The Mindful Heart

The Mindful Heart is a Latter-day Saint homeschool curriculum organized around Marlene Peterson's "Well-Educated Heart" philosophy and structured around five ability-based levels. Alpha, Zeta, Theta, Sigma, and Omega, rather than conventional grade labels, with two parallel tracks the program calls Heart and Soul Time and Heart and Mind Time.

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

At a glance

Method	Literature-based / Charlotte Mason-influenced / eclectic
Worldview	LDS (Latter-day Saint; references King James Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price)
Grades	Preschool through age 17 (grade-free structure)
Formats	Print guides, digital downloads, Patreon-supported content
Cost tier	Standard
Parent intensity	4
ESA-common	No
Accredited	No
Established	2020
Website	themindfulheart.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	3	Literature and character formation are strong; math and hard sciences rely on external publishers
Ease of teaching	3	Gentle daily structure but requires parent to internalize the heart-first philosophy
Content quality	4	Thoughtful curation of classical children's literature and heart-first activities
Flexibility	4	Ability-based levels allow non-linear progression; LDS scripture content can be reduced by family preference
Value for money	4	Digital-first pricing keeps costs modest relative to comparable literature-based programs
Worldview scope	2	Explicitly LDS; non-LDS families can opt out of scriptural content but lose the integration
Visual/design	4	Visually warm, thoughtfully designed guides with intentional aesthetic
Support resources	3	Active Patreon community and social media; no dedicated customer-service operation

Who the publisher is

The Mindful Heart is a Latter-day Saint homeschool curriculum launched in 2020 by an Eldredge-family homeschooler who introduced the program at the Latter-day Saint Homeschooling Education (LDSHE) conference. The founder's intellectual lineage, per published Mindful Heart materials and biographical interviews, traces to Marlene Peterson's Well-Educated Heart, a heart-first philosophy of home education holding that the child's affections, imagination, and moral formation should lead the curriculum and that academic instruction follows once the heart is engaged. Peterson's Libraries of Hope project has been influential in Latter-day Saint homeschool circles for fifteen-plus years, and The Mindful Heart is in one sense a practical implementation of that philosophy packaged for a new generation of LDS families.

The publisher is small. The Mindful Heart operates primarily through its own website, a Patreon community, and social media. There is no convention booth presence at the scale of Abeka or The Good and the Beautiful; there is no physical retail distribution of note. Most sales and most community activity happen digitally. Per a PRNewswire release from 2021, the program specifically targeted families whose children were struggling in conventional homeschool programs, positioning itself as a gentler alternative.

Theologically, The Mindful Heart is explicit in referencing the full Latter-day Saint scriptural canon, the King James Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, in its Heart and Soul Time materials. The publisher notes that non-LDS families can opt out of the scriptural content and use the academic and literature portions independently. This is structurally accurate but practically limited: the integration of scripture, character, and literature is one of the program's design features, and a non-LDS family removing the scripture content is using a partial version of the curriculum rather than a neutral version.

The core pedagogy

The Mindful Heart organizes the homeschool day into two parallel tracks. Heart and Soul Time covers spiritual formation, character, and scripture study, the moral and devotional work of the day. Heart and Mind Time covers the academic subjects: history, literature, language arts, science, math, art, and music. The framing claim is that formation (Heart and Soul) should come first and academic learning (Heart and Mind) should follow, with the day's emotional and spiritual register set before books are opened.

Grade levels are replaced by ability-based level designations so that children can progress at their own pace without the comparison pressure of grade labels. Alpha is the preschool-kindergarten equivalent, focused on pre-reading and pre-writing skills, 1-to-10 number sense, and listening skills. Zeta is first-to-second-grade equivalent, covering beginning reading and writing and addition/subtraction facts. Theta is third-to-fifth-grade equivalent, with strengthened literacy and multiplication/division. Sigma is sixth-to-eighth-grade equivalent, adding pre-algebra through Algebra I and emphasizing teaching and leadership skills (older children mentoring younger ones). Omega is ninth-to-twelfth-grade equivalent, covering persuasive writing, geometry, Algebra II, and pre-calculus.

