Choosing a homeschool curriculum can feel a little like standing in the cereal aisle with 147 brightly coloured boxes shouting that they are the healthiest, easiest and most academically impressive option.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
They cannot all be perfect, favorite curriculums—but somehow they all have five-star reviews.
When you are new to homeschooling—or simply ready to replace a program that is causing more tears than learning—it helps to see which homeschool curricula other families genuinely enjoy using.
In this post, I’ll share some of the best and most popular homeschool curriculum programs and complete packages for 2026, including their strengths, teaching styles and the types of families they may suit best.
These include programs we currently use in our own homeschool, such as BJU Press, along with other well-loved options from across the homeschool community.
Because the goal is not to find the curriculum with the prettiest catalogue.
It is to find one that actually gets opened after February.
Quick Picks: Favorite Homeschool Curriculum Programs
Do not have time to compare ten curriculum companies while someone asks for a snack every four minutes? Here are my quick picks:
✅ Best overall: BJU Press
Colourful, academically strong and ideal for families wanting video teachers and increasing independence.
✅ Best affordable all-in-one membership: SchoolhouseTeachers.com
A huge range of subjects and electives for one family membership.
✅ Best free curriculum: Easy Peasy All-in-One
A complete online Christian curriculum that is difficult to beat when your budget is approximately zero dollars.
✅ Best classical curriculum: Memoria Press
Structured, rigorous and excellent for families who love Latin, logic and very organised bookshelves.
✅ Best literature-based curriculum: Sonlight
A strong choice for families who want to learn through excellent books and plenty of read-alouds.
✅ Best Charlotte Mason-style curriculum: Heart of Dakota
Gentle, literature-rich and designed around family learning.
✅ Best hands-on family curriculum: My Father’s World
A blend of unit studies, living books and Christian teaching—with enough crafts to keep your glue gun employed.
✅ Best online Christian curriculum: Monarch
A largely automated option with online lessons, testing and record-keeping.
✅ Best free Charlotte Mason curriculum: Ambleside Online
A complete book-based curriculum for families prepared to source the books and do more of the planning themselves.
✅ Best video-based classical curriculum: Compass Classroom
Engaging video courses that work well as either a full program or a supplement.
What Makes a Favorite Homeschool Curriculum?
When I choose a homeschool curriculum, I look for four main things.
First, quality.
I want a well-written program that has been used, tested and improved over time—not something that feels as though it was proofread during lunch.
It should also be easy to use, with clear teacher guides, simple instructions or lessons children can follow independently.
Second, price.
Homeschool curriculum can become expensive very quickly, especially when several children are involved.
I want to know the program offers good value and that we will actually use what we are paying for.
Third, variety.
A good curriculum should offer enough subjects and electives to help children explore their interests and feed their growing curiosity.
Finally, worldview.
Every curriculum teaches from a particular worldview, whether it admits it or not.
I want a program that supports the beliefs and values I want to pass on to my children.
1. BJU Press
My favorite homeschool curriculum is BJU Press (pictured above).
We have used it in our own homeschool for years, and it is still the program I recommend most often.
BJU Press is:
✅ Colourful and engaging
✅ Academically strong
✅ Exceptionally well organised
✅ Designed to encourage growing independence
It teaches children through a variety of methods, including:
🎥 Video lessons
📘 Colourful workbooks
🧩 Hands-on activities
👀 Visual examples
This makes it a strong option for children who do not learn particularly well by staring at a black-and-white textbook and hoping knowledge enters through their eyebrows.
BJU Press is taught from a Christian worldview and helps children understand not only what they are learning, but why it matters.
Another major advantage is the support.
Parents can contact BJU Press for help with:
📚 Choosing the right courses
❓ Understanding the curriculum
🛠️ Sorting out technical or program problems
You do not get that level of support with every homeschool curriculum company.
BJU Press has been around for decades, and its courses have been tested, corrected and improved over time.
It is not the cheapest option, but for our family, the quality, video teaching and growing independence make it worth the cost.
You can read my full BJU Press review here.
2. Schoolhouse Teachers
SchoolhouseTeachers.com is another favorite homeschool curriculum program because it offers an enormous range of subjects and electives, some of which are pictured above.
