We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Part of our reasoning behind wanting to homeschool was so that we were able to incorporate our faith into our children’s education.
Before I began homeschooling and even in the early days I had no idea that there were LDS specific homeschooling curriculums. We have used many of these over the years and still do use a lot of them today.
Latter Day Saint Preschool Curriculums
My LDS Preschool:
This is the very first curriculum I used with my first born. It used to be free but it is now cost $98 for a lifetime membership. You can use this for all your preschoolers that you will have. This is incredibly well priced and I would happily pay for this again based on the amount of resources you receive. It just saves you a tonne of time and organisation.
I really loved how my children learned the letters of the alphabet based on stories from scripture. For example letter A is for Ammon. There are activities then based on the letter A and the story of Ammon.
They suggest that you can create a homeschool co-op for your preschooler and their friends which sounds like it would be a lot of fun. I wish I had done that!
The Good and the Beautiful:
This curriculum isn’t LDS specific but it is created and written by Jenny Phillips who is LDS. It is a non-denominational curriculum meaning it contains no doctrine specific to any religion.
I used this curriculum last year and really enjoyed it. My only draw back, which likely won’t matter to most others, is that a lot of the math portion and money portion were all American. Since we live in Australia at the moment it was all a little irrelevent to us to be learning about pennys and dimes.
If you are American, then I will hands down reccomend this curriculum as being fun, efficient, and thourough for your preschooler. My 3 year old absolutely loved the activities and wanted to do them multiple times a day. The illustrations are beautiful and more importantly the spirit you feel as you use it is wonderful.
The Living Scriptures App
If you don’t have this app yet then you need to get it. It is like Netflix for Latter Day Saints. It has all the scripture story movies that you can stream but it is so much more than that.
I really find this amazing for my littles. There are shows on there that are perfect for teaching great character and morals. Owlegories is my kid’s favourite. I will often put a show on for my youngest crowd while I am teaching the older kids. It definitely beats those toy unwrapping videos on YouTube, plus I am not concerned they are going to click on something inappropriate.
If you don’t have a subscriptions you can get a free trial here
Latter Day Saint Elementary – High School Homeschool Curriculum
There are quite a few LDS homeschool curriculum for school aged children. Some of these are provided through online schools, or have the option of receiving transcripts. Others are entirely independent.
Family School
This is the most well known curriculum that is LDS specific. It was the curriculum I used for my first year of homeschooling. It seamlessly merges gospel principles and doctrine into subjects. Children become well versed in gospel knowledge as well as secular learning.
It caters for children from k-12. They are also in the process of coming out with a preschool program also.
K-8th grade subjects offered include history, literature, science, geography, art, and music. You will still need to have an additional math and language arts program.
8th-12th grade offers two options. First is a fully accredited program where you are graded, given feedback and receive a transcript at the completion of the courses. The second option is curriculum only where you simply work at your own pace, grade your own work and complete your own transcripts.
There are many extra courses offered at the higher levels which are all rich in knowledge and interest.
This curriculum can be purchased in hard copy but it is usually used via an online portal system. It has a great support system in place and you will find a wonderful and encouraging community.
The cost for this curriculum ranges from $40 a month to $990 for a lifetime membership. I love how affordable this curriculum can be for families, especially large families. They also have a number of different payment plans available.
The Good and the Beautiful
I mentioned before that this isn’t LDS specific but was written by a Latter Day Saint author. The history component does have an LDS supplemental download however.
This is our current curriculum of choice. It is incredibly rich in good literature and very, very thorough in it’s teaching. The course levels are not based on grade levels so don’t be alarmed if your child takes the placement test and places at a level below their grade. This is an advanced curriculum. However children tend to progress relatively quickly with it. For example level 7 is advanced grade 8 and grade 9 level.
What I love about this curriculum is that while it is rigorous it is also incredibly gentle in its approach. There are very few melt downs and a lot more joy.
The curriculum is well known for its language arts component but it also offers many other subjects like history, math, and science. Geography and art are included as a part of the language arts curriculum.
Levels four and above are designed to be self taught. This means the child works independently on their lessons and you mark their work at the end of the day. I love that they encourage independent learning early on.
The cost of this curriculum is incredible. You can print levels k-5 for FREE! The printed versions are also very well priced. The writer Jenny Phillips wanted to ensure that as many families who wanted to buy the program could and that families wouldn’t be prohibited from homeschooling their children due to high cost.
Life School K-12
This curriculum is also specific to LDS families. It works on a four year rotation. One of the main aspects of this program that appeals to me is the one room school house approach or family style lessons.
The one room school house approach is when you teach all the children at the same time, the same lesson regardless of age. The children then complete their assignments based on their age. The older students go deeper into the subject and more intensive work is required of them.
The four year plan also ensures that they will repeat lessons at higher grades. They will do the lesson four times in their school career, increasing their knowledge each rotation.
The Life School curriculum is an open and go curriculum meaning that there is very little prep work on your part around 15-30 minutes a day.
Other LDS Homeschool Resources
Living Scriptures App
I mentioned this before in the preschool section but I wanted to include it again as a resource for all ages. This is an incredible tool for homeschooling. I use it not only for teaching the gospel in our home but also for history, and character study. They also have awesome FHE lessons too. You just press pause when it says for prayer or answering questions.
I love the historical documentaries of the presidents of the church as well as documentaries of church history, the Bible, Book of Mormon and other historical people.
There are also a wealth of shows based on government and American history which are aimed at children. It really really helps teach those topics. Sometimes kids just need a little more than what you can teach with a text book.
We also love the movies, the funny ones, the actions ones, and of course the dramas which always leave me a slobbering mess.
Of course there are the scripture story movies but it is so much more than that. Over 600 shows, movies and documentaries that are appropriate and uplifting for your whole family.
Go here to get your free trial I promise you won’t regret it. Plus you can put on on Sunday afternoon and go have a nap without worrying about the kids. Sunday naps are the BEST.
Discover the Scriptures
This company makes study guides and workbooks that are perfect for homeschoolers. They include scripture memory, and learning from each of the standard works as well as latter day prophets.
They are a great addition to your child’s own personal scripture study.
Red Headed Hostess Scripture Study Guides
These are ideal for your teenagers and for adults. They help you to really understand and dig deeper into the scriptures. Sometimes teenagers in particular need a way to study the scriptures, they need to learn how to study the scriptures. This is perfect for them. It is guided and provides all the steps they need to be engaged and successful at making scripture study a regular occurrence and priority.
You can purchase them here.
