Choose Curriculum

In preparing the ultimate guide for new homeschoolers a lot of things affected what I selected to include and not include.

My over 20+ years of homeschooling experience influenced this list, but my unique experiences in mentoring new homeschoolers in person for 10 years had an equal weight. You’re getting a two-pher.

Based on years of experience I have unique one of a kind resources for new homeschoolers.

I not only have a self-paced, instant access, online boot camp, but an awesome book. They stand alone in the homeschool world because like I mentioned earlier, they’re not just based on personal experience.

My experience alone may or may not be of value to you, but one-to-one coaching for newbees gives me a one-of-a-kind perspective.

Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp is a companion to the online, instant access, self-paced Boot Camp Course. You don’t need my book to do the boot camp. You’ll get tons of value from either product.

New Homeschoolers Who Want to Avoid Rookie Mistakes

I know you’re interested in purchasing curriculum right now. 

There is a time to purchase curriculum, but go through these resources first so that you make a well-informed choice. I’d like to save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

STEP 1. Homeschooling Begins with Education for the New Educator

It is important to get the help and education you need like just like any new teacher would. Avoid the rookie mistake of jumping in and purchasing curriculum.

What IS and What IS NOT Homeschooling

Deschooling is the MOST important beginning step. Look at Deschooling: Step One for the New Homeschooler (the Definitions, the Dangers, and the Delight)

Video: How to Deschool – Are You Doomed If You’ve Never Deschooled?

Homeschooling works well for ANY child because EVERY child deserves an individualized education, but that doesn’t mean everyone can do it. 

In addition, homeschooling looks different for each family.

Some families have both parents that work, have one full time working breadwinner, or one family could be a single mom. Homeschooling is flexible for ALL those families.

Arming yourself with pros and cons, you can decide how you will handle the naysayers.

Homeschool Stats & Facts NOW Equals Deep Roots

We’re going to talk heart to heart, but we need to go beyond the warm and fuzzy part of homeschooling.

Look at the success of the homeschool approach by reading the stats at NHERI (NATIONAL HOME EDUCATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE ).

Choosing curriculum is NOT the first step.
(Veteran Tip: Look at Why Buying Curriculum Won’t Make You a Homeschooler – But What Will)

Step 2. Know Local Homeschool Law AND How-to Meet It

Determining what type of curriculum you will be using is affected by the laws of your land. Most homeschool state laws are relaxed meaning you have a good amount of control over the type of curriculum.

Why is that important?

If you have stringent records to keep, then for your first or second year get something boxed or laid out because it eases homeschool stress or record keeping in the beginning when you don’t what to keep and what to throw away.

Go to HSLDA {It’s short for Home School Legal Defense Association} to know the laws of where you live. It has a clickable Map. It’s that important to know BEFORE jumping into purchasing expensive curriculum.

I’m not a lawyer, but having helped new homeschoolers in many different states, I have a good handle on understanding quite a few laws in different states.

Tip: Of course, your local state group is the best resource, but I will help if you’re lost. I want you to get the help you need.

Look at my Big Ol’ List of All-In-One Homeschool Curriculum (a.k.a Boxed) .

Next, instead of choosing only curriculum that public school uses, you want to use curriculum which supports the way your children learn best.

Step 3. Veteran Tip: Curriculum is Organized by Homeschool Approach.

Learn the homeschool approaches first!

Look at the top 5 Homeschool Approaches.
(Veteran Tip: Expand your view of what is curriculum.) Look at 45 Ways to Define Homeschool Curriculum – Is Your Definition Holding You Back?

I am not going to overwhelm you with all of the approaches that have come and gone; the ones below are the most popular approaches in homeschooling. 

First, I have defined the approach and then I give you a link/s as homeschoolers share about the choices that fit their family or to help understand the approach better.

1.
Eclectic/Relaxed/Unschooling Approach
(Veteran Tip: This is really 3 different approaches, but they share some similarities. In the spirit of simplifying your start I grouped them together.)

Though I think that unschooling has received a bum rap in the past, it is more common for this approach to mean more of a relaxed approach and somewhat eclectic. But each family defines what unschooling means for them.

Unschoolers use a real life approach and child-led approach meaning they simply follow the interests of their children to decide what will be learned for the day.

They trust a child’s natural desire to learn and feed that from infancy. A lot of them do not use formal curriculum.

Although it is child-led, many unschoolers use some curriculum. I prefer to use Sandra Dodd’s definition found here at What’s the Difference between Relaxed Homeschooling and Unschooling?

Look at A day in the life of radical unschoolers

In recent years, eclectic homeschoolers have also emerged separate from unschoolers.

Eclectic homeschoolers are homeschoolers who mix and match the characteristics of the different approaches explained here and don’t really hail to one homeschool approach over the other.

Look at I’m an Eclectic Homeschooler. What Exactly Does That Mean?
Look at What is Delight-Directed Schooling.
Look at Relaxed Homeschooling and what it looks like years later.

2.
Charlotte Mason Approach

I prefer the definition at Simply Charlotte Mason: “The Charlotte Mason method is based on Charlotte‘s firm belief that the child is a person and we must educate that whole person, not just his mind. So a Charlotte Mason education is three-pronged: in her words, “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.”

Look at Our Journey Westward for a Charlotte Mason schedule.
Look at What Drew Me to a Charlotte Mason Education.

3.
Classical Approach

Susan Wise Bauer is the modern model of classical education and I prefer her definition: “Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves. This classical pattern is called the trivium.”

Look at the introduction to classical education.

