Homeschool Curriculum - What Curriculum Is Best?
With many different options out there, choosing a homeschool curriculum for your child(ren) can be daunting. In this blog post, EZ-Teach offers 5 points of advice to consider when sorting out which ones to pick:
1. How to choose the best homeschool curriculum for your child
2. What factors separate top-rated homeschool curricula from poor curriculum programs
3. Our favourite curriculums for homeschooling
4. How do I start homeschooling my child? (We’ll provide a step-by-step process in this section!)
5. What subjects are most important to focus on for homeschooling? (We’ll list our top 3 and why.)
As a side note, some of our staff members at EZ-Teach have recently begun homeschooling their kids, so many of these tips are coming straight from their personal experiences!
Homeschool Curriculum
Tired from reviewing homeschool curriculum? Keep reading and get tips to help you choose.
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1. How to choose the best homeschool curriculum for your child
In this section, we will provide a step-by-step process for getting started in choosing a homeschool curriculum. For some, getting started is the hardest step, so we hope this guide helps. You can also read our other post, How To Choose The Best Homeschool Curriculum For Your Child.
Step 1: Decide on your goals
Choosing to homeschool is a big decision, so you likely decided this with a few goals in mind. What are your goals as you homeschool your kids?
Do you desire your kids receive a more balanced education?
Do you need more time for travel and other “non-academic” pursuits as a family?
Does your child benefit from a specific type of education?
Does your child have specific learning needs or other health requirements?
Are you preparing your children for university or college?
There are some questions to help you start setting goals and priorities for your homeschooling plan. After you get the big-picture goals set, you’ll get to more specific goals for your kids’ learning. In this helpful blog, How To Set Homeschooling Goals, from Happy Homeschool Nest, you can see more specific examples of goals, like what skills your child will need to master at each grade level.
And remember, try to make SMART goals, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound.
Step 2: Review your needs
Think about what you bring to the table as an educator. What are your strengths and skills? What are your weaknesses?
Will you need to hire outside help or join a homeschooling co-op to help ensure your kids get a balanced education? How much time can you devote to teaching? How flexible does the curriculum need to be? What will my schedule need to be? How much support do you need in terms of the curriculum? What is my budget?
Do you prefer instructions that are broad and open-ended or something more detailed and specific? Again, there are lots of questions to ask. The goal is to be comfortable with the curriculum you choose. Also, providing curriculum and other educational resources can be expensive, so be aware of your financial needs, too.
While children’s brains are especially malleable, consider your kids’ learning preferences when choosing a curriculum. This is particularly important when a child struggles with a certain learning disability.
Image Source: Yan Krukov
Step 3: Review your kids’ needs
As much as you need to consider your strengths and weaknesses, think about those of your children, too. Think about your children’s learning preferences. Do they enjoy some activities more than others? Do they have any learning challenges or disabilities?
It is important to choose a curriculum that is well-rounded in terms of exposing your children to a variety of learning experiences, but there will be times when you will need to tweak the curriculum to suit a child that can’t sit still or may have trouble reading or writing.
Does that curriculum you’re eyeing give you the flexibility that your kids need? Does it provide you with enough information to give your kids the tools to understand the concepts being taught?
Again, there are so many questions to ask, and not necessarily a particular right way or any wrong answers. Consider asking your kids to preview the curriculum with you and perhaps even try some lesson plans out to see if there are specific types of curriculum that appeal to your kids over others.
Step 4: Research your province or state’s requirements
If you choose to homeschool your kids instead of sending them to a public school, it is important that you find out what is required of you. There may be certain standards and requirements.
While Ontario currently offers a lot of flexibility to parents who homeschool their children, there are other provinces in Canada that have specific requirements you will need to meet.
For instance, the province of Québec stipulates that homeschooling must “comply with all the conditions and procedures determined by government regulation,” which they lay out on the Government of Québec’s website. If you live in Canada, you can check the laws and regulations by province here; if you live in the U.S., you can check by state here.
It is helpful to do some research about the curriculum expectations of your province or state before choosing curriculum.
Image Source: William Fortunato
Step 5: Research public education curriculum standards
After determining what is required of you legally, you can also have a look at what public schools in your area are required to teach. In most regions, curriculum guides are made available to parents.
For example, in Ontario, Canada, you can download curriculum guides to see what students are expected to have learned by the end of each grade level. Ontario has its curriculum guides available for download here.
Once you know what is required, you’ll feel more confident in choosing your curriculum. And that doesn’t mean that you just have to meet the recommended guidelines, you may even exceed them since your children have the freedom to work at their own pace.
2. What factors separate top-rated homeschool curricula from poor curriculum programs
Flexibility
A curriculum is often top-rated when it offers some measure of customization. If the curriculum provides tips for choosing activities and adjusting them to grade levels and learning preferences, this is a big bonus.
Variety
A curriculum that connects to a variety of subject areas and learning opportunities is ideal because it offers your children the chance to explore and develop a variety of skills and concepts.
Children are highly adaptable and are sponges for information, so while you don’t want to overwhelm them (or yourself), you may be surprised by what your kids are capable of - they truly are incredible! Make sure you give them the best opportunity to develop their intellect and talent.
The curriculum you use should provide clear instructions and be user-friendly.
Image Source: Julia M Cameron
User-Friendly
While the user-friendliness of a curriculum may simply reflect a person’s own learning preferences, a curriculum that is easy to use is going to come with great reviews. Whether your child is working online or with books, the instructions need to be clear and any interfacing needs to be intuitive.
