My Top 10 Homeschool Curriculum Choices: Elementary Years

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When it comes to homeschooling in the elementary years, finding the right curriculum can feel overwhelming. With so many options out there, it’s easy to wonder which materials are worth your time and budgetary commitment!

Here’s my hot take as a second-generation homeschooler with over 16 years experience as a home educator: you don’t need as much curriculum as you think you do. Another hot take? The curriculum you pick doesn’t matter as much as whether or not you do something simple, (almost) every day, and with a joyful loving heart.

As you start thinking about next homeschool year, remember that the perfect curriculum doesn’t exist. You don’t need to try to cram 36 hours of work into 24. You don’t need to try that shiny new curriculum you keep seeing online if what you’re doing already is working just fine. Choose fewer things… and do them with greater enthusiasm.

To both the new homeschool mom starting out and trying to pick the best homeschool curriculum and the veteran mama looking for new ideas: welcome! In this post, I’m sharing my top 10 homeschool curriculum choices for the elementary years—materials that build strong foundations in key subjects and allow flexibility for each unique family’s needs.

{This post contains paid links. Please see disclaimer.}

Homeschooling in the Elementary Years

Homeschooling in the elementary years gives us a delightful opportunity to nurture a child’s natural curiosity, imagination, and love for learning. At this stage, the goal is not to rush through academic milestones but to create an environment where joy, wonder, and exploration can thrive. Allowing children the time and space to explore the world around them is one of the true joys of homeschooling an elementary-age child. Don’t be in such a rush to achieve great things that you miss out on the beauty of this precious season of childhood!

We also have the opportunity and responsibility to lay a solid foundation in reading, math, spiritual discipleship, and thoughtful communication in these elementary years. The skills and habits we develop and nurture in these early years are vital for our children’s long-term academic success. But this doesn’t require hours of time or stress. Simple, consistent faithfulness pays off!

In the elementary years, the emphasis is on relationships—both with the material and with others. Instead of drilling facts or stressing over grades, homeschooling allows families to engage deeply with meaningful content through living books, beautiful memory work, and shared experiences. The focus is not on doing everything perfectly or meeting external expectations, but on creating a joyful, meaningful experience that fits the child’s unique learning style. There’s room to move at your child’s pace, whether exploring the natural world through science experiments and nature study, or delving into history with stories of the often ordinary people God used to impact the world.

At the heart of homeschooling during these years is the commitment to fill the child’s heart with good stories and living books…things that don’t come from a textbook. A homeschool day is often punctuated by stories—whether they come from books, nature walks, Bible devotions, or family conversations. These stories give children a sense of connection to something bigger than themselves, nurturing their hearts with truth and creating a shared family culture. So as we move on to my curriculum picks, don’t forget that they aren’t always the most important part of your homeschool day.

My Top 10 Homeschool Curriculum Choices For Elementary Learning

Here are my top 10 homeschool curriculum choices for the elementary years. I’ve included options for math, language arts, science, foreign language, and more!

Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading

I used the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise with all five of my children. I love its open-and-go format with clear, scripted lessons for the teacher to follow. I love that it doesn’t come with a bunch of extra add-ons, and is simple to use for both parent and child. Beginning with vowels and consonants and ending with “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” this book will bring your child from foundational phonics all the way up to a 4th grade reading level. It worked with both my precocious early reader and my struggling readers. Few things are as important as laying a solid reading foundation for your elementary student. The new, updated edition looks even better than my original copy and now includes a corresponding student book.

Reading doesn’t come easily for every child. You may also find Homeschooling with Dyslexia helpful.

Math With Confidence

I’ve used a variety of elementary homeschool math curriculum over the years, but my hands-down favorite is the new Math With Confidence series by Kate Snow. The current curriculum begins with Kindergarten level, and 5th grade releases summer 2025. The final 6th grade textbook will release the following year. When choosing a homeschool math curriculum, you want to look for 3 things: Ease of Use for Mama, Age-Appropriate Expectations for Student, and a Strong Foundation in Mathematical Thinking. Math With Confidence delivers with all three! Click here to read my full review of the Kindergarten level and watch the flip-thru for Grade 4 below.

All About Spelling

My oldest child was a natural, intuitive speller much like I am. But some of my other children struggled to remember basic concepts like every word requiring at least one vowel! For anyone who has a struggling reader, a struggling speller, or just a child who needs extra spelling practice, I highly recommend the All About Spelling program from All About Learning Press. The lessons are incremental and focus on phonogram and spelling rule memorization. The teacher book is fully scripted and open-and-go, which makes it incredibly easy for busy homeschooling moms. I personally recommend investing in the Letter Tile App rather than using the physical magnet tiles. They’re gradually updating the whole series to full color which is also awesome!

Science Through HiStory

The core of elementary science development includes plenty of time outdoors observing nature, textbook-free exploration through living books and hands-on projects, and learning how nature study teaches us more about the character of God. But it is often helpful to include more formal science studies in our homeschool as well. While the Berean Builders elementary science curriculum is a newer addition to our homeschool, I have really loved the way Dr. Jay Wile’s texts coordinate science with our history studies! If you love helping your children see connections between subjects, you’ll love this curriculum.