4.
Unit Studies

I also prefer Susan Wise Bauer’s definition of a unit study. “A unit study integrates disciplines together, rather than dividing them into separate “subjects” to be pursued at different times during the school day. Literature, history, science, mathematics, art, music, history, and so on are all studied through their relationship to a core organizing principle.”

Look at Homeschooling Styles: Unit Studies
Look at Unit Studies: Multi-Age, Multi-Subject Approach to Learning.

5.
Workbook, Textbook, also called Boxed and All-in-One in the homeschool world.
(Veteran Tip:This is the approach you’re probably most familiar with since it’s used in public schools.)

I like the definition at Education Today. “This traditional approach uses graded textbooks or workbooks that follow a scope and sequence. Each subject is covered in 180 daily increments per school year for a span of 12 years. Teacher’s manuals, tests and record keeping materials are usually available.”

Look at the Textbook Approach To Education.
Look at the Traditional Approach to Homeschooling.

Why You Should Start with Inexpensive or an All-in-One Curriculum

 During my many years of mentoring new homeschoolers, I’ve seen them spend thousands of dollars on a curriculum. That is so needless.

Choosing inexpensive curriculum in the beginning gives you financial room to understand what grade level each of your children are truly on and not just choosing the next grade level. Your money goes further because you made a more informed choice.

(Veteran Tip: Another HUGE rookie mistake is choosing the next grade level without truly understanding what your children know or don’t know on his or her grade level.)

Avoid the mind-set that if your children repeat a subject on a grade level or reviews it that they will be behind. Some children jump several grade levels in one year because they repeated material previously not mastered.

A well-defined goal in the beginning should be that your children become masters of their material which means slowing down or going down a grade level when he needs to and skipping a grade level when he has it.

And guess what? In homeschool, we don’t really keep up with grades. 

Oh we do pay attention to grade levels/grades (sometimes) as we move our children on their courses, but the point of it is that children do not develop evenly. They are ahead in some subjects and struggle with others.

Look at my 7 Budget-Friendly Language Arts Curriculum to Pair with Unit Studies (with printable). Look at BEST Curriculum by Homeschoolers for Homeschoolers, Digital Homeschool Curriculum – Big Ol’ List, and Is Homeschooling Expensive.

A boxed curriculum gives you a pattern to follow which a lot of new homeschoolers need. 

From using a boxed curriculum, you determine what you like and don’t like about one homeschool approache over another and that helps to save you money in the long run from too much trial and error.

Don’t make another huge rookie mistake while using boxed curriculum which is to do it ALL.

Do not be a slave to boxed curriculum meaning you need to avoid the thinking that you have to complete the whole thing. Use the parts that you need while you are reading all you can in your first or second year. 

No wow factor happens when you complete curriculum. Completing curriculum does not mean a child understood it. Understanding and completing curriculum are not synonymous.

The end goal during the first year or second year is to find the approach that fits your family best and it takes time.

Homeschool Curriculum Organized by Homeschool Approach – Ewww so Fantastic!

To give you a head start, I’ve taken a few curriculum providers and organized it below by approach so I help you conquer the curriculum conundrum.

Look at the candy store homeschool curriculum providers below that stand ready to help you succeed.

Step 4. Homeschool Schedule, Organization, and Lesson Planning

Awww, yes NOW the part that most new homeschoolers have the hardest time achieving and that is how to add in school to an already busy day.

I have had MANY schedules through the years and they were based on the needs and ages of my children and whether I had to work or not.

Look at these tips.

Video: How to Homeschool Lesson Plan EZ by Tina Robertson

I have one of the BEST organizing tools in the homeschool world and it is the 7 Step Homeschool Planner. You build it yourself using my beautiful forms.

Video: Scheduled & Lesson Plans A Bit Like Chemistry New Homeschooler Boot Camp by Tina Robertson

And yes, I am going there next and that is homeschool socialization.

Step 5. Homeschool Socialization

We do crawl out from under our rocks.

Okay, seriously the homeschooling world is brimming with activities. Albeit, they vary from area to area. The point is your children can be involved in as much or in as little you want them to be.

If you haven’t already heard from the homeschool critics, you will. Some new homeschoolers get hit pretty hard early on in their journey by well wishing family members with questions and then sometimes you will receive plain down right criticism. 

It can be hard if you have tender feelings on top of being antsy about succeeding. 

Look at these links to grab some gracious and quick replies!

How-to Extinguish Any Possible Spark for the Love of the Learning

I know you can’t wait to dig into curriculum because you may feel it is the very proof that you need that you are now an official homeschooler. 

I admit that I love the stuff myself too and curriculum buying can be pretty addicting.  It is something that I still look forward to each year as if it was my very first time.

How can you determine if the curriculum you choose will make a good fit for your family?  True, some of it is trial and error, but some of it is not. 

I have you covered with some tips on how to not extinguish the love of learning.

Keep in mind that if you use a text book approach now because you feel comfortable with it, it is okay. 

However, if you have a child that is extremely burned out on this method used in public schools, you will want to implement some other approach from the beginning because you don’t want to turn your child off to homeschooling in the first few months.

So your teaching style and homeschool style will change as you meet the needs of your kids and utilize your strengths to be the best teacher for your children.

remember you’re not teaching curriculum, you’re teaching a child.

AND I have OH SO MUCH MORE for you!!! Here is my category on my site Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus with tons more tips for newbies.

Can I help you with something now?

Hugs and enjoy this plethora of information intended to set your feet firmly on the road of new homeschool beginnings.

This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.