| Designing a Homeschool Curriculum |
By: Debra Dragon, Homeschooling Columnist
On 10/29/05
Designing a homeschool curriculum may be the most intimidating aspect of beginning your homeschool experience, but it is also one of the most rewarding. If you build your curriculum from scratch, you know your children will learn in a way that you think most benefits them.
| "Regardless of the curriculum you decide to use for homeschooling your children, feel confident in the number of resources available..." |
Of course, it’s important that you always cover the basics like mathematics, reading and writing in your curriculum, but you can teach the way you want, and in the manner that your children learn best, and you can expand on areas you feel are most important.
Homeschool curriculums can include religious studies, real-world experiences like shopping on a budget, or how to handle the family finances, and there are limitless possibilities for educational field trips and outings to encourage a deeper understanding of subjects than what most traditional school systems are able to provide in the standard classroom setting.
If you are new to homeschooling, or are simply nervous about meeting state requirements of topics that absolutely must be taught to your children, you do not have to completely design your curriculum on your own. There are numerous resources available to homeschool families, and a wide variety of curriculums and materials that you can purchase that become the building blocks of your home education experience.
Pre-made curriculums are available in a variety of formats as well, allowing you to choose a computer-based learning program, a textbook based program, or a unit-study program. At Alpha Omega Publications, you can compare several brands of popular homeschooling curriculums to decide which curriculum works best for your family. For even more choices, your local library likely contains a section devoted to homeschooling, with books and reference materials providing curriculum.
If you are homeschooling primarily because you want to include religious education in each of your subjects, you should search for pre-designed curriculum that integrates your beliefs within each of the core subject areas. Simply type “Christian homeschool resources” or “Jewish homeschool curriculum” into a search engine and you’ll be rewarded with lists of providers that offer subject specific curriculum materials, as well as entire homeschool curriculums that are faith based.
You are not limited to worksheets and textbooks in your homeschool. There are complete courses that are delivered via the Internet, and web based learning has become widely popular for most subject areas. If your children are reaching areas of mathematics that you fear you are not able to teach thoroughly, you should investigate algebra or calculus classes that are available online and consider enrolling your student into a class or two in order to fulfill your math requirement for that year.
There are literature and writing courses, history and arts, language and more available online, some are delivered from colleges, and some primary schools have started to offer courses online as well.
Entire homeschool curriculums can be obtained online, as well. If you are not comfortable with the traditional school environment, but do not feel that you would make your child’s best teacher, there are still ways for you to homeschool your child.
There are schools that teach homeschool students by delivering content over the Internet, and the students log into the online classroom, read and submit assignments to teachers by email, and work primarily on the computer. As a parent, you can always supplement this learning experience with hands on activities at home that correlate to the online curriculum, but you are not given the burden of teaching every last detail, or designing each section of the child’s education curriculum.
If you are planning to research and design your entire homeschool curriculum from scratch each year, there are many books and online resources that are available to guide you in the right direction. Home Learning Year By Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School by Rebecca Rupp, is an outstanding book that provides information about what your children should know and by what age, throughout their entire school years.
100 Top Pics for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your Child’s Learning Style by Cathy Duffy helps you determine how to design a homeschool curriculum that benefits your child based on your child’s personality and learning habits. An intensive website dedicated to providing useful resources in all areas of homeschooling, as well as a comprehensive curriculum area is located at Homeschool Central.
Regardless of the curriculum you decide to use for homeschooling your children, feel confident in the number of resources available to you both online and in text format. Whether you completely design your homeschool curriculum from scratch, deciding on each and every activity and learning topic, or you use a pre-designed curriculum that you’ve purchased, adding your own activities and special topics along the way, rest assured, your child is receiving a curriculum that was selected based on his or her unique learning habits and needs, and one that is based on your desire to do what’s best for him or her.
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