Signature mechanics: (1) Heart-first sequencing, the spiritual and character work sets the tone before academic work begins; (2) Ability-based levels, children can be in different levels in different subjects, and family-scale progress is the measure rather than age-cohort progress; (3) Literature as the academic spine, classical children's literature from the Libraries of Hope tradition anchors most academic content, with science and math as supplementary tracks rather than front-and-center; (4) LDS scriptural integration. Heart and Soul Time uses the full LDS canon rather than Protestant-compatible selections; (5) Multi-child family design, the curriculum explicitly supports children at different levels working together, with older children taking teaching roles in Sigma and Omega levels as part of their own formation.

A day in the life

A family with three children at different levels, a Zeta-level seven-year-old, a Theta-level ten-year-old, and a Sigma-level thirteen-year-old, begins the morning at 8:30 with Heart and Soul Time. This is a family gathering: scripture reading from the Book of Mormon together (15 minutes), a brief discussion of the passage and a character principle drawn from it (10 minutes), a hymn or song (5 minutes), and a closing prayer. Total: about 35 minutes, all three children together.

Heart and Mind Time runs separately by level. The Zeta child works on beginning reading with a phonics program and then spends time with picture books while the parent supervises. The Theta child reads independently from a Libraries of Hope-style literature selection and completes a math workbook. The Sigma thirteen-year-old works through pre-algebra independently, writes in a literature journal about the current classical novel, and then (per the program's explicit design) spends 15 minutes mentoring the Zeta child on a read-aloud. The parent circulates, supporting each level's work rather than directly teaching all three. A typical morning runs two and a half to three hours; afternoons are reserved for art, music, nature study, and unstructured time.

What they do exceptionally well

Heart-first framing as an organizing principle. The program's insistence that spiritual and emotional formation should set the tone for the day before academic work begins is a coherent pedagogical commitment that many curricula gesture at without implementing. The Mindful Heart implements it structurally. Heart and Soul Time is not an add-on but the first track, and families who take the framing seriously find that their homeschool day has a different register than a subject-by-subject schedule.

Thoughtful literature curation. The Mindful Heart's book selections draw on the Libraries of Hope tradition, classical children's literature, historical fiction, poetry, and biography rather than contemporary educational publishing. A child running through the program's literature spine will encounter Louisa May Alcott, G.A. Henty, James Baldwin (the historian), and similar selections, which positions the program well for families committed to literature as moral formation rather than as reading-comprehension exercises.

Grade-free progression for families with mixed-level learners. The Alpha-Zeta-Theta-Sigma-Omega structure is not merely rebranding. The curriculum genuinely supports children being at different levels in different subjects, a Sigma-level math student who reads at Theta level, without the awkward retrofitting that grade-based programs require. Families with twice-exceptional, asynchronous, or previously-behind learners find the flexibility substantial.

What they do poorly

Math and hard sciences rely on external publishers. The Mindful Heart's Heart and Mind Time is strong in history, literature, language arts, and art and music; it is thinner in math and science. Families often pair the program with a dedicated math curriculum (Saxon, Math-U-See, or Singapore) and a dedicated science curriculum, which works but means the parent is assembling a curriculum rather than following one. The program is honest about this positioning; families looking for a single complete K-12 solution should look elsewhere.

Small-publisher support infrastructure. Because The Mindful Heart is a small, essentially single-founder publisher, the support infrastructure is thinner than at larger publishers. The Patreon community is active and the social media presence is warm, but there is no dedicated customer service line, no regional representatives, and no convention-floor presence at scale. Families who need hand-holding through the first year of homeschool will find the community supportive but not institutionally structured.

