How to Begin to Homeschooling: Choosing Curriculum

Answering readers’ questions on how to choose curriculum as you begin homeschooling.

My inbox is full of messages and questions from first time homeschoolers every year, but the craziness of 2020 has quadrupled the amount of questions I’m getting.

Since there are so many new homeschoolers out there and so many questions, I’m posting as many of my responses on the blog that I can, in hopes that my answers might help more!

There is really nothing I like more than getting mail from you sweet readers and conversing with you one on one. So without further ado, here is today’s question.

I’m wondering what your advice would be for me as far as beginning this homeschool journey? My oldest is going into 4th while my other school age kiddos is going into K, my other two are 3 and 1 currently.
I love your method of picking and choosing and was leaning more towards that, but certainly don’t want to set myself up for failure.
Would you would recommend a more structured curriculum at this stage or not? I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions you might have. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy life to read this!
Beginning Homeschooler

How to choose curriculum when beginning homeschooling

Begin Homeschooling: Curriculum Choices

God works in such mysterious ways and, I believe, is using the tumult of the current times to call people to homeschooling and building their domestic church.

Eclectic versus Homeschool Program

Whether you want to be an “eclectic homeschooler” (picking and choosing your own curriculum) or follow a program is really up to you. However, it seems like your personality is leaning towards eclectic, so I would go with that.

Using a program as a spine

While we used Mother of Divine Grace for about 18 months (when my oldest was in 3rd/4th), we’ve been mostly eclectic. That said, I’ve found it helpful to start with a “spine” program when planning the year ahead.

Mother of Divine Grace in the archives

How to use a program as a spine

What do I mean by use a program as a spine? It’s very simple and brings a bit of clarity and simplicity to the planning process.

1.Start with a program that is very close to your style.

There are many wonderful homeschool programs and you might be amazed at the number of Catholic homeschool programs.

If you’d like a list, you can check out my side by side comparison of Catholic homeschool programs. It includes a printable guide too (yeah for printables!).

Catholic Homeschool Programs: Side-by-side Comparison

2.Go subject by subject through the program

After choosing the program you are most drawn to, go through each subject of that program and note:

Is this subject necessary?
Is there a reason this curriculum might not work for me? my student? for this season?
What else is available?

Let’s break these questions down a bit.

Do I think this subject is necessary?

If you don’t think a subject is necessary to your child’s education at that point, feel free to drop it. Let me give a few examples to illustrate what I mean.

Our family doesn’t follow an elementary history or science program, but, instead, relies heavily on a well-chosen book list that introduces these subjects through literature. Our kids learn a great deal from checking out books at the library, family discussions, and time outside.

We also don’t require formal study of none-core subjects until our children have a strong foundation in the 3 R’s (usually around 3rd or 4th grade).

Optional subjects in elementary: Geography, vocabulary, reading comprehension, map work, history, science

Is there a reason this curriculum might not work for us?

Does it require a lot of prep work?
Does the curriculum require a lot of direct teacher involvement that I can’t give in this season?
Is it a complicated program?
Can I easily access if my child is learning?
Is there enough review?

If this isn’t the curriculum I want to use for this subject, what else is available?

Take the weaknesses/strengths of the given curriculum and use them to find a curriculum that might work better.

For instance, if you don’t like all the direct instruction time, is there a workbook program that can help your student be more independent?

You can go back to the other Catholic homeschool programs and look for inspiration or do a bit of googling.

How our family has used a spine

When we first started homeschooling, I would look through the book The Well Trained Mind every year and use that as a jumping off point.

Now I look at Seton Home Study as an outline for our year.

We are far from being Seton homeschoolers, but it helps me immensely to not have to reinvent the wheel every year and to know what is generally important at varying ages/stages.

Another tool that has helped me is creating a custom scope and sequence for our family. BUT I don’t suggest creating one of these your first year of homeschooling.

You will make curriculum mistakes

I can 100% guarantee that as you get started homeschooling you are going to make mistakes choosing curriculum.

You are going to hate something you choose. You are going to waste money and time.

That’s totally okay!

You will figure out along the way what works and doesn’t work for you and your kiddos.

In the last couple years I’ve finally figured out what works for us and haven’t had to make any curriculum changes in the middle of our school year.

Uncommon advice

A couple last minute pointers to consider as you search for the perfect curriculum.

This is advice I don’t see other places but that brings me a lot of peace as mother and teacher in our homeschooling days. After all, mama and her attitude are just as important as the curriculum!

Consider your own personality, time, and energy
Done is better than perfect

Consider your own personality, time, and energy

I consider myself a high energy person, but I try to keep our homeschool simple and as independent as possible.

I don’t get caught up in methods (Classical, Traditional, Charlotte Mason, etc.) or learning styles too much. Instead, I look for curriculum that is solid and easy to implement.