Welcome to the Ultimate Homeschool Guide for Parents! Whether you're just beginning your homeschool journey or looking for additional resources for support, we've got you covered.
Basic Principles:
- Homeschooling is more than just academics.
- Focus on developing language arts, mathematics, and self-directed learning skills; other subjects will then fall into place.
Feel free to skip ahead to the most relevant section(s) of this guide. You won't miss out on anything, though we recommend looking into the "Legal Matters" topic under the Children section if your students are older.
Babies (~0-1)
During this stage, we recommend focusing on building the parent-child bond and supporting your baby's development.
The First Year
The first year of your child's life is a time of incredible growth and discovery. Below are two resources we recommend to help you with this stage:
Pathways.org
Tools to fully track and support your baby's growth and development, ensuring they hit milestones and gain appropriate abilities.
Zero to Three
Resources designed to support early childhood development in areas like language acquisition and cognitive development.
A book recommended by our family is What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff.
Language and Math Development
Language and math concepts begin developing in children at an early age. Below are some resources to help support parents nurture this process.
Toddlers (~2-3)
We recommend focusing on the following areas: gross and fine motor skills, math and language development, character development, and life skills.
Motor Skills
Pathways.org
Expert-backed tools to support your child's growth and development in areas such as coordination, motor milestones, social skills, and more.
Activities for Fine Motor Skills Development
A variety of checklists, activities, and printables to help develop fine motor skills in children aged 0-6.
Language and Math Development
Chracter & Life Skills
Children (~4-9)
At this stage, homeschooling tends to become a bit more structured. We recommend focusing on math and language skills, character development, and life skills.
This is also the perfect time to start exploring other subjects in-depth, such as history, geography, science; any special interests of you and your child/ren's; or any subjects required by law in your area.
(We will have sample daily schedules coming out soon! In the meantime, feel free to use a search engine or AI to look for examples of homeschool schedules in the elementary years.)
Legal Matters
This is the time for you to delve into your state or country's requirements and laws around homeschooling. In the United States, children are required to start attending school somewhere between the ages of 5 to 8 ref depending on the state. This is an age range similar to most countries around the world, although the minimum age for compulsory education in some places begins as young as age 3 ref.
To find out more, we recommend HSLDA's page on the legal aspects of homeschooling in different countries.
Mathematics
Khan Academy
Comprehensive math programs for K through college
Freckle Math
Adaptive math practice for grades K-12
Explore our mathematics guide for additional math resources.
Language Arts
Starfall
Award-winning online media and games for learning the alphabet and reading
Duolingo ABC
Comprehensive phonics program by language company Duolingo
Progressive Phonics
Printable all-in-one progressive phonics program
Community Reading Project
Reading lessons designed for older, struggling students
Explore our language arts guide for additional resources on reading, handwriting, cursive, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, writing, and more.
Exploring Other Academic Subjects
Character and Life Skills
The following resources are good starting points for determining what to teach in regards to character and life skills. Digital safety, emergency preparedness, and
The 7 Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs
Focus and self-control, perspective taking, communicating, making connections, critical thinking, taking on challenges, self-directed learning.
100 Life Skills to Intentionally Teach your Children
A list of skills covering areas such as clothing and hygiene, housechores, cooking, and more.
Be Internet Awesome
Tools for teaching internet safety to kids. Comes with an educational game and comprehensive lesson plans for educators.
Kidsmartz: Child Safety Program
Educating families on the rules of personal safety to prevent abduction and keep our kids safe.
Ready.gov
Government-provided resources for education in emergency and disaster preparation.
Safety (by Health World)
Lesson plans to teach kids skills in areas like fire and water safety, online and emotional safety, and more.
Preteens (~10-12)
Continue the focus on math, language arts, character, and life skills. You may also consider having more structured learning in history, science, and other subjects in preparation for high school.
Mathematics
Khan Academy
Comprehensive math programs for K through college
Freckle Math
Adaptive math practice for grades K-12
Alcumus
Innovative math practice from Prealgebra to Precalculus
Math Shack
Math practice for prealgebra, algebra, geometry, and statistics
Virtual Nerd
Video lessons for middle school, algebra, and geometry
Explore our mathematics guide for additional math resources.
Language Arts
Project Gutenberg
A large collection of free, public domain books online
Readworks
Free texts and activities for reading comprehension
The Good and the Beautiful
Full printable ELA curriculum for grades K-8
Khan Academy Reading & Language Arts
Language arts and grammar resources for grades 2-10
Explore our language arts guide for additional resources on reading, handwriting, cursive, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, writing, and more.