All-in-One Curriculum Options

An all-in-one curriculum (or boxed curriculum) is one in which all or most subjects are included together in a prepackaged set. You chose your grade level, add on recommended extras, and receive everything you need for a complete year of homeschooling.

I am reviewing six different curriculum options. I chose each option because I was already familiar with the program (either because I have used all or part of the program, know someone who uses the program, or I have considered it myself). There are so many different curriculum options out there that I could not comprehensively cover all of them.. For more curriculum reviews, I recommend checking out Cathy Duffy Reviews for professional reviews or The Homeschool Mom for parent reviews.

For the sake of uniformity, prices are going to reflect a complete grade kit for a third grader. Just remember that a higher price does not necessarily indicate a better curriculum. All-in-one programs may be costlier than choosing individual curriculum for each subject, but they are the easiest way to purchase materials if you do not want to spend time researching multiple options for multiple subjects.

A Gentle Feast

A Gentle Feast is a homeschool curriculum written by Julie Ross. It is deeply rooted in the ideas of Charlotte Mason and uses a lot of living books. The program is laid out into three terms. Each term is twelve weeks for a total of 36 weeks. Each weekly lesson plan is organized into an editable chart showing daily assignments.

The program is centered on a four year chronological history cycle with four different grade ranges. Each time you complete the cycle, you start over again. Your students will all have moved up a grade range and will cover the material in more depth.

The family cycle will cover a variety of Charlotte Mason subjects including: History, Geography, Literature, Science, Natural History, Citizenship, Modern Language, Latin, Math, Nature Study, Shakespeare, Singing, and Art. Although this seems like a lot of subjects to cover, you will not spend a lot of time on each subject and you will not cover each subject every day.

The Morning Time packet consists of Bible reading and memory work, Hymn Studies, Poetry Study, Recitation, Picture Study, Composer Study, and Read Alouds. Language Arts packages cover Phonics, Grammar, Handwriting, and Composition.

Parent involvement and prep are very high for this program. While all of your lessons are planned out for you, you will need to read through your supply list and book list each week and make sure that you have the appropriate materials. As is the case with all Charlotte Mason curricula, the parent is learning alongside the child. You will spend your days reading and completing assignments together as a family. While there is some independent work (copywork for example), most lessons are parent led or child led with the parent acting as a facilitator.

A Gentle Feast is available as a digital download or there is a print option. You will receive lesson plans, daily schedules, explanations of each subject, and lots of online resources.

You will select one Family Cycle manual for the entire family, one Morning Time package for the entire family, and a Language Arts package for each age range that you are teaching. Math is not included. You would need to purchase a separate math program.

PDF Version: $129

Digital+ Print Version: $208

Language Arts package for children in different age ranges: $15-65 each.

https://agentlefeast.com/

Abeka

Abeka has been a leader in homeschool curriculum for over thirty years! Abeka is the largest Christian textbook publisher in the world and publishes materials for many Christian schools. It is a traditional homeschool program that looks like school at home.

The lesson plans are great for a parent that feels ill-equipped to teach. They tell you exactly what to do and say during each lesson. Lessons take the place of oral lectures, workbook assignments, and flashcard drills followed by quizzes and tests. There are very few hands-on activities. Workbooks and teaching aids are colorful, engaging, and use high-quality printing. There is a heavy focus on repetition and drilling of facts.

Lessons may be lengthier than many other programs and the curriculum can be inflexible. The program was initially written for schools and modified for homeschools. Many parents find that there is a lot of busywork and some of the games and activities were geared towards larger groups of students. A parent that is not comfortable skipping elements of a curriculum may easily get overwhelmed with this program. You can expect to spend four or five hours to complete your homeschool day with one student. If you have multiple students working across multiple grades, you may spend additional time.

While there is very little need for parent planning and prep work, many lessons are parent led. This is especially true in the younger grades. Most subjects start with a parent-led lesson followed by a period of independent work. If you are teaching multiple children, you will need to alternate time directly teaching one student while the other does independent work. High school will be mostly independent.

Abeka’s History and Science programs definitely reflect their conservative Christian worldview. They are also have a very patriotic viewpoint that can come across as a little biased.

Subjects included in their grade level packages for grades 1-6 include: Language Arts, Math, History and Geography, Science, and Health. This can be a complete curriculum, or you may wish to add on additional subjects, such as Bible or the Fine Arts.

A child kit includes all of the workbooks, quizzes, tests, and readers that your child would need. Most of this kit is consumable (with the exception of the readers, which you may be able to use without writing in them). You would need to repurchase most of the child kit for younger siblings and you would need two child kits if you are teaching two children in the same grade.

Parent kits come in two forms: the Essential and Complete packages. Essential Parent Kits include everything that you need to teach that grade level. They contain a scripted lesson plan for each subject that tells you exactly what to say, quiz and test keys, and teaching tips. Complete Parent Kits include everything in the Essential package plus additional support materials such as flash cards, games, and charts. Parent kits are mostly non-consumable, meaning they could be resold or used by younger siblings.

