A central component of the homeschooling experience is choosing one’s curriculum. Curriculum, the plan of study a student follows, ranges greatly from homeschooler to homeschooler—thus one of the appeals to homeschooling families. My son studied the solar system for almost a year, Roman history for a semester and worked through a month-long history of Halloween curriculum. I planned the curriculum for these topics, but I use pre-made curriculum in his core subjects (math, grammar, spelling), for the mental bandwidth to focus on creating these courses.

Pre-made or boxed curriculum is exactly what it sounds like: workbooks and textbooks made by someone else—be that a major publishing company or a small family-owned business. Boxed curriculum helps make homeschooling a bit less stressful: kids can follow a coherent flow of topics with increasing difficulty levels while parents save time organizing learning material. Simply open the book, read the instructions, and work through the lesson. However, many of these books aren’t cheap, nor are they all perfect one-size-fits-all blends of content, engagement, and skill levels. So how do you choose a curriculum that’s right for your learners especially considering most materials are sold online and sample pages only offer so much information?

The key is to decrease decision fatigue but stating what you want and need right away. Then, work with your community (yes you have more of a community than you realize) to give curriculum candidates a closer examination.

Identify Basics

Ask yourself a few questions to narrow down the many options available:

• What subject/subjects are you looking for? This will help see past any persuasions to purchase more than you need because there’s a sale. Also, who doesn’t love a good checklist that you can mark completed?

• What skill level are you looking for? You know your child best. Does he or she like to be challenged? Does their age truly correspond with the grade levels typically used to categorize curriculum? Set your grade level and decide if you’ll consider one level above or below.

• What best helps your learner? Plenty of writing? Drawing exercises? Story format? If there isn’t a clear answer, then this might not be a factor, you’ll just look for an all around engaging curriculum. However if there is something that really jives with your child, especially in a subject they dislike or struggle with, then having those aspects will be non-negotiable.

• Secular or religious? Since a majority of homeschool families tend to be religious, curriculum developers oftentimes feature religious themes or narratives. Decide if that is something you want to include in your child’s learning or you would prefer not to.

• Price. Figure out how your homeschooling budget will be set and go from there. (Break your overall budget down into allotments for curriculum, extracurricular activities, art and science supplies, etc. You can even decide what percentage of the overall budget will go for each child and therefore how much you should be willing to spend on one subject’s curriculum). Keep in mind subjects like math and science tend to run a bit pricier.

Before moving on, star your non-negotiables HINT: not everything can be a non-negotiable. If your budget is tight, then price will be a non-negotiable, if your learner absolutely needs pictures in explanations then that’s a non-negotiable.

Here’s an example list of priorities I made for my son in the fall of 2023:

• Subjects and skill level:
• • Math (check first grade, but possibly second grade)
  • Spelling (first grade)
  • Grammar (first grade)
• Engaging content, good use of explanatory boxes, maybe fun facts.
• Secular
• $150-$200 for math, $30-$50 for each spelling and grammar

Look At Options

Once you have your priorities set it’s time to check out resources. To make matters less overwhelming, try zeroing in on one subject at a time starting with “core” subjects first (math, reading, writing, etc.). This way you tackle the big, important curriculum when your motivation and energy is high.

If you tend to linger too long on a decision or get overwhelmed by too many options, set a time length or option consideration limit (“I will spend no more than 20 hours looking at math curriculum and will consider no more than five options.”)

Poll your resources
Take a survey of homeschooling groups and friends. Ask them what their favorite curriculums have been and the ones that didn’t jive too well. Listen to episodes of your favorite homeschool Podcasts that go into the curriculum the hosts have experience using. Be sure to have reviews state specific reasons for being good or bad, i.e. give detailed, honest reviews. This is more helpful than “Yes that’s a good curriculum” or “We just couldn’t get into it.” If their kid wasn’t into a workbook because it didn’t have any pictures but you know your kid is cool reading walls of text, then maybe that person’s review isn’t as applicable to you.

Additionally, you can consider hosting a curriculum party: ask your friends to bring (labeled) copies of their books to let your circle flip through pages. You can reach out on social media with the classic “What kind of curriculum does everyone use for [insert subject here]?” Then do your due diligence and look closer at the resources instead of blindly ordering them because everyone uses it. From experience, I kept hearing about a curriculum on Podcasts I like, and within the homeschooling community I belong to. I almost assumed I should purchase the curriculum simply because many people I liked enjoyed the books. I took a closer look at the website though, perused a few sample pages and it was clear almost instantly that the curriculum would not be a good fit for my child.

Set Up Your Curriculum Investigation Chart
For each option you will consider, it’s important to track its pros and cons. A chart is helpful for this. Here’s the thing: read through a material’s description and then chart it only, and only if it meets your non-negotiables. Do not waste time and energy on material that won’t make you happy in the most basic sense. Don’t linger on a curriculum that doesn’t meet your basic needs and think maybe you can make it work. If nothing is meeting your basic needs then maybe it’s a good indication that you will need to customize a curriculum (it’s not as daunting as it sounds!).

Here are some considerations to include in your chart:

• Price

• Skill level assessment- seems to hit on the mark, be challenging or may not be challenging enough

• Content- good flow of material, covers what you’d like it to cover?

• Activities- are the instructions clear, do you think your child would enjoy the lesson format?

Add a star next to a category if you find it exceptional for a particular curriculum. When you’re done filling in the chart, it’ll be easier to see the better curriculums this way. When you have clear priorities and a curriculum investigation chart ready to fill in, it’s time to examine curriculums, this is when you turn to your community.

Flexing your Resources With Partial Customized Curriculum

What if you aren’t thrilled with a curriculum after all, or get your hands on a secondhand set that isn’t completely perfect? You can flex the curriculum with additional resources and tailor it to get something out of it instead of feeling like you wasted your money.

I once picked up a free geography workbook from a free-to-take shelf. It turned out to be super easy for my son, but he enjoyed the simplicity of the exercises. I decided to keep it in our rotation as a “warm-up” book. It’s what he pulls out first thing to get into the mood for the day’s learning. Since it’s easy, he does it by himself while I get my daughter settled. I’ve picked up an additional geography text, this one a bit more informative and perhaps one or two grades more difficult. Occasionally we’ll cross reference a topic the easy book covers so he learns a bit more.

For a book that started great but after doing enough lessons it’s clear the lessons aren’t engaging or maybe have confusing problems, plan to sit down with your child and use the text as a jumping point. You can skip sections or rephrase questions to match your child’s ability level. Use the less-than-great books as jumping-off points for topics then “fix” accordingly. If you feel a text is missing information then provide it. If you think the lessons jump in a haphazard manner, make a page list of how your child should work through the lessons and add material if needed.

The key to selecting ideal curriculum for your kids is keeping your goals in mind, sticking to a few options for consideration, and having a resourceful mindset. Happy learning!