Choosing Curriculum

One of the most asked questions of someone who's new to home education is, "What curriculum should I use?" This is really hard for seasoned homeschoolers to answer. There are so many philosophies on how you should school or schedule your day that it can wildly differ from one homeschool family to the next.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is what you and your family want your homeschool day to look like. Does your family work better on a strict schedule, a flexible schedule, or do you want to have a schedule at all? There are a few philosophies on homeschooling that are good to know.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the types of homeschooling out there. Many of them have subcategories. If one strikes your fancy, a quick internet search will give you mounds of information. I am no expert on any of these. We kind of found our own way.

1. Unschooling - As far as I understand it, unschooling is when you allow your child to direct their own education. The parent would provide all materials necessary for the child to pursue their interests. Parents may have the child do a some structured school time during the day for, say, math. Some don't. They usually don't have any type of formal curriculum. Many people believe that this means that the child is allowed to either play with legos or video games all day. While that may be the case with some families, that is not the case with most unschoolers.  The important thing in unschooling is that the child pursues their interests.

2. Charlotte Mason - You will hear a lot about "living" books in the Charlotte Mason approach. Living books tell stories that capture the reader and engage them to pursue deeper thinking rather than "dry" textbooks. It is, of course, literature based.

Forming good lifelong habits is also a large part of this approach. Character is emphasized.
The last part of Charlotte Mason is that it is directed by God.

3.  School at home - Basically this is doing what you would see in a public school setting in your own home. You might have a room set aside as a school room with textbooks or workbooks of the major subjects for your children to go through during the day.

4.  Classical Education - I'll be honest, I know the least about this philosophy. There is a three pronged approach in classical education called the truvium. The three prongs are the early learning years, middle grades, and high school grades. In the early learning years you lay a foundation for the rest of their learning. Your child would learn the "what" of a subject and will do a great deal of memorizing. In the middle grades you would begin to teach logic and help the child to pursue the "why" of a particular subject. In the high school years your student begins to learn to voice their own conclusions and opinions on a given subject. A high schooler in classical education would begin to focus their learning on whatever particular subject sparks their interest. Classical education is very language focused.

5.  Unit Studies - Unit studies are very involved, but they are a ball of fun. All of your learning that day or week would revolve around one subject.  You would take a theme, like Ancient Egypt,and have the kids do an essay on the life of a Pharoah, then wrap each other in toilet paper while mom or dad explain how a person was mummified. You may also build a pyramid, and then for math measure the perimeter. You might prepare a meal that they may have eaten in Ancient Egypt. The possibilities are endless.

6.  Computer based - This is school at home while the child sits at the computer. The curricula is likely to include videos and games that help your kiddos to grasp concepts. It can be self grading or the computer can do it for you.

7. Eclectic approach - My favorite. Take any of the above philosophies and meld it together to create the perfect homechool experience for your family. This is for those of us who don't want to be tied down to any one philosophy.

 Ask God to show you the best philosophy and curriculum for your family. It's not one size fits all. Every family is different. I'm ashamed to say that this is the first year that I have asked God what curriculum to use. We've kind of floundered into some of the things that work for us. I know if I had gone to God first that He would have led us far better than I did. I have a peace about what He's shown us for this year. Do research on the different curricula that follows the approach that you've chosen. Take into account the amount of time that you can devote to homeschooling every day, the amount of money that you are willing to spend, how many kids you are teaching, and how much help you may get from your husband or older kids. That's right, your older kids can help teach the younger ones. You will also need to know what your state laws may be concerning curriculum. We're very blessed in Montana to have no laws concerning curriculum. Through all of this continue praying. God made it very clear what we were to use. JOY!

I can't speak on all of the different curricula out there. I'm overwhelmed by the many choices that I see when my Christian Book Distributors catalog comes. The options seem endless. I will share with you what works for us and what we've used before.