Grade 3 Child Kit: $363.00

Grade 3 Parent Kit: $558.60 Complete kit or $408.55 for the Essential Package

Abeka also offers an online academy. Grades 1-6 are $959 and grades 7-12 are $1,219. If you choose the accredited version of Abeka Academy, you will receive 170 video lessons, quizzes, tests, report cards, transcripts, standardized testing, and a high school diploma upon completion. Grades 7-12 include 6 course credits, additional credits are $220 each.

Order through Abeka's Website.

BJU Press (Bob Jones University Press)

I feel like a lot of my review of Abeka could be duplicated for BJU. They are both traditional style homeschool programs with a conservative Christian worldview. They both were originally designed for Christian schools, but now have been adapted for homeschools. They both have been publishing school materials since the 1970s.

BJU teaches all subjects through a religious worldview and encourages students to look at every subject through God’s Word. BJU does focus more on critical thinking than Abeka. Although there is still a focus on memorization through repetition and drilling of facts.

While BJU press may have less busywork than Abeka, there is still a lot of repetitive busywork. If you are not doing the distance learning course, you can skip work pages to cut down on the amount of busywork if your student has already mastered the curriculum.

A complete subject kit includes: Heritage Studies, English, Math, Science, Reading, Spelling, and Handwriting.

Grade 3 Complete Kit: $831.55 (Includes 1 Student Kit and 1 Teacher Kit)

Grade 3 Student Kit: $360.60

Grade 3 Teacher Kit: $470.95

BJU also offers a distance learning course. Courses include Heritage Studies, English, Spelling, Reading, Math, Science, and Handwriting. Distance learning courses are $899 per year and include textbooks, student handouts, video lessons, online assessments, and progress tracking. Parents will average less than an hours work with the distance learning program.

You can order through the BJU Press website.

Memoria Press

Memoria Press is a classical homeschool curriculum provider founded by Cheryl Lowe in Louisville, Kentucky. While their homeschool curriculum is Christian based, they have also updated many of their materials to create a Charter and Public School line that may be used by secular homeschoolers. Their goal is to make quality Classical materials at an affordable price point.

Lesson plans are written for a five-day school year and all lesson plans are open and go. Teacher manuals and student workbooks are designed to be easy to use by both the teacher and the student. Books published by Memoria are very simple, yet academically rigorous. Most subjects use a black and white teacher’s manual and student workbook. Lessons focus on recitation, repetition, and copywork to learn the material, especially in the elementary grades. With Memoria Press you can expect to spend an average of four hours on your school day.

Following the Classical method, studies are based around a chronological study of History. Biblical teaching is isolated to Christian studies although there are Christian teachings in the Math and English Grammar books because Memoria outsources those products to the Mennonite publisher, Rod and Staff.

Students are expected to develop a love of reading by introducing them to classic books. My family used the first grade literature guides and found them to be well laid out. They asked engaging questions that made my son think about what he was reading. We loved the book selections and felt that they were age appropriate.

While there is very little need for parent planning and prep work, many lessons are parent led. This is especially true in the younger grades. Most subjects start with a parent-led lesson followed by a period of independent work. If you are teaching multiple children, you will need to alternate time directly teaching one student while the other does their independent work.

Memoria Press full grade packages are some of the most flexible packages that I am aware of. You can choose from Classical Core, Accelerated, or the Simply Classical line. The Core line is the standard set of curriculum. The accelerated line is geared towards gifted students and the Simply Classical line is geared towards students with learning disabilities. If books in a certain package do not work well for your family, you can call or email their customer service department and build a package custom fit for your family.

The full package for third grade includes Latin, Science, Modern Studies (History), Language Arts, Math, Christian Studies, and Classical Studies.

All you need to order is a curriculum package. It will include both the parent and the student materials. You may purchase the additional read alouds and novels through Memoria Press or check out books at your local library.

Third Grade Core Curriculum: $505.00 (this is one of the most expensive elementary years)

Third Grade Read-Aloud Novels: $175.00

Third Grade. Read-Aloud Picture Books: $330.00

Third Grade Supplemental Reading for American Studies: $138.00

Third Grade Consumable Curriculum (if you have a second student using the same grade): $255.00

Order through the Memoria Press website.

My Father’s World

My Father’s World is an eclectic Christian curriculum that combines a Charlotte Mason and Classical methodology with a unit study approach. This program is very Scripture, Literature, and History based.

K-2nd grade and 9-12th grade are each grade leveled materials. However, all students between 3rd and 8th grade learn together on what MFW refers to as the family cycle. MFW has a great interactive model on their website demonstrating how this cycle works. Many families choose to have all students below 8th grade follow the family cycle to simplify the school day. The family cycle as well as the high school courses organize unit studies into a chronological sequence.

Each weekly lesson plan is laid out in an easy to read grid followed by supply lists and teaching notes. The lesson plan guides parents on exactly what to say or read for each subject. Daily lessons are a mixture of read alouds, oral and written narrations, hands-on learning activities, crafts, and notebooking. The entire family learns together for all subjects except for Math and Language Arts.

