Choosing a Home School Curriculum

When you are choosing a home school curriculum to use with your child or children, whether it is an online course, home study course, or independent study, there are many different factors to consider. You will need to match the home school curriculum with your child's interests, learning style, and also with the legal requirements of the country or state where you live. Another issue that you will need to think about is the cost. The cost of home school curriculum, online course or independent study can range from very affordable to quite costly. Finding a curriculum to use for home study can be a process that will be time-consuming, but when it comes to educating your child and matching their unique learning style, you don't want to cut corners. Luckily, the internet is a very valuable tool that you can use to find a good curriculum for your home school use.

What Type of Curriculum Will Meet Your Needs?
One of the first things that you will need to think about when you are shopping for home school curriculum materials is what exactly your child needs. Will you be providing the complete home school curriculum in your home, or will you be sending your child to another school setting for some subjects? Maybe you are going to use an all-inclusive online course with curriculum in all subject areas, or an independent study program instead of a direct teaching approach for your home study. These are factors that must be considered when you are choosing any home school curriculum.

Questions About Home School, Home Study, Online Course, or Independent Study

Are there any legal requirements for home school curriculum, independent study programs or online course programs for children in your area? Will they meet national or local education curriculum standards? What is the age of your child? Which learning style is most appropriate for your child? Are you going to be teaching more than one child a home school curriculum at different grade levels? What grade level of materials do you need? Do you want to buy all of your materials from the same source, or do you want to shop around and get different subjects from different sources? Do you know where to find an advanced online course for algebra, or an independent study course for beginning French?

Learning Style

Next, you will need to consider your child's learning style. People generally use one of the 3 basic learning "styles" more than the others. This learning style can be visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (or touch). People, and children who prefer a visual learning style need to see what they are learning either through demonstration or in picture or word form on paper. Auditory learners need to hear things in order to learn them, while kinesthetic learners need to be able to experience things in a truly hands on manner to take full advantage of their learning style. When choosing a home school curriculum, you will need to match the curriculum with your child's learning style. A curriculum which has a lot of reading may not be appropriate for an auditory learner or kinesthetic learner-unless you can modify it (i.e. reading all of the material out loud to an auditory learner.)

Tailoring the Curriculum to the Child

Although you will need to make sure that any home school curriculum that you utilize is balanced, one of the advantages of educating your child this way is that you can tailor the home study lessons to your child's interests. If your child is really interested in dinosaurs, for example, you can find units about dinosaurs that include not only science and biology, but also language arts and math as well. If your child likes to use the computer and internet, you can use it as an additional resource or they can even do all of their coursework through an online course or independent study program. Some school districts even offer these courses as an option. This will help to retain the interest of the child and make learning more enjoyable, while still meeting educational goals.

Meeting Legal Requirements for Home School Curriculum

In order to ensure that children who are enrolled in home schooling programs are taught those things that society and educators have deemed important, many local, state, and national governments have set up curriculum standards that these programs are required to meet. These may include everything from detailed lists of standards for each age/grade level/subject to standardized testing. When you choose a curriculum, you will need to base your decision on the standards which apply to your area.

How Much Will It Cost to Home School?

Cost is one of the most important considerations for any home school curriculum. You can find many free and low cost resources such as reproducible worksheets, lesson plans, online forums, etc. which will give you a good starting point when you are shopping for your curriculum. However, there are also some very highly regarded home school curriculum programs, online course offerings or independent study programs that are available for purchase that may cost you more, but will be worth it in the long run, because of the value that you get with the included materials and information. You can also sign up for some online courses that are suitable for home schoolers. You may also want to think about purchasing one or two of your core subject areas from one of the more comprehensive and higher quality companies, and then supplement it with some of the lower cost extra-curricular courses at home or in your local school. --------------------------------------------If you are a business owner get listed at Best Education Site, part of Localwin Network.