When you're new to homeschooling, finding the right curriculum is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The choices are overwhelming, and so are some of the price tags! Our tax money pays for a school system we're not using, so it's hard to justify a huge chunk out of the family budget for books and other educational materials to use at home. Publishers often package curriculum in sets consisting of a student textbook, workbook, test booklets, answer keys, teacher's edition, and sometimes additional tools like cd-roms or dvds. There's nothing worse than buying an entire grade-specific set of science or math, only to find out that it's as dry as toast! Ebay here you come! Check the publisher's web site before buying their product to see if they have some sample pages posted online for your review. Another way to preview materials is the old fashioned way...go to the bookstore and thumb through the material. Either method can be time consuming, but well worth the effort.
Parents new to homeschooling are usually better off mixing curriculum, especially for the younger grade levels. It's a great way to try out different publishers and keep things fresh all year. Your kids won't be the only ones who appreciate the variety!
I've listed below some resources for finding curriculum online. Don't forget to use the library too. It provides a good reason to leave the house each week, and the shelves are full of rich history, intriguing science, and entertaining biographies.
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/
http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/curriculum-planning/38847.html
http://www.homeschoolsupercenter.com/
http://www.homeschooldiscount.com/
http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/
http://www.usedhomeschoolcurriculum.com/
Even after you've chosen a variety of books and other tangible learning materials, there's still plenty to be found online to enhance your at-home library. You may be in the middle of a unit study about castles and medieval life, and your children can't seem to get enough. That's the time to jump on the Internet and begin researching the subject in greater detail. It's surprising what you can find, and if you have older children you may be amazed at what they can dig up on a given subject. Internet research skills are crucial to this budding generation, so why not incorporate a little practice into their schedules and call it a lesson? That's what homeschooling is all about...turning life into lessons and lessons into life!
