Frequently Asked Questions

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Frequently Asked Questions

Harbor and Sprout is breathing life and wonder into homeschools across the globe. Here's what you can expect from our curriculum:

Convenient and Easy to Use

Harbor and Sprout is thorough and comprehensive without being complicated. Each of our units is neatly laid out and organized to help schooling be full of connection, memories, and learning. Leave the lesson planning to us!

Accessible and Affordable

High quality, organized, and comprehensive homeschool materials should be available to and enjoyed by all. Harbor + Sprout provides all the joy of learning in an approachable way and at a price point that fits your family’s budget, all bundled into convenient unit studies for all ages.

Gentle Structure and Organization

We have taken great care to develop a framework that provides the perfect mix of structure and freedom to make it your own. We will provide all the tools and plans, and you get to choose the best way to use them for your family's needs.

Family-Style Learning

Teaching multiple children at different levels of learning is no small feat! We have created a curriculum that is conducive to your whole family's learning, with easy-to-follow, engaging lesson plans designed to fit the needs of all your students.

Engaging and Beautifully Designed

The resources in Harbor + Sprout are high quality and creative, filled with nature, and designed to engage your children and kindle curiosity. We have reimagined the way classic subjects are taught to help bring learning to life. From our elementary unit studies to secondary level unit studies to morning baskets and beyond, Harbor + Sprout has something for everyone.

Everything You Need in One Place

With our ever-growing library of resources, unit studies, guides, and more, Harbor + Sprout is your one stop shop for all your learning adventures. Mix and match and choose what works best for your family!

Experience the joy of kitchen-table schooling! Harbor and Sprout is a curriculum that fits the needs of the whole family all at once. Rather than researching, purchasing, and incorporating different curriculum for every subject and every age, we have an all-in-one package for all of your children with all subjects included. Secondary level unit studies will grow along with your family, covering the same themes with unique content in more advanced, project-based ways. We are all about simplifying, and Harbor and Sprout will allow you and your children to truly experience what it is to learn (together!).

Inside the handbook of each elementary unit, you'll find lesson plans for all subjects broken into four distinct levels of learning: 

Explorers are learning to observe the world around them through simple, foundational activities that foster learning, curiosity, and communication.

Investigators are beginning to dig a little deeper through activities that encourage them to ask questions and find answers as they continue to build understanding of fundamental skills.

Adventurers are able to read and write independently. As they continue to learn, they are encouraged to ask questions and engage in activities that lead them to read and research to find answers on their own. They are practicing writing through thoughts in clear, structured sentences and paragraphs.

Discoverers are beginning to take ownership of their education through activities that require them to read, write, and analyze independently. They are practicing writing more formally structured essays and reports and deepening their understanding of the topics they are studying.

Each lesson is complete with ideas or different instruction sets for how to make material conducive to children at varying stages in their education. In this way, you will assign projects to different ages. For example, for a geography map activity, the Explorer colors the map, the Investigator finds and traces labels, the Adventurer labels the map independently, and the Discoverer does a one-page report on a chosen country. Everyone does the same base activity with versatile guided applications! 

Your child may be at a different levels for different subjects or activities. You get to tailor it to exactly what they need and take the freedom to help them learn in a way that makes sense for them!

Our secondary level unit studies present module materials and projects in such a way that they can be completed with varying levels of parental involvement. As students work through these unit studies, they will grow in independence and critical thinking.

Harbor and Sprout meets a need for families of many different schooling styles and preferences.  

What it is:

Engaging and Immersive

Rich and Robust

Cohesive

Unique and original

Nature-inspired

Hands-on

A springboard for deep learning

Rich in literature

A catalyst for critical thinking

Our unit studies can be completed in any order and at any pace. While we do not stick to any specific scope and sequence, the breadth of material covered within our unit studies is vast.

For a more relaxed homeschool style, Harbor and Sprout provides all the lessons you'll need to dive deep into learning about a wide variety of subjects. Just add books!

If you prefer a bit more structure, you may choose to follow additional curricula alongside your Harbor and Sprout lessons. 

Our elementary leve; language arts lessons incorporate spelling and phonics practice for pre-readers and advanced readers alike. Language Arts lessons cover a wide variety of grammar and linguistics topics that can be adjusted to meet the needs of your children of any age. Secondary level unit studies weave tenets of language arts all throughout the units. If you'd like a curriculum specifically intended to teach literacy, we recommend finding a comprehensive learn-to-reading program. We also recommend a building-blocks-style math curriculum, with the understanding that Harbor and Sprout units will reinforce and expand upon math concepts.

