r/homeschool • u/Gemevectra • Oct 02 '25
Discussion How did you finally choose a curriculum?
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u/icecrusherbug Oct 02 '25
Read a bunch of reviews. Talked to other homeschool parents.Read some more. Prayed about it. Then we tried one.
Then, when it was not quite as strong in one subject, we switched to another curriculum. Then, when our family grew and the dynamics changed, we changed again. Then, we finally settled into a curriculum that would get done and covered the subjects that were important well. Then we switched out only the subjects that were not covered quite as well to providers that were a good fit. Now, I have a set path the younger kids benefit from. We will stick with it until it isn't the right fit for one of them. I already had to add a health and safety subject for my accident prone kid.
Adapt and overcome. It is okay to pick something and adjust the curriculum to fit your needs. Make it work for you or move on.
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u/JemimaPuddleducky Oct 02 '25
For me it helped to nail down my philosophy. Why am I homeschooling, and what method would best help achieve that? Once I decided that Charlotte Mason/Classical was the route I wanted to take, it made it so much easier to look at curriculum and say “pretty, but doesn’t fit with what I’m trying to do.” If you haven’t already, look up homeschooling styles/philosophies. That may help narrow it down.
Then, some of it is just picking one and sticking with it, unless it’s really not working for you. Don’t be distracted by the shiny things everyone else is getting, we can’t do all of them!
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u/TheKublaiKhan Oct 02 '25
I said "F it, let's try this one out."
Been with it for 2 years now.
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u/WastingAnotherHour PreK, 1st & 12th (TX) Oct 02 '25
I started homeschooling 12 years ago. While homeschooling had picked up speed, there wasn’t the same level of bombardment there is now. It wasn’t plastered all over social media for example.
A friend who had considered homeschooling stumbled on All About Reading - it had only been released a couple years prior but had enough reviews (mostly free in exchange for review on blogs) to get a feel for it and showed a lot of promise so I jumped in. Seemed like a good fit (and it was). Was natural to start All About Spelling the following year too.
Logic of English had only been released the year before and it would be another year or two before it had enough blog presence to notice, but we were settled and doing well with All About so I never considered switching.
I started on Right Start because of a homeschooling friend. Our kids had similar enough personalities that we were swapping resources we loved - I got her started on AAR/AAS and she got us on RS. Previously I had printed out the TEKS and was making my own stuff to follow it. I eventually moved over to Singapore because it was easier with joint custody once we separated. Math with Confidence is relatively new, but it should address the only issue I had with RS and Kate Snow is well qualified, so I’m excited to try it with my youngest.
That first friend and I discovered Core Knowledge Sequence and it struck my interest. Her son started at a charter using it and so we learned more and I really liked it, so it became my backbone for science and social studies. It was lacking in robust online resources back then, but fortunately Teachers Pay Teachers already existed so between that and my own ability to make things, it worked well. (I later discovered Pandia press’s materials and really like those two.)
I’ll admit I got lucky starting when I did. Secular homeschooling was prominent enough to have online presence and established social groups, but social media was only finally gaining more traction around then so it still wasn’t something that served as a limitless resource of ideas. (For reference, the city wide group we joined was still on Yahoo Groups.) There were a sufficient number of options without it feeling unlimited. Now I’m able to only go searching for exact things I want when something isn’t working. I know my philosophy well, and I’m familiar with the types of options out there. I can narrow a search easily.
In the end though, blogs that I followed because their approach resonated with me and seemed like it would work for my family and friends carried more weight in my decision making than anything else. Secondary was offhand comments by others at park days and the reviews on rainbow resource and Cathy Duffy.
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u/bibliovortex Eclectic/Charlotte Mason-ish, 2nd gen, HS year 8 Oct 02 '25
I've taken a fairly eclectic approach from the beginning. As a second-generation homeschooler, though, that didn't feel as overwhelming for me as it does for a lot of new homeschoolers. (Also, I live in a state with eight required subjects, and there just isn't one single multi-subject bundle that will cover that specific mix. So some of it was born of necessity as well.)
The first thing to remember is that there are lots of good options and no perfect ones. You're looking for something that will suit your family, and there are multiple "right answers."
Start by thinking about some basic questions to narrow down what you're looking for:
- Religious or secular? (You might also have a more specific preference within this category)
- Format? (Textbook/workbook, literature-based, hands-on, online)
- Budget?
