A pre-k homeschool curriculum for 4-year-olds, paced to the first day of kindergarten
Kindergarten is about a year away, and this is the year that gets your child ready for it. Not by rushing, and not by guessing. Kindy works out your child's kindergarten start from their birthday, checks what they can already do, and paces the plan to that first morning, so the skills that matter most get the most time.
Free for 7 days, then $9.99 a month. It starts with a short check of what your child can already do. Cancel in one tap.
Ask a kindergarten teacher what "ready" means. They rarely say "counts to 20".
They say: can follow a direction, wait for a turn, sit for a story, manage a big feeling, say goodbye at the door. The research agrees with them. Those skills predict how a child does in kindergarten better than letters and numbers do, because letters can be taught in a few weeks and self-control cannot.
The checklists are not wrong. Letters, sounds, counting and a pencil grip all belong to this year, and Kindy covers every one of them. But the checklist is not the whole picture, and a curriculum for a 4-year-old has to work on both halves. Kindy does. Every day.
What a 4-year-old is working on this year
Here is what most children can do around 4, what kindergarten hopes for at the door, and what Kindy works on with a child in the pre-k year. The lines come from the CDC's developmental milestones and from what teachers and researchers say readiness looks like.
Every child moves at their own pace. These are directions of travel, not deadlines.
Feelings, friends and self-control
Around 4: plays with other children, not just next to them. Likes to be a helper. Big feelings still arrive fast.
By kindergarten: follows rules and takes turns in a game, manages a big feeling with a little help, follows a two-step direction, sits for a story, says goodbye at the door and settles.
In Kindy this year: calm-down practices, turn-taking games, Simon Says, saying goodbye and coming back. The skills teachers say matter most, practiced a little every day.
Letters and sounds
Around 4: knows a good number of letters, often by name only. Loves rhymes and silly words.
By kindergarten: names most letters, big and small, knows many of their sounds, hears rhymes and first sounds, writes their first name, knows we read left to right.
In Kindy this year: one letter and its sound each week, sound hunts around the house and the store, rhyme games. Names and sounds together, which is what the research says works.
Numbers and early math
Around 4: counts to 10 out loud, counts a small group one by one, knows some numerals.
By kindergarten: counts to 20 and beyond, counts a group and knows the last number says how many, recognizes numbers 1 to 10, names basic shapes, spots and continues a pattern.
In Kindy this year: hopscotch to 20, dice and block towers, number hunts on price tags, patterns with what is in the toy bin.
Talking and listening
Around 4: speaks in full sentences, tells you about their day, asks endless questions.
By kindergarten: tells a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, keeps a conversation going for several turns, answers questions about a story, follows directions with two or three steps.
In Kindy this year: retelling favorite books, story memory games, listening games like Telephone, talking through a plan before doing it.
Thinking and problem solving
Around 4: names colors, sorts by one feature, knows what comes next in a familiar story.
By kindergarten: remembers details, puts things in order, notices what caused what, sticks with a puzzle to the end, tries a second way when the first does not work.
In Kindy this year: finishing a puzzle start to end, "what happens next?", sorting by two features, cause-and-effect stories.
Little hands and self-help
Around 4: holds a crayon between fingers and thumb, cuts with scissors, unbuttons some buttons.
By kindergarten: proper pencil grip, cuts along a line, draws a person with a head, arms and legs, writes their name, works zippers and buttons, opens a lunchbox, manages the bathroom.
In Kindy this year: tracing and name writing once the grip is ready, cutting lines and shapes, clothespins and tweezers, getting dressed for the day as practice.
Focus
Around 4: pays attention to an activity for five to ten minutes.
By kindergarten: sits for a short story and a short task, follows a simple routine on their own, waits a moment instead of grabbing.
In Kindy this year: it grows inside every activity, and a few activities aim at it directly: finishing what was started, stop-and-go games.
First a placement, then a plan.
A short check of what your child can already do places them on every skill. Strong in letters, still working on scissors and goodbyes? The plan gives that mix. Already reading a few words? Kindy moves on. Counting to 20 but shy about feelings? More of the feelings work, less of the counting.
Nothing is decided by age, and nothing is held back by it. Then Kindy paces the whole thing to your child's first day of kindergarten, so the skills with the most left to grow get the most days.
Letters and sounds together, and the sound games that make readers.
At four, letter names and letter sounds are taught together, because that is what the research on early reading says works. Names alone do not get a child closer to reading. Names with sounds do.
And the pre-reading skill that matters most is not on paper at all: hearing that cat rhymes with hat, that "sun" starts with /s/, clapping the parts of "ba-na-na". Kindy's letter weeks are built on exactly this. One letter, its sound, and play with the sound all week long: on the cereal box, at the store, in the bath.
A 4-year-old can do a real pre-k morning. Kindy is built for that.
A 4-year-old holds attention for about ten minutes at a stretch, and can happily do several stretches in a morning. Kindy opens with one activity and offers more, up to five a day across different areas. A full morning might be a letter-sound hunt, hopscotch to 20, a puzzle finished start to end, a calm-down practice and a round of Simon Says.
Not the right skill today? Ask for another, or choose one yourself. Not the right activity? Pick an alternative that teaches the same skill, or log your own. On a busy day, one still counts.
A pre-k morning in Kindy
Five real Kindy activities from five areas, for a child around four. Yours will differ, because every one is picked for your child.
Spot words that start with S
While you are out and about or reading together, point out words that begin with S: snake, spoon, smile, spider, slide, sand, soap. Skip "sh" words like shop, which make a different sound.
You need: a book, or a trip to the storeHopscotch count to 20
Chalk a hopscotch course with squares numbered all the way to 20. Count each number out loud as your child hops through, then take a turn yourself while they check your counting.
