Transform Your Homeschool with Modular Learning
Homeschooling is all about flexibility, and at SchoolhouseTeachers.com (ST), we’re here to make your teaching experience as adaptable as possible. Whether you’re diving into full-year courses, tackling shorter topics, or exploring unit studies, our curriculum can be customized to fit your family’s needs.
What Is Modular Learning ?
Modular Learning means breaking education into smaller, manageable pieces. Instead of committing to a full-year curriculum, you can choose specific units or shorter courses to focus on, creating a unique learning journey for your student.
How It Works with Our Resources
- Full-Year Courses: Use these as a foundation for a complete subject or pick chapters/modules to concentrate on specific skills or topics.
- Shorter Courses: Perfect for introducing new concepts or exploring your child’s interests without a long-term commitment.
- Unit Studies: Traditional unit studies like those in Ditch the Desk are self-contained studies that combine multiple subjects around a single theme, making them great for hands-on, interdisciplinary learning. SchoolhouseTeachers.com also has short units on single subjects that work well with Modular Learning.
Why Modular Learning?
- Flexibility: Adapt your schedule to fit family life or unexpected events.
- Student-Centered: Let your children pursue their passions while still meeting academic goals.
- Customizable: Mix and match resources to create a truly personalized curriculum.
Getting Started
Explore our curriculum by subject, age, or interest. Then, think about what works best for your children—do they thrive with focused, shorter studies, or do they prefer the consistency of a full-year course? With SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you can build a plan that evolves with your homeschool journey.
Start exploring today and see how Modular Learning can transform your homeschool experience!
Modular Learning Plan Examples
1. Define Goals and Objectives
- Overall Goals:
Example: “My child will gain proficiency in elementary math and explore creative writing.” - Module-Specific Goals:
Example: “Learn basic multiplication by the end of this unit.”
ST Tip: Use SchoolhouseTeachers.com’s Scope and Sequence charts to identify specific skills your student needs to work on.
2. Choose or Develop a Framework
- Select one:
- Subject-focused (e.g., Math, History).
- Thematic units (e.g., “Ancient Civilizations”).
- Skill-based (e.g., “Public Speaking” or “Critical Thinking”).
ST Tip: Use our View by Subject or View by Grade lists to find curricula.
Another option: Use a keyword search (Control+F) on the All Courses page. Searching the word “ancient” resulted in six options in the History section and one in the Social Studies section.
Ancient History: Babylonian Life and Mythology (Grades 10–12)
Babylon appears frequently in our study of history and the Bible. This class takes a closer look at this ancient empire through text-based lessons, maps, and more.
Ancient History for Elementary (Grades 1–3)
Journey through ancient history, cultures, and empires with fascinating facts, hands-on projects, and cultural activities to engage young students and reinforce learning.
Ancient World History (Grades 5–6)
Through readings, colorful illustrations, questions, and activities, elementary students meet the people of ancient Israel, Sumer, Egypt, China, Rome, Greece, Babylon, and more.
Drive Thru History: Ancient History (Grades 6–9)
Explore more than 2,500 years of history with host Dave Stotts as he takes you on a whirlwind video tour of ancient history with a special focus on Rome, Greece, Turkey, and Byzantium.
History of Ancient Civilizations (Grades 4–6)
Explore the globe and discover the history of ancient civilizations and how civilization began. Discover the cultures, legends, agricultural, and societal developments of several major civilizations.
Understanding Ancient History (Grades 9–12)
Journey through ancient history, from the early civilizations of Sumer and Egypt through the time of Christ. Explore how geography influenced the development of the culture and various facets of history and daily life.
Ancient Citizens in Ancient Civilizations (Grades 5–7)
This course highlights a few of the ways man has attempted to govern himself, what has worked, and what has not, along with a brief look at parliamentary procedure and the Christian foundation of the United States.
3. Break Down the Chosen Content into Modules
- Example Structure:
- Focus on fractions from a grade-level math course.
- Complete a literature unit from Loving Literature through Chapter Books.
ST Tip: Use the All Courses list, the Unit Studies pages, a Focused Learning Center, or the site search bar to find topics of interest.
4. Select Additional Resources
- Unit Study: Select a unit from “Nature/Outdoors” for hands-on science learning.
- Short Course: “Exploring Poetry with Notebooking” for a creative break.
- Full-Year Course: Grade-level math for foundational concepts.
