Ten Recommendations on Using Homeschool Curriculum

Here are ten recommendations I have to share about homeschooling curriculum.

1. If the child is learning easily and things are going smooth with a curriculum for you and your child(ren) you are using, stay with it. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.

2. Don’t fall into the trap of always looking on the other side of the fence to see if the grass is greener. Spend your time doing good stuff with your kids and having fun and learning not continually shopping for curriculum and teaching yourself how to use new system after new system.


3. If a child has mastered a topic and the curriculum has more lessons on the same topic, skip them and move onto the next topic. Do not stress over doing all the lessons if the work is completely repetitive and the child has mastered that concept or knowledge tidbit.

4. If you have purchased a curriculum before complaining that it is not working you need to actually use it. Trying it a few times over a long period of time and saying it doesn’t work is not fair if in actuality the kids are not learning because you are not teaching them anything about that topic (because you are not using the curriculum). Don’t blame the curriculum for not working when the problem is your non-use of it.

5. Don’t on one day, complain that your curriculum budget is too low for something you say you need then overspend the next week on a new program for a subject that you already own something for that is working just because the new thing looks even better than the thing that is already working and is liked by your children.

6. Figure out your homeschooling method and spend your money on things that are in line with that curriculum. Do not be swayed by what another homeschool mom tells you she likes, or by what a curriculum vendor at a homeschool conference says you should be using. Buy only what is in line with your method and style of homeschooling. Until you get your philosophy of homeschooling nailed down don’t buy anything!

7. Evaluate the effectiveness of a curriculum on how your child is reacting and learning or not learning from it. Don’t make decisions based on something you read on the Internet or what your friend says. What they think is great may not be a match for YOUR child. You know your child best.

8. Stop thinking that curriculum will solve all of your problems, or that it can make all learning fun. The fact is that we homeschooling parents struggle with general parenting issues like all other parents. The fact is that some learning is difficult or harder for some kids than for others. Learning one subject may be easy for your child but learning another may be more difficult. Some different curriculum can’t solve all the challenges.

9. Focus. Just Do It—teach your kids.

10. Instead of spending time over-analyzing curriculum go do something fun with your kids that has nothing to do with curriculum, like playing a fun board game or reading aloud a good book.

This post was inspired after hanging out with a certain friend (you know who you are) who today is seeking yet again for a more perfect Language Arts curriculum when the one she began using earlier this spring was stated to be easy, low prep time, short lessons and the kids were learning from using it.

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