This page lists full, all-in one curriculum choices.
Gather ‘Round Homeschool
This curriculum designed to be all of your subjects for every grade in your home from preschool through high school. Math is the only subject not covered. This curriculum is perfect for larger families. It comes with 6 individual student notebooks that vary in level and give targeted grammar, spelling, writing, art, reading & comprehension, geography, science, social studies, history, Bible, and more. All of your children will learn one central theme that you introduce with a beautiful, full-color teacher’s guide. This eliminates “ping pong teaching” so common in homeschooling various levels. Topics include earth science, human body, North America, space, human body and more. You can download a sample of this curriculum here: https://gatherroundhomeschool.com/blogs/samples
The Good & the Beautiful
This curriculum was founded by a LDS homeschool mother who wanted to find beauty, joy, and powerful academics in her homeschool. As a professional writer herself, and with the resources to pull in a group of experts, and a vision of what homeschool curriculum could be, she began creating her own curriculum. It is now a team of over 70 writers, experts, reviewers, educators, and editors that are working to make homeschool easy, beautiful, affordable, academically solid, character-building, and joyful. This truly beautiful curriculum is for pre-K through high school.
Veritas Press
This curriculum combines live and self-paced online courses with a classical education, all from a Christian worldview that harnesses the power of the Trivium. Complete curriculum kits are available for kindergarten through high school. A full year package contains all the materials, lesson plans, self-paced and live online courses you’ll need to teach your student an entire year of school and can be easily customized. While a bit expensive, many of the books can be reused with your other children.
Bridgeway Academy
This PreK through high school program offers two different styles of homeschooling curriculum: homeschool courses & kits as well as a private homeschool academy. They offer core subjects, electives and more. There are both secular and Christian options available. The homeschooling kits are packages of online or textbook courses led by the parent with accompanying instructor manuals. The online options are self-paced or live. The academy, by contrast, gives parents and students access to an advisor. The pros of Bridgeway Academy are that they offer guidance and support. They also are full accredited. The cons of Bridgeway Academy is that the cost can get quite high. This curriculum also limits the ability for co-op classes and a more flexible schedule. Lastly, custom packages are not accredited without the purchase of an additional support package.
Acellus Academy
This curriculum is online and used by thousands of schools nationwide for grades K-12. This non-religious program covers all subjects. For homeschoolers it is online or traditional. Each course incorporates professionally filmed video lessons taught by some of the best teachers in the U.S. The pros of this curriculum is that it is an all-in-one homeschool program, offers online learning, and has all grades and subjects available. This biggest con of Acellus Academy is that it can be a bit expensive.
AOP (Alpha Omega Publications)
This publisher offers several different curriculum lines for grades 1 – 12, as well as their Switched-on-Schoolhouse and Monarch computer-based programs. Alpha Omega LIFEPAC materials are a mastery program for all subjects. Children are placed at the appropriate starting point in each subject area in the program, and they work sequentially through a number of full-color workbooks, called LIFEPACS. This is a “mastery” program since students are not supposed to move on to the next LIFEPAC until they have mastered the previous one. This curriculum should not be used by a child working completely independently, but that parents need to be involved to ensure effective learning. A pro of the LIFEPAC approach is that it is a good fit for parents with many children or to parents who feel inadequate to teach certain subjects. A con of this curriculum, that can be avoided, is that it can be easy to allow children to work completely independently and then realize they haven’t fully mastered the material. Another con is that a child can feel stuck if unable to master a topic.
A.C.E. Curriculum (Accelerated Christian Education)
This curriculum is designed for children to work independently. No lesson preparation or presentation by the parent is necessary. Children work through individual worktexts, called PACEs (typically 12 per course, per year). A.C.E. has materials for grades K-12, most of it printed in full color. There is also preschool material (Preschool with Ace and Christi) which covers readiness topics, and is parent led. Unlike a lot of other programs, the A.C.E. social studies at the elementary level is big on the “social” end (for example, the first half of the seventh grade level is entirely devoted to careers) along with church and Bible history, but lacking in comprehensive coverage of world and United States history and geography until high school level. At eighth grade level, A.C.E. social studies shifts to stronger history coverage up through high school. A pro of this curriculum is that some A.C.E. materials are also published in Spanish. The greatest con of this curriculum is that the material relies heavily upon simple recall rather than deeper thinking. Students can scan for the correct answer without having to really think about the material. More thinking and application skills are required in the higher grades, but the curriculum does not achieve the same thinking-skill levels as other major curriculum providers.
