Kindergarten Development Guide

HOMESCHOOL EDITION · for families learning at home

A gentle guide for parents who really want to see their five-year-old

Five is the age of the capable self. Where a four-year-old says "I can do it myself," a five-year-old asks "What do I need, to do this?" and thinks a step ahead. Most of that growth happens where no worksheet can catch it. This guide helps you see it, across the five areas a five-year-old is working on, and shows you what each one looks like in your own days: sounding out a word on a cereal box, splitting a snack fairly between three, writing their own name on a birthday card.

A child-led observation tool
The guide is written for you, not for your child. For every area you get an observation guide with key indicators, playful ideas to try when they fit your day, and space to write down what you noticed. This is child-led learning with a compass: you follow what your child is ready for, and you always know which ground you are covering.

It covers what your state expects
The five areas here cover every domain used in state standards for this age: social-emotional development, language and literacy, math, physical development, and understanding the world and creative arts. The guide is built around child development rather than one state's curriculum, so it works wherever you live and however you teach. 

And it leaves you with a record
At the back you will find the First Grade Readiness Portfolio: one clear overview of the milestones your child reached this year and where they are still growing. In states that ask for a portfolio or evidence of progress, the completed record can serve as part of what you keep on file. Everywhere else, it is quiet proof, for you, that a full year of real learning happened. Your child gets the Explorer Diploma, and a small ceremony to close the year.

Written by a teacher with twelve years in the classroom, and grounded in widely recognized kindergarten developmental milestones and child development research.

Choose what fits you
Print ($32.95): a color version and an ink-friendly version, both ready to print.
Bundle ($39.95): color, ink-friendly, and a digitally fillable version for your laptop or tablet, so you can work digitally and still print any page you want to hold in your hands.

Practical
· Instant download after payment
· Written for five-year-olds (Kindergarten year)
· One-time purchase, yours to keep

Still on the fence? Look inside the preview first (PDF, 9 pages).

Traveling full-time with your child? There is a Travel Edition of this guide.