Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

As soon as you wind down one homeschool year, it’s already time to make plans for the next! And that includes finding homeschool curriculum to fit your family’s unique needs. This post will walk you through the essential questions to ask plus give you top tips on choosing homeschool curriculum.

Consider Your Goals

Of course, you need to figure out where you’re going to be able to find the resources to get you there. What are your goals for your kids this year? Don’t just consider academic goals, but also spiritual, emotional, physical, and so on. The beauty of homeschooling is that we can disciple our kids and encourage them in their character development.

Once you know your family priorities in this season, it’s easier to narrow down curriculum choices.

Check out these posts for more help in goal-setting and completion.

• Setting Realistic Goals – Homeschool Planning 101
• FREE Back to Homeschool Goals for Teens
• How to Set Goals That You’ll Actually Accomplish with Free Printable Goal Worksheet

How Do Your Kids Learn?

When you’re homeschooling, you get to modify and customize the way you teach to fit the way your kids learn best. We all know that the traditional classroom is made for a certain type of learner. Not everyone flourishes in that environment. But your homeschool can be personalized! This is such great news for our dyslexic kids and students with other challenges.

Check out these posts for more information on how learning styles impact which homeschool curriculum you choose:

• Homeschooling Tips for Different Learning Styles
• FREE Children’s Learning Style Quiz

And of course, kids grow and change and their independence will hopefully grow as they get older. So, while your homeschooling may require a lot from you in the early years, by the time your kids are in high school, it may look quite different.

Consider these tips on homeschooling through different stages and seasons:

• Help for New Homeschool Moms
• Keeping Multiple Children Organized in Your Homeschool
• Can I Really Homeschool High School?

Consider Worldview

No curriculum has a neutral worldview. The facts and analysis in every content area is being seen through a worldview lens. So, when you’re choosing homeschool curriculum, definitely keep in mind the worldview of the resources you’re going to bring into your homeschool.

Here are some excellent resources for you to use to help you in your curriculum discernment:

• FREE Genesis Worldview Video Course
• Using Resources That Conflict With Your Worldview
• Biblical Worldview Homeschooling
• How to Help Your Teens With a Biblical Worldview

Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

Finally, veteran homeschool moms can be a good source of recommendations and helpful tips. If you’ve been around the homeschool world for more than five minutes, you’ve likely landed on Cathy Duffy’s homeschool curriculum reviews site. She’s a real pioneer in the homeschooling world!

If you’d like to listen in on a great podcast episode with Cathy, then you can find it on episode 116 of the Homeschool with Moxie Podcast. Cathy’s reviews are invaluable plus her newest book, How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum, makes the job of selecting the right curriculum easy! In this ebook, Cathy simplifies the curriculum selection process with questionnaires and charts. She walks her readers through the process of figuring out their preferences in terms of a philosophy of education, learning styles, and goal setting. 

Best wishes as you choose the best curriculum for your family this year.