True North Academy · For Current Families
The Ones Still at the Table
Your ninth grader is in class with her teacher. Meanwhile there's a fourth grader working across the table from you, and a second grader under it, asking when it's his turn.
We hear about them in nearly every advising call. Here is what we'd put in your hands for them.
First, plainly: True North's classes begin in middle school. We don't teach elementary, and we're not going to pretend otherwise by dressing up a workbook as a class. For your younger students, the teacher is you — and that's not a lesser thing. It's the part of these years you'll remember.
So what we can offer is the same conviction in a form you can use at your own table. Lisa Nehring, who founded True North, writes and publishes these through It's Not That Hard to Homeschool. Different site, different kind of thing, same belief that education hands down what is true, good, and beautiful.
Start with the method, not the materials
The Fourfold Method is four moves a student makes with anything worth learning: Gather what you already know and where it came from, Test what you think is true, Connect it to something else, and Commit to what you can honestly support. It works at eight and it works at eighteen. The guide is free.
Read the Guide — FreeReading and Writing, by Grade
Recipe to Read and Recipe to Write are built around something already happening in your kitchen. Each set pairs the two.
Recipe to Write: Grades K–2
Where writing starts — letters, words, and a reason to use them. Reading comes in from grade three, so this is the one title at this age.
$15
See ItRecipe to Read + Write Set
The year reading turns into thinking about reading. Both books together, cheaper than buying them apart.
$25 for the set
See the SetRecipe to Read + Write Set
Longer books, real paragraphs, and the first arguments worth having. This is the last stretch before your student is old enough for a True North class.
$25 for the set
See the SetFor You, Not the Students
Records, funding paperwork, and the part of homeschooling nobody puts on a curriculum list.
The Large Family Homeschool Command Book
Written for the mother running four grade levels and a household on the same morning. Chore rotations, routines, and who is where.
$14
See ItThe Homeschool ESA Fund & Audit Log
If you're using ESA or ClassWallet money for True North tuition, you already know the paperwork. This is built for keeping it straight before anyone asks.
$12
See ItThe Homeschool Portfolio & Evaluation Log
For the work your younger students do at home — a record you can hand to an evaluator, or just keep because it's theirs.
$10
See ItThe Special Needs Documentation Log
Therapies, accommodations, evaluations and progress, kept in one place instead of six.
$12
See ItThe Undated Homeschool Year Planner
Undated, so starting in October costs you nothing. For the year you're actually having.
$10
See ItThe First 30 Days of Homeschooling
For a family just beginning, or beginning again after a year that came apart. Thirty days, one step at a time.
$9
See ItAnd When They're Ready for Us
Sixth grade comes faster than you think.
Our junior high classes meet live on Zoom with a qualified teacher and a small group of classmates — the same thing your older student is already doing, scaled to a younger reader. Math, science, history, and literature, with advising to help you decide what your student is ready for rather than guessing from a grade label.
- Middle school classes at True North
- Book free academic advising — bring all your students, not just the enrolled one
- Meet the teachers
One table, several directions
We teach the ones who are old enough. For the rest, these are what we'd reach for ourselves — and we'll be here when they're ready.
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