Worldview saturation at the devotional level. Heart and Soul Time is explicitly LDS, drawing on the full Latter-day Saint scriptural canon. The program's published materials indicate non-LDS families can opt out of the devotional content, but doing so removes a substantial portion of the curriculum's intentional integration. Families outside the LDS tradition who want the Well-Educated Heart literary philosophy may find Libraries of Hope directly a better fit than The Mindful Heart's LDS-integrated version.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick The Mindful Heart if: you are a Latter-day Saint family who wants the Book of Mormon and the full LDS canon integrated into the homeschool day rather than treated as a separate seminary track; you are philosophically aligned with the Well-Educated Heart / Libraries of Hope literature-first approach; you have multiple children at different levels and value a grade-free progression; you prefer warm, gentle materials over polished textbook publishing; you are willing to supply math and science from an external publisher.

• Skip The Mindful Heart if: you are not LDS and want a curriculum whose religious content is structurally easy to remove or substitute; you want a complete K-12 program with strong internal math and science; you prefer a conventional grade-based progression for transcript and external-evaluation purposes; you want a large-publisher support infrastructure with customer service and regional representation; you want the cheapest-possible homeschool path and prefer free state resources.

Cost honest assessment

The Mindful Heart sells its materials through its website and through a Patreon subscription that provides ongoing access to new materials as they release. Individual level bundles, investigation files, digital math books, and companion materials are priced per product; the publisher does not publish a single all-in annual cost the way Memoria Press or Sonlight do. Based on the publisher's published product pages as of April 2026, a family starting fresh at one level with the core Heart and Soul and Heart and Mind materials typically spends $150-$300 for a year, with Patreon membership adding $5-$25 per month depending on tier.

Compared to Sonlight ($800-$1,100 for a literature-based core), The Mindful Heart is substantially cheaper. Compared to Memoria Press Classical Core ($500-$1,000 at full package), The Mindful Heart is less expensive and offers a different pedagogical frame. Compared to The Good and the Beautiful (a Latter-day Saint-adjacent literature-influenced program, $100-$300 per grade for core subjects), The Mindful Heart is in a similar price range with a different philosophical approach.

A realistic all-in family budget for one Mindful Heart student at the Theta level, with supplemental math and science from external publishers, runs $300-$500 annually. Families with multiple children at different levels can share core literature and art selections and scale the cost sublinearly.

ESA eligibility notes

The Mindful Heart is generally not present as a standing approved vendor on state ESA marketplaces. The publisher is small, sells primarily digital materials, and has not built the distributor relationships that most ESA systems use to list products. Families with ESA funds who want to use them on The Mindful Heart typically need to request individual vendor approval through their state program, submitting invoices for reimbursement after purchase. Results vary by state. Because The Mindful Heart's Heart and Soul Time is explicitly Latter-day Saint in content, states that restrict religious-materials funding will not approve those components regardless; states that allow religious-materials funding may approve the full curriculum or may approve only the Heart and Mind Time academic components.

Alternatives

• The Good and the Beautiful, a family would choose The Good and the Beautiful over The Mindful Heart for a more polished, visually produced Latter-day Saint-adjacent curriculum with stronger internal math, science, and language arts programs that run the full K-12 sequence.
• Libraries of Hope / Well-Educated Heart, a family would choose Libraries of Hope directly over The Mindful Heart for the underlying literature-first philosophy without the specifically LDS devotional integration, either as a non-LDS family or as an LDS family wanting to assemble the devotional content independently.
• My Father's World, a family would choose My Father's World over The Mindful Heart for a broadly Christian (non-LDS), unit-study-based curriculum that integrates literature, history, and Bible into a structured weekly plan rather than a heart-first framing.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed The Mindful Heart's main homepage, Curriculum Levels Overview page, and approach-to-homeschooling blog post. We cross-referenced against the publisher's Patreon community, a PRNewswire release about the curriculum, and a From Orchard Slope review. Philosophical lineage traced through Marlene Peterson's Well-Educated Heart materials. Program details verified April 2026.