This year-long geography curriculum encourages exploration of, and prayer for, many lesser-known cities in the world. Download includes lesson plan and printable. Purchase of Praying Through the 100 Gateway Cities of the 10/40 Window required.
Objectives:
-to build awareness of and recognize a variety of diverse cities in the world
– to encourage students to pray for both Christians and non-Christians
-to integrate religion and art into geography
-to examine other cultures from a Christian worldview
Scope and Sequence:
-100 Lessons
◦ For a 32-week school-year, this would be approximately three lessons per week
◦ 20-30 minutes per lesson
How do you teach geography to the lower grades? This Geography Terminology Curriculum helps to introduce basic terms that will stick with your children for all their lives.
Included is 1) a printable used repeatedly for each geography term, and 2) a geography exam for use with Geography from A to Z.Textbook not included.
Into Your Hands has put together a fantastic overview of curriculum! Looking for classical, or classical-friendly, resources? Interested in seeing a clear overview for homeschooling K-12, yep ,Kindergarten to Twelfth grade?! Here you go! This is a GREAT classical Lutheran scope and sequence!
Includes guidance for Family Devotions, Bible History, Apologetics, Memory Work/Catechesis/Doctrine (Penmanship), Character/Virtue/Piety, Math, Science, History, Geography, Reading, Writing, Grammar, Music, Art, PE, and Electives! Woo hoo! Everything a classical Lutheran scope and sequence could. 😀
Are you familiar with scope and sequence? They basically line up what will be taught so you can see both large picture and small picture as easily as possible. The scope refers to content (and the amount of content). The sequence shows the order, either by unit or by grade level.
If you have ever wondered, “Should I join a homeschool co-op?” “Should I help or form a co-op?” Then this free resource is for you! (Product is a PDF of this information and a sample template.)
Should I Join a Homeschool Co-op?
There are several major considerations before you join a homeschool co-op:
Will we have time for co-op and still get all our regular schooling done?
Will we agree with all that the co-op teaches? Other parents discipline differently, use other materials, may be Christian but not Lutheran, etc.
What we do about curriculum?
Scheduling
One of the wonderful things about homeschooling is the flexibility. As a homeschooler, you are free to homeschool on a school-like schedule, such as a quarter or semester system, or you can do your own thing. Some people school year-round, and, before you gasp, they may still have the same amount of school days that you do, just by taking different breaks.
My personal experience resulted in a four and a half day school week anyway, since several of my children had speech appointments and piano. For a family my size, that ate up either an entire morning or an entire afternoon. Gradually, we got used to it and still got a week’s worth of schooling done, often in four days because, frankly, for us, if we don’t homeschool in the morning, it was just very difficult to get work done in the afternoon.
As we transitioned out of speech and into co-op, we kept to a four-day school week with our regular curriculum, and embraced a different sort of day, in our case, on Mondays.
Co-ops can be different lengths of time. Many are morning or afternoon only, while others last a full school day. My co-op has subjects in the morning, a long, social lunch together, and then we clean up and part ways around 1pm.
Does a four-day home schedule make daily work, like math and languages, harder? It may. At the same time, your children may still prefer having co-op than having that extra day to get assignments done.
Does it mean that our math curriculum lasts a bit longer than our once a week subjects? Yes. Our math curriculum always seems to go longer (even though they do math in co-op, too, so it truly is daily!). Languages, too, sometimes continue in the summer for a little bit, whether it is a grammar course, Latin, or anything else. Still, even young children can understand that this is the sort of thing that happens.
Teacher Agreement
Gathering with homeschooling families is great. Still, homeschoolers are not a homogeneous group! Not only are there different beliefs about what is true, there are also different beliefs about how to teach and what to teach.
We will address secular, Christian, and Lutheran co-op differences below, but I’d like to offer this perspective followed with a word of encouragement. As Lutherans, we want our children grounded in the Truth. To us, that means Christ and God’s Word! We want them to learn, and practice, discernment pretty much as quickly as possible. At the same time, we want to teach them to see things with clarity before issues seem to grow cloudy and complicated.
