Choosing Home School Curriculum:
Ready to Leave the Curriculum Merry-Go-Round?

Is choosing home school curriculum a frustration for you? Do you ever feel like you spend more money every year trying to find the best home school curriculum, only to find for one reason or another it just doesn't work for your family? Are you always searching for something better yet never finding it? Will the home school curriculum merry-go-round never end?

As a home schooling mom of four, I have tried more different types of home school curriculum than I care to admit. I have wasted so much time searching for something that would work better. I wondered, was the problem the home school curriculum we were using? My teaching style? Or something else?

Thankfully, through the arduous process of figuring out why things weren't working, I have found some principles that will work for anyone longing to find answers to what will be the right home school curriculum for them. You can, of course, just look at a quick overview of choosing home school curriculum.

However, if you are struggling to find the right home school curriculum, let me encourage you to take a deeper look at the process of choosing home school curriculum through our free eCourse . But the information below is also helpful from a visual point of view. Take a look at the Home School Curriculum Pyramid below.

Home School Curriculum Pyramid

I developed the Home School Curriculum Pyramid as a visual aid to help navigate through the process of choosing home school curriculum well. You can think of it like a flow chart if you'd like, starting from the bottom up. You can click on any of the levels of the pyramid for a link, or read below to find out more.

As I mentioned above, you can also sign up for more detailed information and more helpful suggestions by signing up for our free eCourse on how to choose home school curriculum. That's where I walk with you step-by-step through the process of knowing what is important to you.

I am convinced that the more you go through the questions in our free eCourse or in this very abbreviated Home School Curriculum Pyramid the more confidence you will have to make better choices for specific home school curriculum.

Step 1: Determine what circumstances you are in.
This actually comes below the first level of the Home School Curriculum Pyramid.

• Will you be home schooling for only a few months?
• Are you thinking of home schooling for the long term?
• Are you “afterschooling” to supplement public school?

The answers to these questions will determine how much you'll need to look for in choosing home school curriculum. If home schooling is a temporary circumstance, you may be able to borrow materials from your local school.

No matter how you answer these questions, though, it is a good idea to check with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).

They have legal information you'll want to know concerning home schooling throughout the United States and for many other countries, too.

Step 2: Determine how your worldview (or world view) will be part of your home school.
You might think this doesn't matter, but in fact it is really important. Since many resources are specifically Christian, you'll want to consider how -- or if -- you want to include religious viewpoints and issues.

• Are you Christian? Of another faith? Secular?
• What role do you want your faith to play?

Step 3: Discover your core values and beliefs.
Understanding your core values and beliefs is an essential component of choosing home school curriculum well. This relates to your underlying assumptions...

• About education
  • How to develop a philosophy of education simply and easily
    (including a helpful section on asking the right questions)
  • When to Start Schooling?
  • Who Will Teach Your Child?
  • Who Will Decide What Your Child Will Study?
  • How Will You Evaluate Your Child's Learning?
• About success
  • What is Success to You?
• About your child
  • How Does Your Child Learn Best?
    • Learning Style Assessments
• About you
  • What kind of involvement do you want?
  • What kind of structure do you want?

Step 4: Develop realistic long- and short-range goals
Don't think this is too hard. It doesn't take too long to make some practical goals that will give you and your child some feelings of success.

• Have Some Long Term Home Schooling Goals?
• Making Short Term Home Schooling Goals Work For You
• Myths of Successful Home Schooling Goals
• Help For Prioritizing Your Home Schooling Goals
• Thinking Through Goals for Character Education
• Remember your limitations -- make them your friends.

Step 5: Become comfortable with one or more of the home schooling methods.
Notice this step doesn't come until after you know what kind of structure and involvement you want to have. Notice I also didn't say decide which one. You see, once you know what core values you have, you'll see what you'll want to combine from perhaps several methods.

No more bouncing around from one method to another! You'll know what fits you and your child because it will be an extension of your core values. After all, methods and curriculum were originally developed out of someone's conviction of certain core values that weren't being met in other curriculum, right?

Here's a list of some popular home schooling methods. You can find out more about home schooling methods here.

• Literature or Textbooks?
• If literature, what kind of literature?
• Classical
• Self-teaching
• Charlotte Mason
• Unit Study
• Principle Approach
• Unschooling
• Delight-directed

Step 6: Choose your home school curriculum and make adaptations.
What, make adaptations right away? Yes, by all means! Don't let the product of someone else's core values become a burden to you. Remember with confidence what you are looking for and don't waste time with what you don't need. Here are some other pages you might find helpful as you consider what to use.

• Free Home Schooling Curriculum
• Home School Writing Curriculum
• Literature Curriculum or Textbook-Based?
• Comparison of Popular Literature-Based Curriculum Choices
• Review of Sonlight Curriculum
• Review of Tapestry of Grace Curriculum
• Review of Alpha Omega's Switched On Schoolhouse
• Robinson Curriculum

Well done! You are well on your way to choosing home school curriculum that will really work for you. Why? Because when you understand your own core values and the other issues addressed above, you will have a greater sense of where you are going, and thus how to get there.

Don't worry about not having specific answers yet to what writing program or what math program is best. Keep reading through these and other pages listed in our site map and those questions will be answered soon enough. Truly, the time you spend now looking through these pages and answering these questions will certainly pay off later as you are able more to choose home school curriculum for your family's specific needs. First build a strong foundation of your own beliefs about what your home school should be like, then you can add the specific resources you'll need.

I am convinced that going through the process I've outlined above and shown in the Home School Curriculum Pyramid can help you save much money and hours of frustration, both for you and your children. Let me know if you have found this information helpful to you in choosing your family's home school curriculum, or if you have other comments by dropping me a note via our Contact Us page.

May this process help you and your family to find much joy and success in choosing home school curriculum and in your home school journey.

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