Cost
Lastly, we’ve added cost. While you don’t want to pick a curriculum solely based on cost, most parents appreciate a curriculum that is either free or low in cost, particularly if they plan on using the same providers as children progress through grade levels.
3. Our favourite curriculums for homeschooling
While everyone differs in terms of their preferences, we would like to suggest three of our favourites, which happen to be for young children, so these recommendations will be more helpful for parents of young children.
Come Sit By Me
Come Sit By Me is a curriculum geared for students aged 4-7 that is based on children’s Canadian literature and incorporates Christian morals and Bible verses, too.
It covers a variety of subject areas like science and art and is organized by units. The curriculum by Cyndy Regeling and Cori Dean was inspired by the Charlotte Mason Method which is based on the belief “that the child is a person and we must educate that whole person, not just his mind.”
Parents find it very flexible to use and can be developed or simplified as needed. Click here to find out more about Volume 1 and see sample pages and the book list, too. If you keep scrolling, you'll see Volume 2.
Pros: You get a jam-packed resource linking content to a variety of Canadian literature rich in Christian values…you are on your way to encouraging a love of reading.
Cons: You need to source the books. You can buy them if you have money in your budget or you can find them at a local library.
Cost: $$ out of $$$$$
Number Blocks
While this may not be what you expected when we listed curriculums, Number Blocks is an online resource that really excites kids when it comes to teaching them about number sense and counting. You can always use this as supplementary material, too.
The videos introduce numbers in a story-like manner with characters and songs, and there are accompanying worksheets and other activity guides to get your kids baking and creating!
Number Blocks reinforces their learning about math operations like addition while providing some great entertainment! If you can find a curriculum that incorporates manipulatives like the base ten blocks, this would be a great addition, too.
We’ve included a sample video above on the number 4 for you to enjoy, but there are many more here.
Pros: You get entertaining videos and catchy tunes that teach your children for you!
Cons: You need internet access and screen time is something parents often wish to limit.
Cost: $ out of $$$$$ (The resources are free, however, there are some items for purchase.)
Canadian History Guide
The Canadian History Guide by Amanda Landgraff is a 36-week exploration of Canadian history that was enthusiastically recommended to us by a Mom who said that finding a Canadian history curriculum was hard to come by as a homeschooling parent.
The PDF guide is geared towards students in Grades 2-8 and also uses a variety of books, somewhat like Come Sit By Me. In fact, students will be exposed to about 80 books over the course of the year. Your kids will learn about early explorers and their interactions with Aboriginal people already living in Canada as well as recent history. Get the guide here.
Pros: Again, you expose your children to a lot of Canadian literature.
Cons: You also need to source the books. However, by using your local library you are also teaching your kids how to use the library.
Cost: $ out of $$$$$
Other Notable Mentions:
Apologia Science (Someone we know personally recommended this, especially because of its science kits!)
Canadian Daily Language Activities (This is listed in the Grade 3 Curriculum Recommendations by Homeschool Canada and is available for Grades 5-8 on our curriculum page.)
We know it is time-consuming, but always start your homeschooling journey with a bit of research - read online reviews, talk and network with people, etc.
Image Source: Photo by Ketut Subiyanto
4. How do I start homeschooling my child?
We’ve actually written another blog about this called Homeschooling: How To Start In 5 Easy Steps.
We’ve included the 5 steps here, but you can read the more detailed version by clicking the title above or by clicking here.
The best is to do some reflection and research before you begin, and then make sure you have support in place once you begin. You can also join a homeschool group so that you won’t feel so alone!
Step 1: Do your research to decide if this is the right choice for you
Step 2: Find a great curriculum
Step 3: Create a schedule and plan you feel confident following
Step 4: Connect with other homeschooling parents
Step 5: Get started!
Remember to think about what subjects you will focus on as you homeschool.
Image Source: Photo by Gustavo Fring
5. What subjects are most important to focus on for homeschooling?
We recognize that everyone has different values and opinions, but we are going to list three subjects we think are most important to focus on.
These three have long been considered the fundamentals: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (Can you just hear the little jingle in your head as you read that?). Or, in other words, Reading, Writing and Mathematics.
Reading
What can we say? Reading opens doors to a wealth of information! Students need to be able to read to follow instructions, enjoy books, and study other materials. Reading also helps us process information and draw connections between verbal language and written language, letters and sounds.
Writing
Learning to write helps students draw connections and organize ideas, as well as develop their fine motor skills. Have a look at this article by Anna H. Hall called “Every Child is a Writer: Understanding the Importance of Writing in Early Childhood”
Mathematics
As to be expected, math is important for a variety of reasons but namely to help develop one’s sense of logic and reason. It is also a building block for understanding other subjects like science, art and music.
Here is another article from Prodigy entitled “Why Is Math Important? 9 Reasons Why Math Skills Improve Quality of Life”. Just start brainstorming all the ways math is a part of your life: problem-solving, budgeting, shopping, construction, etc. It would seem we can’t get by without some basic knowledge of mathematics.
Remember, even though these are the top three subjects we think you should focus on, you can teach other subjects and incorporate creative activities to teach these core subjects, too.
Keep in mind that learning is a journey that lasts a lifetime, so enjoy it!
Image Source: Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko
EZ-TEACH
Regardless of what you teach, the most important thing you can do for your child is to teach them how to learn and to encourage a lifelong love of learning.
They will forever be learning in life and the world is constantly changing. Give your children the basics, provide opportunities to explore, grow and be challenged, and enjoy the ride as you learn alongside them. There is so much to discover about our world!
EZ-Teach is here to support you in your homeschooling journey. Feel free to contact us by clicking the button below to send us a message. We love hearing from readers.
