Planning a Home School Curriculum
Besides lesson plans, the hardest part of establishing a home school environment in the home will be choosing the curriculum. When it comes to what and how you will teach there are a few options that can be explored. Planning well in advance means a well thought out curriculum once the first day of class arrives.
What is your philosophy of teaching? Many parents may think that they don’t have one but if you have a reason for taking your child out of public school, then you do. The philosophy is directly related to those reasons. You want to influence change that will give your child a better education. The public school is not doing a satisfactory job in your opinion or you would be considering the option of teaching your children at home.
There are several curriculum plans in existence today. Each is based on a different philosophy of teaching. Some curriculums are less stringent which allows for children to experience a variety of subjects and teaching structures. Children can experiment with their learning process to find what fits.
Other programs are quite rigid. Every aspect of each subject is planned down to the day as to what will be taught and in what order. For the new home schooling parent, this takes the guesswork and headache out of the structure of the learning process.
Home school curricula are not just based on academics, but religion. Spiritual components of education resulted in Christian home schooling. These programs comply with the state requirements but emphasize Biblical education.
Once parents become comfortable with home schooling, they can move from a rigid program to a less structured one or a curriculum guide. Curriculum guides are cheaper but only serve as rough guidelines. The parents still have to purchase worksheets, study guides, and other materials for teaching. This is not a concern with complete packages because they include everything for your dollar.
Some curricula have an online component as well. Part of the program involves book work and activities that kids can do online. It is easier to record keep online than with a paper and pencil. Some people like paper and pencil though because computers crash or get temperamental and lose your stuff. After all of that, it is time to do a lesson plan for each class for each student grade level.
Before the fun of teaching your children can begin, you need to have a plan. This is the tough part. It will involve a lot of head scratching and sweating, but once it’s done, the next time will be easier.
