Scope: Classical homeschool programs and courses for preschool through high school. Not online schools or tutoring.
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About three minutes, no account. Matches are fit-ranked.
How to choose a classical curriculum
Classical is a method, not one product. Memoria Press defines classical education as “the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through the study of the liberal arts and the Great Books,” and says Latin plays a primary role. In practice, most classical homeschool programs build the years from some mix of five things:
Latin. Memoria Press starts Latin in second grade with Prima Latina. Classical Academic Press starts Song School Latin in kindergarten. Compass Classroom teaches Visual Latin on video for middle and high school.
Memory work and recitation. Facts, poems, Scripture, and chants learned by heart in the early years. Classical Conversations Foundations is memory work across history, science, English, geography, math, and Latin, and Memoria Press schedules recitation in its curriculum manuals.
Great books. Classical history and literature read in order. The Memoria Press ninth grade package reads Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Aeneid.
Logic. Formal reasoning, usually in middle or high school. The Memoria Press ninth grade package includes Traditional Logic I and II.
Rhetoric. Persuasive speaking and writing as the capstone. Memoria Press sells a full-year Classical Rhetoric course for grades 9 and up, built on Aristotle’s Rhetoric.
The three stages of the trivium. Many classical programs describe schooling in three stages. Classical Academic Press puts it this way: grammar stage students build foundations through wonder and memory, logic stage students learn to question and analyze, and rhetoric stage students develop eloquence and wisdom. Programs usually line the stages up roughly with the elementary years, middle school, and high school. Not every program uses the stages the same way, so read the grade page instead of assuming.
Four questions sort most families quickly.
What grade band? Some programs cover preschool through grade 12. Others are built for older students only.
How much parent time do you have? A boxed classical year you teach yourself is high parent time. Video courses carry more of the teaching once you choose them. A community model still leaves the home days to you.
What format? A print year with a curriculum manual, a streaming course library, or a community day with work at home.
What budget band? We use three words: low, mid, and high. We do not print prices, because prices and sales change.
Every linked program on this page is Christian. If you need a secular classical program, see the FAQ below before you shop.
Side-by-side
Program
Method
Grades
Parent time
Format
Open-and-go
Budget
Memoria Press
Classical Christian, with Latin from second grade, recitation and memory work, and logic and rhetoric in high school.
Preschool through grade 12, with a preschool package that is a gentle introduction rather than Latin.
High, because you lead the grade-level cores, including Latin.
Boxed print packages with a curriculum manual of daily lesson plans, plus streaming instructional videos for some subjects.
Yes for planning only, because the manual writes the daily lesson plans and you still teach them.
High.
Compass Classroom
Christian with a classical lean, through history, Latin, literature, science, and related courses taught on video.
Mainly grades 6 through 12, the range its Plan Your Year guide covers.
Low once a course is chosen, though you still pick courses, assign them, and stay involved.
A streaming course library you pick from, by membership or by individual course, not one boxed year.
Yes for planning once a course is chosen, because the video teacher and course materials carry the lessons.
Mid for an individual membership, with family membership higher.
Classical Conversations
Classical Christian, built around a local community.
Foundations from age 4, Essentials from age 9, and Challenge from age 12 through the older levels.
High, since home memory work and parent-led days sit on top of the community day.
Hybrid: a community day plus books and memory work at home.
No, because you lead the home days and the community day does not replace that.
Mid, and the year is community fees plus materials rather than one shipped box.
Sonlight (literature-based alternative)
Christian and literature-based, with History / Bible / Literature as the core.
Preschool through high school by package.
Medium, with the parent as a mentor in read-alouds and discussion.
Real books scheduled by an Instructor’s Guide.
Yes for planning only, because you open the Instructor’s Guide and teach.
High.
Memoria Press
Method
Classical Christian, with Latin from second grade, recitation and memory work, and logic and rhetoric in high school.
Grades
Preschool through grade 12, with a preschool package that is a gentle introduction rather than Latin.
Parent time
High, because you lead the grade-level cores, including Latin.
Format
Boxed print packages with a curriculum manual of daily lesson plans, plus streaming instructional videos for some subjects.
Open-and-go
Yes for planning only, because the manual writes the daily lesson plans and you still teach them.
Budget
High.
Compass Classroom
Method
Christian with a classical lean, through history, Latin, literature, science, and related courses taught on video.
Grades
Mainly grades 6 through 12, the range its Plan Your Year guide covers.
Parent time
Low once a course is chosen, though you still pick courses, assign them, and stay involved.
Format
A streaming course library you pick from, by membership or by individual course, not one boxed year.
Open-and-go
Yes for planning once a course is chosen, because the video teacher and course materials carry the lessons.
Budget
Mid for an individual membership, with family membership higher.
Classical Conversations
Method
Classical Christian, built around a local community.
