I get it. Ten children times a thousand bucks are…WAY TOO MUCH! If only a great family-style homeschool curriculum could cater to toddlers and high-schoolers. Thankfully there are some outstanding homeschooling curricula for large families out there. Some of these options let you teach your whole family at the same time, saving time and multiplying the fun as you bond together.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
I believe the best large family homeschool curriculum choices available today are
- Schoolhouse Teachers,
- KONOS,
- A World of Adventure,
- Five-in-a-Row,
- Great Books Homeschool and the
- Charlotte Mason Institute.
If you are a newcomer to homeschooling, I highly suggest enrolling in the Homeschool Parenting Program. This program will provide you with comprehensive knowledge of homeschooling, ensuring that you feel confident and at ease. The course is both engaging and enlightening.
But, for now, let’s take a look at these family homeschool curriculum options below.
What is Family-Style Homeschooling?
Family-Style homeschooling employs a loose educational method where curriculum and family routines conform to the family.
This is in contrast to using a homeschool method where parents have to bend their family to suit the method and its curriculum.
Benefits of Family-Style Homeschooling
- saving money – as your curriculum costs are not multiplied.
- increased bonding between siblings – younger siblings adore their older siblings teaching them, and everyone bonds better.
- more patience and love – practice makes perfect. What better way to develop a love for a person than teaching them and investing in them. This goes for the whole family.
- developing leadership in older siblings – leadership begins in the home when children are young. Age is a natural vote of confidence, and most young siblings naturally follow their older siblings.
- increasing altruism in older siblings – doing something for another person helps you look outwards. This applies when older children teach younger ones.
- older children learn a subject better – a teacher always knows the subject better than a pupil. They have to be on top of the subject to teach it. When you let your older siblings teach their younger siblings, older siblings learn more.
- a parent can apply their full attention to teaching – because the parent doesn’t have to circle the room checking on everyone’s work, they can relax more and teach better.
These advantages void many objections homeschool parents have about their regular syllabus. A homeschool curriculum for large families is designed specially for multiple users of different ages. It can make life so much easier! Who doesn’t want that?
Schoolhouse Teachers
Educational Style: Traditional
The Schoolhouse Teachers produces some of the best family-style homeschool curriculum programs today. This is because they offer hundreds of courses for the same cheap monthly, annual, or bi-annual subscription price.
Parents don’t have to pay extra to accommodate a student’s interests. All they need is a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse.
Coming from an orthodox Christian perspective, Schoolhouse Teachers offers an online program with the choice of PreK to Grade 8 or PreK to Grade 12. This makes it a fantastic curriculum choice for large families.
You can find out more about the Schoolhouse Teachers curriculum in this review.
Cost: $179-$224 per year for the whole family.
KONOS – Whole Family Homeschool Curriculum
Educational Style: Unit Studies
KONOS is a Christian homeschool curriculum for large families. It allows parents to teach all children in the family at the same time using hands-on learning techniques.
The entire family learns a character trait every month in a Unit. As they do this, children also learn various subjects (including Bible) through the KONOS program.
Parents should know that the Unit folder is really a teacher’s manual showing parents how to initiate activities from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Through this folder, you can teach your entire family simultaneously!
Cost: $170 to $260.
Ambleside Online
Educational Style: Charlotte Mason
The Ambleside Online homeschool curriculum is an learning program designed to provide students in grades K–12 with a literature-based education.
Utilizing the Charlotte Mason method of educational instruction, this program provides parents with a wide range of resources to help empower their children to learn independently – and then as a group as families can do read-alouds together.
The core of the Ambleside Online program centers around engaging primary resources such as classic literature, history documents, biographies, science experiments, and much more.
These texts are arranged in annual schedules which are tailored to each grade level and can be adapted by parents as needed.
The combination of these materials helps foster critical thinking skills while also providing students with an inspiring learning experience.
Ambleside Online is a free Charlotte Mason curriculum. Families can do lots of read-alouds together and then depart and do independent work thereafter.
Cost: Free.
A World of Adventure (Learning Adventures)
Educational Style: Unit Studies
A World of Adventure is a Unit Studies homeschooling curriculum for Christians. The program is available for children in grades 4-8. It covers Ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the Age of Exploration.
Because it uses a unit study approach, the curriculum is flexible, fun, and interactive. The workbook covers 180 formal educational days (link to Book 1 here).
The creators were keen to keep the cost low, so they designed it so parents could borrow the required texts from the library. At the moment, the full program costs around $90. You can also purchase some non-mandatory extras such as lesson plans and a game to play for added curriculum clarity.
Similar Programs: KONOS
Price: It highly depends on purchases—$ 100 to $250.
Five in a Row
Educational Style: Literature-Based Unit Studies
The Five in a Row curriculum is a home education syllabus that offers fun, spontaneous, and enjoyment for the entire family.
Depending on the age of your children, FIAR has the right curriculum for them. These include:
- Before Five in a Row (for children aged 2-4) – a collection of creative ideas that help parents prepare children for the lifelong adventure of learning, especially in homeschools.
