Homeschool Curriculum

Whether you are new to Homeschooling? or a seasoned pro, we look forward to being your #1 Homeschool Curriculum provider.

How can we apply the 80/20 Rule to choosing Homeschool Curriculum? The 80/20 Rule states that 80% of effectiveness comes from only 20% of input. This can be applied to almost anything in our lives, whether it's raising children, household chores, business tasks, or choosing Homeschool Curriculum.

The key then becomes focusing on the top 20%, Best in Class Homeschool curriculums that produce the greatest proven results in academic achievement, spiritual growth, and manageability.

The Homeschool curriculums listed below represent our Best in Class curriculums.

Shop by Subject ACE/School of Tomorrow Alpha Omega LIFEPAC Bob Jones Homeschool Christian Liberty Press Landmark Baptist Switched On Schoolhouse Weaver Unit Studies   Dive Math for Saxon Horizons Math Mastering Saxon Math Saxon Math Homeschool Additional Math Resources   Apologia Jump In ARC Reading A Reason for Handwriting A Reason for Spelling Explode the Code Horizons Language Jensen's Grammar Konos Write The Novel Way Konos Write Your Roots Landmark Baptist Learning Language Arts Saxon Phonics Shurley English Spelling Power Wordly Wise   Bright Ideas Press Landmark Baptist Mystery of History Timelines   Apologia Science A Reason for Science Bright Ideas Press   Classic Academic Latin How Great Thou Art Musicademy Switched on Schoolhouse Electives

Shop by Publisher ACE School of Tomorrow   ACE Curriculum Info   Alpha Omega Publishing ARC Reading Horizons Math & Language LIFEPAC Switched On Schoolhouse Weaver Unit Studies   Apologia Educational Apologia Science   Auralog Tell Me More Foreign Languages   Bob Jones Press Bob Jones Homeschool   Bright Ideas Press Geography History Science   Castlemoyle Books Spelling Power   Christian Liberty Press Christian Liberty Press   Classical Academic Press Latin & Logic   Concerned Group A Reason for Handwriting A Reason for Science A Reason for Spelling   Common Sense Press Learning Language Arts   DIVE Into Math Dive Math for Saxon   Educators Publishing Service Explode the Code Wordly Wise   Konos Connection Learn to Write Write Your Roots   Landmark Baptist Landmark Curriculum   Saxon Publishers Saxon Math Saxon Phonics   Shurley English Shurley English   Wordsmith Jensen's Grammar   Clearance Clearance Items

Homeschool Curriculum Buyer's Guide

Which curriculum should I chose for my Homeschool? Where do I begin? These are questions we are asked almost daily. Really, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There are as many different ways to Homeschool as there are Homeschoolers. What's important is finding a curriculum that is proven successful, will meet your child's needs, and that you can realistically manage as a parent.

Getting feedback regarding various Homeschool curriculums from experienced Homeschoolers is very valuable. Anyone who has Homeschooled more than a year will have strong opinions regarding the curriculums they have tried. While these opinions are valuable for information gathering, remember that you are free to make your own choices. It is easy to become discouraged when you feel pressured to use a particular solution, which may have worked wonderful for other families but isn't necessarily a good fit for you or your student.

Please do not be discouraged if all your Homeschool friend's children are excelling in the particular curriculum but your child is not. Finding curriculum that will help your child excel is what is important. Independence and the ability to cater to the needs of your student is what makes Homeschooling so successful.

This guide is a brief introduction to curriculum selection. It is not meant to be inclusive of every approach to Homeschooling. It is based on our typical recommendations to the questions asked above. Sometimes the perfect fit for your family may be determined through some trial and error.

Assessing Your Student: Our first recommendation is to determine your student's mode of learning. Very simply, does your child learn best by:

- Visual Learning (learn by seeing)
- Auditory Learning (learn by hearing)
- Kinesthetic Learning or Practical (learn by doing)

Students use all three methods to learn. However, one or more of these learning styles is normally dominant. The dominant style defines the best way for a person to learn new information.

Visual learners are usually linguistic and/or spatial. Learners who are visual-linguistic like to learn through written language, such as reading and writing tasks. They often remember what has been written down, even if they do not read it more than once. They like to write down directions and pay better attention to lessons if they can watch them. Learners who are visual-spatial usually have difficulty with written language and do better with charts, demonstrations, videos, and other visual materials. They easily visualize faces and places by using their imagination and seldom get lost in new surroundings.