Ultimately it is God who raises us up. It is God who helps us to discern, and it is God who helps our children to grow in both body and understanding—and God is not bound by any curricula or educational philosophy. God raises up with His Word, His Spirit, His Son. God raises up with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He also lets us help one another, even to the point of hiding His own activity behind our human ways.
Homeschool co-op teachers should be able to respect one another, and parents should know what to expect from co-op teachers and the curriculum they use. Furthermore, if any sort of conflict comes up, there should be a way to discuss it without agitating the entire group.
If discipline may be necessary, be sure that rules are clear before the homeschool co-op begins. Discuss what are accessible forms of punishment. But, honestly? If all the parents stay during co-op, parents remain the disciplinarians. “Get the parent” affirms parenting and its roles in education as well as the household.
Secular, Christian & Lutheran Co-ops
If you are anything like me, you are not surrounded by a glorious host of fellow Lutheran homeschoolers. Your homeschool co-op options may be secular or Christian.
I won’t discount secular co-ops out of hand. There are different types of co-op. If a secular co-op consists of arts & crafts, a foreign language, woodworking class, and a sports hour, that’s a drastically different thing to consider than a co-op that centers on evolutionary science, right?
As for Christian co-ops, I would ask about what prayers or worship may be included. I would likely even ask about what Christian images would be included, because I don’t need my five year old asking about why women are dressed up like pastors.
Even Lutheran co-ops can have very different ideas of what prayers and worship should look like. Will there be chapel? Will a pastor lead it? I don’t mean to imply that a Lutheran co-op is actually more complicated than a non-Lutheran one. At the same time, parents can disagree about which hymns to learn. The higher the expectations, and the more assumptions about how much is held in common, the more complicated things can get.
Our congregation allows our Christian co-op to meet on church property. Before we got started, I said all prayers said on these grounds need to be to the Triune God. “Do we all worship the Trinity?” This surprised them. “Yes, but what do you mean. Do all prayers start by addressing each Person or something?” “No, but my family and this church worships the Trinity: not Mother Spirit or any other human ideas.” “Oh. Ok! That’s fine.”
I also said we need to avoid saying people decide for Jesus. Basically, all religious material comes from the parents except for the stuff in the agreed upon curriculum or from read aloud material approved by parents.
We say Luther’s Table Prayer before lunch. There haven’t been any problems, because we worked through concerns before we agreed to start.
What about Curriculum?
Personally, I think homeschool co-ops can be pretty great. There are also a wide variety of co-op styles to choose from. Originally, I hoped to find essentially a group of people for play dates and field trips. What I eventually found turned out to be more like a mixture of tutoring and broad overview with socializing and field trips.
While I would love a co-op that is a) local, b) Lutheran, and c) following my every choice of curriculum, I haven’t experienced that yet. Our co-op consists of four or five families, each family teaching a single subject. We plan a lunch, so that everyone brings part, and either a free parent or the older class makes lunch. It has worked out well.
Our co-op is small, and every year we make a plan for the following year. We more or less agree on curriculum, and it is much simpler than I originally expected.
No joke. Every single family uses different curriculum and has its own educational philosophy. So, for math, everyone brings their own math books and the teacher walks around, tutoring them. Often that follows an opening like calendar time and skip counting with the littles or math fact reviews with the middles and olders. (We currently have three sections that rotate so each parent also has a free time slot.)
For science, there is an emphasis on labs and hands on work.
For language arts, we do some grammar and spelling. With the littles, we read aloud.
For history, the teacher reads from a history book we’ve all agreed to, and the history period is always different from whatever is being studied more in depth at home. That way, it is relaxed, broad, but affirming a grasp of history.
Originally, we started with Spanish but we had trouble with only having an actual class once a week. I’m sure it can be done, but that might take some real prep work & follow-up by parents.
Unit studies tend to work fine! I’ve heard great things about the book, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, for example, and co-op is a great place to have a kids’ book club (with a book approved by all the parents.)
I know of one writing program that starts every age out at the same level: Write by Number. It basically teaches you how to write a sentence and then follow sentence patterns (like topic sentence and support sentences) until you can write paragraphs and essays. It is mastery-based and doable for co-op, although since it includes the full curriculum it is more expensive than a subject for just a year or two.
