Choosing Curriculum

I had a friend tell me recently that curriculum is not necessarily a set of homeschool books. It is whatever tools you put in your toolkit to guide your kids through meaningful learning experiences. That description reminded me that we are teaching all of the time (as all parents are), so doing so with specific intentions and resources (curriculum) is what we call homeschool!

That being said, it is probably the most asked question from prospective homeschool parents, "What curriculum do you use?" I have blogged about my journey (scroll all the way down on this page) in choosing our homeschool resources. How did I come to those choices? I did three basic things: I asked myself what mattered to me, what my priorities are, and what sort of lifestyle I wanted to create through homeschool. Then, I paid attention to my kid, spent time over a summer exploring local resources, "shopping" online and requesting demos to play with, and paying attention to when and how she got excited about learning. Lastly, I found a few parent vloggers and curriculum reviewers that I resonated with, wrote down their recommendations, and dug deeper. I have added those to the teacher/admin resources page under the topic "homeschool advice."

When we tried something we both loved, we stuck with it. When either of us didn't, we tossed it and tried the next thing on the list! To make your online "shopping" easier, at the bottom of this page, there is a curriculum resource library that I have curated. You can filter it based on approaches, subjects, etc.

Curriculum Resource Library

Click Here to See Resource List (or scroll down for filters)

Quick reference spreadsheet: Public $ for Homeschooling

NOTE: Click on the tags below - the more you click, the more narrow your results.

Go To List

Crunch Labs

Science subscription boxes

Discovery Institute Academy

Discovery Institute Academy offers high school-level science taught from the perspective that nature reflects intelligent design.

Dream box (reading)

Every student is unique, their learning path should be too. DreamBox Math and Reading programs personalize instruction, so educators can scale differentiation to meet all student needs.

Enki

They have homeschool and online school available. Project based from what I can tell. Sliding scale fees.

Demme Learning: Math-U-See

Math-U-See is math you�ll love. Easy to use for both student and teacher. Uses a distinctive set of manipulatives to visually represent and demonstrate math concepts. Student-paced mastery approach suitable for all levels. Mix and match what works best for you: Learning Textbook, Test Book, DVD Lessons, Online Lessons (self-paced).

Dive Into (Math & Science)

Self-paced and live online math (4-12 grade) and science (7-12 grade) classes with a Biblical foundation. With degrees in science and engineering, Dr. Shormann has 25 years of experience teaching math and science from elementary through college levels. Teaching math as the language of science, a tool used to understand God and Creation, he equips and inspires students to excel.

Duolingo

Learning with Duolingo is fun, and research shows that it works! With quick, bite-sized lessons, you’ll earn points and unlock new levels while gaining real-world communication skills.

Enlightium Academy

A Washington based Christian online school that provides several different levels of support from a low cost homeschool package to a top tier package that provides the entire school experience for your child. They also have programs to support the development and management of a learning center, private school, micro-school, etc., also at different levels. They utilize the Ignitia curriculum from Alpha Omega.

Digital History

Free history lessons, content, research and resources. This Web site was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges and is supported by the College of Education at the University of Houston.

Dream box (math)

Proven effective whether students need intervention, remediation, or enrichment, our engaging and adaptive math program integrates curriculum and continuous formative assessment to personalize instruction, develop conceptual understanding, build critical skills, and improve achievement for every student.