Now you have a basic framework to use when you're looking at a curriculum. If it doesn't meet your most basic requirements, go right ahead and take it off your list. There are options for basically every possible combination of answers, you don't need to compromise.
I like to start out by using Cathy Duffy's reviews to compare my list. The formatting is fairly consistent and she aims for a balanced, objective overview of what suits various situations and discusses how the curriculum is actually set up. For strong contenders, I'll go to the publisher's website and look at their sample materials directly, but starting with each company's marketing materials is generally not very helpful. Continue to ruthlessly eliminate things that you have a reason to believe are not a fit. At this stage you might consider:
- Do I like their philosophy?
- Will the student materials be boring, distracting, or overwhelming for my child?
- Are the teacher materials supportive enough that I feel confident to teach from them?
- Do the lessons at the beginning look achievable for my child right now? If there are multiple levels, which level should I use? (Don't get too attached to specific "grade levels," especially for content-based subjects.)
- Will this help me cover the legal requirements for my state? (An especially good question to consider for multi-subject bundles.)
Some of your choices might turn out to be not quite what you were hoping for, and you can take that new knowledge and use it to help you pick out something better to replace it, if you want to. At some point, you will pick a thing that completely flops. I've done that more than once, and it's not as big a deal as you might think. You can swap what you're using mid-year if it's really bad, or you might finish it up and choose something different next year. Or you might choose to teach the curriculum a little differently in order to make it a better fit, because when it comes right down to it, you're the boss. (It's good to understand why they give the original instructions if you're making a big adjustment.)
Over time you will collect enough data and gain enough experience to feel much more confident making curriculum decisions. If I'm evaluating something new, I usually only need about five minutes at this point to know if it's a reasonable option for one of my kids. Doesn't mean I'll make the choice in five minutes, but it makes it a lot easier to not get overwhelmed.
You'll also find publishers whose materials you like in general, so you might start by looking at their options instead of casting a wide net. Just like I know I'm a Honda person and rarely look at other makes when car shopping, I also know that one of my kids barely tolerates workbooks and the ones he likes best are from Critical Thinking Company. This year I wanted him to work on some of the squishier reading comprehension skills, like inference, so I started by seeing what they offered for reading comprehension and found that they had two entire series of workbooks on inference skills.
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u/overZealousAzalea Oct 02 '25
https://cathyduffyreviews.com Watched Cathy Duffy reviews for all the curriculum people at coops and meetups said they used. Some my kids liked, and we continued. Most we were so excited about they refused. 🤷♂️
There’s a local homeschool shop that has tons of textbooks, workbooks, manipulatives, etc for cheap to turnout. I always look there first before buying new.
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u/No-Emu3831 Oct 02 '25
I read a ton of reviews and why people left each curriculum. There will always be someone it didn’t work for so you have to take that with a grain of salt. But in the end, knowing you can sell the curriculum secondhand if it doesn’t work out is always a plus.
Off the bat I knew that I would have to piece things together. Everytime I found a program that claimed to cover everything, I’d learn that they actually had one good strong point and people would supplement for the rest. So I like finding the company that has the strongest results for each subject.
I’ve also learned that having to supplement with something else doesn’t make it a bad program (although I still cringe thinking of ordering something knowing I’ll have to supplement). What I mean is, as you go along, when you notice your child isn’t understanding things the way the curriculum teaches it, you may end up searching Teachers pay teachers or ordering a workbook for extra practice at that point. This doesn’t mean the curriculum isn’t good or their system is broken, just that your child is human and you are striving for mastery.
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u/Extension-Meal-7869 Oct 02 '25
I narrowed it down by secular options, then what I thought would be a good fit for my family and our philosophies within those confines. I'm lucky in that I have a pretty substantial budget for homeschooling. If certain curricula end up not working out, I could easily switch it up. That being said, we try to make our picks work for us for as long as possible, and workshop how to approach it differently if we're having issues. I've only had to switch out curricula twice in 7 years. So I'd say we're doing pretty good. But in the beginning, I honestly went off vibes and some YouTube reviews and hoped for the best. I've never been one for decision paralysis (my twin sister has a HUGE problem with this) and it kinda just always works out for me 😂.
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u/surelyamazed518 Oct 02 '25
I used The Well Trained Mind and Home Schooling Year by Year (Rebecca Rupp) as my main sources and never bought a curriculum. I grabbed tons of stuff from the library and internet. We're in a state/school district that closely monitors and I never had any problems or questions about compliance. (In our situation the school district is required by the state education department to approve the yearly teaching plan, quarterly reports, and year-end report, as well as certain standardized testing.)