If you prefer a broader approach I know of two series that can be helpful. One takes a topical approach, while the other seems to offer a little of everything.
Everything You Need to Ace . . . in One Big Fat Notebookis topical. The premise is that this is like borrowing the notes from the smartest, most thorough kid I the class. I have not looked through these books extensively, but they obviously exist to highlight basics in flowing manner. I bought the one for English Language Arts in hopes that its systematic approach helps me as I teach a variety of families who, again, all are learning different things in different orders.
A broader approach also exists that has been developed, used, and loved since the 1980s: Core Knowledge. (No, this is not Common Core.) Core Knowledge is a secular resource worth knowing about with many resources available at no cost. Perhaps you have seen books like What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know. There is a whole series and a very helpful website! Each book contains poetry, stories, history and geography, art, songs, etc. Online you can find the topics and sequences for each grade. The goal is “preparing your child for a lifetime of learning,” which is great, and this can be a great supplement at home or at co-op. Now, will you agree with everything? I hesitate to say. There is a section on evolution in seventh grade. At the same time, the philosophy behind these books, is Knowledge-Based Schooling, which strikes me as very respectable.
What about Paperwork, Liability, etc.?
Paperwork and liability issues are not to be taken lightly. If your congregation is considering hosting a homeschool co-op, they should have a very clear policy about it that can be signed by co-op participants.
In particular:
If someone gets hurt, you want to be sure that a) someone is responsible, and b) no one and no place will get sued. You may need to look into your congregation’s insurance to see whether non-church activities are covered.
If anyone takes any pictures, you want to be sure to protect that individual’s privacy. There are reasons to not post pictures of children on the Internet, and there are very good reasons to have signed permission slips for just about anything if a parent is not present.
Do not presume that, because you’re all friendly, you can hug or spank a child. Extreme discernment is best!
If you think about summer camps, you know that there are liabilities with giving children medicine, including over the counter things. A child should always be with someone who can make emergency medical decisions and who has access to the child’s health insurance information. Thankfully, if a parent remains present, that simplifies things tremendously.
But here’s the big one that people sometimes miss! Because of intellectual copyright, you are not free to use any old curriculum in a co-op setting. Sometimes you need a license for the year. It’s not hard to get and it’s often not expensive. You can, as I understand it, read books aloud, but you are not supposed to photocopy workbooks, etc.
Ready for a whole lot of Lutheran religion class resources? There are many ways to raise children in Scripture! People have done it for ages. This page compiles Bible options, Bible reading plans, suggestions for pre-readers & family resources, and curriculum, memory work, and hymn of the week options. (The product is a download of this same information.)
(Some links are affiliate links.)
Lutheran Religion Class Resources
Bible Options
First things first: there are a lot of Bible options! Here is a link to the CPH Bible choosing guide. It lists the CPH Bible for early childhood, early elementary, upper elementary, youth, and then The Lutheran Study Bible with all its extra notes.
There are also many children’s books of Bible stories that can be put to good use. The Golden Children’s Bibleis another common resource.
Bible Reading Plans
Just so you know, The Story Bibleis broken down into 140 sections, which would give you one story a day, five days a week, for 28 weeks. That’s pretty good for ages 3-8! Great for devotions at home with younger ones!
Bible reading plans:
CPH (Scroll down to the bottom to the very bottom to download five options: one year, two year, Bible narratives, chronological and daily lectionary)
Ambleside Online has 216-day reading plans, spreading Scripture out over 6 years.
Pre-Readers & Family Resources
Pre-readers benefit from a devotional life that helps them to learn and recognize what they also say at church. Common memory work for prereaders includes the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed, although some can even start memorizing parts of the catechism, such as the 10 Commandments.
Here is a link to one guide for Devotions at Home. You may also be interested in something like Around the Wordor Lambs at Pasture. Those are nice because they include a weekly Bible verse and hymn. You can sign up and they email you a PDF once a week.
Another thing very handy for children between the ages of 2 and 12 are Kids in the Divine Service. (Here is an article about them, including a table of content). They were originally designed as a weekly bulletin insert, so you can either download them seasonally here or order it in book form here. Although you download them by season, the weekly page addresses parts of the liturgy, sanctuary, and Divine Service, too.
