Our top 3 favorite multi-aged family curriculum picks
One of the biggest struggles for those new to homeschooling is the overwhelm of getting started. If you need help to get that ball rolling, a curriculum with many of the subjects lined out for you can be a big help. As you get your feet wet, see how your children best learn, and what your style is for the best rhythm in your house you can easily branch out and make your homeschool journey your own. Place your family “stamp” on what you do in your day so to speak.
In the world of homeschooling there are so many choices out there that it is dizzying. From diy loop scheduling, all-in-one tightly structured traditional school models, to loose delight driven styles. There are so many options that it’s hard to land on a place to even begin.
A big question families have is how to manage and teach kids with varying age brackets without spending daybreak to night homeschooling each child. It is possible to include all the ages together for many of the subjects in order to make your day much easier.
How on earth to homeschool with multiple ages or multiples grades at the same time?
In all the huge amount of choices out there, curriculum that requires that you use a separate year program for each age group may look great on paper but may make getting started and staying with it difficult since you will be juggling a completely different day for every single one of your children.
If you are going to make use of a pre-laid-out curriculum, do yourself a huge favor and seek out those curriculum choices that are already set up for including multi-ages in one year all-together. The curriculum will be labeled as such. Many curriculums will combine all ages for history, art appreciation, music appreciation, etc. and will break up individually for math. For highschoolers, they will do an independent study for math, science, and foreign language.
The advantage of a multi-age curriculum is that you are on the same topic for all of your family each day and the level of handwork or “homework” is particular to the age. Much easier on momma for sure. Combining ages is also much more budget friendly.
When we started homeschooling at the very beginning, I thought our style would be very scholarly and classical. But, I quickly realized that particular style appeals to me more than who my kids were. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a classical approach and it may suit your child tremendously but if you are looking for something a little more relaxed and budget friendly then these 3 curriculum choices might help you to get that ball rolling in your home.
Our top 3 favorite homeschool curriculum choices:
We have dabbled in many options over the years– some really great, some not so. The joy of homeschooling is the complete freedom to switch what doesn’t work and make full use of what does. Even with a flexible multi-aged curriculum, we still carve it up to suit what we need. Don’t like the math that it recommends? Use the one you like instead. Like the read alouds but want to use your own style of grammar and writing? Go for it. Farther ahead in one subject, that’s ok.
Lamp and Light Homeschool
Lamp and Light Homeschool is created for a minimalist relaxed atmosphere in the home. I stumbled on this curriculum years ago when I was in a frazzled time of life and needed to really peel back layers and get to the very basic heart of learning at home. Written by a Christian family of beachy surfers, this filled the ticket and I have loved the vibe off of this curriculum ever since. Because my children are older, we used our own devotional material than listed to suit us a bit better.
This curriculum was originally called Salt and Light but was renamed to Lamp and Light after it was handed off to another family to develop while the original family went on to write a sister curriculum in a Catholic version currently called Salt and Light. Never fear, the same directions and vibes are in both Protestant version and Catholic version.
Lamp and Light curriculum = Protestant version
Salt and Light curriculum = Catholic version
With a strong emphasis on art journaling it makes this a great fit for the drawing child. My middle schooler and high schooler enjoyed that aspect as well. It also delves into a church history emphasis through the ages. There is a section in the guide that specifically talks about dyslexia and the daily plans include side notes for a dyslexic child (which I appreciated).
The materials list for this curriculum is much easier on the budget than most other curriculums. There are free resource links to enrich the book learning on their website as well as a complete free month sample of any of the years.
Day to day helpful tutorials from the original creator can be found on the SaltyTribeco. youtube channel.
Gather ‘Round Homeschool
Many of you may be familiar with Rebecca Spooner of youtube curriculum reviews. She is an upfront frank evaluator of homeschool resources from a strong conservative Christian perspective. She now orchestrates her own curriculum at Gather ‘Round and it’s accompanying app (which is fantastic).
This curriculum is built around units which makes it a great fit for families who don’t want to get bogged down on the same topic all year long. You can purchase a whole year unit bundle or buy them individually as you see fit.
If you purchase the digital version, you can download and print only the pages you wish for the ages in your family. Gather ‘Round units all come with all the ages from pre-readers up through highschool and you can print out any of the student handwork, which is for a large and generous spread of age categories.
We like to use the US History mini units and expand on each lesson with videos, literature read alouds, and other supplements to make each mini unit into a full high school quarter.
Simply Charlotte Mason
Simply Charlotte Mason is one of the most educational websites for setting up your entire homeschool world. From setting up each core subject to art appreciation and electives, this is a gem of a resource to learn more about the scope and sequence of homeschooling through the years.
As the name implies they follow the schooling philosophy of Charlotte Mason, a 19th century British teacher who set out to create her own school. She wrote a set of volumes on the structure and style of education and how it should be done properly for the child. Her philosophy holds that children are not created to just learn through rote memorization but are born with an innate sense of curiosity which is encouraged through living history, literature, art, handiwork skills, and nature study.
While this may have a more formal look of the three curriculums listed in this article, it is very family friendly for multi-ages and flexible in putting together your choices for what will fit your family.