Grades
Foundations from age 4, Essentials from age 9, and Challenge from age 12 through the older levels.
Parent time
High, since home memory work and parent-led days sit on top of the community day.
Format
Hybrid: a community day plus books and memory work at home.
Open-and-go
No, because you lead the home days and the community day does not replace that.
Budget
Mid, and the year is community fees plus materials rather than one shipped box.
Sonlight (literature-based alternative)
Method
Christian and literature-based, with History / Bible / Literature as the core.
Grades
Preschool through high school by package.
Parent time
Medium, with the parent as a mentor in read-alouds and discussion.
Format
Real books scheduled by an Instructor’s Guide.
Open-and-go
Yes for planning only, because you open the Instructor’s Guide and teach.
Budget
High.
Pricing and package contents change. Check current packages on each publisher site.
There is no single best pick for every family. The sections below are ordered by job, not by rank: a boxed classical year for any grade, classical video courses for older students, a community model, high school add-ons, and a literature-based alternative for families who are not sure about classical.
A boxed classical year you teach at home: Memoria Press
Fits Christian families who want a complete classical year in a box, from preschool through grade 12, and who can give high parent teaching time.
Memoria Press calls its Classical Core Curriculum a complete classical Christian curriculum. Each grade-level package comes with everything for one school year, including daily lesson plans in a curriculum manual, and you can customize the package. The second grade manual is organized around recitation, Latin and grammar, reading, math, copybook and memory work, cursive, and literature and enrichment. Latin starts in second grade with Prima Latina. The preschool package is a gentle introduction built on prayer, calendar, recitation, the alphabet, numbers, and picture books, not a Latin program.
Kindergarten is built for reading-ready children. Memoria Press says the kindergarten year is written for five half-days, with lesson plans for a 34-week year, and that its main goal is learning to read. The weekly read-alouds and the Kindergarten Supplemental Science & Enrichment Set are separate purchases, not part of the core package.
High school is where logic and rhetoric arrive. The ninth grade package covers literature, math, science, classical and Christian studies, Latin, composition, logic, and modern studies, with Traditional Logic I and II and Novare General Biology. Classical Rhetoric is sold for grades 9 and up. If you are starting Memoria Press late, check placement: the ninth grade page says students should finish First through Fourth Form Latin before Henle Latin Second Year.
Some packages include streaming instructional videos, such as Prima Latina in second grade and Traditional Logic in ninth grade. The manual lowers the “what do we do today” problem. It does not lower the teaching. That is why we call it open-and-go for planning only, with parent time still high.
Pick Memoria Press if:
You want a preschool introduction or a grade-level core through grade 12 from one publisher
You want Latin from second grade, not in the preschool package
You want recitation and memory work written into the plan
You want logic and rhetoric in high school as part of the classical path
You want a curriculum manual with daily lesson plans, and you are still willing to teach them
A high budget for books is acceptable
Skip Memoria Press if you need low parent time, if you want video teachers to carry most subjects, or if you do not want Latin in the grade-level cores. In kindergarten, plan on the read-alouds and the science and enrichment books as separate supplements.
Classical video courses for middle and high school: Compass Classroom
Fits Christian families with students in grades 6 through 12 who want classical-leaning video courses and lower parent teaching time once the courses are chosen.
Compass Classroom describes video courses that teach kids to think Biblically about history, science, government, economics, and music. You buy access one of two ways. The Compass Membership is a streaming library of more than 40 courses with PDF course books, audio stories, and course facilitation groups. It comes as an individual plan for one student account or a family plan for up to four, with course grading as an optional add-on. Or you buy a limited-time streaming license for one course, priced per student and typically good for 18 months, according to its Purchasing Formats help article. Some courses need separate physical books, noted on each course page.
Logic, Fitting Words, and Western Culture are sold separately and are not in the membership. The Plan Your Year guide, which recommends courses by grade from sixth through twelfth, lists some of those courses too, so check what a membership includes before you plan a year around it.
In middle school, the guide lists courses such as Visual Latin, Middle School Literature, General Science, and American History. In high school it lists Antiquity, Christendom, and Modernity history, Devotional Biology and Earth & Space Science as lab sciences, British & World Literature, Philosophy, and Calculus for Everyone. If you want an online classical homeschool curriculum for an older student, this is the streaming course library on this page.
Open-and-go here means the teacher and course structure are already in place after you choose what to assign. You still pick the courses, check the work, and stay involved.
Pick Compass Classroom if:
Your strongest need is middle school and high school (sixth through twelfth on their Plan Your Year guide)
You want video teachers for subjects such as history, Latin, literature, and science
You want a streaming library or individual courses, not one boxed year for every grade
A mid budget for membership or course-by-course buys is the shape you want
You will still check the work, even with video teachers carrying the lessons
Skip Compass Classroom if you need a preschool-through-elementary year, if you want Latin from second grade inside a full print core, or if you want one plan that writes every subject for a younger child.
