When choosing curriculum, there are many things to take in consideration. Knowing what homeschool style fits your family is important. Check out this blog if you are unsure what your homeschool style is.

Your homeschool style will heavily influence your curriculum choice.

When choosing curriculum, you want to keep not only your child but yourself in mind. You are an important piece in this puzzle.

What is curriculum?

Curriculums are lessons and academic content taught in a specific course. That is a pretty formal definition that might not have helped you at all. Curriculums, simply put, are a series of lessons that are created by a company or person that you will follow in your day to day homeschool journey. Curriculums are strategically put together to follow a set of standards that are set by the state or by the curriculum maker.

How many curriculums should I buy?

There are a couple different options for this. Your first step is to research what subjects/how many subjects your state requires. If you aren’t sure where to find these requirements, you can find them on the HSLDA website.

You will need to decide if you want to buy a box curriculum, pull curriculums from different publishers, or you want to create a curriculum of your own.

Box curriculums: these are curriculums that are cover all subjects in one box from the same publisher. Many first time homeschoolers choose this option. This option is great for families because of the convince but may not be as strong in certain areas as others. For example: students may need a more rigorous curriculum in one subject as the other. You will find that box curriculums will mostly be the same rigor across all subjects.

Can I Create My Own Curriculum

Absolutely! I will say, if you choose this option, it will take a lot more time and effort. You will need a set of standards that you want your student to learn. That can be found on your state standards website or you can decide what you want your students to learn. If you create your own curriculum, this will take some planning and organization. I suggest using a curriculum map. Here is a curriculum map for you to plan with. It is editable so you can plan on your computer or you can print it to have a physical copy to write on if that is more your style. Here is a free one that you can use if you are trying to save some money.

Are Curriculums Expensive?

This depends on what you are wanting out of your curriculum.

There are some free curriculums out there. One of the most popular free curriculums is The Good and the Beautiful. Another free curriculum that I have heard others using is Easy Peasy.

In my opinion, most better curriculums will cost you some money. The saying holds true, you get what you pay for. If you do not have tons of money to spend on curriculum, there are always ways to find the curriculum you are wanting for cheaper.

First is to check on Facebook Marketplace. Many times you will find some used curriculum for cheaper.
There are many homeschool groups on Facebook. Many times you will see various homeschool items, including curriculum being sold. There are even specific resell curriculum groups that you can find in your area.
Where I have found all of my math curriculum is on Thrift Books.
You may have to work a little harder and start searching a little sooner, but you can often times you can find used curriculum in good shape.

My next blog I will discuss, in my opinion, what makes a good curriculum.

If you have already made your decision on what curriculum you are using for this year, please leave a comment on which curriculum you chose and why.

*What I put in my blogs will be my OPINION. This means you don’t have to agree with everything that I say. The beauty of homeschooling is that you get to research and decide what works well for your family. My goal for these blogs are to give you facts to help you begin/continue your homeschooling journey. With that being said, my opinions will occasionally make its way into certain blogs. Please know that if we don’t agree, that is totally fine! I still love ya and pray that your homeschool journey will be a success!*