Homeschool Program – Should I Use a Planned Homeschool Curriculum?

Homeschool curriculums can be a great tool to use for home schooling. If your child enjoys workbooks and textbooks, then it might be the right choice for your. Here are some guidelines to consider when choosing your home school program:

1. Do I want a teacher directed model or a self directed model? That is, do I want to dictate everything that my child does and when he does it or do I want to work with him on what we both want him to accomplish and let him work on his own? There is a certain level of accountability needed for both models. A child doesn’t just go to his room with his work and play video games for hours and say that he is doing schoolwork. If a child enjoys working independently and can stay accountable to you, then you might want to save yourself some stress and let him work independently and report back to you.

2. Do you want a literature based or textbook based form of education for your child? If you want to use literature, then it’s pretty easy to choose a period of History or an aspect of Science and find literature to give you information. You could avoid an expensive curriculum choice by pulling together some literature and using that for home schooling. Your children might enjoy hearing and reading stories more than they would like reading a textbook.

3. Am I willing to risk a high burnout rate and choose a planned curriculum? Sometimes a planned curriculum can become overwhelming and burdensome. If you use a planned curriculum make sure you are able to make modifications to the program if needed to meet yours and your child’s needs.

4. How do my children learn best – by filling out workbooks or creating books and writing about what they learned? Some children enjoy filling out workbooks and can remember what they learned. Other children find workbooks a chore and still others fill out the workbooks but don’t remember what they learned. Are you using workbooks just to be able to make a check mark on your list or are your children truly understanding and learning the material they are reading?

These are all questions you need to ask yourself when considering purchasing a planned home school curriculum. Most people have the most success when they are able to adapt a curriculum to their own needs and philosophy of education.