own level. A child can do this grade in reading and the one below in maths without any of it being a workaround — that is the normal case here, not an exception.
What records will I have at the end of Pre-Kindergarten?
Attendance in days and instructional hours, a report card per quarter, a portfolio of finished work, and a reading log. From Grade 9 there is also a parent-issued transcript with credits and GPA.