What curriculum does your home-based student need?
Choosing the best homeschool curriculum is critical for new and prospective homeschooling parents, as well as those who want to improve their homeschooling or adjust to a new stage, such as children entering high school.
In order to find the best curriculum for your home-based learner, you need to consider three major areas:
- Children
- Parents
- Situation
A good homeschool curriculum must address all these three areas. This guide will help you to consider all these areas and allow you to evaluate if the curriculum of your home-based child fits your needs or not.
The curriculum must be designed by keeping the children in mind
Children differ from one another in terms of age, stage, level of development, learning preferences, personality types, and activity levels, as well as their interests.
If you have young children, for example, you may be wondering what to use for the preschool curriculum or how to choose a Kindergarten homeschool curriculum. You might also be wondering what homeschool curriculum to use for an active, extroverted child. You might also require a homeschool math curriculum for a struggling student.
So, it is very important to understand the child before choosing the right home-based curriculum for him or her. Below, we are going to highlight some of the major aspects that you need to keep in mind.
Learning styles
Some children learn better by creating and making things, while others learn better by reading or talking to others. Consider these preferences when selecting a homeschool curriculum by investigating learning styles such as visual learning, auditory learning, and kinesthetic learning. When selecting a curriculum, you should also consider whether your child is a right-brain learner.
Interest led learning
If your child has a strong interest or does not respond well to traditional schoolwork, you might consider trying interest-led learning. You can choose resources that support your interest, which may or may not include a formal homeschool curriculum.
Grade levels
You might be interested in knowing what homeschooled kids think about how a child’s grade level influences curriculum selection, and when grade level matters the most. Homeschooled children frequently learn at different grade levels for different subjects, and there is more freedom to help them at their current level rather than the level at which they should be.
The curriculum must be designed by keeping the parents in mind
There are a few aspects that you need to keep in mind while selecting the curriculum for your home-based child, as a parent.
- Are you planning to work outside your home and at the same time homeschool your child?
- Will you be able to provide active assistance to your child?
- Are you clear about the philosophy of education and do you have the required knowledge base?
- Do you prefer managing all the things on your own?
- Are you open to personal growth and to ring change in your approaches?
- Do you have the required skill set to help your child in high school years?
The curriculum must be designed by keeping the situation in mind
Families of all types homeschool successfully, but success is dependent on recognizing and working with your circumstances. Consider the following factors when selecting a curriculum for homeschooling:
- You may have always wanted to homeschool your children and they have never attended school.
- You may be homeschooling in order to solve a specific problem at school. In fact, you could be an unintentional homeschooler who never intended to homeschool or a short-term homeschooler who intends to return children to school after a period of homeschooling.
- You may be homeschooling to accommodate a child who has been diagnosed with a mental disorder or because your child falls behind or ahead of public school standards.
All these situations play a major role in your choice of curriculum.
What to look for in a curriculum?
Consider the following factors when deciding on a homeschool curriculum:
- Content
- Method of learning
- Mode of delivery
Content: What topics are covered in the content? And is the content meeting the learning needs of the home-based students?
Method of learning: Different homeschool styles correspond to different homeschool curricula, and learning about the various approaches to homeschooling will assist you in selecting a homeschool curriculum.
Mode of delivery: Have you considered the advantages and disadvantages of an all-in-one curriculum delivered online? What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning delivered through activities and projects? Are you familiar with the concept of learning via the creation of notebooks?
A homeschool convention is a great place to meet curriculum vendors and learn more about homeschool curriculum.
These are some of the major factors that you need to consider while choosing the right curriculum for your home-based learner. Choose wisely!