Incorporating diversity into your curriculum is an ongoing effort for which there is no singular formula. What works for one family may very well not work for yours. And that’s part of the point of a Charlotte Mason education to begin with—every parent is the best person to decide what’s ideal for their children. You are capable, and you will figure it out. Believe.

That said, this effort can still feel overwhelming, especially in the beginning. With that in mind, we like to recommend a simple approach as you’re getting started. Read our complete guide on how to incorporate diversity into your homeschool curriculum. You’ve got this.

Choosing books can be overwhelming. That’s exactly why many homeschooling families turn to a prepared curriculum that has been carefully crafted and painstakingly researched by professional educators or veteran homeschoolers. Understandingly so.

Still, not all curriculums are as diverse as you might hope when you begin your search. There is no “perfect” solution for everyone—and that’s okay.

With that in mind, substituting (i.e. “subbing out”) books and supplementing curriculum with more diverse, representative literature is a practice that many Charlotte Mason educators take to provide their children with a more holistic view of history and the world.

It could be on any subject, really. If you’re studying an artist in a particular history cycle, consider finding a book about artist of color in that time period or in another region of the world who might be less commonly studied. If you’re studying the foundation and formation of your country, consider searching for a story that tells the narrative from a different perspective. We recommend a simple 1/3/5 approach to incorporating more diversity into your curriculum.

To spark ideas in your own efforts, our read this, not that book list is a great place to begin.

To find more of such books, you can filter, sort, and search our complete catalog of diverse living books by a growing number of relevant data points. Remember, there’s nobody better than you to make these choices for your children.

Great spines are difficult to find. Of course, as a homeschooler, you don’t need to use a history spine. Plenty of Charlotte Mason homeschoolers simply use literature alone, veering away from a typical history spine if they can. That said, when studying all of the history cycles, spines can—and should—be helpful.

With that in mind, we have curated a book list of spines that we believe are better than many of the volumes commonly promoted among homeschool curriculums. At the same time, while we believe that the history spines represented in our catalog are much better than many of the volumes traditionally recommended, we also recognize that there are no perfect spines. That bears repeating.

There is no perfect spine.

If you think differently, please, add it to our catalog. Otherwise, we encourage you to read the notes and warnings about each of the spines we’ve cataloged, discern what is best for your own family, and continue to supplement your children’s education with other stories of color that provide a more representative history education.

We’re asking the same question ourselves. Read our August 2022 books of the month introduction for a more complete take on the issue. There’s hope.

It’s hard to find the diversity-minded resources that support a more representative homeschooling education. We know—that’s why we created Stories of Color in the first place.

One aspect of our mission is to help equip Charlotte Mason homeschoolers with the resources they need and crave. While we aim to fill that gap when it comes to diverse living books, we can’t meet the entire need, and frankly, we don’t want to. Instead, we would rather point you to the incredible resources that others have generously made available elsewhere.

Explore our collection of resources for homeschoolers who care about diversity. Or, if you have others that you think others will benefit from, suggest a resource. We’re in this together.