On the curriculum hunt

Dear Curriculum Publishers,

I want to let you know there is this "brand new" movement in America called homeschooling. It is creative, innovative and not one-size fits all. It is an untapped market, you should definitely do a little research, as I'm pretty sure this market would be a financial boon for your industry.

Sincerely,
Homeschool Charter Administrator, desperate for curriculum options

As a homeschooler who is also a teacher, I write a lot of my curriculum. Sometimes this is out of pure inspiration but more often than not, it's out of a pure lack of materials. There are so few curriculum materials on the market that are actually designed for homeschoolers, not just tweaked to fit the market. Don't believe me? I challenge you to find a language arts curriculum for middle school that is integrated with reading fiction and nonfiction, grammar, writing and spelling that is secular for public purchase and has a teacher's guide written for one on one instruction. (By the way, if you find it, please let me know- I'm desperately searching for this option!)

Yes, there are some options available for science and history. I'm a huge fan of Pandia Press and Intellego but what happens outside of those options? If a student doesn't have internet access readily available, Intellego isn't helpful. If a family doesn't like the interwoven approach of History Odyssey and wants a different option, what's out there? As a homeschool administrator, I want to offer a selection of options for my families, not just one curriculum that I personally love. I want to make creative curriculum available that focuses outside the worksheet for my families and gives them the opportunity and inspiration to extend learning.

If you're already homeschooling, you know exactly why it's important to find curriculum for homeschoolers. It's very frustrating to have a project that has "In your group" or "Talk to your partners"or "Meet with another group and share information."  It is a constant reminder that you are weird and you don't belong. It's annoying to constantly retool directions that don't match or correct your terms from "Discuss with your group," to "Tell me what you think."

Beyond just annoyance, it's expensive and difficult to use a science curriculum that isn't designed with individual instruction in mind. A middle school science lab guide is designed for 120ish students. I need science lab materials listed for one student- it's far too expensive for me to go out and by a giant container of ethanol for experiments when I need a tablespoon. If I had a classroom and a lab, it would be feasible, but my house is full of leftover chemicals I don't need right now.

Sometimes it's not just about changing the materials but changing the lesson. Traditional classroom instruction models don't work at the kitchen table. Each-one-teach-one or jigsaw lessons with one kid? Weird and unnecessary. Read the history text and answer the questions, day after day? Boring. Assignments that require a group dialogue? Irrelevant.

The best part about publishers rethinking the curriculum for homeschoolers is that it helps everyone, including classroom teachers!  Thinking about one-to-one instruction for curriculum helps teachers create flipped classrooms, intervention, afterschool RTI program instruction. It also encourages teachers and schools to move beyond the lecture/worksheet model. My son would laugh me out of the house if I stood up and gave him a 30 minute lecture and asked him to take notes. So I have to spend a lot of time taking the content for instruction and turning it into something engaging, interesting and analytical. If I could buy an option of this for my families that was fabulous but saved time and money, I would buy it today!

More and more homeschoolers are abandoning traditional classrooms for a huge host of reasons. It's time for publishers to see these families as customers and start making options that work for us too! I promise, if publishers take the leap, it will pay off in the end!

Choosing Curriculum for the New Year

Researching curriculum, reviewing curriculum, and reading curriculum are three of my most favorite parts of homeschooling. Then comes the worst part, the most difficult challenge of all- actually choosing the curriculum. It feels like torture to let go of something I've spent so much time exploring! But late spring means that it's time to put in the curriculum order for the new year and time to begin breaking up with curriculum I've come to love.

We homeschool through a public charter school in California. There are many different deviations of this model, some of which give parents a fixed dollar amount to spend in selected vendors. Our model is a physical charter that holds classes and purchases curriculum for the families to check out each year. We have access to more than 70 classes, a typical school administration, a library and traditional school activities like Science Fair. There are definite pros and cons to this model. In our case, my son's expensive fencing lessons would be paid for by the school in a different model, because they count as PE. In our model, we pay out of pocket.

Our charter offers a huge variety of curriculum for the classical homeschooler but can be somewhat limited for Academic Homeschoolers. Because it is a K-8 charter school, the curriculum library does not contain anything beyond 8th grade. For most kids, this wouldn't be a problem. However, for us, we often find we have to purchase our own materials to cover the kid's academic needs. 

The kid is a sixth grader on paper this year, though his academic needs are pretty varied. So far, this is our plan for the 2013-2014 school year. It may change, depending on progress in the next few months! For those interested in purchasing curriculum, I have included links where available.

Literature/English

Wordly Wise Book 7

The Writer's Jungle

Free reading- with the school's 40 Book Challenge

Mathematics

Art of Problem Solving- Algebra 1 (We recommend buying from Horrible Ray)

Descartes Cove and Khan Academy as supplemental

Science

Intellego Units in Evolution and also Plate Techtonics/Geology

Our monthly hands-on science club will continue

Social Studies/History

Intellego Units in Ancient Civilizations (covering China and India)

Story of Science- Aristotle Leads the Way

Student Quest Guide (the accompanying workbook)

Electives-

We're still tossing this around. Perhaps blacksmithing with a local co-op, or some improv acting classes. We'll be adding in a musical instrument this year but which instrument is still a family debate!  The kid will also continue dabbling in coding with Code Academy and working on digital art using Anime Design Studio.