You need: chalk, or painter's tape indoorsFinish a 20-piece puzzle
Work a small puzzle together and cheer your child on to stick with it from the first piece to the last in one sitting. Help just enough to keep frustration away. The real skill is finishing what they started.
You need: a puzzle of about 20 piecesTry a calm-down practice
Pick one calm-down practice and try it together while everything is calm: belly breathing with hands on the tummy, star breathing tracing a star with a finger, or a mindful walk noticing what you see and hear.
You need: nothingPlay Telephone or Simon Says
Turn careful listening into a game. Whisper a silly phrase around the family circle in Telephone and compare how it comes out the other end, or play Simon Says, where moves only count when "Simon says" so.
You need: nothingAfter each one, you tap how it went. "Not yet" brings the skill back another day, often through a different activity. Three "Nailed it"s and it is mastered, and it returns now and then for a quick review, right up to the first day of school.
Everything kindergarten asks for, in order, with a date on it.
Kindy is one curriculum for the two years before kindergarten: 218 skills across 7 areas, sequenced by early childhood specialists and mapped to the CDC's developmental milestones. In the pre-k year your child is on the last stretch of that map, and Kindy knows which skills are still open, which are mastered, and how many days are left.
Mastered skills keep coming back for quick reviews so they are still there on the first morning. Skills still growing get the time. That is what "paced to the first day" means.
You do not have to cross-reference three checklists. That part is done.
You do not have to find your district's readiness list and check it against three curricula. You do not have to decide whether this month is letters or numbers, or whether you are covering enough. Kindy's map already holds what kindergarten asks for, in every area, in order, and every activity tells you what to do, what to say, and why it matters.
Your part is the teaching and the two of you. Bring your own materials and ideas too. Log them, tie them to the skill, and they count toward the same plan.
Who designed the curriculum
Vida Mercer
Lead curriculum designer · early childhood consultant since 2005
Kindy's curriculum is written and sequenced by early childhood specialists, led by Vida Mercer, working from research on how three, four and five year olds develop. Every skill is mapped to the CDC's developmental milestones and placed in the order children really learn it, so nothing important is skipped and nothing is asked before your child is ready. Each skill comes with several hands-on activities, and the same skill comes back in different ways until it sticks. That is how children this age learn best: one good thing, many times, with you. Read more about us
Price
7 days free, then $9.99 a month.
Each additional child: $4.99 a month, with their own plan.
We email you before your card is charged. Cancel anytime in the app.
Questions moms of 4-year-olds ask us
What should my 4-year-old know before kindergarten?
Less on paper than you might think, and more in the child. Teachers hope for a child who can follow a direction, wait for a turn, sit for a story, manage a big feeling, and say goodbye at the door. Alongside that: most letters and many of their sounds, counting to 20, counting a small group and knowing how many, a proper pencil grip, their own name, and handling zippers, buttons and a lunchbox. Kindy covers all of it, in order.
Is my 4-year-old behind?
The short check will tell you honestly where your child is, skill by skill, and most children are ahead in some areas and still growing in others. A year is enough time for most of what kindergarten asks for, and the plan puts the time where it is needed. Nothing is decided by age.
Should we work on letters, or letters and sounds?
Both, together. The research on early reading is clear that learning a letter's name and its sound at the same time works better than names alone. Kindy teaches one letter and its sound each week, and plays with the sound all week: sound hunts, rhymes, first sounds. Those sound games are the strongest predictor of reading later.
Should my 4-year-old be writing?
Their name, yes, once the pencil grip is ready. Kindy builds the grip first with clothespins, tweezers and cutting, then moves to tracing and name writing. A child who is not there yet keeps building the hand. A child who already writes their name moves on.
How much should we do each day?
Kindy opens with one activity and offers more, up to five a day across different areas. A 4-year-old can happily do several ten-minute stretches in a morning, and a full pre-k morning might hold a letter-sound hunt, hopscotch to 20, a puzzle, a calm-down practice and a listening game. On a busy day, one still counts.
Kindergarten starts next fall. Is it too late to start?
No. Kindy works out your child's kindergarten start from their birthday and paces the plan to that first day. With less time, the plan puts more of it on the skills that matter most and still reviews what is mastered so it stays.
What is "pre-k 4"?
Many programs call the year before kindergarten pre-k 4, and the year before that preschool or pre-k 3. Kindy does not split by age. It is one curriculum for the two years before kindergarten, and your child is placed by what they can do. A 4-year-old in Kindy is simply working on the next skills for them, whatever those are.
What if my child already reads a few words?
Then Kindy moves on. Mastered skills leave the daily plan and only return for quick reviews, so the time goes to what is still growing, which for many early readers is scissors, feelings and waiting a turn.
Can I use my own pre-k materials?
Yes. Choose a skill, or take the one Kindy suggests, then use a Kindy activity, one of the alternatives for that skill, or log your own. A logged activity credits the same skill, so your workbooks, your co-op and your library books all count toward the same plan.
Does Kindy continue into kindergarten?
The curriculum covers the skills a child needs by the first day of kindergarten, and it ends there. But it works from ability, not age. If your child starts kindergarten with some skills still growing, you can keep working on exactly those in Kindy alongside school.
How does the free week work?
Start with the short check of what your child can already do, then begin your free week. You get the full curriculum for 7 days. We email you before your card is charged, and you can cancel anytime in the app.
More for your situation
The same curriculum, explained for where you are starting from.
A new backpack, a goodbye that goes fine, and a child who walks in ready.
Ready in every way that counts: the letters and the sounds, the counting, the pencil grip, and the waiting, the sharing, the settling. That is what this year is for. It starts with seeing where your child is today.
Free for 7 days, then $9.99 a month. It starts with a short check of what your child can already do.