Auditory learners often talk to themselves. They also may move their lips and read out loud. They may have difficulty with reading and writing tasks. They often do better talking and hearing what was said. Kinesthetic learners do best while touching and moving. They tend to lose concentration if there is little or no external stimulation or movement. They may like to jump or squeeze a ball while learning. They may want to take notes. When reading, they like to scan the material first, and then focus in on the details (get the big picture first). They often like taking notes by drawing pictures, diagrams, or doodling.

Regardless of the Homeschool curriculum you choose, knowing your child's strongest mode of learning will help you tailor the learning experience to best meet their needs.

Curriculum Placement Tests: We recommend taking the publisher's placement test (if available) when you are ready to purchase a Homeschool curriculum. This will help you know what grade level to place them in. It is not uncommon for a student to place one or two grades below their expected grade level if the student is coming from a public school environment.

Grade levels are recommendations to provide us with a point of reference. Most important is that your student is working on material that challenges them by not being too easy but does not frustrate them by being too difficult. Testing them prior to placement will help insure their success.

Structured Homeschool Curriculums: These are turn-key multi-subject, multi-grade curriculums. Everything you need to Homeschool your children are generally included in the grade level kits. The material taught in each subject usually coincides with the other subjects in that grade level to provide an integrated learning experience. We generally recommend new Homeschool parents use a structured curriculum to begin with until they are comfortable with their new role as Home educator.

Some Homeschool curriculums are designed for students to work independently with the idea that the student is on their own to learn the material. An example of this would be the curriculum published by ACE/School of Tomorrow. Using ACE, students work independently to complete twelve workbooks/subject/grade level. The workbooks (PACE) are usually 30-50 pages in length. Students set daily goals of 3-5 pages/day. At the end of the PACE, the student takes a final test in order to demonstrate an understanding of the material. The student is responsible to learn the material but parental supervision is required to oversee the scoring and for record keeping. But the parent is not required to teach the material. This is a great solution for parents with limited time constraints or who are intimidated by teaching. It also works well for students who work better on their own.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are teaching curriculums which were designed to be taught to the student. The Homeschool curriculum published by BJU Press would be an example of this. BJU is designed to be taught to the student. Therefore, using BJU Homeschool curriculum will require more parent-teacher involvement than an independent curriculum like ACE. BJU's teacher guides provide lesson plans, answers, and teaching ideas to help the parent-teacher teach the material. This would be a great choice for a parent who would enjoy teaching or for a student who does better with a little coaching.

Answer Keys & Helps: We are occasionally asked if answer keys are needed for each curriculum. Answer keys are recommended. The biggest reason we recommend answer keys is because of the time savings they offer. Your time is valuable. We are sure you can find the correct answers on your own but do you have the extra time to read the text to find the answers or calculate each answer? In most cases, the answer keys will more than pay for themselves if you consider the time savings broken out over the course of a year.

Let's be conservative and say that having answer keys will save you only 30 minutes a day. Over the school year of 180 days, you will save 90 hours in scoring. That's two full work weeks saved annually. If answer keys cost $300 for the full grade, it works out to about $3.33 per hour. For most of us, our time is worth much more than $3.33 and hour.

The same is true of helps like DIVE for Saxon Math Homeschool Curriculum. We have had parents tell us that they would work through the lessons the night before in order to teach the material, the next day. They would spend hours each night preparing for the next day. They couldn't believe how well DIVE worked in teaching the material and how much easier Homeschooling is with it. We have received the same feedback from their students who also appreciated the tutoring.

DIVE is a tutoring program designed for Saxon Math Curriculum which provides comprehensive instruction for each lesson. DIVE CD's cost $45- $50. That gives you a personal tutor and saves you countless hours for less than $0.50 per lesson.

Our desire is to see parents succeed. Answer Keys and Helps definitely save time, prevent burn out and make enhance your Homeschooling experience.

Mix & Match: You may prefer mixing and matching various Homeschool curriculums. For instance, you may decide to use Saxon Math, Shurley English, Mystery of History, Apologia Science, and ACE Spelling. Sometimes you may choose a structured curriculum but substitute one or two subjects with another publisher's curriculum.

Our typical recommendation is using a structured Homeschool curriculum your first year, then as you become comfortable, you can experiment with one or two subjects that either interest you or that you feel would be a more appropriate fit with you child's learning style.

Remember that every child has strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, every curriculum has strengths and weaknesses. The key is matching the best Homeschool curriculum to your child. Sometimes that means using curriculums from multiple publishers.

As indicated earlier, these are just some brief guidelines and recommendations that we make when asked, "Which curriculum should I chose?" or "Where do I begin?". All of our customer service personnel have Homeschool experience. We have experience with Homeschooling large multi-age families, single child families, early learning, high school, college prep, etc. Please feel free to contact us via the contact form at our Help Desk if we can be of further assistance or answer more specific questions.