Finding the Right Homeschool Curriculum
The longer we homeschool, the more curriculum there seems to be. The massive amount of information can be overwhelming – even for a veteran. I can’t imagine how panicked it would make a new comer.
The best way to view a large amount of curriculum at one stop is to go to a homeschool conference or curriculum fair. It’s great to be able to physically flip through the material before you make the investment. Even still, there is no guarantee that the kids are going to like what you bring home.
In the past, I’ve used hand-me-down curriculum from other homeschool families to develop my own course outlines. It’s a labor intensive way to do things, but it gave me complete control on what we studied AND how we studied. I supplemented the lessons with library books – which the kids learned how to look up and find on their own.
As my career has started to take off, I have found that there is less time in the day than there was just a year ago. This year I’m going to make the investment in full curriculum for each of the kids. I’ve started slow – I spent a few dollars on Weaver spelling and penmanship.
The kids and I all like the way the curriculum is set up (although it’s pretty much what I was doing for them already – without the extra investment of time). I also got the Lifepac Electives for Art, but we haven’t even opened it yet. It’s designed for 7th grade and up. My oldest will be going into 5th. He’s a strong reader, though. I’ll probably start attempting it some towards the end of the month.
If you do buy homeschool curriculum that you and your children HATE, don’t force yourself to push through just because of the investment that you made. A fun experience with education if more valuable than the dollars you put into the curriculum. Advertise on some of the homeschool swap/sell sites. The system you hate may be the perfect match for another family.
Homeschooling is more of an art than a science. Finding curriculum is like finding the medium that best suits your artistic talents and tastes. Each child will be different. Each year will be different. Keep in mind that what ever you do, if you and the kids don’t enjoy it, you probably won’t do it any way.
I haven’t really thought about curriculum yet. I’ll let you know more when I figure it out.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:07 pmThis is a great article. I love your comment on Homeschooling being more of an art than a science. That is so true. There are as many ways to Homeschool as there are Homeschoolers.
We also find that understanding how a curriculum was designed to be used is also helpful. Some curriculums were designed for independant learning whereas others where written with a teacher in mind. Knowing this helps the parent determine how much time is going to be spent teaching the material.
With some curriculums, the success or failure of that curriculum choice is determined upon our ability as parents to commit the time necessary to teach and administrate it.
August 21st, 2007 at 12:10 pm