March 11, 2023

Charlotte Mason Homeschool: Choosing the Best Homeschool Curriculum Options

Are you a Charlotte Mason Homeschooler? If our Homeschool Type quiz identified you as a Charlotte Mason Homeschooler, then you’re in the right place. (Not sure? Take the quiz here.)

Best Homeschool Curriculum for Your Unique Teaching Type

Wait, what’s Charlotte Mason again? Or rather, who is she? (and why do I care?) Yep . . . I knew you were thinking that.

Charlotte Mason was a 19th century British educator whose principles were really ground breaking for her time . . . and honestly for our time too. Here are some of the terms you’ll come to know the more time you spend in this world: living books, habit training, character training, picture study, composer study, nature study, and time out of doors. This style of curriculum is usually rich and varied and provides children with a feast of information and experiences. This is one of my favorite quotes that sums up her philosophy: Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.

I am a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, but I am not a purist. I tend to fall between the Classical, Charlotte Mason, and “I do what I want” categories. Just kidding on that last one . . . sort of.

So what you’ll see below is a list of the most popular curriculum options for Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers, with a few of my thoughts about each one.

  • Ambleside Online: This free online curriculum is based on Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy and includes a full range of subjects for grades K through 12. It also provides a list of living books for each subject and gives a suggested schedule for each year of study. It can be a little tricky to plan, for those that prefer hard copy materials, but a quick google search should help you find some ideas from other homeschoolers. I love to use this site as a reference, but I have never used it for our complete curriculum.

  • Simply Charlotte Mason: This comprehensive curriculum is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the needs of individual families. It includes a full range of subjects for grades 1 through 12. (They include ideas and materials for Pre-K and Kindergarten, but Charlotte Mason didn’t think these ages required formal schooling. She called this a “Quiet, Growing Time.”) Simply Charlotte Mason also provides a ton of support for parents through videos, blogs, podcasts and a forum. This is a popular option, so definitely check it out.

  • A Gentle Feast: This curriculum is designed to provide a gentle and nurturing learning experience for the whole family. It includes a literature based approach to learning, nature study, and hands-on experiences. This is a beautiful curriculum with a TON of support. Included in this curriculum is a teacher guide with plans for the history cycle of your choice, a morning time plan, and language arts workbooks. You will need to gather all the living books that are utilized in the curriculum. And you also need to supply your own math curriculum, but they give some options to consider so you’re not completely in the dark.

  • My Father’s World: This is a Christian based boxed curriculum, which means that you get all of your materials (except math and language arts) in one box. And you get 1 teacher’s manual to guide you through all of it. This is a GREAT option for new homeschoolers, because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of your planning. I will say that this curriculum is probably more Charlotte Mason-ISH, rather than a strict adherence to her principles. One of the things I love about this curriculum is their Family Cycle. Once a student reaches 2nd or 3rd grade, all of your children will do the Family Cycle together, which covers everything except math and language arts. Then, once your family studies are completed, you work one on one with each of your kiddos to complete their math and language arts. Their customer service is top notch! Once you’ve purchased from their website, they call you occasionally throughout the year and ask you how everything is going. They’ll even pray for you over the phone. And what homeschooler doesn’t need prayer . . . am I right?

  • Beautiful Feet Books: This curriculum focuses on history and literature and includes a variety of living books and resources for each subject. They are adding new curriculum options every year, with the most recent being geography and a nature study/science program for the primary grades. The books are beautiful and can be purchased new directly from their website or they can also be borrowed from the library. It’s definitely worth having these books on your shelf if you have the budget for it. This curriculum absolutely fulfills the requirements for history, geography, literature, and primary science.. And because of all the extra experiences included in the teacher’s guides, you can usually fulfill some additional electives, like art, cooking/baking, music, and more.

These are just a few of the MANY curriculum options out there. When choosing a curriculum, be sure to consider your child’s learning style and interests, as well as your own teaching style and philosophy. (And be sure to subscribe to our email list, because we’ll have a new quiz soon for determining your child’s learning style.) Any one of these curriculum options would give you a great start to providing your family with the richness of the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. But remember, the curriculum you choose is only meant to be a tool for you, it’s not meant to be your master. (You can read more about my thoughts on that in my Quick Start guide by purchasing that HERE.) And if you’re curious about what we use in our homeschool, check out the final post in this series. Still have questions? Reach out to us at support@homeschooltribe.com.

Happy Homeschooling!