ABC-themed books are common. If you’d like Lutheran ABC-religion-books, here you go:
Our Faith from A to Zhas basics for younger kids and more for older. Good for discussions.
(One popular non-Lutheran, religious ABC book is Big Thoughts for Little People: ABC’s to Help You Grow. It isn’t Lutheran. It isn’t perfect, but it has been very helpful in introducing topics and, perhaps more importantly, cultivating serious religious conversations with little ones.)
Most existing curriculum for Lutheran religion classes were written for schools or Sunday schools. These can be tailored for homeschool use. Here’s a link to CPH’s educational options by grade level. Along those lines, CLC has a complete Sunday School program that can also be tailored.
Having said that, Wittenberg Academy offers their own free curriculum for grades Kinder through Sixth, including religion. “Wittenberg Academy at Prayer” includes a psalm, hymn, Learn-by-heart catechism, verse of the week, and a weekly Bible story. (They also incorporate religious education into their online classes for sixth and higher.) I know Wittenberg also has an online chapel weekly, although I’m not sure when one begins “attending” that.
Many Lutherans use Memoria Press religious material, occasionally rewording an explanation or renumbering the commandments. These exist for third grade and older. They are nice because they include memory work, geography, and vocabulary, although students learn a slightly-simplified King James.
Others appreciate the simplicity of focus in Ambleside Online‘s directed readings.
Memory Work Options
Memory work can be great or it can be daunting. Folks used to memorize entire books of the Bible! At the same time, most of us have never learned to do anything near that. Still, Lutheran homeschoolers often do their best to memorize Scripture, the Small Catechism, and often hymns.
There are graded approaches, in which certain verses are tied to an age. There are topical approaches, in which you memorize the Ten Commandments for example. There are also memory routines that build in review of previously learned material.
Here is Memory Work for Lutheran Schools and Homes if you want a rigorous graded program. (This PDF uses New King James Version, although you can follow references and use whatever version you prefer, such as the English Standard Version.)
Memory Routines or Programs
Here is a link to a Charlotte Mason style memory routine.
On My Heart: Lutheran Memory Work Program is another system with downloadable material. It includes the books of the Bible, the Small Catechism (though not the CPH version), and 60 common Bible passages.
Scripture Box is a digital, Alexa-friendly memory box.
If you’re interested in learning or memorizing hymns, again, you have so many options.
Historically, the hymn sung right before the sermon is called the hymn of the day or the chief hymn. It reflects the theme of the readings and makes a great hymn of the week, especially since you’re likely to sing it again in about a year. (If you like German, kernlieder is the term for “core hymns.)
You could work your way through one of CPH’s children’s hymnals, like My First Hymnalor One and All Rejoice. Truth be told, children’s hymnals have been popular for the last hundred years. You could even check to see whether you could borrow one from your congregation.
There are 12 days of Christmas, so here are 12 Days of Christmas themes or little extras to keep things festive 🙂
With little ones, read a little Christmas book each day of the season.
Select a hymn of the season from the hymnal, and every year choose a different one.
Read through the Gospel of Luke, 2 chapters a day.
Select a book with daily devotions.
Plan out a special snack every day, maybe alternating between dips and desserts, so that the 12 days of Christmas are a little extra special but not necessarily an extra burden.
Have a family read aloud. You could consider all sorts of Christmasy (or non-Christmasy) books, though here are a few books with Lutheran authors or commentary:
Consider a CD for the season, like Handel’s Messiah. You could even pair it up with Messiah: The Greatest Sermon Ever Sungby Lutheran Rev. Tony Pittenger.
Watch Christmas specials, including some gems you can find on Youtube, like The Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah.
Do a unit study on angels, biblical foods, biblical geography, stable animals, or go through an art book, etc. I know of at least two angel resources put together by Lutherans: Bryan Wolfmueller’s Angels & Demons and Jake Zabel’s Choirs of Angels.
Sing through a free caroling book! Sing a song or two a day and make your way all the way through!
Try to memorize a stanza a day of Luther’s These are the Holy Ten Commands or another hymn with 12 stanzas. Or just pick a hymn or psalm to memorize.
