Welcome to the FAQ page for Offshoots! We’re so happy you’re thinking about this program and considering it for your family. We’re always here to help and support so don’t hesitate to reach out via email at [email protected]. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can, probably after following our own kids down the offshoot of learning we took that day.
Offshoots is a multi-age elementary curriculum built for the family to learn together, designed especially for kindergarten through 5th grade. The author of Offshoots, Susie Allison, wrote Playing Preschool for families with children age 2.5 to 5 years old.
If your oldest child is entering kindergarten, Playing Preschool Year 2 might be a better fit for their first year of homeschooling.
Offshoots is an ebook, and the files are PDFs. You can access your downloadable files via the Offshoots Dashboard, which you will receive access to at checkout. The downloads for Offshoots do not expire. You are licensed to print one copy of each unit for your use.
Offshoots is a unit study program. Units are sold individually or in bundles. They can be done as singles or consecutively for a richer learning experience. We recommend doing 6-8 units over the course of a school year.
Offshoots is designed as a unit study program. Each unit is 4-weeks long and includes 16 daily lesson plans along with unit-specific printables, and multimedia resources. There are also suggested books, board games, and a playlist for each unit. Learn more about all the features included with Offshoots here.
Offshoots is a secular home learning curriculum. It is “evergreen” and does not follow a calendar, season, religion, or hemisphere.
Yes! Of course! Please check out our samples page to see interior pages of Offshoots and a full week of the program.
Offshoots focuses on the discovery subjects—science, social studies, the arts, and more. We always recommend you check your state/local homeschooling laws to ensure you are meeting those requirements. Offshoots is designed to be done as a family in addition to separate, leveled math and reading. This program does not include any explicit reading or math instruction. We recommend finding math and reading programs that work for your children in addition to learning together with Offshoots. Depending on the ages of your children, additional language arts (grammar, writing skills, and/or spelling) may also be helpful.
Offshoots is not aligned with Common Core standards by grade level. If you are required to, or choose to, align with Common Core standards in your homeschool, please see the skills list under each unit. You can compare those skills with the Common Core requirements for your state to determine whether or not Offshoots will be a good supplement to your other learning materials.
The Offshoots curriculum leans into the power of multi-level, multi-age, multi-ability learning. Offshoots uses open-ended questions, creative prompts, and hands-on activities to help topics and concepts resonate with different ages. In some areas of the program, you’ll see leveled options where you can choose the best path for your child(ren). Working with multi-age learners often returns to the application of knowledge. Asking, “Why don’t ocean animals sink?” is a valid question for both a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old, and the answers will be vastly, beautifully, and wonderfully different. Listening and sharing new ideas helps all of us grow as learners.
Yes! Offshoots was written with homeschooling AND traditional schooling families in mind, because all children deserve access to foundational knowledge and hands-on learning. The curriculum is full of skills and concepts to support children in the school system and those learning at home. Whether you choose to do a few units of Offshoots over summer break, all of it during the school year as homeschoolers, or anywhere in between, this program is for you.
No! Offshoots is “evergreen” – meaning you can start it at any time, on any hemisphere. It is not tied to any holidays, seasons, or calendars.
Offshoots is available as individual, bundled, and full-year unit studies. The current 16 units (as of May 2026) are, in alphabetical order: Airborne, Animal Adaptations, Animal Relationships, Art of Building, Classic Tales, Communication & Codes, Dinosaurs, Geography, Landforms, Plant Problem Solvers, Rocks & Minerals, Solar System, States of Matter, Toys & Movement, Underground Worlds and Weather.
Each unit is 16 lesson plans laid out across four weeks of learning. You can choose the order of the units for your family.
It is recommend learners be at least Kindergarten age and confident with asking and answering questions, starting a complex task or activity and seeing it through, as well as being able to express their ideas.
For families with children ages 2.5 to Kindergarten, check out the curriculum Playing Preschool, which was written by Offshoots author Susie Allison.
In an effort to keep Offshoots as affordable for families as possible and available world wide, Offshoots is an ebook and only sold as digital downloads. You are licensed to print one physical copy of each unit for your own use.
We recommend using an online print shop. Watson Family Press is our favorite (not an affiliate, just a fan).
Offshoots focuses on the discovery subjects—science, social studies, the arts, and more. We always recommend you check your state/local homeschooling laws to ensure you are meeting those requirements. Offshoots is designed to be done as a family in addition to separate, leveled math and reading. This program does not include any explicit reading or math instruction. We recommend finding math and reading programs that work for your children in addition to learning together with Offshoots. Depending on the ages of your children, additional language arts (grammar, writing skills, and/or spelling) may also be helpful.
Offshoots lessons predominately rely on supplies from around the house or that are typically used when learning at home (whiteboard, index cards, and construction paper). Many items are things you already have around the house (a flashlight, a cookie sheet), and other supplies can be easily be borrowed from friends (dinosaur figurines) or purchased inexpensively (air dry clay).
Yes! Offshoots units are sold individually and bundled for a discount. You can go in any order and at the pace that works best for your family.
Offshoots is built on flexible routine and designed to take about 45-minutes to 1 hour per lesson. This will vary family-to-family and day-to-day, depending on the age of your learners, the suggested materials you use (books, games, etc.), and how many extensions or offshoots you take inside the daily lesson plans. Each lesson can be done all at once, or broken into pieces to best fit your schedule. Discuss the guiding question at the breakfast table. Listen to the unit’s chapter book as an audiobook in the car. Do a hands-on experiment after dinner. Offshoots supports all learning styles and schedules.
Meet Offshoots
A new path for learning
Multi-age unit studies designed for the whole family to learn together.