Homeschooling your Toddler

Updated October 2023

Are you suddenly without daycare or preschool? Ready to homeschool your toddler or preschooler? Read on to find out a few simple items to have on hand while homeschooling your toddler!

*Some links are affiliate links and I may make a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own. I am not a certified teacher, just a mom with 10+ years of early childhood education experience!

A lot of us are finding ourselves scrambling and panicking about teaching our young children this fall. The good news is…you are probably already doing a great job! The better news is making sure your children hit milestones isn’t as complicated as you might be thinking. Here are a few ideas to get you started in the right direction.

Set Goals

Get on Google and find some developmental checklist for your child’s age group. Take a moment to figure out some weaker areas and start with those. I happen to have a curriculum for toddlers that features the skill being worked on for you!

Check out this FREE week of toddler curriculum on my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Organizing your Homeschool

Since I have the older two kids that I will be homeschooling, I have set up our living room to be our “school room”. I have tried to give my little guy the same things as the older two. This way he will feel included. Is it necessary for him to have his own bin and binder? No. Does he love it? Absolutely!

My big kids have binders, folders and workbooks in their bins. Little M has a binder with a coloring page for each letter of the alphabet, some coloring books and his own box of crayons. (This cuts down on arguing from the older ones not wanting him to ruin their stuff!)

I also purchased a fourth bin to keep library books. I like to keep our library books separated from our others to cut down on the search when they are due!

Separating the books also seems to help with M treating them nicely. I was nervous to let him have access to books that don’t belong to us since he’s usually a pretty destructive kid. Having them in the special bin has worked really well so far!

Supplies for Homeschooling your Toddler

What do you actually need to go out and buy? Probably not too much! If your house is anything like mine, you already have way too much stuff. The trick is to hide some of it for a while. When you bring it back out it will be special again! I have stocked up on some more Color Wonder No Mess markers-

I also really like having magnetic letters on hand. For younger kids it is all about fine motor skills, recognizing letters vs. non letters and color sorting. As kids get older you can use them for learning the alphabet, name writing and spelling.

Other Useful Supplies for Toddlers

• Construction Paper
• Dot Markers
• An Easel -this is not something you have to have, but it is really convenient if you have the funds and the space. We chose this model from Amazon:

I really like it because it has a magnetic whiteboard, chalkboard and a flannel board! A flannel board is such a great way to make stories interactive for young children.

So far we have really enjoyed this easel. Update 2023- It looks like the exact model I purchased is no longer available on Amazon- check this similar option out instead! I have it set to the highest height for myself & older children. As you can see my little one can still use it too! It also comes with roll paper which I have set to the chalkboard side. (I don’t plan to use the chalkboard here since we have one in the kitchen already.)

Repurpose What you already have for your Homeschool!

Recycle:

I have been collecting our recyclables from around the house! No paper towel roll gets left behind- it could become part of a tree, a tunnel for a car, a support for a house- the possibilities are endless. I also have paper plates, zipper storage bags, pipe cleaners and bubble wrap in the bin.

Rethink:

I have brought our play kitchen into our “school” area. Not only can M use it while I am doing more structured lessons with the older kids, but it is also a great way to learn math, sorting, new vocabulary and more. I purchased a three drawer bin so that all of the accessories can be quickly stashed away.

I have also put out some of our puzzles in a special tray (another Dollar Spot find). I plan to rotate items here depending on our theme for the week.

Morning Group

Homeschool Organization on Amazon

Each morning I start the day with a morning group. All three kids participate. Some days the older kids might help teach M a lesson. Sometimes the things we do are over his head and he may wander off. Either way I have provided an area to introduce the calendar and the idea of weather to him.

What are you doing to homeschool your little ones? Please comment below and let me know!

Interested in more September curriculum ideas?

Check out my page on TeachersPayTeachers!

The Chaos Manager Curriculum Page

Homeschooling with Disney Part 1 and Part 2