Mark the minor commemorations of the time:
December 26th, Stephen the Martyr
December 27th, John the Apostle and Evangelist
December 28th, the Holy Innocents Martyred
December 29th, King David
January 1st, Circumcision and Naming of Jesus
January 2nd, Loehe, Pastor
(January 6th always starts the season of Epiphany)
If you have other suggestions, comment to add them!
If you are new to homeschooling, here are some things you might want to know.
First, you have tons of options. You’ll probably want to figure out two things first: A) whether you have an educational philosophy or approach and B) whether you want a box curriculum (where you essentially buy a grade level) or piece subjects together yourself.
Common educational philosophies or approaches include:
Classical (Incorporating an ancient language and emphasizing literature or, more technically, teaching the Trivium and Quadrivium)
Charlotte Mason (Lots of “living books” and nature studies)
Montessori (Interest based with unstructured time)
School-at-Home (Basically it’s traditional schooling only at home)
Unit Studies (These can be done some in any of the approaches, but also done exclusively.)
Eclectic
Second, you may also want to know that there are different approaches to math.
Conceptual curriculum teaches why math works the way it does. It likely includes hands-on manipulatives for the younger ages.
Procedural curriculum focuses on how to do the math.
Mastery curriculum focuses on one topic at a time and is organized in a certain way.
Spiral curriculum teaches math in smaller chunks and rotates through the topics.
Third, how hands on do you want your homeschooling to be? The success of a curriculum really depends on a) how the student responds and b) how the teacher can work with it. There are so many options in homeschooling that it really is ok to find something that works for both you & your child(ren)! Some courses are workbook based. Others script out what parents can say. Some use textbooks while others advocate reading and discussion, etc.
Fourth, if a subject intimidates you, or if you struggle to teach it, there are DVD & online teaching options, too. Really, if a homeschooling parent wants it, it’s likely either available or under development as we speak.
Fifth, each state has laws about homeschooling. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which was started by two homeschooling lawyer dads, makes it very easy to see each state’s requirements.
Explore then Narrow Things Down
Homeschool advice and homeschool options are all over the Internet. One easy way to see and compare available curriculum is to look through Cathy Duffy Reviews. FWIW, “scope and sequence” lists topics/ideas/concepts covered in the book/course/lesson plan.
There is not exactly a Lutheran boxed curriculum option. Wittenberg Academy offers free public domain materials to give your child a great Lutheran Classical education for the elementary years, but there isn’t a publisher (yet) who has customized an entire level of textbooks, workbooks, etc., for a homeschooler’s budget. Having said that, publishers certainly publish great things that homeschoolers use frequently.
General Subjects
Generally children under first grade learn to recognize shapes, colors, letters, and numbers. Learning to read is great at this stage, but sometimes that is a part of first grade, too. (It’s just something that clicks at different times for different kids.) Likewise you can start teaching penmanship, additional, and subtraction, but that will all be hit upon more later. This is an introductory time.
School used to start in first grade. The pre-school years are a time for enrichment, that is, learning to listen, look, and pay attention to things, whether it’s a craft, nature walk or a piece of music. Sometimes kids can memorize all sorts of things, like types of bugs, the US presidents, skip counting, etc. Introduce finer motor skills, like cutting with scissors, but I wouldn’t recommend you expect beautiful handwriting.
From first grade onward, students typically have math, science, history, and language arts. (Language Arts combine phonics, spelling, reading, penmanship, recognizing rhymes, etc.) Many Language Art programs combine various elements so you practice a little reading, a little writing, a little grammar, etc.
It can sound like a lot or a little, and you may find that sometimes you can do more, then suddenly face that you need to do less. That’s perfectly normal. I’ve started doing a unit study when we need a change (or I have extra energy). Then, after we wrap that up, we may not start another and just continue with the basics. If we get too busy, I try to select something we can do over summer, like geography.
Enrichment is still great! But it doesn’t need to be all the time. Part of the freedom of homeschooling is being able to take a day off to picnic at the park or visit a museum. Listen to something beautiful. Bake something tasty! Volunteer to help those in need.
