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!
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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.
Civil Air Patrol
Civil Air Patrol’s cadet program transforms youth into dynamic Americans and aerospace leaders through a curriculum that focuses on leadership, aerospace, fitness, and character. As cadets participate in these four elements, they advance through a series of achievements, earning honors and increased responsibilities along the way.
Brave Writer
My goal is to help you do your job to draw out the fascinating mind life of your children so that you can capture those precious thoughts in writing. What's on paper ought to be a fair and insightful representation of all that goes on in your kids' busy heads. When it is, you and your young writers will love the results.