Basic plans lay out the readings and work per week, so you have flexibility to plan each day’s activities as you would like. Premium plans lay out the readings and work by day, so more work is done for you ahead of time (though you certainly can still edit and change any elements).

All plans are in Google Sheets format. You will be able to make a copy of the sheets and edit/customize/print them at will.

August, 2024

Yes, you will be able to upgrade to premium from basic for the difference in cost between the two.

No! You can choose to start with whichever cycle works best for your family, and you can proceed in any order.

No. You will need to purchase or check out from your library all of the books.

Just one per school year! Each cycle comes with plans for K–12.

All books in the curriculum can be found here.

We follow a Charlotte Mason history rotation, in which children in grades 1-4 study the history of their own country and then add in the study of a neighboring or closely associated country and also the study of an ancient time period in older grades. The neighboring country was typically added in grade 4 and the ancient history in grade 5 in Charlotte Mason’s schools. For simplicity, we have chosen to add these two additional streams both starting in grade 5, at the group switch. 

These streams get spread out over different days in your homeschool, so don’t be concerned that you’ll be doing three history readings every day!

These multiple streams help the older students stay connected with the past while also going deeper into a chronological continuum of the study of their own country and not delaying American history to an “early modern times” cycle, when our relatively young nation is finally colonized. 

Young children in grades 1-4 study the history of their own country, what they know, first and then move outward geographically and in complexity of times and worldviews. In all the subjects, including history, we are moving from concrete to more abstract as children mature. We’re helping them learn to notice and wonder first about what’s around them and then with increasing complexity things that are far removed in space and time. 

This way of studying history does two things. First, it allows children to grow in their historical understanding as they mature. People in ancient times thought and acted very differently than we do today, not least of all their beliefs about the world and their gods, and that takes a certain amount of maturity to grasp and sort through. Let them draw connections between where they live now and what it was like years ago before asking their young minds to draw connections between, for example, the ideas of the Founding Fathers and the Roman Consuls. 

Second, but also importantly, it keeps the young years simple with only one stream of history to study and follow. This helps them to grow in their ability to pay attention and narrate effectively and allows them more time for play and exploration, which are very important for childhood development. 

Also, don’t forget that they are still making connections with the past in other subjects such as Bible (which fits within, and is the source of, their understanding of the world).

That depends. There are a few types of video/audio courses included. The ones that we produce ourselves will be included with Premium (and have not been scheduled into Basic). 

Others are excellent podcast episodes in which expert teachers teach through something (like Plutarch or a literature book) to help high schoolers go deeper. These are free and linked. 

Others are Great Courses that are available either for one credit on Audible ($14.95 or less depending on your plan) or are also often available for free through your library’s Hoopla digital service, depending on what your library has access to. (Hoopla offers “The Great Courses Video Binge Pass” specifically for Great Courses.)

A couple of Great Courses need the video, but you can look for these for free on Hoopla as well, or watch for Great Courses sales (we will try to alert you) where video streaming courses go on sale 85-90% off (frequently) and should be under $30 for the whole course.

Others are expertly taught webinars that are $15 for lifetime access.

We have other video courses mentioned in the schedule that are more expensive but completely optional, depending on your desires for outside help and your budget. 

For point of reference, year-long homeschool classes for high school typically run $600-800 for the year. That generally divides up to about $20-25 per class, similar to the cost of a music lesson. Remember that you are paying that teacher not only for their time but also for their years of training and expertise and contagious love for the subject. But never feel like this is something you must stretch your budget to purchase! Your child’s education will be fine without this!