Mom Is Teaching

For the last few months I have gotten at least one email, sometimes, more, each week asking me questions about homeschooling. I don’t mind it at all, in fact I love trying to find the answers to these questions and share links that I hope will help them further. But in these questions there are often some asking me for curriculum recommendations. I honestly don’t mind fielding questions on finding good curriculum, but I need a little help to know what they need.

Last week I got two such emails. One was from a mom looking for places to get free or cheap homeschooling resources and curriculum material, another from a mom wanting to know where to buy her daughter’s curriculum from. The problem is when you are looking for curriculum there are a thousand different variables. What style are you using, how much structure do you want, and what are your state’s requirements? Those simple questions can be the difference between spending hundreds of dollars on a prepackaged set or spending a few dollars on some used books and printer paper.

Many soon-to-be homeschooling parents know they need to check their state’s laws before homeschooling. Find out what is required, will you need to keep records, will you be required to take the standardized tests, will you need to submit anything before homeschooling. But from there some parents do not know where to go. I still remember one email I received two months ago from a frustrated mother who was quickly planning to pull her child out during winter break. Her need to homeschool came on so quickly that she had not yet had a chance to really learn more about it. When I supplied links to various sites that would provide more information her response was flustered disbelief. She had assumed that there was one national curriculum plan that all schools, and all homeschooling families, had to follow. The idea that there were many different styles and options went against her assumptions about what homeschooling meant.

I thought now might be a good time to update the list of homeschooling methods I’ve talked about. I certainly haven’t covered them all, and they are just basic overviews, but they are a good place to start if you’re not sure where you are at on the homeschooling spectrum.

• Enki Education (Holistic Approach)
• Waldorf part 1 and part 2
• Unschooling
• Montessori
• Classical /Neo-Classical
• Charlotte Mason
• Unit Studies
• Eclectic
• Literature based
• Principled Approach
• Online homeschooling

homeschooling, education, curriculum