One of the most wonderful things about homeschooling is that you have the freedom to choose materials to fit your child's educational needs. Ironically, one of the scariest things about homeschooling is that you have the responsibility of choosing the materials to fit your child's educational needs!
There are a lot of differences from one curriculum to the next. Some differences won't matter to your child-- many students adapt well to a variety of approaches. That's why "mass education" in a classroom setting can ever work at all! However, you may be homeschooling your child (or considering homeschool) because what is offered at your local school is a poor fit for her. That was our experience years ago-- by the time our oldest was in second grade, he and his younger sister both hated school and felt discouraged. It just wasn't working for them! So we set about finding a better fit for their education. They're doing well in college now, so I guess we did okay!
If your child is not an average, "in-the-box" kind of kid, here are a few things to consider when looking at various materials:
Sensory Input / Learning Style: Some children have a strong preference toward learning through a certain sensory pathway. Visual learners remember best what they see; auditory learners remember what they hear. Tactile learners need to touch things, and kinesthetic learners need to move and do things. For example, when learning how to get from one place to another, do you need to see a map, hear spoken directions, trace the map with your finger, or can you only remember after actually going there? I can go somewhere multiple times, but until I've seen a map, I simply won't remember how to get there. But some people are just the opposite! Happily, there are materials for just about every subject that are designed for each type of learning style.
If you aren't sure about your child's preferred learning styles, here are a few sample tests online.
Processing Approach-- Analysis vs Synthesis: Once the information gets into the brain, the learner has to process it. And some people have a strong tendency toward processing by analysis-- breaking down the whole into its parts-- versus processing by synthesis-- building the whole from its parts. For instance, one child may remember a spelling rule by seeing many examples and figuring out the pattern. That's analysis, sometimes called the discovery approach. Another child may need to be told the rule, and then use it to create examples. That's synthesis, sometimes referred to as explicit instruction.
Focus-- Mastery vs Spiral: Some students need a lot of variety and do well when a topic is introduced, practiced, and returned to often, while more topics continue to be introduced. Other students do better when they stick with a topic until they have mastered it. While they may review it later, they have a definite closure before continuing on to the next topic. In literature, some students may prefer a unit on poetry, a unit on short stories, a unit on novels, and a unit on essays, while others might prefer the spiral approach of studying all of these types of writing together over and over, organized by different themes. Also, some math programs are spiral, while others provide completely separate studies for mastery of addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, decimals, and other topics.
Work pace and volume: Some students need a challenging pace, while others get overwhelmed easily if new topics are introduced too quickly or too often. One student may need a lot of practice, while another might have a meltdown over too many math problems. While either the pace or the volume of work can be modified if the curriculum is otherwise a good fit, it is something to consider.
Presentation--distraction and interest level: Sometimes the page layout in a book can be too distracting for a student; another book might lack illustrations or color and not hold a student's interest. The screen design or interactive features on a computer lesson can be an issue. In a dvd lesson, the voice that encourages one child may put another to sleep.
Independence level: If you need your child to be able to work on a certain subject independently, the instruction needs to meet her at her level. This can be a concern whether she is reading a textbook or using an interactive computer program.
Consumability: If you have limited resources and multiple children, you may want a curriculum that is reusable for future years or able to be used by multiple users at the same time.
Price: Few families have unlimited resources. Whatever your budget is, there are ways to match your child's needs with an appropriate curriculum, but the lower the budget, obviously, the more resourceful you have to be. Still, with a lot of help from the library and the internet, you can plan a good education for your child. That would make a great future post topic...
Every child and every family's situation is unique. Some of these variables will be more important to your selection than others. Perhaps a few won't matter in the least! But as you look over the choices for your child's education, I hope these ideas are helpful.
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