Children can study almost anything, including:
🌍 French and other languages
🧠 Logic
🌿 Nature study
🇰🇷 Even Korean
One of its biggest advantages is the price.
You pay one membership fee for the whole family, whether you have one child or ten—which becomes increasingly impressive as your dining table fills up.
The quality can vary because hundreds of different authors contribute to thousands of courses.
However, there is so much available that most families should be able to find something that suits their children, interests and learning styles.
It works particularly well for families who want variety, flexibility and plenty of electives without buying a separate curriculum for every subject.
You can read my full SchoolhouseTeachers.com review here, or watch my rather hilarious video review below.
And yes, you should probably subscribe while you are there.
3. Easy Peasy All-in-One
3. If you need a homeschool curriculum that is completely free, Easy Peasy All-in-One is difficult to beat.
Children can complete the lessons online, or parents can download PDFs for some offline work.
Easy Peasy also offers My EP Assignments, a tracking system that helps parents organize lessons and keep records of what each child has completed.
This can be particularly useful for older students when you need to create transcripts and suddenly realize that “we did quite a lot that year” is not an official subject description.
Because Easy Peasy is free, you will not receive the same level of individual support you might expect from a paid curriculum.
However, it has a large homeschool community and active Facebook groups where parents can ask questions and find help.
It is a strong choice for families who need an affordable Christian curriculum and are comfortable managing more of the planning themselves.
You can read my full Easy Peasy All-in-One review here.
4. Memoria Press
If you want a rigorous classical homeschool curriculum, Memoria Press is one of the best-known options available.
It teaches traditional subjects such as Latin, logic, literature and classical studies, with a strong focus on language and careful thinking.
The curriculum is available as complete grade-level packages, with textbooks, workbooks, teacher guides and an excellent selection of books.
Memoria Press is particularly good for families who want a structured education and do not mind a program that expects quite a lot from both parent and child.
It can feel demanding, especially if your child dislikes writing or your idea of a relaxing afternoon does not involve Latin conjugations.
However, it is thorough, academically strong, and widely used by classical homeschool families.
You can also watch the video below for a simple explanation of the classical method and its three stages: Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.
And while you are there, do not forget to SUBSCRIBE.
5. Sonlight
Sonlight is a popular homeschool curriculum for families who want to teach through excellent books.
Instead of relying mainly on textbooks, Sonlight uses:
📖 Living books
🏛️ Historical fiction
👤 Biographies
📚 Classic literature
There is a lot of reading involved (it’s literature-based), which is wonderful for book-loving families and slightly less wonderful when your voice gives up halfway through chapter twelve.
Some of Sonlight’s main advantages include:
✅ Detailed daily schedules
✅ Complete curriculum packages
✅ A large collection of quality books
✅ Plenty of opportunities for family read-alouds
Sonlight can be expensive, particularly once shipping is added.
However, much of the cost comes from the books included—and those books remain on your shelves long after the school year is finished.
You can read my full Sonlight review here.
6. Heart of Dakota
Heart of Dakota is a well-loved homeschool curriculum based largely on the Charlotte Mason method.
Instead of relying heavily on dry textbooks, it teaches children through living books—engaging books written by authors who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their subjects.
The program includes:
📚 Living books and read-alouds
🌿 Short, varied lessons
✍️ Narration, copywork and hands-on activities
👨👩👧👦 Family-friendly Christian learning
Heart of Dakota was created by a homeschool mother for her own children and gradually developed into a complete curriculum as they grew.
Today, it remains a family-run business offering a structured Charlotte Mason-style education from a Christian worldview.
It is a lovely option for parents who enjoy reading aloud and learning together, although it can require quite a lot of parent involvement.
And if you are wondering what on earth a Charlotte Mason education involves, watch my Charlotte Mason for Beginners video below. (And SUBSCRIBE, while you’re there!)
7. My Father’s World
My Father’s World is a popular Christian homeschool curriculum that blends several well-loved teaching styles into one program.
It combines:
📚 Classical education
🌿 Charlotte Mason methods
🎨 Hands-on unit studies
✝️ A biblical worldview
The classical method brings structure, strong language skills and critical thinking.