For science we use Apologia (www.apologia.com). I have not found a better science, and most of the homeschoolers I know won't use anything else. My kids absolutely love science since we've begun using their books. So far we've used the Zoology 1 and 2. Even though these are technically textbooks, they are alive with color pictures, lively text, and many experiements. It holds my kids attention (even my ADD child). Science is everyone's favorite subject at this house, and I used to hate it. Apologia also offers notebooking journals that have crafts, puzzles, note taking pages, and questions to supplement what your child has learned. They also have Jr. notebooking journals for children not quite ready to take extensive notes. This is good for my dyslexic child. She gets to draw and label things, and that helps her to remember. These journals really help the kids to retain the information, and they are beautiful keepsakes for the kids when they're done.

 This coming year we will finish up Zoology with their third book on land animals. We normally finish one book a semester by doing one lesson a week, so in the second semester we will study anatomy. I can teach all of my kids at the same time. That's a wonderful thing. It saves us time, and they can help each other with assignments. My oldest daugher should be starting middle school sciences this year, but since she was public schooled last year I decided that she would be taught the same things the other kids were learning as much as possible. Apologia has options for elementary, middle school, and high school science.

We are also doing a biblical worldview curriculum from Apologia. It is designed very much like their science curriculum, with the notebooking tools. We'll be starting with their, "Who is God(And Can I Really Know Him?)" I haven't done this one before, but we are really looking forward to it. I'll give a review at the end of the school year.

Our favorite for math is Saxon. It's easy to understand, and the kids can do it all by themselves. I generally look over the lesson, make sure they understand it, and then leave them to it. I really only have to be there for questions and to grade tests. Saxon also offers a CD-Rom that can teach your child the curriculum. We've never used the CD-Rom, so I'm not sure how good it is. I have heard that the high school math in Saxon isn't so good, and I'm thinking of changing over to Teaching Textbooks for those years. I've heard great things about Teaching Textbooks too. :)

For history we LOVE Mystery of History by Bright Ideas Press. (www.brightideaspress.com) My favorite part is that it not only shares what was going on in the world in a given time period but also teaches about biblical events that took place at the same time. With Mystery of History I'm able to teach all the kids together. At the end of each lesson are assignments for younger, middle, and older kids. You can take it as far as you want or do as little as you want and still have a good foundation for history.

In early elementary grades for Language Arts we used Alpha Omega's lifepacs. It really laid a good foundation for the kids in reading, grammar, etc, but my oldest daughter and my son found it a little dry for the older grades and really had a hard time motivating themselves to do the work outlined for them. This year I want them to read more "living" books.

We have yet to find a language arts program that we love, but we're hoping that we've found it this year. We are turning back to Bright Ideas Press for our Language Arts. They have a new curriculum called Illuminations for 3rd graders through highschool, and it's completely reusable. (https://www.brightideaspress.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=11) The spine of this curriculum is our beloved history choice, Mystery of History. Since we have not had any experience with it, I can't really tell you how good it is. I can say that it looks great. I'll let you know at the end of the year. We are going to try everything that Illuminations has planned in their curriculum with the exception of their science program. Illuminations has a customizable schedule for all your curricula. So there's very little planning for you. It covers all subjects (including grammar, vocabulary, spelling, writing, science, history, Bible, geography, and humanities. It includes graphic organizers, literary study guides, and printable notebooks. The above link has videos to explain the curriculum itself. The only problem I see so far is that I have to buy most of the parts of this, like books and other curriculum, on other sites causing higher shipping prices. That's a small hill to overcome.

The last curriculum that we tried was Sonlight. (www.sonlight.com) I loved it. It's literature based, and while we didn't love their science at all, it does a great job teaching history, geography, and literature. But it's pricey.  That's the main reason we do not use it. (And the fact that we love our history program.) If you have the money I would suggest looking into it. 

Don't forget your planner. I was going to print off my own using some forms that I found on homeschool blogs, but God quickly showed me that wouldn't be a good use of my time. I'm going to use Deb Bell's, "The Ultimate Homeschool Planner". It looks to be perfect. Once again, I'll give a review at a later date. Randi will be using "The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students" to keep up with her assignments and social activities. I will probably start Caleb with a planner next year. 

My goal this year was to find curricula that would spark my kids interest, where we could learn together as a family as much as possible, and still have a comprehensive education. Since this is the curriculum that God has lead us to, I'm expectant that this year is going to be great. 

I should mention that these are my own opinions. I'm not being paid or solicited for them. :)



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