Whether you have committed to homeschooling this year, planning to supplement alongside your child’s virtual learning platform, or are still exploring your options, we’ve gathered five popular homeschool curriculums that cover a wide range of educational philosophies and approaches. From classic, low-cost homeschool curriculum to nature-based, hands-on learning, these are popular picks for the best homeschool curriculum for all types of families. And be sure to keep scrolling to see what items made the list for must-have homeschooling supplies!
The Good and The Beautiful
Highlights: Faith and Nature-based, family style learning
The Good and The Beautiful homeschool curriculum by Jenny Phillips is designed to foster a true love of learning and instill high moral character. The curriculum is designed to make homeschooling less expensive, less overwhelming and bring joy back into learning. The program includes reading, language arts, science, math, and more.
Ages: Preschool – 8th Grade
Support Resources for Parents: No daily prep just open book and follow the instructions. There is also a book list and library for additional learning.
Blossom and Root
Highlights: Nature-based, hands-on learning
Blossom and Root is a creative, nature-based, secular homeschool curriculum. My family has embraced this play-based homeschool curriculum because it’s a flexible, hands-on curriculum with a focus on nature, literature, STEM, and art! Best of all, learning progresses naturally in a week by week, easy to follow schedule of activities that cover all areas of learning and development.
Ages: Preschool – 4th Grade
Support Resources for Parents: Book Seeds (stand-alone mini-units), Blossom and Roots Facebook support group, supplies list for each age group, and a fabulous Pinterest page with lots of great ideas + inspiration.
Mother Goose Time
Highlights: Research-based, early-learning curriculum
Spend less time on prep, more time on curious discovery with your children. Each curriculum system includes award-winning materials organized by day and ready to go. The Mother Goose Time curriculum system uniquely weaves 33 research-based skills into playful games and projects. As children participate, they naturally grow in all areas of development, including social-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development.
Ages: 3 months – 5 years old
Support Resources for Parents: Lesson plans + materials delivered to your door, access to member resources such as assessment tools, and an online shop to purchase additional materials
Other Goose
Highlights: Research-based, early-learning curriculum
Other Goose offers research-based early learning prompts that guide you through over 250 simple, teachable moments with your kids ages 2-7. Other Goose offers super simple, no-fuss, easy to implement ideas and lessons.
Ages: 2 to 7 years old
Support Resources for Parents: Online marketplace with books and educational toys and workshops for parents.
Time4Learning
Highlights: Traditional, online homeschool curriculum
Time4Learning is a virtual homeschool curriculum broken up by grades and subjects. It provides parents with an easy to follow, easy to implement, and completely digital homeschool curriculum. The program is student-led, which means children progress through the lessons at their own pace while parents “assign” daily courses and lessons.
Ages: PreK – 12th Grade
Support Resources for Parents: Printable lesson plans, progress reports, access to parent forums, a Facebook Families Group, and helpful customer support team.
Living Montessori Now
Highlights: Montessori focused curriculum
Living Montessori Now offers a plethora of activities, materials, and supplies for families who prefer the Montessori approach to homeschooling. With monthly themed activities + unit studies, parents can build a schedule that best fits their children’s learning style or follow the pre-planned weekly schedule of activities.
Ages: Preschool – 5th Grade
Support Resources for Parents: Free printables + Montessori video lessons, monthly newsletter, and an online shop to purchase materials.
Torchlight
Highlights: Literature-based curriculum
Torchlight is a unique curriculum that includes hands-on learning, game-schooling, car-schooling, media, and bedtime story recommendations woven into the curriculum to spread out the learning and make it more of a learning lifestyle. Torchlight provides flexibility, allowing families to mold the learning experience to the learner. Torchlight was created to fulfill the idea of the adult learning alongside the child, helping guide them, teach them to find answers, and ask quality questions.
Ages: PreK- 4th Grade
Support Resources for Parents: Level placement tools to help pick the perfect curriculum based on your child’s skills, add on materials, member resources + Facebook group, and summer learning and unit studies.
Most Useful Homeschool Supplies
- Written by local mom, Lauren Cadorin, How to Homeschool on a Budget is a comprehensive guide for new homeschool parents. Be sure to follow her blog, Also Known as Mama for amazing homeschooling tips!
- And because setting up a school in your home can be stressful enough, here are a few essential must-have homeschool items.
- Homeschool Planner
- A Workspace: This can be as simple as the kitchen table, a simple homemade workspace, or an adorable child-sized desk.
- Desktop organizer
- Writing Supplies: Dry erase markers, crayons (triangular crayons for preschoolers), markers, pencils, oil pastel crayons, colored pencils.
- Tabletop Art Easel
- Basic Art Supplies: Wiki stix, googly eyes, paint, popsicle sticks, pom poms, playdough, glitter, pipe cleaners, stickers, feathers
Photo credit: Facebook
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About Ashley Hubbbard-Porter
Ashley Porter is a Chicago native who now calls Birmingham home. Ashley and her husband Mike and son Jake love attending local festivals, exploring Detroit’s diverse food scene, and venturing outside of Metro Detroit to enjoy the natural beauty of Michigan. With a background in Early Childhood Education, Ashley loves connecting with and supporting families in her community, which is why she is so excited to be a part of LittleGuide Detroit.