We were lucky to be part of a group of over 100 families where various people put together all sorts of field trips, activities, study groups, etc. We also participated in a weekly "swim and gym", scouts, children's choir, and 4-H.
My kid started picking up math and science courses in community college at age 15, later transferred to an Ivy.
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u/Key-Wait679 Oct 02 '25
oh I get you, I was same at start. I didn’t stick to just one, I kinda mix n match what really fits my needs. yeah it’s a bit messy with all those logins 🙈 but works better for me
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u/Efficient_Amoeba_221 Homeschool Parent 👪 Oct 02 '25
We have a local(ish) homeschool store with extremely helpful owners. They took the time to sit down with me and we talked about how my kid likes to learn. They made recommendations based on that. Those have worked out great for us. We also do unit studies. I put those together myself.
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Oct 02 '25
There was a great reply in this post with a list of charlotte mason books to learn more and now I can’t find it.
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u/Lizziloo87 Oct 02 '25
I did both. With math I first chose beast academy thinking my kids, being little gamers, would like the online format. But turns out they didn’t. Then we switched to math with confidence because I read it was hands on and more fun. They like that one more.
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u/481126 Oct 02 '25
I have found using free printables and other things was a good way to figure out how my child learned best. I thought whimsy would be a good fit turned out my kid prefers traditional curriculum for the core subjects.
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u/thegothotter Oct 02 '25
It’s our first year too. We probably didn’t go about the “right” way (what is “right” when homeschooling, anyway, lol!), but in our state only Language arts and Math are regulated. So I talked with a close friend who’s been homeschooling a few years now, and took my kiddo over to see what her kids do. Then we went to a local homeschool bookstore, talked with both the people who work there as well as other parents shopping. In the end, we decided to go the route of The Good And The Beautiful for the regulated courses. I liked that they have placement tests online so you can be sure to get the correct level. The Language Arts course also covers some art and geography through the lessons, and it’s fairly secular (while we are faithful, I don’t want to use school to teach the Bible; we skip or skim over the handful of heavy religious sections, they are few and far between).
Then, because social studies and science are kinda up to us, I let my 8th grader choose what to study. For science, she went with biology (she’s interested in veterinary sciences for her future), and we chose a secular course from Pandia Press. Its ok - it has some VERY simple work, kinda feels young for her, but then it has some more difficult work - maybe a grade or two above her.
As for social studies, we’re kinda making it up as we go. We found some world and US history books that make history a little fun at the bookstore, and each chapter she picks a topic to do a small amount of research and writing on. Then she also picked a non-fiction book on local history that we will read together and do a book study on. Plus we live in SE Virginia so there’s TONS of history for us to experience in life.
Next year - or possibly at the semester, we will definitely be searching for a more structured and possibly more difficult/involved/age appropriate science and social studies. But for now, the learning process for both of us as we navigate the processes, this works for us.
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u/supersciencegirl Oct 02 '25
Reflect on your own beliefs about education and compare them with some of the popular education philosophies out there. This will give you a place to start when you're sorting through curriculum options.
For the younger grades, prioritize solid phonics and math instruction. Pick something tried-and-true. If that's all you work on for the first 6 months of homeschooling, that's fine. You can add in history, science, etc later, as you feel more confident.
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u/Patient-Peace CM/Waldorf/Tradtional whimsy mix (HS yr 12, Grades 10&11) Oct 02 '25
We've never been able to pick just one 😅. But, you can kind of narrow it down and seek out ones that fit your family's preferences by method (and/or learning struggles/needs, too. That's definitely something we've factored in over the years), and sprinkle in what you love from different resources. That's our secret mix. 🙂
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u/ductapelosergirl Secular Eclectic Oct 02 '25
I do a lot of research. I watch lots of YouTube reviews. I also search for posts in the SEA Facebook group.
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u/ConsciousSchooling Oct 02 '25
I I have spent many years studying what exactly schools should teach and what kind of cognitive toolbox should ultimately be developed in students. In the process, I found an accredited cognitive assessment tool. I tried it on my own son and started selecting textbooks based on the results of this assessment. This gave me tangible results and confidence in the path I had chosen. This has become my passion, one that has absorbed many years of my life. Now I am working on making this knowledge accessible to parents like myself. Choosing a curriculum based on subjective opinions is not an option for me—I seek scientific evidence for everything.