Bookshark
If you are familiar with Sonlight, Bookshark is essentially the non-religious version of Sonlight. This literature-rich, fully planned homeschool curriculum is for ages pre-K through high school. Literature-based subjects are history and science while language arts, math, spelling and handwriting are the skill-based subjects. Students within a 3-year age range can be combined into one level. Despite being literature-based, there are many hands on activities such as lapbooks, science kits, math manipulatives and more. I strongly recommend the lapbooks for deep understanding of topics and as a fun review. You can download two free unit studies (a U.S. Consitution Unit Study & a Walt Disney Unit Study) from BookShark at www.bookshark.com/freebies.
Abeka Book
This traditional-approach curriculum has materials for preK through high school. Abeka Academy has internet-streamed video instruction and DVDs that correspond with their own textbooks. Abeka’s educational philosophy is Christian, conservative and patriotic. It emphasizes mastery through drill, repetition, and memorization. Learning involves direct instruction, workbook activities, drills, and oral responses. Older homeschooling students can work independently with online or DVD courses. Hands-on activities include some science experiments and arts and crafts. The pros of Abeka Book are that they do a thorough job of covering each subject and they often require very little lesson preparation or presentation time. The cons of Abeka Book are that some homeschoolers complain there are too many quizzes, drills, and tests. Another complaint is that the courses tend to focus on detailed, rote learning rather than concepts. Parents ultimately can decide how much of these resources they feel are necessary to use.
Timberdoodle
This curriculum emphasizes experiential learning with hands-on activities and games. Instead of publishing their own resources, they select favorites from hundreds of publishers. While they do carry some traditional resources like math and grammar workbooks, they have more “fun” resources than others. Timberdoodle has a line of classic kits for all grade levels that have some religious content. There are three options for each grade level: basic, complete, and elite. Timberdoodle also has a line of non-religious kits with two options: complete and elite. Complete and elite kits for grades one through eleven include a Test Prep book. There are three levels with the preschool kits—Tiny Tots, Preschool, and PreK. These kits are perfect for families who prefer to wait till kindergarten or later before introducing formal academic learning. Timberdoodle is always a big hit at homeschool conventions and children will love touching every part of the kit. This curriculum is great for hands-on learners or if your child needs a break from rigorous book work. The con of this curriculum is that it might be “too fun.” A great quote from a former user was, “I know my child enjoyed the kit, but I’m not sure if they learned much.”
My Father’s World
This full package curriculum (math & language arts are from other vendors) is for preschool through high school. The educational philosophy embraces methodologies from unit study, Charlotte Mason, and classical approaches with a biblical base and missionary emphasis throughout every level. Each program has an instructor guide and uses a combination of real books, hands-on activities, and a few textbooks. Each level has basic or deluxe packages. Basic packages provide essential elements. Deluxe packages include additional resources for art, music, read alouds, etc. The Bible, geography and missions are a strong foundation throughout each level. Courses are well-structured with easy-to-understand instructions. Lesson preparation time will mostly be for gathering necessary materials. My Father’s World uses the phrase “open and teach” to describe the ease of using the lesson plans. The pros of My Father’s World are the well-laid out instruction manual and little preparation time. Simple hands-on activities help reinforce learning. It is also a great value and easy to tailor. The cons of My Father’s World are that some parents feel they need to supplement in certain areas as it seemed too light for their students.
Sonlight
This curriculum is a complete, literature-based, Christian curriculum from preschool through college prep. Sonlight has grown to become one of the largest curriculum suppliers in the homeschool market. All instructor guides for full-grade packages include geography and timeline activities and study guides for all history, reader and read-aloud books. The easy-to-use guides are one of the best and most important features of Sonlight. Started as a curriculum with missionaries in mind, students will study many different cultures and not focus solely on US history. Each level (formerly called Cores) is designated as appropriate for a range of two to five grade levels. You can teach your children the same level if they are within three years of one another. A day teaching with Sonlight can be divided into “table subjects” and “couch subjects”. A lot of learning happens during read alouds and individual reading time. Though the price of Sonlight might seem to be on the higher end, each level includes a huge list of books. Also, most of the books you receive are non-consumable, so you can use them through the years with your other children, all the while building a quality library. When you register for a new Sonlight account, and use the Rewards ID code JM20360742 to receive a $5 discount on you first order of $50 or more. (I will receive a small commission, but I would recommend Sonlight even without any rewards. This is the curriculum we have always used for our family.)