Overwhelmed With Curriculum Choices?
“I’m new to homeschooling! I’m so overwhelmed by the curriculum options and have no idea where to begin!”
Have you heard anyone say this? Perhaps that someone is you or perhaps a friend.
You’ll be relieved to know you are not alone.
If you’ve just decided to homeschool, it is normal to be a little nervous. Once you start digging in to all the options, it’s normal to be overwhelmed. There are SO MANY OPTIONS!
So, what do you do? What advice do I have to give you?
Set goals for your children.
I’m not talking about a long list of items, but basic and simple things. You might want them to know the 50 states and capitals and locations on a map. You might want your child to make it through Algebra 1 successfully. You might just want your child to be able to read a basic beginning level book. Perhaps, you’d like your child to be able to write a paragraph.
In other words, PAINT A MENTAL PICTURE of where you want your child to be academically, socially, behaviorally and even spiritually by the end of the current school year. Life isn’t ONLY about academics. You might have other goals that your child clearly needs to meet. Take time to reflect and brainstorm and write out thoughts on each of your children. You can save your notes for the end of the year to look back and reflect and then adjust goals for the following year.
Do your research.
It’s possible that if you haven’t given it much thought before now that you have no idea on what the goals SHOULD be. Just remember that ultimately you are in charge because you are the parent.
You might choose to look up state standards. I did this too in the very beginning—just to see where most of my child’s peers were expected to be academically. That is ok to do. It’s also ok to not look at those. Any experienced educator will tell you those standards have changed throughout the years. If your child is not testing with the state you will not have to be concerned on teaching the same things at the same time (part of homeschooling freedom).
You might choose to interact with other parents and children and ask their advice. Just because you ask advice does NOT mean you have to take it. Each family is unique. Some children LOVE worksheet material. Other children are easily turned off by it and need something completely different. Ask to borrow a curriculum to personally look at. In the beginning, when I was researching, I read LOTS OF REVIEWS and watched LOTS OF YOUTUBE WALK-THROUGHS, which showed me the inside of the books.
Not all of the curriculum will be in book form. Some might be online. Consider the time of day you will use that curriculum, screen time, internet access, etc. Think ahead to what it will look like for your child. Some parents love online curriculum because the child will get immediate and graded feedback on how accurate the practice is.
For me, personally, I’m turned off by curriculum that requires the parent to read too much before doing a lesson. After all, I will have to prepare for all three of my children. I prefer to teach as much as I can to my children at the same time, if possible.
Give yourself permission to switch curriculum.
Please know that curriculum is not a lifelong commitment or even a year long commitment. Usually you can resale curriculum online if it is not working for you. Perhaps you purchased something that others raved about and it isn’t working for your family. That’s ok. At least you can get some if not most of your money back.
Your life will go in stages based on jobs, houses, children’s ages, etc. and you will need to adapt.
There is no perfect curriculum, which is why you should stay reminded of your ultimate yearly (and lifetime) goals for your children. Is the curriculum helping with those goals or not? Sometimes you can just supplement and add another activity to help boost the curriculum. Other times, you may choose to edit something out of a current curriculum. You can even skip a lesson or unit if you want (providing it’s not something that builds on previous lessons). You are your child’s teacher. Give yourself some credit.
Simplify your homeschool life.
If you have younger children, consider teaching some subjects together. There is no reason why you cannot cover science, social studies, Bible, art, music and PE topics together as a family. Your older children will naturally be able to do more and understand more. Unit studies are fantastic for this sort of set up. You can purchase unit studies on. teacher websites or through curriculum companies. You can also do your own. Build vocabulary within the area of study by using the words and discussing them. Read, watch, and write about topics to understand the concepts within the units of study.
If you have a middle schooler or high schooler, you might choose to simplify things by having your child take an online course or meeting a tutorial to cover higher level topics while you spend time with younger children. Some children are self-starters and can manage doing their school studies mostly on their own by that point.
One way to simplify your homeschool life—especially while you are searching for curriculum options, is to practice reading, writing and arithmetic as your core subjects. Think about it. Reading can cover any topic: (Science, social studies, Bible, or even various works of fiction). Writing in a journal helps a child to retell what has been learned and it’s like any skill: the more you practice, the better you get. Math builds on itself, so it’s good to never leave that subject for too long. Your children can continue moving forward using those as a core while you figure out details on curriculum.
Can you think of any other ways to keep from being overwhelmed as you navigate curriculum and make a plan for your homeschooling?
In my Survival Guide for the New Homeschool Family, I talk more about curriculum and include lots of resources! Be sure to get a copy here.
Remember, YOU are your child’s most influential teacher.