Choosing to homeschool your child can be a daunting experience. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the myriad decisions that are now your responsibility to make. Whether you want to go with a more religious or secular option, there’s a wide variety of curricula available. But what if you want to make your own curriculum? With some research, creating your own academic plan can be easier than you think.
Where should I start?
Everyone has their reasons for homeschooling. Understanding those reasons is the first step in making your own homeschool curriculum. A parent who wants to homeschool but still wants to do tests and assessments is going to have a different curriculum than a parent who wants to unschool their child.
What if I don’t have a particular philosophy?
If you don’t have a particular philosophy, you can still create your own homeschool curriculum. When making a curriculum, you’ll want to identify 1.) the standards that you want to meet; and 2.) the lessons and activities that will help you meet those standards.
1.) Academic standards
What you’ll want to do is start by finding standards. The easiest way to do that is to search for your state and a search term like “academic standards” or “core education standards.” For example, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education has a page that links to academic core standards for each grade level. And if you’re not sure, you can always use the Common Core Standards.
Now that I have the standards, what comes next?
After you have the standards, the next step is figuring out what materials and activities you’ll use to meet the standards.
2.) Identify sources that you’ll teach from and activities that will help develop proficiency in the standards.
Keep in mind that certain activities are multi-purpose. Which means that you can develop the skills to meet more than one standard by using a single activity. Your child needs to work on writing and needs to learn about a historical figure? Have them write an essay about George Washington. Science logbooks? Those cover science and writing. You can even have your child make a papier-mâché globe to combine art and geography.
How do I know what specific topics I should cover?
If you’re just getting started, you can use resources “Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Creative and Comprehensive Homeschool Curriculum” by Rebecca Rupp or the What Your Child Needs to Know/Core Knowledge series by E.D. Hirsch, Jr..
What type of resources can I use to develop my curriculum and do lessons?
You’re pretty much free to use whatever resources you want. You can use YouTube videos, Khan Academy, workbooks, Scholastic Teachables, butterfly gardens, ant farms, etc. You can even use cooking lessons to teach chemistry and fractions.
If you’re interested in using traditional textbooks, check with your state or school district to see if they are required to lend you materials upon request.
How do I pull this all together?
Now that you have all of your materials, it’s time to write down your curriculum plan.
I’m going to take a second to interrupt myself here: Some of you won’t want to write a curriculum plan. And that’s fine. I tried that at the beginning of The Tiny Intern’s kindergarten and first grade years. It didn’t work out for me. At all. I have two beautiful planners that I didn’t end up following. I developed a system where I printed out the core standards and wrote the source materials I would use to cover each one onto the printout with different colored pens one month at a time. Aside from knowing where we needed to be in the material by the end of the first semester, I didn’t have a solid overall plan. It’s a system that didn’t make sense to anyone but me, but it worked. Now, back to the curriculum plan:
The most straightforward way to start to plan the curriculum for the whole school year will be to break each section of the academic standards down by subject. I find it helpful to break it down into eight subject areas: English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, Art, Music, Health, Fitness, and Life Management Skills, &Technology and Research. Then, break each set of a subject’s standards into four groups. What you have now is a rough idea of what you’ll want to complete every quarter.
Keep in mind that you’re the boss and you’re free to tackle the standards in whatever order or combinations you see fit. By October, you might find that your plan isn’t working. Write your curriculum in pencil and don’t hesitate to adjust the plan as needed.
Once you have your curriculum plan set, you’re ready to start lesson planning. If that’s your thing. For the system I used, I didn’t plan lessons until the week of the lesson.
What type of work should I have my child do?
This is probably going to sound repetitive, but it’s really up to you. Some homeschooling families do little to no testing and assess learning and progress by having conversations and reviewing their child’s work. Others assign classwork and test like a traditional school. The most important thing is making sure that your child is progressing and mastering the core skills.
Have questions? Created your own curriculum and want to show it off? Connect with us on social media to let us know!
