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Making Homeschool Curriculum Choices | *My Unconventional Advice*
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Jun 19, 2024
Making homeschool curriculum choices can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, but it doesn't have to be — it should be fun! In this video, I share what has helped ME choose our curriculum over the years, which might be a little bit different advice from what you have heard in the past. MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO: ➡️ Homeschooling in all 50 States — https://blessedhomeschool.com/homeschooling-in-50-states-series/ ➡️ Homeschool Laws — https://hslda.org/ ➡️ Teach them Diligently Homeschool Convention — https://teachthemdiligently.net/invite/841/ ➡️ Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview book — https://amzn.to/43jmaTm ********************************************* Hey there! I’m Sara, and I’m a teacher-turned-homeschooling mom to 4 kiddos (including a set of twins!). I balance homeschooling while working full-time from home, and am so thankful you are here. I love sharing about homeschooling on my blog, Blessed Homeschool, where you’ll find tips, resources, and curriculum reviews. Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, I hope you will leave inspired and equipped with what you find. *********************************************
View Video Transcript
0:00
When my husband and I had decided we were going to take a leap of faith and homeschool our oldest
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son, I remember feeling completely overwhelmed that first big task that loomed in front of me
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What exactly was I going to teach my son? What would we do all day? How would I know what to
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teach and make sure that I didn't leave anything out? There was a lot of anxiety on my part because
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what if I got it wrong and screwed up this whole thing from the beginning? I actually get this
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question a lot because I think a lot of moms feel the same anxiety over choosing homeschool
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curriculum or piecing together learning materials for their kids. I started homeschooling seven
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years ago and the number of available resources and curriculum has only increased over the years
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and it has gotten very overwhelming. So I can totally relate to this sentiment but it doesn't
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have to be this way. And seven years in I want to tell you that it does get easier. It does
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If you're new to homeschooling though I want to share some tips with you to help you in your curriculum choosing process and offer some encouragement along the way
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So here's something you need to know before we get into the meat of this. There is no perfect
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curriculum out there. There's just not. You can relax right now knowing that there are many
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wonderful options out there and probably multiple curriculums that would work just fine for your
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family. So many times I see moms get stuck in indecision, worried they're going to make the
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wrong choice, worried that they aren't going to pick out the right curriculum for their kids
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or they choose something but then hear a friend mention or suggest something else and then they
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start second guessing themselves. Look I think it's perfectly fine to want to have the best for
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your kids and want to have the best curriculum out there but sometimes you don't know what you
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are going to need or what's going to work best for you until you're actually using it until you're
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actually teaching your kids with that curriculum. So you simply have to make a decision based on an
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educated choice and own it. And the beautiful thing is that the more you learn about your kids
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and the more you learn about yourself as a homeschool mom you will become better equipped
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and more comfortable making decisions on what resources to use. And that so-called perfect
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curriculum might not be perfect the next year or it might work for one kid but not the other
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So cut yourself some slack, give yourself some grace, and know that you can do this because
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God made you the mom and the primary educator of your children. And if he thinks that you're cut
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out for that role you should think that too. So no perfect curriculum. We've got that down. But
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we still have to make a decision right? And with all the choices out there where should we start
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The first place you need to start is with your state laws. If you aren't sure where to find your
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state homeschooling requirements I'll leave some links in the description for you. HSLDA is an
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excellent resource and I also have a homeschooling in 50 states series on my website that is filled
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with information for each state. Some states are more strict on what they require from homeschooling
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families but some are more lenient. Once you know what is required of you it will help give you a
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framework from which to start building your curriculum and making your decisions. My next
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tip is to see if you can attend a homeschool convention. I know it's not always possible to
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attend a convention in person but if you can I highly recommend it. Online conventions are fine
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but just not the same. Just like going to church online isn't quite the same right? There's something
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about being present with our community, being inspired by the speakers, and getting to touch
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and feel and flip through the curriculum that you're interested in. And if you can go to a
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Christian homeschooling convention. Look up teach them diligently. I'll link them in the description
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as well but you guys I can't recommend this convention enough. Josh and I have been going
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every year since we began homeschooling. This is going to be our eighth year attending. It is
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refreshing, energizing, and so encouraging. They've grown and have a couple different locations now
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You can bring your kids. They have a great kids program although we typically leave our kids with
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family and use this as a little trip away to kind of recharge. It was at our first convention that I
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really began forming my vision for homeschooling. Understanding what this is going to look like for
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us and realizing how big and important this really is. It was honestly life-changing. So anyway there
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is my plug. Try to get to a convention. I think that being able to browse and flip through different
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curriculums, talk to publishers, and talk to other moms in person can be very helpful in your
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decision-making process. Okay my next tip whether or not you go to a convention. You've researched
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your state laws. Now you need to think about what kind of worldview you want presented in your
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teaching. Do you want a curriculum that teaches through the lens of the bible? That helps your
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kids love God more and know him better through your homeschooling? When you make this distinction
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it can actually help narrow down your curriculum search a lot. For example if you want to teach from
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a biblical worldview you're probably going to begin searching for Christian curriculums. But
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from there taking a closer look at what they are actually teaching, how they're teaching it, and if
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it lines up with your values and beliefs and the values you want to teach your kids. I think this
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is one of the most important things we can consider as Christian parents when we're choosing curriculum
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My big wake-up call in this area was when I read the book Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview
