In His Image LDS Unit Studies

In His Image is a single-volume kindergarten and first-grade unit-study curriculum written by two LDS homeschool parents and published independently in 2020. It is one of very few homeschool curricula written explicitly from and for an LDS audience at the K-1 age band.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Unit studies / hands-on / scripture-integrated
Worldview	LDS
Grades	K-1
Formats	Print / paperback / Kindle e-book
Cost tier	Budget
Parent intensity	5
ESA-common	Varies (Utah and several western-state programs permit LDS-aligned materials)
Accredited	No (independent author-publisher)
Established	2020 (Amazon publication listing, Google Books record)
Website	Sold primarily through Amazon and general retailers

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Age-appropriate for K-1; hands-on rather than academically dense
Ease of teaching	2	Day-by-day lesson plans are detailed; parent runs all activities
Content quality	3	Coherent editorial voice; single-volume production rather than publisher-polished
Flexibility	3	Twenty two-week units are modular; order is adjustable
Value for money	4	Single inexpensive paperback covers a full year
Worldview scope	1	Specifically LDS-aligned; not used across other worldviews
Visual/design	2	Independent-publishing aesthetic rather than a major-publisher aesthetic
Support resources	1	Author-published; no publisher customer service

Who the publisher is

In His Image LDS Unit Studies: Kindergarten/1st Grade Curriculum was published in 2020 by authors Jenifer Sanderson and Hannah Smith. The book is self-published rather than issued through a major homeschool publisher, and its primary distribution is through Amazon (paperback and Kindle) and general retailers like Powell's. The Open Library record confirms the 2020 publication and the authorship.

This is a different publishing category than the curricula put out by major homeschool houses. It is the work of two authors who wanted a curriculum that did not exist for the K-1 age band in the LDS homeschool community, and who assembled and published it themselves. The book does not have the production polish, the customer service operation, or the accompanying product line of larger publishers. What it does have is editorial clarity about its audience: the curriculum is written for LDS homeschool families who want a structured hands-on unit-study program with LDS doctrinal integration appropriate to the age level.

Theologically, per Every Homeschool's 2026-04-20 categorization ruling, LDS-specific materials carry the lds worldview classification. The book's content reflects the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints's doctrinal framework, scripture references are drawn from the standard works (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price), songs are typically drawn from the LDS Children's Songbook, and the book explicitly includes a unit on Mormon pioneers as part of its history coverage. Families outside the LDS tradition will find these integrations specific to a tradition other than their own.

The core pedagogy

In His Image is a unit-study curriculum at its core: the school year is divided into twenty two-week units, each focused on one topic (the five senses, community helpers, seasons, Thanksgiving, animals, Christmas, health and hygiene, communication, magnets, transportation, water, families, air, safety and manners, light and color, the flag, sound and music, presidents, plants, and Mormon pioneers). Each day within each unit follows a consistent structure: a scripture reading, a song, a short religion lesson connecting the scripture to the week's theme, a literature suggestion, and activities spanning science, art, language arts, and math.

The structure is closer to the Konos character-trait unit-study model or to the Five in a Row picture-book model than to a workbook or video-based curriculum. Each day requires the parent to set up activities, cutting, pasting, experiments, art projects, read-alouds, hands-on exploration, and work through them with the child. The parent-intensity score of 5 reflects that this is a fully-parent-delivered curriculum at an age when the child cannot yet work independently.

Signature mechanics: (1) Twenty two-week units, one full school year with alternating themed pairs, giving the family a predictable rhythm. (2) Daily structure within units, scripture, song, religion lesson tying scripture to theme, literature suggestion, then science, art, language arts, math. (3) LDS doctrinal integration through the scripture-song-religion-lesson opening of each day, drawing on the LDS standard works and Children's Songbook. (4) Hands-on activity design, the curriculum is written for a kindergartner or first-grader who learns through doing, not through workbook completion.

A day in the life

A kindergartner using In His Image in the "five senses" unit starts the morning at 9:00 at the kitchen table with a parent. The parent opens the book to day three of the unit (today's focus: hearing) and reads the day's scripture aloud, sings a short children's song from the suggested repertoire, reads a brief religion lesson connecting what scripture says about listening to God and about using our ears, and introduces the children's book listed for the day. From there the day unfolds through the unit's activities: a science investigation (what makes different objects make different sounds, the parent helps the child bang on pots, guitar, jar lid), an art activity (drawing the child's ear), a language-arts activity (saying words that start with H for hearing, writing the letter H), and a simple math activity (counting how many sounds they can hear in the backyard).

Total direct-parent-engagement time on an In His Image day is typically two to three hours, most of it active and hands-on. The child is not filling out a worksheet; the parent is setting up experiments and guiding activities. For a family with one kindergarten-aged child and available parent time, the rhythm is manageable and often enjoyable. For a family with multiple children including younger-than-kindergarten siblings, the overhead of the hands-on activities, the cutting, the setting up, the supervising of the art-project cleanup, is substantial.

