How We Choose Curriculum for our Home Education
If you’ve done any research on home education curriculum you have probably found that there is an enormous amount of options when choosing your home education curriculum. If you are just starting, it can be very overwhelming. Hopefully my strategy will help you figure things out for yourself
Remember a curriculum is not always necessary. For some subjects a curriculum can be more useful than others. Certain curricula over the years have worked very well for our family but others haven’t.
I would not say definitely buy this curriculum or that curriculum but go out and have a look at them. Maybe they will work for you and your children.
We have definitely bought curriculum that hasn’t worked for our family in the past. Sometimes we have been able to sell it on and others it just sits on a shelf or in a box.
It is perfectly possible to home educate your children without a curriculum as long as you choose the right materials and resources for your children for where they are in their journey and education and to fit their needs.
There is no right or wrong with regards to how you home educate. It just depends on the path you take.
The way I approached choosing curriculum
When choosing a curriculum for my family I like to start by asking myself some questions. Over the years that we have home educated the curriculum that we have used has changed a lot. Now we have a tendency to lean more to an eclectic homeschool method. These questions still help me to narrow down the choices and hopefully will help you decide on your curriculum.
Faith or Secular based?
The first question to ask yourself is do you want a faith based or secular curriculum? Making this decision alone will help you narrow down curriculum choices.
Children’s Learning Styles?
One of the best ways to pick curriculum for your children is to really look at the way your children learn. Different curriculums suit different children. When I choose a curriculum it is because I know it will work well with the way they learn.
The four main styles of learning are kinaesthetic, visual, auditory and reading and writing. Research the different learning styles to see which fit your children best.
What is each style?
Kinaesthetic is all about doing things physically and tactilely. These learners like to get involved and used their hands to touch and handle in order to understand concepts.
Visual learners learn best when they can visualise or picture the content being taught. They retain information best by viewing and seeing such as pictures, images, colours and mind maps.
Auditory learners retain the most information after hearing it or discussing a subject. They retain information and it is reinforced by sound.
Reading/Writing learners prefer to learn through writing and reading. This type of learning is similar to traditional School.
What are your Goals for the Year?
Knowing your goals for the year can help narrow down the type of curriculum that will suit you and your family best.
Narrowing it Down
Learn from people that have already purchased curriculum and watch flip throughs on YouTube, Read reviews by home educators on different curriculum.
There are also lots of free samples available for different curriculums. Download them and try it with your children to see if it is a good fit and works for your family.
Don’t just jump in and buy a curriculum too quickly. Find out more about how your children learn first as it will save a lot of time and money in the long run. As time goes on you will get better at choosing curriculum.
Once you have your curriculum remember to ask do you enjoy the curriculum? If you are not enjoying the curriculum then probably your children will not enjoy it either.
Remember no one is an expert at. choosing curriculum. You have to choose what suits you and your children at a particular time and if it needs changing or if something isn’t working out be prepared to change and try something else.
To begin with it can be a lot of trial and error but try to learn from other people’s mistakes. Really focus on how your children learn. Hopefully you will choose something that really suits them and your home education journey can be started on the right foot and you will have a positive and productive journey into the world of home education.