Homeschool Curriculum Reviews 2025: Memoria Press, Classical Conversations, Christian Light, All About Reading, and More

What a blessing it is to live in a time when we can witness and participate in the homeschooling movement. I grew up in public school and remember meeting homeschool families and thinking it was unusual. There also were not many of them back in the day. Now I am embracing the fun and the so called weirdness, because I never want my kids to lose their unique spark. It has been amazing to watch this movement grow as more families turn to home education.

I have spoken with many homeschool parents whose children are older. They often share how much harder homeschooling used to be before it became more common. Resources were limited, good co-ops were hard to find or far away, and curriculum choices were few. Today we face the opposite challenges, which are good problems to have. Co-ops are popping up and growing across the world, support exists for almost every area of homeschooling, and there are curriculum options to match nearly every educational style. But how do we narrow things down. How do we know which curriculum will truly serve our children.

The honest truth is that the only way to know what will work for your family is to try it. Every family and every child is different. What serves one household may not work for another. That trial and error period can feel expensive and tiring. I have not tried every curriculum out there. Even so, with a first grader and a preschooler this year, I have tried many in the last three years. I am thankful to say I am no longer jumping from program to program because we finally found one that both kids and I are loving. I will share that at the end. First, here are the programs we have used and my honest thoughts on each. Let’s dive in.

I will start with a very popular choice that many families enjoy. If you love this one, please know I share my perspective with respect. The Good and the Beautiful. I tried both preschool and kindergarten. Educationally, preschool was solid and we enjoyed it. Kindergarten felt like it jumped around and was a bit confusing for us. My larger concern is with the company itself. The curriculum is marketed to Christian families, yet it is produced by a company within the Latter day Saint tradition. Friends who have used the older grades have noticed elements of Latter day Saint doctrine in the lessons. I cannot personally verify all of those reports. What I can speak to is that for a curriculum promoted as Christian, the content we experienced felt mostly secular and rarely engaged with Scripture or Christian teaching in a meaningful way. From my convictions as a Christian, I want a program that clearly centers Christ and the Bible. Because of that, I choose not to support this company and encourage fellow Christians to use discernment when evaluating resources.

Next is All About Reading. This is a well designed program that has helped many children become confident readers. Several families I know have had great success with it. For us, it felt too repetitive. Each letter followed the same pattern of activities, and my daughter lost interest quickly. Instead, the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons has been a better fit for helping her move toward independent reading.

We also tried Christian Light for Kindergarten and really enjoyed it. During that season, we needed something simple. Christian Light is an easy open and go workbook style program with little to no advance prep. Jemma moved through the lessons quickly, stayed engaged, and the cost is very reasonable compared with many other options. It is beginner friendly and I recommend it to anyone looking for an open and go plan that can be done in a short daily window.

As my husband and I learned more about educational philosophy, we decided we wanted a classical approach that grows through grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Our earlier programs were not classical in that fuller sense, which is one reason we did not continue with them. That path led us to Classical Conversations, which combines a classical style with a weekly co op. In Classical Conversations you attend a community day once a week. A tutor leads the students and parents through the material for the upcoming week. The program has three stages: Foundations for ages four to eleven, Essentials for ages eight to eleven, and Challenge for ages twelve to eighteen. Our oldest is six, so we have only experienced Foundations for the last two years. I love our community, but we will not continue after this year for a few reasons. First, we have grown to love our primary curriculum, which I will share next. Second, I have come to see Classical Conversations as neo classical rather than a fully classical education.

Although Foundations, Essentials, and Challenge aim to align with grammar, logic, and rhetoric, in practice it can feel heavy on memorization. Foundations, which is the grammar stage, is almost entirely memory work with songs and facts. There is very little written work, and you need to supplement a lot in order to keep pace with most state level skills. For example, a child may memorize an entire history timeline and skip count with ease, but you will still need to add resources for handwriting, first grade math practice, and phonics instruction that Classical Conversations does not teach directly. Because of this, we treat Classical Conversations as a co op only. We do our CC work on community day and focus on other studies the rest of the week. Cost is another factor. After application fees, tuition, and curriculum, it can run one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars per child each year, not including building fees if your community meets in a church with facility costs. With multiple children, that adds up. I chose to tutor this year, which covered our daughter’s participation. That cost may make sense if CC is your primary curriculum. For us, it is a pricey co op when used only in that way.

Then we discovered Memoria Press. I first learned about it at the end of 2024 and could not wait to try it. Many Eastern Orthodox families appreciate it even though it is not specifically Orthodox. It is a true classical homeschool curriculum for the home, and we love it. It is our primary program this year. My daughter is using first grade and my son is in preschool. At first the first grade set looked intimidating because it includes a lot. I later learned that it is designed for a classroom setting, which means you can comfortably trim about three quarters of the suggested work and tailor the plan to your child. That flexibility has been a gift. We are only a few weeks in and my daughter is mastering math drills, enjoying cursive, and growing in phonics. My son thrives with the daily preschool read aloud lessons. The program is deeply Christian, with Bible work and Scripture memory at the center, which we value. It is on the more expensive side, so families need to budget accordingly. You can purchase only the consumables if you plan to reuse teacher materials for younger siblings, and there are many second hand options through Memoria Press Facebook groups. As an Orthodox Christian, I simply make sure we are learning true church history from an Orthodox perspective. That is one reason I founded MBM Press, to provide Orthodox supplemental materials so our children can blend our faith with their studies. God willing, perhaps one day MBM Press can create a full classical curriculum from preschool through twelfth grade.

Here are a few supplemental materials we enjoy. We use Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography and love it. Jemma already gets a lot of geography through Classical Conversations, and it is her favorite subject, so the Charlotte Mason book is a delightful Friday enrichment. For Henry, I picked up simple preschool workbooks from Amazon. Memoria Press preschool is wonderful and centered on weekly read alouds, but there is not much hands on writing. The workbooks give him fun and inexpensive practice with pencil grip, tracing, and early letter and number formation.

I hope this reflection offers perspective as you consider your own path. The best curriculum is the one you will use with peace and consistency. Start small, observe your children, and adjust as you go. If a program serves your family, keep it. If it does not, you have permission to pivot. You know your children better than anyone, and with prayer, patience, and a bit of experimentation, you will find a rhythm that fits your home. I am cheering you on in this good work.

If you have questions, leave a comment or email me at hello@themyrrhbearingmother.com.