Best Family Style Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Are you looking for the best family style homeschool curriculum to help you save time and money. If you are, here are a few homeschool mom tips to help you choose the best curriculum for your large family.

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Family Style Homeschool Curriculum

When you are homeschooling a large family, you need to be able to make the absolute most of your time each day. Choosing a family style homeschool curriculum will reduce repetition of subjects and bring your family together for school time each day.

What is a family style homeschool curriculum?

When we say “family style” curriculum, we are talking about curriculum that can be used for multiple ages and grades, and hopefully at the same time. Many family style homeschool curricula use a “one room school house approach,” or teach each subject with a “get off the bus” style. I will explain what each of those are and why they work for a large family.

One Room Schoolhouse Style Teaching

One room schoolhouse style teaching refers to all of the children, no matter the age or grade being in the same room as subjects are taught. Usually the youngest children are taught first and the teacher works her way up to the oldest children. In teaching this way, the older children benefit from the review of listening to the younger lesson. The younger children also benefit from hearing the older lessons as they are introduced to more advanced concepts over time and in a very indirect way.

A good example of this might be teaching basic addition and subtraction to younger children, multiplication and division to the next level up and, finally more advanced concepts like decimals and fractions to the next level up and so on.

Get Off the Bus Style Teaching

Get off the bus teaching involves teaching the same lesson to various ages or grade levels all at the same time. The information presented first is very basic and slowly becomes more advanced. Every student gleans from even the most basic information. The younger students simply begin working on a related coloring page or other related project while information is presented to the older students

A good example of this style of teaching would be teaching a history lesson. For instance, if you were teaching about George Washington, you might begin by reading a children’s book about him. Then perhaps you would read a section from a middle grade history book. Then you might finish off with information covered from a biography for your older, high school level students.

What subjects can be taught family style?

Almost all school subjects can be presented in a family style learning manner. However, there are some that it is easier to present and easier to understand in this way. Typically, the following subjects lend themselves well to a family style approach:

  • Science
  • History
  • Geography
  • Bible
  • Narration
  • Recitation
  • Foreign Language

What subjects should be taught individually?

Though all subjects can be adapted for family style learning, some subjects are best taught at a students individual pace to insure mastery before moving onto the next concept. These subjects might include:

  • Math
  • Spelling
  • Early Reading/Phonics

Family Style Homeschool Curricula

There are many curriculum companies out there. If you are new to homeschooling, it can be difficult to chose a curriculum for your family. There are some curricula that are designed for families with multiple children in different grades.

My favorite, and the curriculum we have used as the base of our homeschool for the past ten plus years is My Father’s World. The multi age cycle is perfect for learning as a family and incorporates all the core subjects listed above except for math and spelling, and it makes solid recommendations for those subjects. There are a few other companies who’s products lend themselves well to a family style learning environment:

Other Curriculum We Recommend

  • All About Learning Press – We use this for reading and spelling for all of our children, including those with medical and developmental disabilities. This curriculum lends itself well to use for special needs learners.
  • Math-U-See – This is the math curriculum we use for Pre K – 12th grade for all learning styles.
  • Memoria Press – We use Memoria Press for our Latin and Greek. I love starting my youngest children in Prima Latina in the 3rd grade. It really helps build their vocabulary.

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