- More Before Five in a Row (for children aged 2-4) – inspires children to learn through picture books
- Five in a Row (for children aged 5-9) – easy-to-follow instructional guides for teaching Art, Science, Language, Social Studies, and Applied Mathematics using quality children’s literature as the basis for each weekly unit study.
- Beyond Five in a Row (for children aged 8-12) – develops critical thinking and encourages character growth in interpersonal relationships.
I like this program as parents with differing budgets can use it. You can get the basic package which is super-affordable in the younger years, and purchase add-ons if needed. You can also find individual titles on their Amazon page.
Price: $50 to $170 for basic packages.
Charlotte Mason Institute (Alveary)
Educational Method: Charlotte Mason
The Charlotte Mason Institute is a secular Charlotte Mason home education program that operates on a subscription basis. A subscription doesn’t just cover one child; it covers as many as you want it to, making it an ideal program for large families.
The program gives children a curriculum and trains educators to carry out the program. This is useful as anyone considering the Charlotte Mason method should become familiar with this homeschooling method.
Price $250 for the whole family. Plus the cost of books – this can vary if you find them second-hand.
The Robinson Curriculum
Educational Style: Classical and Charlotte Mason hints, but largely eclectic.
The Robinson Homeschool Curriculum is a non-traditional Christian homeschooling program designed for independent learners.
It emphasizes self-direction and personal responsibility, allowing students to run their own educational by themselves with very little input from parents.
The curriculum, which is very affordable is available as a downloadable resource, and a family can use this one-time download with thier whole family.
That means you can get the whole program for all your kids for all grades for one price forever!
Price $195 for the whole family. Plus the cost of books if you want to buy them – again, this can vary if you find them second-hand.
Union Gospel Press – Bible Study Curriculum
Are you searching for a way to enhance your students’ understanding of the Bible? Look no further! The Bible experts at Union Gospel Press have created the Illuminate Bible Series, a unique curriculum that provides intelligent, reliable, and stimulating Bible knowledge that will truly engage your students.
This curriculum not only teaches the students many scriptures but also exposits God’s word in a way that leads students to praise God and exalt Jesus as they discover the riches of His grace and glory throughout scripture.
It is designed to be an interactive experience that your students will genuinely enjoy and not just a dry textbook. It’s a great way to foster an appreciation for God’s truth and is something that you can do together as a group.
The Illuminate Bible Series is divided into two studies that cater to different age groups and can be used by multiple ages in one book.
The Parent-Student Guide is designed for elementary students from 1st to 6th grade, while the Student Guide is tailored for upper-grade students from 7th to 12th grade.
Each book is a teacher manual that includes thirty-two week-long studies on some of the most prominent Bible stories, guiding students to delve deeper into the richness of God’s Word over the course of a school year.
Check out their program directly here.
Free Resources and Homeschooling Curriculum for Families
If you want a Family Style Homeschool Curriculum, you should check out the free curriculum options available today. Many of these are of high quality. My favorite is Easy Peasy All in One. However, there are lots of great free homeschooling programs available.
Also check out the super-affordable cheap homeschool curriculum options here.
What Homeschool Curriculum is Best for My Child?
While homeschooling offers a range of benefits, it also presents parents with the challenge of finding the right curriculum.
Choosing the best homeschool curriculum that meets your child’s educational needs can be difficult and time-consuming.
Before selecting a homeschool program, you must consider factors such as your child’s learning style, age, interests, and academic goals.
When choosing a homeschool curriculum, start by researching different programs that are available on the market.
It’s also helpful to talk to other parents who have experience with various curriculums. There are online resources such as blogs and forums which can provide insights into different programs and how they work in practice.
Want to Learn How to Homeschool?
There are two great ways t learn more about homeschooling: one is free, and one is a $67 fundamentals course.
The $67 Course
Looking to take your homeschooling to the next level? Join Rebecca Devitt’s online Homeschool Parenting Program and learn the strategies and techniques needed to make homeschooling a success! Learn more about the HPP here and signup here.
The Free Youtube Channel
Also, make sure you join the How to Homeschool Youtube channel, which will give you a fun and exciting look into the homeschool world and help homeschool your children. Check out the channel here, and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE.
If you’re not sure where to start, start with the following playlists:
- Starting homeschool playlist
- Homeschool Methods playlist
- Homeschool Curriculum playlist
- FAQs on Homeschooling playlist
You’ll love it and find it helpful and entertaining! Discover the channel here.
Conclusion: Family Style Homeschool Curriculum
When you’ve got a large family, you’ve often got little money. Who can afford expensive curricula? But, as parents, we want quality without the massive price tag. This page offers parents some fantastic whole family homeschool curriculum choices. These won’t disappoint. They give you a fantastic choice with an affordable price tag. They can also make your day fun and educational as you learn as a family.
Just thought it should be clarified that the cost of Alveary (Charlotte Mason Institute that is listed does not cover the cost of the books you will need. It is simply the cost of being part of the program. So the actual cost would be much higher if you have multiple children to buy books for.
Really appreciate your comment Jessica.