High Schoolers may or may not choose classes based on college requirements. Some states require diploma recipients to take a government or civics class and at least two sciences with lab work. Ideally, high schoolers get to the point where they can write a letter, a resume, a five paragraph essay and a research paper. They can read and talk about literature. Math often consists of algebra, geometry, precalc/trig, and calculus.
Personally, we hope to get some good geography studying done in middle school/ junior high and then add logic to replace that. We also always have a religion class or religious reading lined up.
Logistics
Routine is helpful. A clear space is helpful. On the other hand, parents have raised children—and done so well—in all sorts of conditions.
In our house, family devotions are separate from religion class. We aim to memorize Scripture and the Catechism. We aim to teach the young ones the Bible stories in The Story Bible. Then we have them read their own Bibles, gradually learning vocabulary, geography, and church history. This is to help ground our children on a) Scripture as foundational, but also b) that Scripture reflects real life, real places, and real events.
As a liturgical family, we have also taught our children Matins (and hope to get to Morning Prayer) and we are thankful our congregation has taught them Vespers and Evening Prayer through seasonal evening services. We just do them. And the kids pick it up. 🙂
It was a struggle to get family devotions going. Especially with babies! But once established, it has been a wonderful thing to have a child remind you that it is time for God’s Word and prayer!
I’ll be honest. I don’t see how we can keep this up-to-date or include everything. Still, why not include some neat, helpful free non-Lutheran resources? Together we can keep this vetted. Maybe? Hopefully?
Anything with an obvious cultural slant against Christianity will be excluded, although, certainly Khan Academy, etc., can probably be used to great effect with supervision. Likewise DuoLingo, which includes “her wife” and “his husband” in various languages.
Unvettable lists & resources that still might interest you:
Clickschooling: daily emails about all sorts of educational websites
CoreKnowledge.org (which is not Common Core) is a knowledge-based schooling resource known for books like What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know. There’s a whole series like that, which are not free, and there are a lot of free resources on that website, too. It’s secular, but it’s knowledge-based approach makes it very useful.
Economics for Beginners Series offers a free series of short introductory videos. It also includes information for how to order a free copy of Henry Hazlitt’s book, Economics in One Lesson. Although those resources are unvetted, Economics in One Lesson is a book used by Wittenberg Academy.
MusicTheory.net: Free website (though you can purchase apps to support the site) for grades 1–12.
G Major Music Theory: This is a mix of free and subscription resources, but freebies include some free music for piano and guitar, 19 downloadable workbooks, 31 sets of clash cards, contextual listening, harmonic dictation, and music humor.
Note: The Lutheran organization CCLE (Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education) offers a course on Greek each year on three levels: Greek I, Greek II, and Greek Readings. Also, Dr. James Voelz (long time Greek professor at Concordia, St. Louis) has his lections online if you’re looking to learn Koine! Here as an Apple podcast.
Today I’d like to highlight a new vender with new products on LH! You may recognize Into Your Hands, LLC, from their website, and their research, consulting, publishing, training, and advocacy work (with an emphasis on natural law), but now they’re a LutheranHomeschoolvending shop, too! With new SIX PRODUCTS now up and available!
LutheranHomeschool.com compiles free Lutheran resources & lists and offers a marketplace for downloadable material developed by Lutherans.
Lutheran Homeschool and its members affirm the Bible as the Word of God, the Virgin Birth, the means of grace, the bodily presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, the bodily resurrection, and additional teachings taught in the Book of Concord.
Lutheran Homeschool and Lutheran Homeschool Marketplace & Press is not directly affiliated with any Lutheran denomination, however any doctrinal review deemed necessarily will be done by a rostered member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
Also, this website uses Amazon & CPH Affiliate links. That means we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases at no additional cost to you.
Ready for a whole lot of Lutheran religion class resources? There are many ways to raise children in Scripture! People have done it for ages. This page compiles Bible options, Bible reading plans, suggestions for pre-readers & family resources, and curriculum, memory work, and hymn of the week options. (The product is a download of this same information.)
Ladies and Gentlemen, I pray this email finds you well. 🙂 Today I’m happy to inform you that there is now a complete 
Today I’d like to highlight a new vender with new products on LH! You may recognize Into Your Hands, LLC, from their 