Harbor and Sprout is an eclectic unit study curriculum, inspired by our favorite aspects of many styles. There are elements that would be considered Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio, or Charlotte Mason, but nothing is especially catered to a set style. It is a free flowing curriculum that allows for fluidity and deeper level learning, adaptable to each child’s learning needs. It can function beautifully as a stand-alone or as a supplement to additional curricula of choice. It’s the best of all worlds.

The Harbor and Sprout community spans the globe and embraces families from many diverse backgrounds and belief systems. Our curriculum does not include religious or faith-based material, nor does it impede families’ option to add their own religious studies. Our stance would be best described as neutral or non-sectarian.

Our science units will approach matters of Earth’s origins from a scientific perspective, while being respectful of all belief systems. Families are encouraged to fill in the gaps or expand on material as they see fit.

Dates will be presented in terms of Common Era.

We encourage you to form your own personal opinions about whether any educational material you utilize with your families is a good fit.

We have taken great care to make sure that this curriculum represents our worldwide client base. From our book list to our lessons, it is our goal to make sure our resources are applicable to your life and family. The Harbor + Sprout community spans the globe and we are here to join you wherever you are!

It is a top priority for us to actively seek rich diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture. You will find book recommendations, writing excerpts, poetry, historical figures, and other materials and activities to be representative of our wide world view as we all grow and learn together.

Our units and lessons are extremely rich in content and value. Here is a brief overview of what's included:

handbook which includes printing helps, table of contents, planning pages (both blank and prefilled with a suggested weekly layout), an extensive book list of complementary (but not required) titles, an explanation of our levelend learning system, lesson plans, a unit recipe, and a hand-illustrated Character Kit with original art by Stephanie Groves for each unit

Science lessons

Nature Study lessons

Language Arts lessons

Writing lessons

History lessons

Geography lessons

Music lessons

Art lessons

Math lessons

An extensive supplemental section including:

Nature activities with a focus on open-ended early learning

Wellness/Quiet time activities and ideas

A bilingual element

Every lesson also includes an idea for a craft, activity, or tactile application, and/or some kind of writing or further research opportunity. These lessons are engaging learning at its finest and each unit is full of activities, content, and memories waiting to be made.

Detailed, unit-specific contents and lesson information can be found in the descriptions of our individual units!

We do allow for using these resources for a class that you are personally teaching; however, the files may not be distributed to families or other teachers. If you are teaching a co-op class, you may print copies for your students. If you’d like each of your students to have access to all the files, please direct them to where they can each purchase a copy!

See the dates below for release dates through July 2023. 

Meteorology: August 15

Homesteading + Sustainable Living: September 12

Human Body: October 17

Textiles + Fashion: November 14

First Responder: December 12

Exploration: January 16

Construction: February 13

Entomology: March 13

Home Economics: April 10

Agriculture: May 15

Zoology: June 12

Outdoor Survival Skills + Foraging: July 17

Speleology: September 13

Mythology and Mythological Creatures: November 8

Physics: February 5

Mountaineering: April 8

Herbology and Mycology: July 1

Secondary level unit studies will continue to roll out at regular intervals.

The books on the reading list are meant to guide you to a wide variety of high quality literature options each month that pair well with the unit theme, but none of the specific books are required to complete your lessons. We highly suggest utilizing you library or online lending service to acquire books in a budget friendly way. And always remember- as long as you're reading, you're set!

Timing will vary widely by family and style, but we have designed this curriculum and formulated lesson plans with a daily morning and afternoon block with two to three subjects covered each day. The amount of time this takes depends greatly on how in depth you choose to take your learning. Harbor + Sprout is thorough, comprehensive, and approachable in terms of content and volume. We encourage you to utilize the lesson plans and adapt them to fit your family's needs in a way that resonates with you. You may arrange your day in whatever way makes sense for your family!

All files have been formatted for double-sided printing with instructions for how to utilize your printer's features and settings to print on both sides. We also have information on how to print on various page sizes. The curriculum is presented in US Letter size and we have provided instructions on printing on A4 size paper. 

We have a number of printers listedhere on our Amazon storefrontif you are looking to invest in a printer and print at will, as needed. To order printing, we recommend price matching across a your local print shop,Barnes and Noble Press, or another independent print company such asFamily Nest Printing,The Homeschool Printing Company, orWatson Family Press.