What they do exceptionally well

LDS-specific editorial voice at a small price point. Families looking for a K-1 curriculum written explicitly from within the LDS tradition, at a single paperback price point, have very few alternatives. Most LDS homeschool families assemble their curriculum from general-market Christian or secular publishers and add LDS materials separately. In His Image is one of the few options where the LDS framing is built into the unit plan rather than bolted on.

Hands-on activity design. For the K-1 age band, hands-on learning is developmentally appropriate, and the twenty-unit structure produces real variety across the year. A child who would resist a workbook is more likely to engage with a magnet experiment, a pioneer-day craft, or a flag-making project. Families whose children learn best through making typically find the method well-matched to the age.

Single-volume affordability. Most K-1 curricula require a curriculum kit, workbooks, teacher's guides, and manipulatives; In His Image is a single paperback at a typical Amazon paperback price. The total cost to a family is low, even before accounting for the inexpensive household-item materials the activities assume.

What they do poorly

Independent-publishing limitations. The book is self-published rather than issued through a homeschool publisher, which means there is no publisher customer service, no companion website, no lesson-plan app, no reorder service, and no scope-and-sequence ladder leading into second grade or beyond. A family that uses In His Image for K and wants to continue with the same authors' work into first, second, and third grade does not have that path available; the curriculum covers K-1 only.

Activity-materials assembly on the parent. Even though the book is inexpensive, the hands-on activities assume the parent has materials on hand, craft supplies, science experiment items, literature from the library, kitchen tools for food-based activities. A family that wants to walk into the week with nothing more than the curriculum book itself will find daily trips to the library or the craft store are part of the rhythm.

No second-grade continuation. The curriculum is written for K-1 and stops there. Families who want continuity need to transition to a different publisher's product at second grade, which means accepting that the LDS-specific framing of In His Image will not continue. This is a meaningful structural limitation.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick In His Image if: you are an LDS family with a kindergarten or first-grade student; you want a curriculum with LDS-specific framing at the K-1 age; you prefer hands-on learning over workbook learning at this age band; you are comfortable assembling household-item materials and library books for the activities; you can commit the parent time the curriculum assumes.

• Skip In His Image if: you are not an LDS family (the framing is specific to the LDS tradition); your child is past first grade; you want a full K-12 curriculum from a single publisher; you prefer a workbook or video-based approach; your schedule does not accommodate the 2-3 hour-per-day parent engagement the hands-on design requires; you want a publisher with a customer service operation.

Cost honest assessment

The paperback edition typically retails at Amazon paperback prices in the $20-$35 range, with the Kindle edition less expensive. The curriculum's hidden costs are the activity materials (craft supplies, household science experiment items, literature from the library) and the parent time the hands-on design requires. A family running the full year with a reasonable craft supply budget and library access might spend $100-$200 total on the year's consumable materials beyond the book itself.

Compared to The Good and the Beautiful PreK (which is LDS-owned but not LDS-doctrinal in content, roughly $49 for core course book), Horizons Kindergarten (roughly $200-$300 for a full year), and major LDS-specific supplement publishers that sell at the $10-$30 per booklet price point, In His Image is in the budget tier at the curriculum level while still asking the family to spend modestly on consumables.

An all-in family budget for one kindergarten student on In His Image in April 2026, including activity materials: $150 to $300 for the year depending on existing craft supplies, library usage, and how much the family chooses to buy new versus use from household inventory.

ESA eligibility notes

LDS-specific curriculum materials face the same ESA complications as other explicitly-religious curricula. Utah's Utah Fits All and Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Account generally permit LDS materials; West Virginia's Hope Scholarship, Iowa's Student First Scholarship, and Arkansas's LEARNS Act marketplace typically permit religious curriculum broadly. Because In His Image is self-published and sold primarily through Amazon, its presence on state ESA marketplaces as a direct-vendor listing is limited. Families should use parent-purchase-and-reimbursement workflows where state programs permit them, or should check whether the state's program allows Amazon receipts as reimbursable purchases.

Alternatives

• The Good and the Beautiful Kindergarten, an LDS family would choose TGATB over In His Image because TGATB scales into a full K-12 curriculum from the same publisher and offers higher production polish, while still being LDS-adjacent at the corporate level.
• My Father's World Kindergarten, an LDS family might choose MFW over In His Image because MFW offers a boxed complete curriculum with a coherent grade-level-to-grade-level path, though the framing is evangelical Protestant and requires adaptation for LDS use.
• Five in a Row, a family would choose Five in a Row over In His Image because FIAR is a secular picture-book-based unit-study curriculum the family can adapt with their own LDS framing, and it extends into multiple grade levels.

How we verified this

Our editorial team verified In His Image LDS Unit Studies: Kindergarten/1st Grade Curriculum on Amazon and the Kindle edition listing, confirmed the 2020 publication year and authorship via the Google Books record and the Open Library entry, and cross-referenced the Powell's Books listing. Because the book is self-published rather than issued through a major homeschool publisher, it does not have a dedicated publisher website, and we relied on primary retailer listings for confirmation of the publication details. Per Every Homeschool's 2026-04-20 editorial ruling, LDS-specific entries carry the lds worldview classification only.