CHOIS Connection is published quarterly by Christian Homeschoolers Of Idaho State.
This article appeared in a previous issue.
CHOIS Connection
CHOIS Tidbits
by Linda Patchin
"Craftsman's Tools"
Spring 2009
"How do you choose your curriculum?" I asked a young homeschooling mom. She replied that she uses whatever her friends at church are using.
I can see that there may be benefits to using this selection process. If one is involved with co-operative classes using the same textbook would be imperative. If sharing resources with church family saves everyone some money, then it would be important to all be using the same textbook providers. Having a homeschooling mentor would be valuable for a brand new home educator.
There are some disadvantages to using the "what works for someone else" selection process though. What happens if what works for them does not work for you? Curriculum is a tool. I use the following tools to bake a cake: measuring cups, a mixer and an oven. My friend eye-balls the measurements, while she uses a spoon and a microwave for her tools. Her family does not like my kind of cake, and frankly, my family does not care for her cake either. My friend would be burdened by having to use my multi-step process and by investing the extra time that my method requires. I would be uncomfortable with her less-rigid methods, and I would never believe that the time invested was adequate to the task. As you can imagine, we employ vastly different methods of home educating our children as well, but not surprisingly we both get excellent results.
One of the greatest advantages of home education is that the parent directs the education to fit the unique needs and gifting of each individual child in the family. When we use someone else's tools on our child, we are often attempting to fit a round peg into a square hole. It is time consuming to investigate the many curriculum choices that are available, and perhaps even scary and confusing, but it is ultimately a very rewarding endeavor. Researching, purchasing, and planning breathes new excitement and life into the task of educating one's own children.
If you are brand new to home education, and you have removed your child from school in the middle of the year, you may not have time to invest in studying the many curriculums and methods of home education. You need to jump right in and finish off the current school year. I would recommend that you invest in a traditional textbook approach, purchasing books that are similar to what you and your child are familiar with, and finish the year as best you can. Take time off from teaching during the summer to re-evaluate and plan, but for now the best thing you can do is "just do it."
If you are an experienced home educator looking for something new, there are plenty of resources available to help you. Of course you could always go to the internet search engine of your choice and type in the words "homeschool curriculum." When I did this, two hundred and fifty pages of website addresses popped up before my overwhelmed eyes. Probably not a good idea!
My favorite resource for finding excellent curriculum reviews is Cathy Duffy Reviews. This website is very easy to navigate and the reviews are excellent. Cathy Duffy began home educating her children in 1982, and her two-volume Christian Home Educators' Curriculum Manual (Elementary Grades, Jr. High and High School) was an early success. Her more recent book, Top 100 Picks for Homeschooling Curriculum, is a classic. This book provides help with planning and choosing curriculum, and has charts that help you to figure out your own philosophy of education and your child's learning style. This book and website provide very practical help.
Here are a few of my time-tested suggestions for choosing curriculum wisely:
Know Yourself: Naturally organized people can get away with an eclectic approach to selecting curriculum and teaching methods. The less-organized need to select a curriculum that will do the organizing for them and help keep them accountable.
Know Your Limits: The best curriculum in the world will not work if it is collecting dust on a shelf in your home because you do not have time to adequately prepare and teach from it. Select a curriculum that fits your time limitations. Good intentions alone will not get the job done. If you are consistently not making the time to adequately teach with the tools that you have, then you need to select a less time-consuming curriculum or teaching method. While you are at it, get rid of the dust-collecting books before they become a source of discouragement.
Read your own Bio: How well do you know the subject that you want to teach? If you are very familiar with the subject then you will have greater freedom in selecting curricula that is outside of the scope of a traditional textbook approach. If you do not know a subject well, do not be afraid to learn alongside your child. Consider purchasing any or all of the teacher's manuals and keys with which a textbook provider is supplementing the student text. Some teacher's manuals are very nearly scripts for the teacher to read, while others expect the teacher to be very familiar with the subject. Know the difference before purchasing, and to thine own self be true.
Beware of Shelf Life: Many textbook providers have developed the habit of updating their books every couple of years. While the changes that they make are usually quite minor, the modifications make it very difficult to use old texts with new workbooks. If you are buying used books, make sure that you can still purchase workbooks to go along with them. If you are purchasing new, ask the representative how long it has been since it was last updated and when they expect to update it again. This is especially true if you are planning to reuse the book for subsequent children. I have had friends who purchase workbooks for all of their children when they purchase the initial book to insure that they will have what they need when they need it.
Hold Fast to that which is Pretty Good: Don't be too quick to discard a curriculum that you are finding moderately successful, especially if your only reason for doing so is because you've heard about something better. Make transitions slowly, perhaps only one subject at a time. Every home educator you meet will have a "perfect" curriculum that they think you should try, but remember my cake analogy! Their "tool" may be working effectively for them, but you may have found a nearly perfect "tool" for your child already.
Insanity: I remember reading somewhere that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, the same way, over and over again and expecting different results. If you have several children that you are home educating then this definition may apply to you. Change things up once in awhile for the benefit of your children and yourself. It is refreshing to do things differently once in awhile. Each year I try to find at least one new "thing" to learn together as a family. Probably the best purchase I have ever made was a book entitled 75 Picture Prompts for Young Writers. One day a week we choose a prompt and everyone in the family does a creative writing assignment based on that picture, and then we read them aloud. This assignment is the highlight of our week. Other "things" have been: The Young Peacemaker Series by Ken Sande, English from the Roots Up, The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel Bluedorn, or any book from Critical Thinking. Use your imagination!
Buyer's Remorse: I have never met an experienced home educator who has not made a poor curriculum choice at some time in her career. It happens! When it does, don't try to keep using what for your child is a broken tool. Replace it. Recycle it at the next used curriculum sale, and move on.
Don't be Afraid to Ask for Help: Your spouse is a great resource when selecting curriculum. Often times my husband has had an instinct for what will work, especially for our sons, that has surpassed my own. Make curriculum shopping a family endeavor.
Make Informed Choices: A great place to make curriculum choices is at the annual CHOIS Convention each June. Representatives from many curriculum providers will be displaying and selling their products from our exhibit hall. These representatives are very knowledgeable, and are experts in their field. The convention provides an excellent opportunity for you to pick their brains. Many offer convention discounts. Our exhibit hall gives you an opportunity to actually hold a copy of the books you are purchasing in your hand, to flip through the pages and get a feel for whether or not it really is all that you are hoping for. You cannot get that type of experience from the internet!
If you prefer to purchase your books on-line though, there is a website that I am pleased to tell you about. The GPA Smart Store is a web-based curriculum store that has an amazing assortment of homeschool books and products at discounted prices. A portion of their sale price is donated to CHOIS if you designate your purchase to us. This is a great way to get the books you need, and donate to a worthy cause at the same time.
Another excellent resource for finding curriculum at reduced prices is the CHOIS Used Curriculum Sale. If you are interested in buying, admission to this sale is free, and there are always plenty of exceptional products to purchase.
While it is time consuming and requires mental energy, you will never regret the time spent researching curriculum choices. I hope that you are educating your children at home, at least in part because you enjoy it. If you are not, then your children are surely not enjoying themselves either. Putting a little extra effort into planning and researching can bring enormous reward throughout the process.
Finally, remember to ask our Heavenly Father for wisdom. He will lovingly guide and direct our efforts to find the perfect curriculum to teach His children.
Linda Patchin has been purchasing curriculum for over two decades. In the early years, there were only a couple of textbook companies that would even sell their products to home educators. Thankfully, Linda has survived to see the day of ENORMOUS selection. She and her husband, Paul, serve on the CHOIS Board of Directors.
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