Kindergarten Homeschool Day In The Life With Toddlers
Hey there! Since you are here I am under the impression that you have an interest, desire, or curiosity about homeschooling, that’s amazing! This Kindergarten homeschool day in the life with toddlers will give you a glimpse into a typical school day in our household.
We have three kids ages 5, 2, and 1. Currently homeschooling Kindergarten for the 5-year-old. As you can imagine our days are messy, busy, and a bit chaotic but schooling is still a priority.
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Beauty of homeschooling
One of the beauties and draws of homeschooling for our family is the flexibility. My husband does not work a traditional schedule. He typically works over the weekends, often comes home past 7PM, and sometimes leaves as early as 4AM. When thinking about navigating family time with a kid in public school it wasn’t the ideal situation for us. The beauty of flexibility makes homeschooling a perfect fit for us.
In this season I have decided to do school at home 3 days a week and one day a week we go to a homeschool community group from 9AM-1PM.
Below I walk through what a typical homeschool day in the life looks like for us.
They are quick and to the point!
As you can see, it’s not like a typical public school day, nor do I want it to be.
Kindergarten homeschool day in the life with toddlers schedule:
This is our Monday-Wednesday daily schedule, which I hold pretty loosely.
By 7 AM both the toddler and baby are awake
Between 6:30-7:30 AM coffee for me, milk for the littles, bible time, I will unload the dishwasher, prep for breakfast, etc.
7-8 AM The 5-year-old wakes up.
8-8:30 AM Around this time the kids will start eating breakfast while I set up our lesson for the day. I grab our school basket and pull out the items we need.
8:30- 9ish When breakfast is finished I tell the 5-year-old it’s time for school. The toddler is normally eager to do “school” too, she will typically request playdoh or coloring.
9 – 9:30/10 we work on the lesson items for the day:
- Geography tracing (this year was USA so we did one state a day) – about 5 minutes
- Free writing prompt (one page a day) – 5 minutes
- Site words or sounds review – 10 minutes
- Language Arts lesson (We use The Good and The Beautiful) – 20 minutes
- Math Lesson (We use Saxon Math – we did year 1 for kindergarten) – 10 to 15 minutes
- Some days we add in a CVC book or other small reading – 5 minutes
*Tuesday I will do a brief Science lesson, this year was human anatomy.
*Wednesday I will add a History topic sentence from our co-op curriculum.
*Thursdays we go to a homeschool co-op from 9 AM-1 PM.
*Fridays are not “school days” but we will occasionally have a math review and read a few books.
The lesson portion takes about one hour, and for my 5-year-old that’s about his breaking point.
I want to add that for Kindergarten, the Science and History lessons are very surface-level and mostly interactive. Anything above Language Arts and Math is just a bonus and not a necessity!
The ages of your children are very much a factor in how you approach your homeschool daily schedule. I am sure as mine get older I will have to adapt my approach to when and where we get our lessons done.
Challenges we have faced while homeschooling Kindergarten
Homeschooling older children with toddlers/babies around can feel intimidating. If you have multiple littles I get it. The frustration, impatience, and lack of energy are all very real some days.
I am here to say that we are finishing up our first full homeschool year, we survived, and dare I say that I loved it!
My “schedule” is not necessarily the key to that. It has purely been a mindset shift that turns this time from overwhelming into fruitful!
Do I have a wild toddler getting into the pantry or kitchen cabinets? And a baby crying at my feet or even nursing while I teach? Yes, yes I do!
In those moments I can either become frustrated and overstimulated, which is not great for my student who is trying to get his school done, or I can surrender to the process. I remind myself this is a season and it is more beneficial to our family than the alternative.
Each family makes that choice individually and should aim to set up their homeschool structure in a beneficial way. The goal is not to have the perfect schedule but to create a peaceful learning environment that produces good fruit.
Navigating the littles while focusing on our lessons can often feel like a struggle. Again, I hold this time with an open hand and realize it is a season. If needed we can pause school until nap time for the littles, which we do occasionally.
My 5-year-old and I have the most focused energy first thing in the morning. Even though there are distractions, we are in the zone to do school. When we attempt school in the afternoon we tend to be less focused.
I prefer school in the mornings and truly enjoy that my littles are “involved” in our school day. They see it as a normal part of our routine and something we do together.
Which is truly my goal. I want to set the rhythm of homeschooling as a family, where together we are all learning and are engaged.
The rest of our day at home
Depending on how quickly the morning has gone, we will either have our breakfast or I will clean up from breakfast.
10:30 AM Depending on the weather we will head outside to play for a little while.
11:30 AM I will start prepping for lunch. I am all about easy, ready-to-serve lunches. You can read more about my homemaking habits in this post!
Once lunch is over and cleaned up, it’s typically time for the littles to nap.
12:30 PM–3 PM The littles are napping and during that time I will get some 1-on-1 time with the 5-year-old. Then he’s typically off playing a video game or with his toys in the basement.
I spend the rest of this time prepping for dinner, working on projects, cleaning, etc. Typically once I sit down to take a break the baby wakes up, so there’s that.
5:30 or 6 PM Is typically dinnertime then it’s a quick house pick up, TV time, or family games.
7:30 PM–8 PM We start the bedtime process.
By 8:30 PM All kids are in bed as is me 🙂
Supplemental lesson ideas for Kindergarten homeschooling:
Here are some of the items I mentioned from our lessons. These are not a necessity for Kindergarten. I have simply enjoyed adding these in over the year. Language Arts and Math are the two lessons I focus on first and foremost.
Draw the USA – Great for quick Geography lessons, we traced a state a day! You can use regular white printer paper or try tracing paper.
Writing Prompt for Kids – Have your child practice tracing letters, writing on their own, and being creative in storytelling.
Human Body Activity Book For Kids – Fun activity book for Science lessons.
The 50 States Book: Explore the USA (this book is amazing with so much detail) – Great for all ages, visually for younger kids, and more detailed for older ones.
My first reader books – Perfect starter books as your child learns to read.
On the search for more homeschool content?
I walked through essential yet affordable homeschool supplies in this post, a perfect place to look if you are just getting started!
Looking for a basic weekly planner? I created this simple one here. There are 8 cute styles to choose from, all for free!
Need some organizational help with your homeschool space? This post gives 8 practical and affordable tips.
Seasoned Homeschool mama’s let me know in the comments what your homeschool days look like!
Are new to this journey? I am here to encourage you in any way I can, please reach out if you have any questions – I would love to connect!
If you are considering homeschooling Kindergarten or are on the fence about it, I am here to say it can be done! Even with littles at home. It’s important to keep your family’s vision for choosing to homeschool at the top of your mind, especially on those more challenging days.
If you are taking things one week, one day, or one lesson at a time, I am right there with you.
You are not alone on this journey – and that we can Rejoice About!
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When you purchase something I recommend, I may receive an affiliate commission – but it does not affect your price or what I choose to promote.*
Happy Homeschooling!