The Charlotte Mason approach adds living books, narration and a gentler style of learning.
Then the unit study method ties subjects together through projects, activities and hands-on learning.
In other words, My Father’s World takes several popular homeschool methods, puts them in one box and adds enough crafts to make sure your glue sticks never feel neglected.
It is especially well suited to families who enjoy learning together and want a gospel-centred curriculum with plenty of variety.
The main downside is that it can be quite parent-intensive, particularly if you are not naturally excited by crafts, cutting or locating seventeen household items for tomorrow’s activity.
You can learn more about the unit study method in this video.
You can also read my full My Father’s World review here.
You can also get $25 off My Father’s World curriculum through this link.
8. Monarch
Monarch is a completely online Christian homeschool curriculum created by Alpha Omega Publications.
Alpha Omega has been producing homeschool curriculum for decades and has offered programs in several different formats, including:
📦 Lifepac offline workbooks
🧑🏫 Horizons teacher-led curriculum
🧩 Weaver unit studies
💻 Monarch online learning
Monarch is subscription-based, and lessons are completed entirely online.
It includes automatic grading, online record-keeping, tests, interactive activities and some video content.
This can save parents a considerable amount of time—assuming the child actually logs in rather than spending twenty minutes choosing a new profile picture.
Because everything is online, you will need a reliable internet connection.
Monarch is particularly useful for families who want less paperwork, fewer books taking over the dining room, and a curriculum older children can complete more independently.
However, it is fairly reading-heavy, so it may not suit children who struggle with large amounts of text or prefer hands-on learning.
You can learn more about Monarch and the other Alpha Omega Publications curricula here.
9. Ambleside Online
9. Ambleside Online
Ambleside Online is a popular homeschool curriculum for two excellent reasons: it uses the Charlotte Mason method, and it is completely free.
The program has been developed by generous homeschool parents over many years and includes:
📚 Detailed booklists
🗓️ Weekly schedules
🌿 Charlotte Mason methods
💻 Free online resources
Ambleside Online gives parents a complete plan, but it also encourages them to understand the ideas behind a Charlotte Mason education.
It regularly refers families to Charlotte Mason’s Home Education series, which can be read online for free or purchased as physical books.
This is helpful because homeschooling is not simply school moved to the dining table—although the dining table will still disappear beneath books by approximately Week 3.
A home education can be more flexible, personal and suited to the individual child.
Ambleside Online also has large support communities where parents can ask questions, find encouragement and work out which book they were supposed to order six weeks ago.
You can read my full Ambleside Online review here.
You can also explore my guide to the best free homeschool curriculum programs, or watch the video below for more free options.
10. Compass Classroom
Compass Classroom is a Christian homeschool curriculum that combines classical education, Charlotte Mason influences, and engaging video lessons.
It is particularly well suited to middle and high school students, with courses in subjects such as:
🎥 History and literature
🏛️ Latin and classical studies
🎨 Art and electives
✝️ Bible and Christian worldview
Families can access many courses through a subscription, or purchase individual classes when they only need one subject.
This makes Compass Classroom useful as either a broader curriculum option or a supplement alongside another program.
The lessons are online, but many courses also include printable workbooks and assignments—so the computer does not get to have all the educational fun.
We have used several Compass Classroom courses ourselves, and some have been real favorites in our homeschool.
It is affordable compared with many video-based programs and works especially well for families wanting thoughtful, engaging teaching without preparing every lesson themselves.
You can explore Compass Classroom here.
Want Some More Choices?
Still haven’t found the right fit?
You can browse my Ultimate Homeschool Curriculum List here, which includes even more programs for different ages, learning styles, budgets and homeschool methods.
There are plenty of excellent options available—possibly too many, which is how homeschool parents end up researching curriculum at 11:47 p.m. when they should be asleep.
What Is Your Favorite Homeschool Curriculum?
These are some of my favorite homeschool curriculum programs, but they are certainly not the only good choices.
Other popular options include Abeka and Simply Charlotte Mason.
I would love to hear what has worked well in your homeschool.
Comment below and tell me your favorite homeschool curriculum program—and why your family loves it.
