Keepers at Home

Keepers at Home is a skills-and-character program for girls from Keepers of the Faith. Its handbook is titled Keepers at Home and Keepers of the Faith Girls. It is not an academic curriculum; it is a parallel program that sits beside one.

Last updated: 2026-10-03 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Subject specialist / character club / hands-on skills
Worldview	Christian (the handbook states its purpose as learning to walk in the steps of Jesus Christ)
Grades	Ages 4 to 16: Little Keepers for ages 4 to 6 and the Girls handbook for ages 7 to 16; activity-based rather than graded
Formats	Free PDF handbooks, a companion notebook, and an Essential Guide; family or club use
Cost tier	Free for personal use; printing and project supplies are the family's cost
Parent intensity	4
ESA-common	Not applicable (free PDF downloads)
Accredited	Not applicable (skills and club program)
Established	Handbook copyright dates begin in 1982 (1982, 1992, 2000, 2009, 2017)
Website	keepersofthefaith.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	2	Not designed as an academic course; a Scholarship Studies category is one of fourteen
Ease of teaching	3	Each skill lists materials and numbered requirements; some skills need a parent or helper who already has the skill
Content quality	4	Fourteen categories of skills at three difficulty levels, with itemized requirements
Flexibility	4	Families choose which skills to work on and can use it alone, with a few families, or in a larger group
Value for money	5	The handbooks are free PDFs for personal use
Worldview scope	2	Bible memory, Bible reading, church, and prayer skills are part of the handbook's first category
Visual/design	3	Illustrated handbook with one-, two-, and three-flower skill levels
Support resources	2	An Essential Guide and FAQ page are free; the publisher states it has closed its doors

Who the publisher is

Keepers of the Faith grew out of the family program of Jeff and Susan Zakula, who describe on the About page how it became a church program and then spread through the homeschooling movement to all fifty states and many foreign countries. The Girls handbook is authored by Susan D. Zakula. The same About page states that Keepers "has closed its doors" and that, because of requests to continue, the club materials are provided as PDFs on the site.

The publisher also offers a program for boys, Contenders for the Faith, with a Little Contenders handbook for ages 4 to 6 and a handbook for ages 7 to 16. The FAQ page states that Keepers groups are independent, that each club is run by a single family, local association, or church, and that children may work from both handbooks.

The materials are free for personal use; they may be copied and given to others for personal use but may not be offered for sale.

The core pedagogy

The Girls handbook is organized into fourteen categories: Spiritual Life Skills, Character Studies, Personal Skills, Serving Others, Around the Home, Culinary Arts, Creative Skills, Scholarship Studies, Special Knowledge, Music Arts, Artistic Skills, Nature Studies, Caring for Pets and Farm Animals, and Recreational Skills. Each category holds individual skills, and each skill is marked one, two, or three flowers for easy, intermediate, or advanced difficulty.

The How to Use This Handbook section describes the pattern: a skill section explains the skill, lists what a girl needs to know and which materials or tools are required, gives requirements to gauge accomplishment, and provides a place to record progress. Requirements are numbered, and each skill has a "Date Completed" line. In the Hand Sewing section, for example, the girl collects a sewing box, names needle sizes, and demonstrates attaching flat buttons, shank buttons, a button loop, a hook and eye, and a snap, then closing an opening with a whip stitch and hemming with a hemming stitch. Several requirements are demonstrated or recited to a parent or leader.

A Companion Notebook reproduces the requirements that call for notebook work, and the Essential Guide for Parents and Leaders covers how to teach each skill and, for clubs, how to organize and operate a large one. The handbook describes awards for completed skills, and the site's Awards page suggests that groups source their own, such as stickers, patches, ribbons, or printed certificates.

How the program is used

The handbook tells a girl to browse the skill sections, pick one, and work on a few at a time rather than start many. The Starting page lists steps for a club leader, including deciding where and when to meet, who may join, and which skills the children will work on. The FAQ page describes a lesson time of twenty to thirty minutes before project work, states that children of different ages can meet together, and notes that a single family can be a club.

What they do exceptionally well

Itemized, checkable requirements. Each skill lists specific things to learn, as in the Hand Sewing requirements above, so a parent can see whether a skill has been demonstrated.

Breadth of skills. The fourteen categories run from Culinary Arts and Creative Skills to Nature Studies and Recreational Skills, so a family can build a program around the skills it wants.

No purchase barrier. The handbook, companion notebook, and Essential Guide are free for personal use. The handbook notes that many skills require few or no materials, with patterns or kits suggested for skills such as needlepoint or embroidery.

What they do poorly

Not an academic program. The handbook's Scholarship Studies category covers topics such as literature, writing, and foreign language through skill requirements, but the program is organized around practical and character skills rather than a graded academic sequence.

Some skills need a source of instruction. The Hand Sewing section lists a basic sewing book as a needed material, and the FAQ page answers the question of what to do without a skill by suggesting that a parent learn alongside the child, take a class, use library books or videos, or ask a skilled person at church.

Publisher support has ended. The publisher states on its About page that Keepers has closed its doors. The materials remain available as PDFs, and families who want printed copies or physical awards will need to print or source them.

Worldview-specific content. The first category, Spiritual Life Skills, includes Bible memory, Bible reading, church, church service, missionary, prayer warrior, and witnessing skills, and the Character Studies category follows. The handbook lets a family choose which skills to work on, so a family with a different tradition can select skills accordingly.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Keepers at Home if: your family wants a Christian skills-and-character program for daughters ages 4 to 16 that is free to use; you want itemized requirements and a record of completion for each skill; you want to run it as a single family, with a few families, or in a church group; your academic program is already set and you want a skills layer.

• Skip Keepers at Home if: you want an academic curriculum; you want a program with an active publisher or national organization behind it (the publisher states it has closed its doors, and American Heritage Girls is an example of a national organization); you want a program without Christian content.

Cost honest assessment

The handbooks are free PDFs for personal use, per the publisher's Keepers page as of October 2026. A family's costs are printing and project supplies. The handbook states that many skills require few or no materials; skills such as needlepoint or embroidery may call for a pattern or kit.

For comparison, American Heritage Girls lists an annual membership fee of $43 as of October 2026, plus program support fees, with uniform, handbook, badge, and activity costs typically covered through troop dues, fundraisers, and donations. A troop is chartered through a church, private school, or other Christian non-profit.

ESA eligibility notes

Because the handbooks are free downloads, there is no publisher purchase to submit for reimbursement. Whether printing or project supplies qualify depends on the state program and its rules, so confirm with the program administrator before spending ESA funds.

Alternatives

• American Heritage Girls, a family would choose AHG over Keepers because AHG is a national organization in which girls ages 5 to 18 meet as a troop chartered through a church, private school, or other Christian non-profit, rather than a family-run handbook program.
• Little Keepers, the same publisher's handbook for ages 4 to 6, with sections on Godly Girlhood, Basic Skills, Homemaking, and Nature, for families who want to start earlier.
• Contenders for the Faith, the same publisher's program for boys ages 4 to 16, for families who want a parallel program for sons.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed the Keepers of the Faith About, Keepers, Contenders, FAQ, Starting, and Awards pages and the Girls handbook PDF in October 2026, and the American Heritage Girls structure and costs page for comparison.