How to Homeschool the Elementary Years + Elementary Checklist

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Choosing to homeschool the elementary years can be a wonderful time to bond with your child. Along the way, you’ll be able to spend time together learning, exploring and discovering new things…making memories that will last a lifetime. 

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The elementary years are the stepping stones of your child’s education. In Preschool and Kindergarten, you laid the foundation for what lies just ahead of you. Your child is ready to take the basics they’ve learned so far and put them together. 

You’ll spend the next 5 years teaching your child important mathematical processes, historic and scientific facts and reading quality literature. They’ll find new interests and move beyond some things that they’re “too old” for now. You’ll watch them grow up in what feels like a flash. Truly, before you know it…they’ll be ready for the next step on their homeschool journey.  

As you homeschool your children through elementary school, remember this…

What your children learn during the elementary years will set them up for middle school, where the rubber meets the road.

As you make plans for your elementary homeschooling, ensure you balance your child’s homeschool lessons with real-life lessons. They won’t need as much textbook knowledge as they will life skills when they step out on their own. So, don’t over plan your homeschool days and leave room for everyday homeschooling moments

6 Steps to Homeschool the Elementary Years

  • Independent Learning

Elementary school is the perfect time to encourage your children to learn to be independent learners. They’ll need this skill during middle school and especially in high school. Independent learning is also very helpful when you’re homeschooling multiple children. Your older students will be able to continue on their own while you help your younger children. 

  • Quality Literature

It is important to introduce quality literature in elementary school because new literature tends to be filled with twaddle. Literature should challenge your children by teaching new vocabulary, inspire through stories of virtue and encourage them to do and be better than they are today. 

  • Responsibility

As you’re homeschooling through the elementary years, your children’s education needs to include lessons in responsibility. This is a skill that they will need throughout their lives in the workplace, home and personally. A few ways to teach responsibility in your homeschool is by the assignment of projects with a due date, a daily schedule and chores in your home. 

  • Interests/Hobbies

Your children will be more likely to enjoy their homeschooling journey if you allow them to learn about things that interest them. Try having a family homeschool planning time to give your children the opportunity to share what they would like to learn about and choose resources to use for their homeschooling. You can include studies about hobbies through the use of lapbooks, unit studies, literature and digital media.

  • Social Skills

Teaching elementary students social skills is important to both their future and their education. This will not only help when you go out in public together as a family, but it will benefit them their entire lives. During elementary school, your children need to learn about friendships, conversations, self-control and how to follow instructions. 

  • Interactive Activities

Children learn best through experiences. By including interactive activities as part of your homeschool, your children are more likely to remember the lesson that you’re trying to teach them. Science experiments, art projects, field trips and audio/video resources are great ways to make learning interactive.

The elementary school years are precious. Hold them close. Someday you’ll miss the science experiments out on the porch. The art projects that made such a mess would be welcome again. Snuggling up on the couch reading aloud to your children will be a thing of the past. The future…Middle School. 

If your child is ready for elementary homeschooling, you’ll want to check out these free elementary homeschool resources because it shouldn’t break the bank. 

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