Homeschool Curriculum for Kinesthetic Learners
Choosing curriculum can be one of the hardest (and most important) things you do as a homeschooling parent! There are so many curriculums available to us that it can be hard to narrow down the options and try to find the curriculum you think will work best for your child. One way to help narrow down your options and get a better idea of what curriculum will work well is to determine your child’s learning style and then look for curriculum that typically works well for other students with that learning style.
If you aren’t sure of your child’s learning style, this article will help you.
As you recall, children who are kinesthetic learners like to do things in order to learn. This learning style is also called tactile or hands-on. So you will find these students wanting to paint, draw, build, dance, turn pages in books, do science experiments, write, play with play dough, and help cook or clean or do other active things. Because they learn by doing things, they need lots of hands-on activities.
An important thing to keep in mind, though, is that young children tend to have a mixture of learning styles, and most young children enjoy and do well with curriculums for kinesthetic learners since many of them enjoy being active. As children get older (upper elementary ages and beyond), there learning styles typically become more obvious.
Also, the suggestions below are just that–suggestions. As you look at these curriculums, you may find other similar options that you think will work better, and that’s fine! Or you may find that one of these suggestions looks wonderful to you with just a few tweaks and customizations just for your child. That’s great too!
I’ve used many curriculums over my 19 years of homeschooling, but there are some included on this list that I haven’t used. I can, however, say that each of these comes from a reputable company and is highly recommended, and I feel comfortable suggesting that you take a closer look at each of them–including the ones I haven’t personally used.
Unit Studies and All-in-One Curriculum:
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Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool
Age/Grade Levels: Preschool through high school Prep Time: Minimal Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: This curriculum includes lots of resources, activities and projects such as: narration |
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Moving Beyond the Page
Age/Grade Levels: preschool through middle school (ages 4 through 14) Prep Time: moderate Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: This curriculum includes various kinds of resources, activities, and projects. A few of these are: Manipulatives and projects |
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Tapestry of Grace
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – 12th grade Prep Time: A significant amount of prep time is needed—ideally over the summer before beginning the curriculum in the fall. Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Living books |
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Time4Learning
Age/Grade Levels: This is an online program covering pre-K through high school. Prep Time: None Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Printable worksheets This curriculum is aligned with national and state standards, so you may encounter some information/ideas (such as evolution) that may conflict with your own convictions or beliefs. Also, lessons at the high school level are taught in a more traditional way than those for K-8th grades. (For example, a teacher presents some of the material at high school level.) |
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Heart of Dakota
Age/Grade Levels: preschool through high school Prep Time: usually minimal Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Includes components of unit studies, living books, and textbooks. |
Reading, Literature, Spelling, & Grammar:
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All About Reading
Age/Grade Levels: pre-k through 4th grade Prep Time: little to none Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Highly interactive |
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Logic of English
NOTE: Includes phonics, reading, handwriting, and spelling. Age/Grade Levels: ages 4 to about 8 or 10 Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Includes easy-to-teach lessons for students of all ability levels |
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All About Spelling
Age/Grade Levels: Seven levels (Homeschooling parents generally adjust age/grade levels as needed, but you could do these in 1st-7th grades or wait until your child is in 2nd or 3rd grade before beginning.) Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Multisensory approach |
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Schoolhouse Rock
NOTE: These are available to buy on DVD, or you can watch them on YouTube. Age/Grade Levels: Elementary and middle school (but high schoolers might like them too) Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: These are music videos that present the parts of speech and grammar rules set to music. They are funny (often silly), catchy, and easy to remember—especially after listening to them several times. When I was a child, they came on between cartoons on Saturday mornings, and I developed my love of English grammar at least in part from listening to them! Fun songs |
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Winston Grammar
Age/Grade Levels: grades 4 – 12 Prep Time: minimal Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Students learn in a variety of ways including: Moving |
Writing & Handwriting:
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WriteShop Primary, Junior, and I & II
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – high school Prep Time: minimal Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: WriteShop Primary: Crafty publishing ideas Short reports and poetry Graphic organizers |
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Handwriting Without Tears
Age/Grade Levels: pre-k – 5th grade Prep Time: minimal Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Early levels use: Playing A variety of fun, hands-on activities |
Math:
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Horizons Math
Age/Grade Levels: pre-k – 12th grade Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Stories |
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CTCMath (online math program)
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – 12th grade Prep Time: none Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Lessons are taught by tutorials/demonstrations |
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Math U See
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – 12th grade Prep Time: minimal to moderate at younger levels. Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Manipulatives |
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Right Start Math
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten through 8th grade Prep Time: moderate prep time Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Manipulatives |
Science:
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Apologia’s Exploring Creation Series
Apologia also has science curriculum for high school students. It too has many hands-on experiments and activities, but they are less artsy-craftsy, and the curriculum is much more challenging. Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – 6th grade Prep Time: minimum to moderate depending on the lesson Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Conversational reading |
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The Rainbow (by Beginnings Publishing)
Age/Grade Levels: junior high (about 7th and 8th grades) Prep Time: moderate prep time (for labs) Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Written in an entertaining way directly to the student (using humor) |
Social Studies/History:
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Biblio Plan
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – 12th grade Prep Time: moderate to high BiblioPlan does require moderate to high preparation on the part of the teacher/parent. You will not be able to do every single thing listed or suggested, and you are not meant to do everything. If it will bother you to pick and choose the books and activities you want to include, then this is not the curriculum for you. If you enjoy having the flexibility to choose what you think your child will enjoy and you don’t mind putting in the prep time required, this could be a great fit for your homeschool. Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Research |
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History Revealed Series (by Diana Waring)
Age/Grade Levels: Elementary Activity Book to introduce Kindergarten through 4th grade students to this curriculum/information Main curriculum is intended for students of 5th through 12th grades. Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Incorporates living books |
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Mystery of History
Age/Grade Levels: kindergarten – 12th grade Prep Time: moderate to high depending on choice of activities Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: Audio CDs |
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Story of the World (with optional activity books)
Age/Grade Levels: 1st – 8th Prep Time: None for the books alone. If you use the activity books along with the core books, there will be some prep time according to which activities you choose to use. Why it might appeal to your kinesthetic learner: The books themselves might appeal more to auditory learners, but the optional activity books that go along with the core books can turn these books into sensory, hands-on studies that will appeal to kinesthetic learners too! The components listed below are written with the assumption that you are using the activity books along with the core books. Map activities |
Hi Wendy,
I have been searching high and low for hands on english for my dd. So happy to have stumbled upon this “Homeschool Curriculum for Kinesthetic Learners” today.
