NOTE: A free placement tool is available on the Torchlight website to help families determine which level might work best for their children. The themes of the Torchlight levels and the suggested age range are as follows: Pre-K: Curiosity & Character (ages 4-5) K: Worldly Wisdom (ages 5-7) 1: Myth & Magic (ages 6-8) 2: Logic & Legend (ages 7-9) Read more
Target Grade Level: 9th – 12th Brave Writer’s Help for High School is a semester long program designed to “help teens learn how to think, argue, and create their own powerful writing at the same time.” It’s aimed for a teen to read and work through independently, with the parent as “ally” (the author’s word), available for support and conversation Read more
Mapping the World With Art (which was written as an alternative curriculum to Mapping the World By Heart) is one of the most popular homeschool geography curriculums on the market. The concept is simple and easy to implement: Read a 2-page mini-history lesson on mapmaking and then draw a map about the historical and geographical region. For the less artistic, Read more
Target Grade Level: 3rd – 5th Grammar Island, Grammar Town and Grammar Voyage by Michael Clay Thompson provide a comprehensible yet sophisticated introduction to grammar for the elementary grades. They ignore the low limits traditional at this level and include content often withheld until middle school or even high school. Grammar Island introduces, in very simple fashion, the full four-level Read more
Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study with the Gentle Art of Learning is not so much a homeschool curriculum, as it is one-part Charlotte Mason method teacher’s guide and one-part inspirational writing for the mother who adores homemaking and raising her children. Written as a fictional memoir of a homeschooling mother from the 1930s, Pocketful of Pinecones presents over 50 different Read more
Philosophy for Kids: 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder About Everything, written by David A. White, is aimed at children 10 and up but could easily be used with somewhat younger gifted children, depending on verbal skills and their ability to think abstractly. The book is broken down into four sections: 1- Values (ethics) 2- Knowledge (epistemology) 3- Reality Read more
This isn’t your father’s math textbook. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to call it a math curriculum. But, if you’ve got a math-phobic kid who likes all things girly and is into pop culture then this might just be the book you need to get the learning done. Add in your own extra daily practice, like Key To workbooks, and, Read more
Let every math-loving family delight! The mathematicians behind the Art of Problem Solving have developed an elementary math curriculum. And, boy, will you love it! Beast Academy teaches through a bright, colorful, comic-book style Guide Book. And being a comic book about math, it’s full of smarty-pants type humor. Even though you’ll be giggling, the math is no laughing matter. Read more
Target Grade Level: 5th – 8th Not often will you get the advice to start reading a book on page 322, but that’s exactly what I’m going to tell you to do with A Pirate’s Guide t’ th’ Grammar of Story. There, you will find a Note from the Publisher, where parents get the straightforward scoop about this curriculum. I’m Read more