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by Israel Wayne. It completely changed the way that I thought about teaching as it stressed that
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every subject can and should be taught from a biblical worldview and that the purpose of our
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education is to grow closer to God. I realized that I didn't just want to teach my kids about
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God in the bible but that we could use the subjects we studied as a vehicle to learn more
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about God and his character. For example why do we teach history? My answer had always been that we
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teach history so our kids can learn where we came from, learn about different people and cultures
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learn from past mistakes, and prepare for the future. This is what I learned growing up in a
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government school system. Now those aren't terrible reasons but they kind of leave out the most
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important thing that influences our past, present, and future. Our heavenly father. We should approach
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and teach history, in my opinion, from the standpoint that we are learning God's history
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How history was influenced by obedience and disobedience to his word, how God moved and
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influenced all events, and what we can learn about his nature when we study different historical
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events. That is going to give me a completely different viewpoint when I go to choose a history
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curriculum. Okay so we've got know your state laws, visit a convention, understand the worldview you
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want to teach from. Next tip is maybe a little bit different than what you usually hear but here we
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go. Typically you'll have people tell you you need to figure out your child's learning style and
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your homeschool style before you pick your curriculum. You need to put yourself in a box. So
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are you a classical homeschooler, an unschooler, Charlotte Mason, traditional, etc. And are your
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kids hands-on learners, visual, or auditory learners? Okay well I never fit into any of those boxes
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perfectly and my kids have multiple different ways that they like to learn and you know what
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I didn't really figure it out until I actually started teaching them. So my advice to you is to
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simply pick something that you like. Pick a curriculum that you like to teach. Pick something
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that you will look forward to doing every day because you're going to be doing it every day
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Now within this you are obviously going to have to take budget into consideration along with any
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lifestyle needs such as if you are a working parent and need your kids to be able to have
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something to work on more independently or something like that. But in general as a homeschooling
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parent you need to find a curriculum that makes sense to you that you are comfortable teaching
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your kids. Do you want to be hands-on all day every day or do you want to outsource some work
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or join a co-op? Would you prefer a box curriculum where it's all prepped planned and laid out for
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you or do you enjoy picking and choosing and pulling your resources together? When I first
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started researching and learning about homeschooling a friend invited me to come check out a local
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classical conversation meeting. I loved learning about this program and it was just the beginning
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of what I was discovering about the world of homeschool co-ops, university model schools
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and all those types of things. But I wasn't 100 sold on classical conversations for our first
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year. It didn't feel right for how I wanted to teach and run our homeschool. While I was there
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though a friend told me about my father's world and once I learned more about this curriculum I
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was sold. My first year homeschooling and I could just buy an entire curriculum, open the plans
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and follow a schedule and it had a biblical worldview. Sign me up. I knew that I would get
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overwhelmed trying to piece everything together and if I was stressed and worried no one was going
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to have fun doing this homeschooling thing. I wanted structure. I wanted to feel like I had all
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the right pieces of the puzzle and I was happy to have found a curriculum that I could trust
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even though there was always a lot of negative talk I would hear about boxed curriculums. I didn't
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know much about my kids' learning styles. They were in kindergarten and preschool. I had no idea
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what kind of homeschool teacher I would be but I knew what I wanted to teach and I found a curriculum
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that looked like I could teach it and I made that decision. So find a curriculum that plays to your
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strengths as an educator. It's okay if you don't know your style or don't know if it will 100
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work for your kids. Obviously there might be some exceptions if you really do know those things and
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need to be more strategic but in order to ensure the best experience for yourself and your children
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you have to be comfortable but there is a but make sure that you are flexible and realize that this
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is a learning process and you may or may not decide to make changes as you go and you are
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allowed to do that. Try a homeschooling curriculum you like and see how it goes. If it doesn't work
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try another until you find a fit for your family. This may take some trial and error and that's okay
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Your curriculum can and probably will evolve many times over the years. Don't feel like you have to
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be stuck with whatever you chose right off the bat unless you want to be. I was asked recently
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what this looked like for us. When did I start putting curriculum together for my kids and take
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them off a boxed or all-in-one curriculum? The truth is a boxed curriculum has always been kind
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of my go-to because I'm comfortable with it and I have loved the curriculums we've used. We used
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My Father's World for kindergarten through second grade for my oldest and then when he was in third
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through fifth grade we used BJU Press and we used their entire grade level package so I would budget
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for and purchase the entire grade level for my kids and I didn't necessarily take them off of
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that all-in-one curriculum but when I noticed they needed extra help in a certain area like math and
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spelling we made adjustments from there. The last year using BJU Press we ended up switching
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to different spelling and math programs because I was noticing my kids needed something a little
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bit different at that point and if they hadn't we'd still be using the same thing most likely
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Well I take that back because the next year we did switch back to My Father's World because
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I missed it and since my youngest son was getting older I wanted us to get back to doing more school
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together and having my kids do less of their lessons online. With using the BJU Press distance
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learning online they had a lot of work on their computers so I made the decision to switch. My
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Father's World was a curriculum that I liked and felt fit my teaching style and what I valued for