Writing and Rhetoric

The Writing and Rhetoric series from Classical Academic Press takes a creative twist on the classical Progymnasmata. Rather than thrusting students into creating original work from the beginning, the progymnasmata develops writers through the art of imitation. The Writing and Rhetoric series emphasizes reading beautiful literature, narrating it, imitating it, and progressively developing skills in writing beautiful sentences, paragraphs, and eventually essays. It’s designed to begin after you’ve laid a solid foundation of reading with your students, so you’d start with Level 1 (Fable) in grade 3 or 4. I’m a huge fan of this program and have used it off and on with most of my children during their elementary and middle school years. This program will be especially beneficial for families following a classical approach to education and for those who already have some experience with the concept of narration.

Well-Ordered Language

Another fabulous curriculum from Classical Academic Press is the Well-Ordered Language grammar program. If you want a formal grammar curriculum or need to reinforce grammatical understanding with your student, I highly recommend this program. It teaches grammar is a clear, orderly way without being dry and boring. Your student will be able to identify the roles words play in sentences and will learn to diagram sentences as well. I love that it includes actual excerpts from literature and employs plenty of humor along the way. Do note that because it is designed to also be used by classrooms, it has way more practice per lesson than most homeschool parents will choose to use with their individual child. Which gives me an opportunity to remind you that curriculum is your tool, not your master.

Textbook-Free History

Ok, so this is kinda cheating because it isn’t one curriculum or textbook. But that’s because I believe that history is both one of the most important things to include in an elementary education…and also that a textbook approach is the worst way to learn history! I explore that concept in more detail in my Textbook-Free History Masterclass. I’ll link here to some of my many homeschool history resources with round-ups of living books, hands-on activities, and multi-age learning tips. You can also see some of my favorite homeschool history titles by folks like Genevieve Foster here.

Hands On History Project Kits

The Hands-On History Project Kits from Sonlight have been a delight! You do not have to use Sonlight curriculum to enjoy these history projects. If you, like me, want to include hands-on projects with your homeschool history lessons but don’t really like the idea of creating your own crafts, these all-in-one boxes are for you. You can read more about our personal experience with these kits here.

Song School Latin and Latin for Children (and other foreign language options)

Yep, it’s another top elementary homeschool curriculum from Classical Academic Press! If you want to include foreign language in your elementary homeschool, check out Song School Latin (for grades 1-3) or Latin for Children (for grades 4-7). Because of my long-term love of this excellent Latin program, I also have no qualms recommending Spanish for Children, French for Children, and Greek for Children if you’re looking for an alternate foreign language option. I’ve written extensively about Latin for Children here, so I encourage you to read that review to learn more.

Young Explorers Science Curriculum

While I mentioned previously our newly discovered love for an elementary science curriculum that connects with our history studies, I would be remiss to ignore the Young Explorers Science series from Apologia that has been a long-term part of our homeschool! The narrative style works well for read alouds or read alones, and each book can easily be used across multiple grades. We have especially enjoyed the Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology and Exploring Creation with Astronomy among several other titles. With several topics to choose from, you’re sure to find an option your family will enjoy.

Additional Homeschool Resources You Don’t Want To Miss!

Here are a few other resources to support you in your homeschool adventure:

Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology podcast

Homeschooling is an excellent choice for many families, but it can feel overwhelming, and even isolating at times. In Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology, we talk with real life homeschooling parents about it all: educational philosophy, homeschool challenges, learning successes, faith & so much more. I’m your host, and I bring the homeschool community to you. Informative, encouraging, and fun – this is a podcast sure to encourage every homeschooling parent! Find Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the videos on YouTube.

Made2Homeschool Online Community

At Made2Homeschool you get everything you need to succeed in your homeschool… all in one place.

Supportive Like-minded Community
Huge & Growing Resource Library
Weekly Workshops w/ Live Q&A
Live Community Hangouts
Curriculum Discounts

Join my online homeschool community here. And be sure to join my email list so you don’t miss the announcement for BRAVE, our annual online homeschool conference!

Read Alouds and Audio Books

The most valuable way you can spend your time in the elementary years is to read aloud lots of books and allow your children to listen to as many audiobooks as possible. Fairy tales, picture books, classic literature, new fiction…all are an important part of developing your children’s imagination.

Your library card

It’s a truism because it’s true: one of the best tools for homeschooling is your library card! You can learn SO much for free by using the resources at your library. Books, online research tools, audiobooks, and sometimes even museum access…the library really is one of my favorite places.

Field Trips

Adventure schooling is one of my favorite things! We enjoy historic homes, battlefields, museums, planetariums, and more. Look into your local options. You may be surprised the treasures available in your area!

Morning Time and Beautiful Memory Work

One of the best things I learned as a homeschool mom was that I could start the day with our favorite things. Morning Time has become one of our favorite parts of the homeschooling day. And beautiful memory work is an important part of that. Don’t miss all the FREE resources I have available to help you make this a part of your homeschool, too!

The Most Important Aspect Of Any Curriculum

The most important part of any homeschool curriculum is that it works for you and for your child. It doesn’t matter if the homeschooler next door loves it if it isn’t a good fit for you. And if it doesn’t fit your budget, it isn’t the right thing either (although sometimes you can find really good used curriculum options in your community or swap resources with a friend to help with cost). Most of all, focus on building a family that loves each other and loves learning.

Every homeschool journey is unique, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. I hope this list inspires you to explore options that fit your homeschool goals and bring joy to your everyday lessons. Happy homeschooling!