Classical with a weekly community: Classical Conversations
Fits Christian families who want classical education inside a local community, and who can still carry high parent time at home.
Classical Conversations says it connects you with a local community of families, and calls its Christ-centered homeschool curriculum rooted in the classical model, with community as the bedrock. Foundations, for ages 4 and up (its Start Here page says 4 to 12), is memorization-based work across history, science, English, geography, math, and Latin, taught in three yearly cycles that families can start at any point. Essentials, for ages 9 to 12, covers grammar, writing, and math drills, and Classical Conversations says parents and students meet once a week with a tutor for the two-hour Essentials program after Foundations. Challenge starts at age 12 and runs through six levels. Its page says Challenge programs meet 15 weeks each semester for two semesters, and that parents assess their student’s work and assign grades. Classical Conversations also lists Scribblers for ages 4 to 8, with recommended play-based resources.
Classical Conversations is not open-and-go. The community day does not replace your home days. Parent time is high, and the budget is mid: community fees plus materials rather than one shipped box.
Pick Classical Conversations if:
You want a community day as part of the school week, not only a curriculum box
Foundations (from age 4), Essentials (from age 9), or Challenge (from age 12) matches your child
You will lead memory work and lessons on the days you are not with the community
A mid budget that covers community fees plus materials is acceptable
Skip Classical Conversations if you cannot join a community, if you want to teach only from a home package, or if you need a light teaching week. Check the publisher for communities and current programs.
There are three classical shapes for high school on this page. Memoria Press sells grade-level packages through grade 12, with Traditional Logic in ninth grade and Classical Rhetoric for grades 9 and up. Compass Classroom is a course library you assemble into a high school year. Classical Conversations Challenge pairs community days with weekly coursework at home. None of them is an online diploma school, and state requirements are on you.
Families who build high school from courses often need to fill one or two gaps. Two add-ons fit here.
Science video courses: Journey Homeschool Academy
Journey Homeschool Academy is a Christian publisher that sells science video courses. It is not a full curriculum. Its course list includes high school courses such as Experience Biology, Experience Chemistry, Discover Physics, and Discover Anatomy & Physiology, with labs, and Journey describes high school as independent study. Journey also sells elementary versions of several courses. Add a Journey course for an older student’s science credit and keep a classical core for everything else. See best Christian online science courses.
High school literature and writing: 7Sisters Homeschool
For high school, 7Sisters Homeschool sells PDF curriculum: English (literature guides, writing guides, and full-year English and language arts bundles) and electives. Full-year bundles include C. S. Lewis Literature & Composition, which they call a good fit for 11th or 12th grade, and Great Christian Writers Literature and Composition, which they call a good fit for 9th or 10th grade. They also sell literature guides for middle school and elementary students. It is not a classical program. It is a way to fill an English credit if you are assembling high school from courses. See best high school homeschool literature and electives.
Fits Christian families who like great books and a planned year but are not sure they want Latin, formal logic, and recitation at the center.
Sonlight is not built as a classical program. It is a Christian, literature-based curriculum from preschool through high school, with History / Bible / Literature as the core and language arts, science, and math added for a fuller package. Sonlight’s philosophy page says the program requires significant parental involvement and that you have the opportunity to serve as mentor to your own children. Sonlight’s blog says the program sits somewhere between Charlotte Mason and classical, points to the timeline and weekly Bible memory verses as the classical influence, and answers the question with “Sonlight is Sonlight.”
Budget is high and parent time is medium. Open-and-go here is for planning only: the Instructor’s Guide schedules the books, and you still read and discuss them.
These come up often. We describe them from their own sites, without reviewing their full lines, in no particular order.
Well-Trained Mind Press. Many families start with The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, first published in 1999. The publisher says the 4th edition is out of print and has been replaced by The Well-Trained Mind, Essential Edition, and that its curricula recommendations now live in a yearly subscription portal. Well-Trained Mind Press also publishes history, math, and language arts materials, including The Story of the World.
Veritas Press. The Veritas Press store lists complete grade-level packages from kindergarten through 12th grade, plus self-paced online courses: Bible and history recommended for 2nd to 6th grade, Omnibus for 7th to 12th grade, and Rhetoric for 10th to 12th grade. Its self-paced line includes Bible courses and a rhetoric course it describes as teaching Christ-centered communication. It also offers live online classes, which are outside the scope of this page.
Classical Academic Press. Classical Academic Press sells classical curriculum by subject from kindergarten through high school, including Latin, grammar, writing, logic, and science, with teacher guides and daily lesson plans. Its Latin series runs from Song School Latin in kindergarten to Latin Alive in high school, and it says its curricula can work together or stand alone.