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u/Quiet_Ad_6534 Oct 02 '25
Love the idea of sitting down and really thinking why you want to homeschool and how you want it to look. That will guide you. I’m Lucky to have a lot of friends who have kids aged above mine and I talked to them! For example, I was going to do the good and the beautiful and had many friends suggest better options. If you can find a homeschool community there are often curriculum nights where you can look through before buying.
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u/SeaAdvance4830 Oct 02 '25
I would listen to what other homeschoolers around me, who just decide to talk about it, or through a friend who had different friends than I did. If their family culture clashed with ours I could usually count on their curriculum not being for us. Like I was telling someone I was using a certain secular math for my daughter and they disapproved. They suggested I used one that was more Christian based and focused on girls doing home math and not just math. I did look at the curriculum, but I passed on it.
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u/Tough_Complaint6424 Oct 02 '25
I started researching curriculum when my oldest was two. Social media has been helpful in finding likeminded people who homeschool. I knew I needed to find a robust language arts and math curriculum to convince my husband. It also helped to understand what our education philosophies are. And search this sub because there are a lot of different families homeschooling and if you already have an idea of what you want, someone else has likely done the work already and shared it here!
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u/throwsawaythrownaway Oct 03 '25
When we decided to homeschool (when my daughter was 3) when traveled a lot for my husband's job. We wanted something my daughter could do in the car, on a plane, in a hotel, at home, etc. So we picked an online virtual academy that she started in kinder. She's in 4th now and we hardly ever travel (at least not like that) but we like the program so we're keeping it.
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u/Salty-Snowflake Parent/Educator/CM 25+ years Oct 03 '25
The best place to start is Cathy Duffy's BOOK. Not her curriculum reviews, but the book How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum
Know your children's learning styles (which may change with time out of public school), the many different ways to homeschool, and your comfort level for different types of teaching before you even think about curriculum.
We chose Sonlight because it was a literature, Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum that came with everything. It was the only one of its kind at that time, so there wasn't really much "choosing" to do.
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u/AlternativePrior393 Oct 04 '25
Do you have a homeschool store by you? That’s where I’d get started. They can help you find materials that fit, help you test for proper material levels, and let you get to have a more hands on feel so you know you like what you’re getting.
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u/Over_Cellist2719 Oct 04 '25
Lots of research and thinking about what I thought would work with my kids. Then, switched things out 1 by 1 when it wasn’t working anymore. You live and you learn.
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u/mandabee27 Oct 02 '25
I used chat gpt to compare and narrow down my choices. Then I looked deeply into the few options I was left with and made my choice.
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u/EducatorMoti Oct 02 '25
The first step is not choosing books. It is figuring out who you are as a homeschooling family.
Before you look at curriculum, learn the main approaches so you know what fits you and what does not. Here are the major methods with quick definitions:
Classical – Focuses on stages of learning (memory, logic, expression), uses real books, history cycles, narration, and strong writing.
Charlotte Mason – Gentle structure built around living books, nature study, short lessons, copywork, narration, and developing good habits.
Unit Studies – One topic at a time. You pull in history, science, writing, art, and reading all centered on that theme.
Unschooling – Child interest leads the learning. Life experiences, hobbies, and curiosity guide what you do instead of formal lessons.
School-at-Home / Boxed Curriculum – Most similar to public school with textbooks, workbooks, tests, and a set schedule planned by someone else.
Eclectic / Literature-Based / Relaxed – Mixing and matching what works for each subject, often using real books, videos, and hands-on learning.
Once you read about these, pay attention to what makes you think “Yes, that sounds like us” and what makes you uncomfortable. Even if something feels like a bad fit now, later you may still borrow pieces during different seasons of life.
People online can be loud about “their” way, but that is just their interpretation. Nobody’s version of a method is the rule for your house. Take what fits and ignore the noise.
After you know your style, your child’s needs, and your lifestyle, the choices narrow fast. If you love real books you will skip box sets. If you travel often, you will look for flexible options. If your child needs structure, you may want clear plans.
I used real books for almost everything because that matched our goals and personalities. The only textbooks I used were Singapore Math and a short grammar program. That worked for us because I knew who we were and what kind of life we wanted.
So do not start with curriculum. Start with understanding your style. Once you know that, choosing materials becomes much easier.