Building a Foundation with Kindergarten Math
Introduce your little learners to the concepts and basics of the days of the week, months of the year, seasons, weather, number recognition, counting, skip counting, shapes, money, place value, and more with lots of hands-on activities and printable worksheets.
Starting Out with First Grade
This full-year Starting Out with First Grade Math homeschool course introduces first graders to the basic math concepts they need to build a strong foundation. Through printable assignments, young homeschool students explore numbers, greater and less than, addition, subtraction, fact families, and much more. Also included is of parent helps and hands-on options for children.
Stepping Up with Second Grade Math
This full-year course builds on math knowledge previously learned to help second graders learn additional key math skills including skip counting, place value, regrouping, story problems, multiplication, division, geometric vocabulary, and much more.
Stretching Higher with Third Grade Math builds on the math skills students have previously learned and guides them through new concepts involving multiplication, division, working with money, fractions, decimals, equations, and more. Daily lessons are provided with ample problems for review and practice. Regular quizzes and tests are also included. Answer keys are provided.
Strengthening Skills with Fourth Grade Math
Through instruction, illustration, repetition, and frequent review, Strengthening Skills with Fourth Grade Math helps students continue building a strong math foundation.
Steaming Ahead with Fifth Grade Math
This fifth grade math homeschool course helps students continue to build on their knowledge of math and take the next steps toward a broader and deeper understanding of mathematical skills and concepts.
Staying Sharp with Sixth Grade Math
This is the next step in your student’s math journey. Building on what they have already learned, this course moves students into equations, absolute value, ratios, proportions, graphing, percentages, banking, exponents, and more. The course includes videos that explain the text-based lessons.
ST Tip: Our virtual School Boxes provide curated full-year curricula for each subject. Or, you can use our free template to Create Your Own Curriculum.
5. Develop Assessments
- Formative: Weekly review quizzes or journaling prompts.
- Summative: End-of-unit project (e.g., write a short story, create a poster about plant life cycles).
ST Tip: Use the tests and quizzes provided in the curricula, or feel free to develop your own.
6. Incorporate Flexibility
- Allow your children to spend extra time on modules they find challenging or inspiring.
- Mix and match resources from different courses to keep lessons engaging.
ST Tip: Our interactive platform, iST, provides a fresh way to approach selected coursework.
7. Design a Schedule
- Example Daily Plan:
- 9:00-9:30 AM: Math module (like Covering All the Bases).
- 10:00-10:30 AM: Science activities (like Science Experiments with World Book).
- 11:00-11:30 AM: Creative writing (like Creative Storytelling).
- Afternoon: Field trip or free reading.
ST Tip: Each course on SchoolhouseTeachers.com comes with a suggested Lesson Plan. Feel free to tailor or adapt as needed.
8. Review and Iterate
- Weekly reflection: What worked? What didn’t?
- Adjust upcoming modules to better suit your child’s pace or interests.
ST Tip: Members have access to all curricula on SchoolhouseTeachers.com, so switching to a new set of lessons is always an easy option.
9. Include Collaboration Opportunities
- Pair with another homeschooling family for joint activities.
- Join the SchoolhouseTeachers.com Community to share ideas.
ST Tip: Join a Schoolhouse for greater support and co-op type experiences. If there isn’t one near you, fill out the contact form for details about starting one.
10. Keep Good Records
- Know your state requirements.
- Keep a portfolio of completed modules and assessments.
- Ensure compliance with local homeschooling regulations by documenting progress.
- Be sure to document the fun activities with pictures. Building a pizza-box solar oven counts as learning! (It’s also included in the Sun unit of Everyday Astronomy.)
ST Tip: Membership comes with access to Applecore recordkeeping tools.
Example Application of Modular Learning
- Math: Use the addition and subtraction unit from a full-year course for two weeks.
- Science: Pick “Wondrous Weather” as a unit study for a month.
- Art: Incorporate a unit from “Achieving Art Success with ArtAchieve” during afternoon sessions.
- Unit Study: Develop a small garden plot to explore science, math, art, and more!
Modular Learning Template
Click the image below for a blank template you may use to create a Modular Learning Plan for your homeschool.
How to Use This Worksheet
- Start by filling out the student’s information and overall learning goals.
- Identify the subjects and select modules or units that align with your goals.
- Map out your weekly or monthly schedule to ensure consistency.
- List the resources and materials needed to support the learning experience.
- Use the notes section to document observations, adjustments, or ideas for improvement.