Memoria Press
Fits Christian families who want a complete classical year in a box, from preschool through grade 12, and who can give high parent teaching time.
Fits Christian families with students in grades 6 through 12 who want classical-leaning video courses and lower parent teaching time once the courses are chosen.
For high school, 7Sisters Homeschool sells PDF curriculum: English (literature guides, writing guides, and full-year English and language arts bundles) and electives.
We compared these programs because families shopping for the best classical homeschool curriculum usually land on very different products: a boxed year, a course library, and a community. We ordered them by the job each does, starting with grade band, then parent time, format, and budget, using our own bands for parent time and budget. We did not rank them by rigor or by how Christian they are.
Memoria Press is Christian, high budget, high parent time, books, and open-and-go for planning only, preschool through grade 12. Latin starts in second grade, not in the preschool package. Logic and rhetoric come in high school. Kindergarten read-alouds and science and enrichment books are separate supplements.
Compass Classroom is Christian, mid budget, low parent time once courses are chosen, online and video format, and open-and-go for planning after you pick courses. It is a course library for grades 6 through 12, not one boxed year. Logic, Fitting Words, and Western Culture are not in the membership.
Classical Conversations is Christian, mid budget, high parent time, a hybrid of community day and home work, and not open-and-go.
Sonlight is Christian, literature-based rather than classical, high budget, medium parent time, books, and open-and-go for planning only, preschool through high school by package.
Wording was retrieved October 7, 2026, from Memoria Press’s homepage, Preschool Curriculum Set page, Kindergarten Curriculum Set page, Kindergarten Supplemental Science & Enrichment Set page, Second Grade Curriculum Set page, Ninth Grade Curriculum Set page, and Classical Rhetoric Complete Set page; Compass Classroom’s homepage, Compass Membership page, Plan Your Year guide, and Purchasing Formats help article; Classical Conversations’ homepage, programs page, Foundations page, Essentials page, Challenge page, and Start Here page; Journey Homeschool Academy’s homepage and course list; 7Sisters Homeschool’s homepage and literature guide category pages; Sonlight’s homepage, educational philosophy page, and blog post on Charlotte Mason and classical education; Well-Trained Mind Press’s homepage, About page, Extended Guide page, and help article on whether The Story of the World is secular; the Veritas Press store’s homepage and self-paced courses page; and Classical Academic Press’s homepage. Veritas Press’s description comes from its store pages.
There is no single answer for every family. Memoria Press fits a family that wants a complete boxed classical year to teach at home, from preschool through grade 12. Compass Classroom fits a family with middle or high schoolers who want video teachers to carry more of the instruction. Classical Conversations fits a family that wants a local community in the week. Take the quiz if you are not sure which shape fits.
Is there a secular classical homeschool curriculum here?
No. Memoria Press, Compass Classroom, and Classical Conversations are all Christian, and we do not link a secular classical program here. Well-Trained Mind Press, listed under other options above, says The Story of the World, its history curriculum, is secular and does not promote any particular religion. If secular is a hard filter, see best secular homeschool curriculum, and read samples from any classical publisher before you buy.
Is there a Catholic classical option here?
We did not review a Catholic classical program for this page, and we do not list one. Memoria Press’s kindergarten page says doctrine is not taught in its Christian Studies and is left to the church, family, and school. Read samples against your own tradition before you buy.
What is the best classical homeschool curriculum for kindergarten?
It depends on how formal you want kindergarten to be. Memoria Press kindergarten is for reading-ready children, written for five half-days, with phonics, math, copybook, and literature and enrichment, and the read-alouds and science and enrichment books sold separately. Classical Conversations Foundations starts at age 4, and Scribblers is listed for ages 4 to 8. Classical Academic Press starts Song School Latin in kindergarten. Compass Classroom is not a kindergarten option. For non-classical choices, see best kindergarten homeschool curriculum.
Is there an online classical homeschool curriculum?
Yes, in different shapes. Compass Classroom is a streaming course library for grades 6 through 12. Some Memoria Press packages include streaming instructional videos for subjects such as Latin and logic, but you still teach the year from the manual. Veritas Press sells self-paced online courses in Bible, history, Omnibus, and rhetoric. None of these enrolls your child in a school.
Do we have to start Latin early?
No, but some programs expect it. Memoria Press starts Latin in second grade and expects First through Fourth Form Latin before Henle Latin in ninth grade, so check placement if you start late. Compass Classroom offers Visual Latin for middle and high school. Classical Conversations Foundations includes Latin memory work.
Are these open-and-go?
Memoria Press is open-and-go for planning only, because the manual writes the daily lesson plans and you still teach them. Compass Classroom is open-and-go for planning once you choose a course, and you still stay involved. Classical Conversations is not open-and-go. Open-and-go means the plan or the course is written. It does not mean the day runs itself.