Each day begins with a Bible lesson and throughout the curriculum, the Bible is integrated into every subject. MFW has a strong focus on missionaries and a portion of their proceeds go towards God’s Word for the Nations to fund Bible translations for every nation.

Students develop a love for reading through read alouds and thematic independent reading using a BookBasket filled with “living books.” MFW provides a list of recommended books and DVDs for each unit. These books can be checked out at your local library or purchased. If you cannot find the specific titles, you may use any similar books.

There is very little need for parent prep other than collecting books for the BookBasket and collecting supplies from each week’s supply list. As is the case with all Charlotte Mason curricula, the parent is learning alongside the child. During the elementary grades, you will spend your days reading and completing assignments together as a family. While there is some independent work (copywork for example), most lessons are parent led or child led with the parent acting as a facilitator. Highschool is more independent.

Prepare to spend 2 hours on average for lower elementary and 4 hours on average after third grade. Highschool may take longer depending on how motivated your student is. Fridays typically have less than 1 hour of scheduled work so that you may participate in co-ops, take field trips, or go on nature walks.

We are using MFW as our core curriculum this year, and one thing I have greatly appreciated about this company is their heart for their homeschool families. The company has a representative call each homeschool family to pray for them a few times throughout the year.

The basic package provides everything you need to teach all of the core subjects. Deluxe packages include additional read aloud books and resources to teach art and music.

Subjects taught include Bible, History, Science, Literature, some Language Arts, Reading, and Handwriting. The Deluxe package also includes Art and Music. Math and some Language Arts subjects are not included; however, MFW provides specific recommendations that are available on their website for purchase. They also recommend adding a foreign language (not for sale on their website).

Most materials are non-consumable. For most grades you will only need to buy an additional set of student sheets and a few miscellaneous materials for each child. Because materials are non-consumable, you may be able to find used copies easily.

Exploring Countries and Cultures Basic Package: $492.55

Exploring Countries and Cultures Deluxe Package: $397.43

3rd Grade Recommended Math and Language Arts: $182 (Includes a dictionary and spelling program that are non-consumable and used by all children throughout grades 3-8; if you continue MFW in 4th grade, the LA and Math Add-ons would be $115)

Order through the My Father's World website.

Sonlight

Sonlight is a curriculum for people who LOVE books. All of their programs are book centered with a child reading up to forty books per year! This Literature-based program features classic literature, award winning books, and a lot of historical fiction. The Sonlight core curriculum features History, Bible and Literature. Science, Math, Language Arts and Electives are not a part of Sonlight’s core curriculum, but they can be added on and are included in the complete grade level packages.

Sonlight may not be a good fit for families with sensitive children. Sonlight strives to introduce children to real life problems. Some of their books deal with natural disasters, Christian persecution, war, and pains and sufferings of this world. Their book selections may also include books that present evolution and other religious worldviews; however, they do offer teaching notes for these books so that you may present different perspectives to your children while retaining a Christian worldview. This helps children think critically about the teachings of the Bible. Although many of the books used by the Sonlight program are secular, the program as a whole was written from a Biblical worldview.

The instructor’s guide includes a 180-day schedule. The guide gives a detailed outline of what the child should do and in some cases what the parent may say. This level of detail may seem overwhelming to some parents. The instructor’s guide is designed to be just that: a guide. You as the parent must decide which activities to do and which to skip. Sonlight is a very structured program, but it is still very flexible.

Parent involvement is moderate and planning is low for this program. While lessons are open and go, parents will spend a lot of time reading to and directly teaching their children. In a Sonlight homeschool, you will spend your days reading and having discussions with your child. While there is some independent work (copywork for example), most lessons require a lot of parental involvement.

Most lessons are discussion based and encourage critical thinking.

There are some worksheets and hands-on activities; however, these are not the basis of the curriculum. This program may not work well for kinesthetic or visual learners.

You can combine close age ranges (within about three years of each other). So if your children are more spread out, you will need to purchase multiple core curricula. This may get expensive and time consuming. However, because a lot of the material is non-consumable you may pass down materials to younger siblings. Because so many books are included, you will not have to purchase many (if any) additional books or resources or check out additional books from the library. They also have an amazing one year guarantee. You can receive a full refund if you decide Sonlight is not the right choice for your family.

There are two ways to purchase through Sonlight. To build your own package, you will need to choose one core package for your family (or more than one core if your children are spread out in ages), one science program for your family (once again, more than one if your children are spread out in ages), one math program per child, and one language arts program per child.

You could also purchase a complete grade level package. The grade level package comes with everything you need for History and Geography, Bible, Literature, Language Arts, Math, and Science. You may want to consider adding on a foreign language program as well. Sonlight carries Rosetta Stone for foreign language.

Sonlight homeschool advisors are available to help you decide what programs and resources you need for your family. I strongly encourage you to use this resource for your first time ordering.

Sonlight 3rd Grade Curriculum (All Subjects Package B+C): $756.49

Sonlight Build Your Own Curriculum (Varies, but expect it to be slightly more than the complete curriculum).

Order through the Sonlight website.