Curriculum For Every Year
Many families are writing to ask which resources they should use for each grade. We believe in family-centered homeschooling, choosing as few resources as possible, and combining grades so that we can savor homeschooling instead of stressing over it. We want you to have plenty of time to read aloud to your children, bake together, and take a nature walk, without feeling like you are falling behind.
“The greatest service we can do to education today is to teach few subjects. No one has time to do more than a very few things well before he is twenty, and when we force a boy into mediocrity in a dozen subjects we destroy his standards, perhaps for life.” ~ C.S Lewis
Preschool and Kindergarten
If you have children four or under who don’t know their letters, consider The Peaceful Preschool. The Peaceful Preschool is a developmentally thoughtful curriculum designed to help you prepare your child for school while enjoying great books and hands-on activities together. The guide includes daily activities for cultivating strong motor skills, which help ensure school success.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed all our Peaceful Press resources ~ the Peaceful Preschool, the Christmas Guide, Playful Pioneers, and most recently, Kind Kingdom! It’s very hard to choose a favorite as they’re all so wonderful and provided rich, meaningful and memorable experiences for both our children and me. We have such sweet memories of starting out with Peaceful Preschool ~ what a gentle beginning to our home education journey! Each and every week we looked forward to the picture books and re-reading many of my own childhood favorites was incredibly special.”
Emily
If you have children six and under who know their letters, choose Nourishing Nature Kindergarten. You will find daily read-aloud suggestions, phonics, counting skills, fine and large motor skills, handwriting, and more to create a fun and developmentally appropriate year with your child. Each month includes activities centered around nature themes to gift your child with a greater appreciation for the outdoors as they learn.
Ages 6 and Younger
If you have children 6 and under who know their letters and have well-developed motor skills, you can use The Playful Pioneers but add The Peaceful Preschool once or twice a week for preschool students.
If you are using The Playful Pioneers you would also add a math and phonics program for your five and six-year-olds. We recommend Right Start Math and All About Reading. Busy parents could also add an Explode The Code workbook and Handwriting Without Tears so your child has some work they can do while you are working with another student.
The Playful Pioneers aims to give your children a large room to start their education in. Through reading the beloved children's series, The Little House on the Prairie, and doing related art, science and history projects, your child will develop a love for learning. You and your children will study famous works of art, copy poetry, learn new handwork skills, and best of all, develop deeper relationships as a family, as you explore new activities together.
“I am a huge fan of the Peaceful Press and I ALWAYS recommend it to all my homeschooling friends. I love the way it facilitates homeschooling multiple ages at once. I love that it encourages connection to one another and to God’s creation.”
Laura
Ages 6-12
If you have children between ages 6 and 12 (many have used these guides into middle school and beyond), we recommend looping through The Precious People (World History), The Kind Kingdom (European History), and The Playful Pioneers (American History). Many Charlotte Mason families choose the history of their own home country first, and you could work your way from the closest in familiarity (for most of us, this is Playful PIoneers American History) outward towards European and World History.
The Precious People guide will lead you through daily readings designed to introduce your child to ancient history through the early Middle Ages. It will also introduce your child to studies of non-Western cultures through engaging literature and projects.
The Kind Kingdom guide will lead you through daily readings designed to provide a 30-week overview of major European events, using the Chronicles of Narnia, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare as a spine.
The Playful Pioneers includes 30 weeks of learning centered around American history using the Little House on the Prairie series as a spine.
If you've done an initial cycle with the Peaceful Press, you can follow that with our Volume 2 offerings.
Playful Pioneers Volume 2 covers all 50 states using the Holling C. Holling books to highlight American geography with read-alouds such as Freedom Train, Of Courage Undaunted, and A Year With Miss Agnes. We feature one region per month and also include a two-week study of the Constitution of the United States.
Kind Kingdom Volume 2 covers a similar timeline to Kind Kingdom Volume 1 with books such as Treasures in the Snow, I, Juan de Pareja, and The Hiding Place. It's a great resource for late elementary and middle school.
In 2025, we will also release a new Precious People Volume 1 with a more lighthearted overview of world geography, and our current Precious People Volume 1, with its more mature ancient history themes, will become Volume 2. The current Precious People is a great choice for families starting Classical Conversations Cycle 1 in the fall. The literature is incredible, but families will need to use caution with the missionary stories Mimosa and Jungle Calls, which contain some intense scenes.
Click here to get a free sample of each of our curriculum bundles. We offer a full week free of each of our curriculum bundles.
What Else Do I Need?
With children in grades 1-3, we add phonics and spelling (the elementary resources include writing and notebooking or narration prompts so you don’t need added writing). We recommend All About Reading and Explode the Code.
With children in grades 4-6, you could add grammar and writing. We love Fix-It Grammar and History-Based Writing Lessons.
For all elementary ages, you will add a math resource. We have found Right Start Math to be the most comprehensive and concrete, but many families have used Math U See, Math with Confidence, Teaching Textbooks and had a great experience.
What About After Elementary School?
Once you’ve gotten through the elementary school years and developed a love of learning with your child, there are a million beautiful choices for the junior high and high school years. We have kept our junior high students learning with our Peaceful Press resources, simply adding in extra reading and writing. Later, we create a course of study based on what our older child is interested in, and what their educational goals are.
We have loved resources from James Stobaugh, Apologia Science, Teaching Textbooks, Khan Academy, and have heard great things about the Classical Conversations Challenge Program, Veritas Press, and Ambleside Online. We also recommend finding co-op classes or tutors in the junior high and high school years for subjects such as lab science or foreign languages.
Click to read more about our recommendations for older students.
Are you new to homeschooling? Click here to get our FREE How to Get Started Homeschooling book, which offers step-by-step suggestions for starting a literature-based homeschool education. If you are wondering how to get started, this book can help.
