How to Choose Curriculum

One of the greatest challenges homeschoolers face is choosing their curriculum. There are so many options available to us that it can be very overwhelming, especially to those new to homeschooling. Which curriculum is the best? How do I choose a curriculum? These are questions commonly asked by new homeschoolers & those considering homeschooling.

Well, first of all, there is no ONE best curriculum. There is only what works best for your child, your budget, your family, and your situation. Curriculum is not a one-size-fits-all thing. There simply is not one that will work for absolutely everyone. So, how do you decide which curriculum (or curricula) to use?

As I stated in ‘Getting Started’, I think that choosing curriculum should be done after figuring out your child’s learning style, and determining which homeschool method you plan to use. My reasoning for this is that both of those pieces of information will be helpful in choosing what curriculum to use. Here I’ll list the things I feel are important for choosing curriculum and an explanation of why I think they are important.

Your child’s learning style – Simply put, knowing your child’s learning style will help you choose curriculum that works for their learning style. If your child is hands-on & you choose a bunch of workbooks, you’re likely to have a fight on your hands. A child will learn & retain more if they enjoy their schoolwork. That doesn’t mean that it should all be fun & games, but finding curriculum they enjoy using will be a large benefit to you both.

Your child’s abilities – You need to be objective on this one. What level of work is your child truly capable of doing? In what subjects are they strongest? What are their weakest subjects? The reason I say to be objective is that sometimes a parent can a bit blind to the actual strengths, weaknesses, and abilities of their children. We all want to see the best in our kids, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, if your child struggles in Math and you get the most challenging & advanced Math program you can find, you won’t get great results. So, look objectively at what areas they find easy, where they struggle, and what level of work they can do in each subject.

The homeschooling method you’ve chosen – This is important to know before you choose curriculum, so you can choose curriculum that will work with your method. Textbooks & workbooks won’t be very helpful if you’ve decided to use the Charlotte Mason method. It might be difficult to do the School-at-Home method if all you purchased was supplemental materials & supplies for hands-on activities. Knowing the method you want to use will help you find materials that work well with that method.

Secular or Religious education – There’s Secular curricula. There’s Christian curricula. I’ve even seen a few things that seem to be aimed at other religions, though how much religion is in them, I can’t say. Some Secular homeschoolers use Christian curriculum, and just skip over the religious elements. However, some Christian curricula have too much religion to skip or eliminate. So, you need to decide if you want Secular or Religious curriculum. If you want Secular, are you willing to use Religious curriculum & skip over or eliminate the religious elements? If you want Religious, are you willing to use Secular for any subjects?

Your budget – You don’t want to overextend yourself financially. So, figure out what you can spend on school for the year. Then, start looking at the curriculum options. Once you’ve found what you want to use, see if you can find it used or discounted.

Parent/Teacher Involvement – How involved do you plan/want to be? If your child can work independently, you may want to look for materials that can be used with little to no parent involvement. Some materials are created for independent use whereas others require a lot of planning, setup and/or teaching from the parent.

Now that you know what you’re looking for, how do you decide what to use? First, read the publisher descriptions. Some publishers offer free samples or a few products for free, so you can try them out. Take advantage of those. Read customer reviews of the products you’re considering. Most publisher sites & distributer sites have customer reviews. There’s also homeschoolreviews.com, a site dedicated to customer reviews of various homeschool products. Ask other homeschoolers for their opinions. You can ask people in your local homeschool support groups or co-ops. You could also ask on homeschool message boards and online groups (like Yahoo! Groups). If you have specific materials you’re considering, ask if anyone has used them & what they thought of them. If you’re not sure what you might like to use, ask what other people have used & their opinions of those products.

Be specific when asking questions about products, and choosey about which reviews you pay attention to. If all someone says is “I really like this curriculum” or “This curriculum sucked”, it won’t be of much help to you. Look for reviews that give specifics about what they did or did not like, and why it did or did not work for them. Ask people “What is it about this curriculum that you like? What learning styles do your kids have?” Be specific. The elements of a curriculum that make some not like it could be the exact thing you’re looking for. The opposite is also true. The elements that make someone else love it, may be the reason it would not work for you. Here are a few examples of what I mean:

Spectrum Workbooks – Many people LOVE the Spectrum Workbooks. They find them to be a great fit for their kids. Their children enjoy doing the worksheets in them. Many parents feel they are a great, inexpensive addition to their homeschool curriculum.

My daughter really disliked the Spectrum Workbooks. We tried them for Language Arts & Math. We found them to be too repetitive for my daughter. Even with not doing the entire workbook, she was bored with it. They simply were not for us.

Explode the Code – Some people really love this series. Some don’t like it at all. Some like the primer books & maybe the first few books, but feel it then starts to move too fast for their child.

Personally, I love this series.  My son enjoys doing the workbooks & looks forward to it each day. I like the fact that it reviews what he knows, I can make sure we don’t forget to cover any aspect of phonics, and that it includes writing. At the time of my writing this, my son is five. Trying to get a five year old to do writing as a separate subject, on top of his other subjects, would be a battle. With this program, I don’t have to worry about that. It doesn’t move too fast for him. In fact, so far it’s been review for him.

My point with these examples is that nothing works for everyone. Some things work great for my kids, but don’t work for many others. Some things work great for others, but don’t work for my kids. There isn’t one curriculum that will work for everyone. That’s why there are so many options.

I truly believe that you’ll get the best recommendations if you ask for specifics. That way, you don’t end up with a huge list of materials that won’t work for you. If you just ask “What’s a good curriculum for 5^th grade,” you’ll likely get a lot of responses listing religious curricula. That won’t do you much good if you want secular. If you ask “What’s the best Math program,” you may get suggestions for programs that only cover grade school. That won’t be much use if you need high school level Math.  So be specific. Say “I need a Math curriculum for a seven year old. She is a hands-on learner. She struggles with Math concepts, so we need a lot of review & repetition.”  Or say “I’m looking for a Language Arts program for an advanced reader. He enjoys reading and currently reads at a 4^th grade level.” With those specifics, people can offer suggestions of curricula that are more likely to fit the needs of your child instead of you weeding out dozens of suggestions that won’t work for your kids.

If you know other homeschoolers, ask them what they use. Ask if you can borrow their curriculum to look over. Check your local library. They may have some homeschool curricula there. If you have the opportunity, consider going to a Homeschool Convention. Conventions often have many publishers there, so you can look over the curriculum before you decide.

Also, it’s okay to plan ahead. You can think about what you want to use next year or a few years down the road. I suggest keeping a notebook or binder with ideas, possible curriculum choices, etc. It will help cut down on planning time for future years and help prevent you from forgetting what you wanted to do or use for those years. It will also help you keep an eye out for those materials to be on sale, offered free from the publisher, or for you to ask to borrow from someone when you find out they use it. Planning for the future doesn’t mean that you have to use those materials. If, between now & then, you find something else you think may work better, you can change your mind. I have a notebook which I use to keep track of possible curriculum choices, Science experiments, activities, projects, outside classes, extra-curricular option, and field trips for the future. I also take advantage of Wish Lists on sites from which I regularly buy materials. Then, when it’s time to purchase for the year, I can look through the list & decide what I still want to purchase.

Finding the right curricula for you tends to involve some trial & error. However, you’ll find what you’re looking for faster if you A) Know what you want, B) Read reviews & ask a lot of questions, and C) Look over the material or look at samples before buying (whenever possible).