The Daunting Task of Choosing the Right Curriculum

Making the choice to home school is no easy decision for any family. You question if you can do it, how you will do it, where you will do it, and how it will affect your child.  When you finally find peace and sign on to homeschooling and think the hardest decision is behind you, you're left to figure
out what curriculum to use to make sure your child receives a top notch education at home. For me, settling on a curriculum is daunting....every year. Every home school parent must understand that what works for one family may not work for you and your family.

Speaking to veteran homeschoolers can be a relief and sometimes it's overwhelming
hearing them talk about how they create their own materials or use their child's interests to create lessons and unit studies. For some people, not having an outline or a plan can be stressful, for others this can be liberating. I personally prefer having a plan, it keeps me organized- without this I can't function well and feel unproductive. (Read my Homeschool Management post for organization tips.)


I started homeschooling my son when he was in kindergarten. I had experienced teaching traditional school curriculum before that. I surrounded myself with homeschoolers for advice on curriculum, schedules, and any other tips they could provide. This was a wonderful, helpful, and supportive group of mothers. It did not take long for me to realize I was not comfortable with the curriculum some of them had recommended. I liked the traditional approach because I thrived in school with that. I liked having textbooks with pictures and colors (at the time most homeschool material was black and white and lacked photos). I created a small classroom in my home and put up posters and the alphabet, made a bulletin board to pin up my son's work and had a schedule. I was shamed by a few of my homeschool friends for "trying to reproduce school at home", but that was how I envisioned our homeschool. It's so important for veteran and new homeschoolers to remember that there is NO ONE-WAY to home school. And there is no singular curriculum that works like magic for every homeschool family.

For a family that has come to homeschooling after spending time in a traditional school,  not all curricula will work. Programs that many veteran homeschool families swear by like Right Start Math, Math-U-See, and many language arts and writing programs are designed to give success to students who start the program from the very beginning. Though, these programs are definitely worth trying or at least looking into if you're starting early. Some programs are not designed around grade standards, which may be problematic if you plan to send your child back to traditional school at some point.

I have tried many math books to see what suits us best: Saxon, Math-U-See, Envision, and finally Math Mammoth.

I really enjoyed using Math-U-See (MUS) with my kids until last year when I came across Math Mammoth. MUS is great. The manipulatives are a great visual for kids and it really does help solidify basic operations, because every book focuses on the mastery of one operation at a time. I also liked that there was a DVD that came with it and allowed for my child to watch the teacher present the material. (this was ideal when I needed him to stay busy for a few mins while I attended to one of my younger ones)

However, the kids grew bored with MUS and when my son was getting ready for testing in the 4th grade there was a portion that was not covered, because it does not align with standards. I do not teach to test, nor do I feel standardized testing is a true representation of what my child knows, but I did not want my sensitive son to feel like he didn't know what he was supposed to learn. We took a month off from MUS and spent time on Khan Academy every day learning how to simplify, add and subtract fractions. (By the way, Khan Academy is an amazing online resource and it is possible to completely follow that as your curriculum as well. ) I realized that we needed to find a curriculum that would give us the best of both worlds- traditional and non-traditional.

 We made the switch to Math Mammoth after I spent months researching math curriculum. Math Mammoth is a very well-written, standards-aligned, and colorful homeschool curriculum. I highly recommend it.
For middle school math I have chosen a traditional common-core text book (Big Ideas Math) for my sons. I felt it worked better for them and it was simple enough for me to teach. It's a lot more inviting than the homeschool curriculum I saw and it has proven to be successful with my kids.

For Language Arts and Social Studies/History, I am less traditional. I love unit studies and literature units. I enjoy using Moving Beyond the Page or coming up with my own material. I use IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) for their writing and grammar curriculum. And I realized this year that we needed to focus a little more on spelling and vocabulary, so I purchased Wordly Wise- a simple daily vocab workbook which will take them a maximum of 10 minutes day. 

As our children grow, our homeschool style evolves. I notice what they need more of and can focus on that. Our curriculum choices change to better suit each child. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that we can give our kids exactly what they need. Who better to know what they need than their mother?

It's very important to do your homework before spending money (or charter school funds) on expensive curriculum. Most websites will have assessments and sample lessons, be sure to check it out. Finally, be mindful of how much time is required to prep and teach the curriculum. If you're homeschooling multiple students or have very young children you may not want to choose a curriculum that requires much time, but that again is for you to decide.

Check out and bookmark Cathy Duffy's curriculum reviews HERE . Her reviews are thorough and extremely helpful.

May The Almighty grant you success in your journey!