Curriculum Shopping!

It's that time of year again. Time to start making decisions about what worked this year in your homeschool and what didn't.

Did you find some keepers for next year, or was it all a bust?

{Sam's Noggin}

In our homeschool we have had plenty of busts, not as many keepers. It has been hard to find something that works well with the majority of my children, as we try to use our curriculum in a group.

If you are keeping what you used this year, because it works well, good for you! Just bump up the levels and you are set. If you are starting from scratch, please take some time to figure out what didn't work with your current curriculum before throwing books in your cart.

Do you need to change learning styles?

We have found our fit in curriculum with Trail Guide To Learning from Geography Matters. This curriculum is great to use with the family, and is a literature based unit study kind of curriculum that is Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick friendly. We will be using it again next year for everyone but our high school student. It will be the easiest purchase year ever, as I already know several things we are going to use for him as well.

Was the curriculum too easy?

Sometimes you just don't have your child in the right fit for difficulty, and they get bored. Ask your child how the school year has gone so far in their opinion, and if they have ideas about what changes they would like moving forward.

Does the curriculum fit your lifestyle?

Perhaps you find yourself in the car often, and love to stop at the park to do your studying. Choose easily portable curriculum, you won't want to pack the car full of books and lug them around with you.

Is it in your budget?

Sometimes we droll over a particular curriculum, but the price is beyond our reach. Try to decide what you most like about the curriculum and try to find something similar. You'd be surprised at how many things are out there with a few differences.

{Sam's Noggin}

I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have as much to buy, and will be reusing what we have used in the past. Now that we have found something we love, it will happen eventually!