Non-Traditional Curriculum Publishers

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By “non-traditional,” we are referring to material that has been written specifically for the homeschooler, or, does not check all the boxes for the Classroom or Student-paced categories. If you have picked up any homeschooling magazines lately, you know this area is being added to daily. We could not possibly list or review everything that is available, but we will give you some samples of the most popular.

Non-Traditional Publishers can be any one of several types: 
One Subject Publishers: They only publish in one or two subject areas: Apologia Science, Shurley English, Saxon Math to name a few.
Multiple Learning Environments: They were developed with both Homeschoolers, and Private Christian Schools in mind: Master Books, Summitt Ministries
Classical Education: The Classical approach is based on the Trivium, which builds students in three phases or stages, (Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric).
Unit Studies: Designed to encompass all academic subjects in one "unit" of study on a specific topic.

One-Subject  Publishers:

One-Subject Publishers usually specialize in one subject area. An example is Easy Grammar, which is published in different color-coded books depending on the grade level of the student. Each set starts with familiarizing the student with prepositional phrases. The idea is that, once a student has basically memorized those, the rest of the grammar in the sentence is EASY. The set is written specifically for homeschoolers, and is widely and successfully used.

For those parents that want to customize the learning for each of their students, the majority of their curriculum may come from this grouping. Easy Grammar for Grammar, Real Books for Literature, Notgrass for History, Apologia for Science, Saxon for math, etc. For others, they have found a publisher that has every subject (Bob Jones Press, Alpha Omega), but find that one subject does not quite fit their student, or there is a local Co-op or virtual class that teaches Algebra II, and Mom has descided that is the best path for Johnny.

One-subject  publishers tend to be very homeschool or "parent-directed " friendly, as it is a major portion of their customer base, but are often used in the classroom or small group setting as well.

Multiple Learning Environments:

This is how we organize publishers that have developed high quality curriculum, but wanted the material to be used successfully in both the traditional group class and by a single student at home. Some were often written with the homeschool market in mind, like Apologia Science, but also wanted their material to be classroom ready. Others were originally designed or written for the classroom, but, because of design or the methodology used in the curriculum, it's easy for parents to admninister at home, like Saxon Math.

Some publishers, like Master Books, have multiple subjects available so they can serve as the supplier for an entire grade level of materials. So Masterbooks is non-traditional, because they can be used in both the classroom and the home, but they could still be grouped with the "Classroom-Based" publishers. Other publishers, like Logic of English, are squarely focused on one subject, like reading, but have designed the curriculum for use in both the classroom and a home, so they can be grouped as Non-Traditional (home uses), Classroom-Based, and as a Single Subject publisher. And we wonder why so many Christian parents still put their children on the big yellow bus!

Classical Education:

In the grammar stage (K–6), students are naturally adept at memorizing through songs, chants, and rhymes. If you can get children in this stage to sing or chant something, they will remember it for a lifetime. In the dialectic or logic stage (grades 7–9), teenaged students are naturally more argumentative and begin to question authority and facts. They want to know the “why” of something—the logic behind it. During this stage, students learn reasoning, informal and formal logic, and how to argue with wisdom and eloquence. The rhetoric stage (grades 10–12) is naturally when students become independent thinkers and communicators. They study and practice rhetoric, which is the art of persuasive speaking and effective writing that pleases and delights the listener. Again, it is this approach to teaching students based on their developmental stage that makes this approach so very effective.

Publishers like Classical Academic Press and Veritas Press only publish or sell curriculum that is rooted in the Classical Approach. We add "sell" to the description because, in most cases, when looking through a "Classical" catalogue, you will see products like Saxon Math on those pages as well.

Unit Studies:

A good example of Unit Studies is the Weaver Curriculum, which is now published by Alpha Omega Publications. The Weaver's curriculum uses the Bible as the starting point for studies in History, Science, Writing by using multiple projects. Another name for this approach would be Thematic Units. Unit Studies are very hands-on;  students learn by reading about real people, working with their hands, creating projects that bring history and science to life. The most successful use of Unit Studies is with the elementary and lower middle school students, and supplemented with a high quality grammar and math curriculum to ensure a broad base of learning in the core areas, while developing a love of learning, by making history and science come to life.

Non-Traditional Publishers

Answers in Genesis (Built the ARK Encounter and Creation Museum)      
See the Master Books Review which is the main publisher:
To go directly to the Answers in Genesis website, click here

Apologia: Started with just Science; now has additional topics.
The FOFCAI detailed review has not been published.
To go directly to the Apologia website, click here

Beauitful Feet: History Through Literature
The FOFCAI detailed review has not been published.
To go directly to the Beauitful Feet website, click here

Chalk Dust: Math Curriculum with Videos
The FOFCAI detailed review has not been published.
To go directly to the Chalk Dust website, click here

Master Books: Where Faith Grows
To see a more detailed review from FOFCAI, click here . .
To go directly to the Master Book website, click here