Thanks for sharing!
God bless!
This will work for all of my children. I love having a variety of homeschooling curriculums to try out and choose from.
Thank you very much. I have been searching for a curriculum for everyone too. Some of the children are predominantly visual or auditory learners and this will also work for them as well.
Hi Wendy
I have been Homeschooling my daughter since day one. When she was in 1st grade we found that she was dyslexic. She was not actually able to read until 4th grade. She is not in 9th/10th grade and doing Monarch for her 2nd year in a row. She is having a hard time with staying 1. caught up with the lessons 2. it’s a lot of reading 3. She seems to be getting bored.
Do you have any suggestions? I am at a point where I am willing to do anything . She is my one child. So any Home-school advice I am willing to listen too.
Thank you.
Hi Misti! You might want to consider joining the Hip Homeschool Moms Facebook Community! You can ask questions there and get advice/suggestions from the other moms there. You can apply to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HipHomeschoolMomsCommunity/
Are any of these school accredited. I’m looking to homeschool my granddaughter for middle school, I was wondering how they get credits like regular school for when they want to go to college?
You actually don’t have to have an accredited curriculum in order for your granddaughter to go to college. You certainly can if you prefer, but it’s not necessary. (My 23-year-old son graduated from our homeschool and was accepted into college, and he didn’t use an accredited curriculum. The college simply checked his ACT score and his transcript that I created for him.) If you decide you want to use an accredited curriculum, I suggest thinking about which curriculum looks good to you and contacting the company to ask. I’m not certain which of these are or aren’t accredited.
Do you know if boys tend to be kinesthetic learners more often than girls? This seems to be the case from my general observations! My girls love hands-on learning but are very happy with book work as well.
In my experience, I’ve noticed that most young students (boys and girls) are very hands-on learners. As children get older, it just depends on the child. I’ve known both boys and girls who love hands-on work, and I’ve known both who enjoy book work. I personally enjoy some of both even as an adult.
Hello, how did you create a transcript and from what grade did you start this?
There are websites and programs you can buy to help you create a transcript, but I simply kept a list of the classes he took in high school (9th-12th grades only) and his final grade in each class, calculated his grade point average for each class (using a website I googled that showed me how to do the calculations), and typed up a list. I looked up the names of the classes offered at our local public high school and assigned his classes similar names to help avoid confusion. In other words, if my son did Around the World in 180 Days for half the year to fulfill his geography requirement, I simply put 1/2 credit Geography (with his GPA for that class listed beside it) on his transcript. I did keep a separate page (in case the college wanted to look at it, but they didn’t) listing the actual name of the curriculum I used for each class. So, for example, I listed on the separate sheet 1/2 credit Geography and beside it put Around the World in 180 Days: A Multigrade Guide for the Study of World History, Geography, and Cultures by Sherrie Payne. The college did require a certified transcript, so I had to go to the local courthouse and get it notarized, but that was easy to do. I simply had to go to the courthouse with the transcript, show my ID and let them know that the transcript was correct, and let the notary stamp it with her info.
Any good online curriculum for high school kinesthetic learners? I don’t have a huge amount of time to prep huge amounts of hands on activities because I also work……but willing to do some. I’m having such a hard time picking a curriculum!
It gets trickier with older students. But there are lots of ways to take any curriculum and make it more hands-on without spending tons of time or energy coming up with ideas. Take a look at an article on Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers: 100+ Hands-on Activities for Middle and High School.
My favorite is missing! Have you checked out http://www.multisori.com? It may not have been around when you wrote this blog post, but it has been a godsend for my family. We absolutely love their hands-on, Montessori homeschool curriculum!