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our family in our home school. Again so we kind of used the box curriculum as the spine and I added
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and changed some things as we went along. This year I had to add in math and language arts curriculum
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because that's not included in many of the all-in-one boxed curriculums at this level because
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these two subjects typically need to be individualized even if you are teaching multiple
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children at the same time because they will likely be at different levels in math and reading so as
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your kids get older you are looking at needing to make those choices regardless of whether or not
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you use a box curriculum. Anything else I've added in so Latin, art, typing those are the main ones I
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think are because either I wanted to as with Latin and typing or because my kids requested it
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as with art. It wasn't something that I really stressed out about. I planned our main curriculum
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and when those needs arose we simply added them in. So honestly you guys those are my big tips and
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takeaways when you are making curriculum decisions. If you are not at all like me and know that you
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don't want to use the box curriculum then I still recommend knowing your state laws, figuring out
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your worldview, and your approach and from there make a list of subjects that you want or need to
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cover. Decide if you're going to teach your kids together or separately. Pick a curriculum you like
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and give yourself grace and allow yourself to be flexible. I can't tell you which classes you need
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to teach because that's going to look different for literally everyone but you're going to need
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to pick out math and language arts curriculum for each of your kids for history and science and
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everything else. Decide what you are going to teach your kids together if you have multiple kids or
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what you want to do for each kid separately. From there decide if you want a teacher-led curriculum
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or if your child is going to work independently and each decision you make you narrow down those
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choices until you have your decision. You are homeschooling your kids. You do not have to
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box them into a grade level or any type of standard that you've been conditioned to think
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your kids need to fit into. I think looking at curriculum by grade levels can be a helpful place
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to start but remember that grade levels are not as important when you're homeschooling. My kids
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barely even know what grade they're in half the time when people ask them that question
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because it's just not important. Use a curriculum's placement test when they're available
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They'll usually give you a good idea where to start your kids using that curriculum. You get
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to create that unique learning path for your kids though and here's the deal. Here's how you deal
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with anxiety and overwhelm about curriculum choices. First you've got to release that anxiety
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to the lord. Choose to surrender your overwhelming thoughts to him and not let them defeat you. This
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takes practice. You've got to practice taking every thought captive and live by his power
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making him your partner in homeschooling. That means you need to be in his word daily and
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stay prayerful trusting in his will for you and your kids. You can think that that perfect
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curriculum is out there and will solve all your homeschooling problems that everything will be
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perfect if you simply find the right curriculum but that's simply not true. The only thing that
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can give you the perfect piece that you are searching for in your homeschooling is a person
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Jesus Christ and you won't find that true peace in any worldly option you seek out. Secondly
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remember that when you homeschool you have such a great opportunity to give your kids a love of
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learning. Yes there are going to be some subjects or things that they don't like and that they have
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to do anyway but as they get older get their input into the kind of things that they like to do
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what they want to learn about and that helps make learning fun for them. I used to be worried that
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I wouldn't cover everything that I needed to in homeschooling that I would miss something and
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completely mess up my kids but the fact of the matter is you don't have to cover everything. You
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can't possibly cover everything. The thought that there are right things to teach at certain times
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is subjective. There is no one size fits all. When you teach your kids how to learn, teach them that
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they can learn and teach them how to love learning then they are golden. They have a wealth of
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information at their fingertips these days and can learn anything they might need to know at that
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point. So if you are stressing about forgetting to cover something or missing something, stop. You
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are going to forget things. You are not going to cover everything. Remember that you don't want to
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simply drill ideas into your kids heads. How much do you remember from your own schooling if you
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were taught that way? I know there is so much that I've forgotten that I once crammed into my brain
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to be able to pass tests. You don't have to teach this way. Teach a level of learning to your kids
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and throughout life they will be able to learn what they need when they need to learn it. Finally
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make the decision that you are going to not feel guilty if you make a curriculum decision that is
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different from someone else. Make the decision that it's okay to watch a video about a new
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curriculum and like it and think wow that looks really great and then move on. Don't get caught
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up thinking that you have to try every new shiny thing. If you need to make changes, make changes
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but because it seems like everyone else is doing something different doesn't mean you have to too
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or that you have to feel guilty about what you are doing or that you need to feel like you were
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missing out on something. Be okay with cheering on friends, learning about different things out
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there in case you ever need to use them but be confident in the choices that you do end up
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making. Okay guys was that helpful? I don't know. I feel like some of it is not your typical
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curriculum choosing advice so let me know in the comments what you think or if you have any
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questions I want to hear them. I am simply one voice, one mom with homeschooling experiences
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that may differ from yours but this is how I've chosen curriculum in the past and some of the
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things that have helped me. So I hope it was helpful for you too. Hit that like button. Give
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this video a thumbs up if it was helpful and if you are not subscribed already and would like to
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do that I would love to have you stick around here in my little space on YouTube. As always
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thank you so much for watching. I will see you next time
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