Step Two: Planning Your Home school Curriculum 

Deciding on your home school curriculum is the second step in designing a homeschool education for your family.

Your Home school curriculum is not the set of books you will use or the publisher you prefer. It is the entire course you design to fulfill your goals. It is made up of all the courses you intend to teach (Bible, Math, Science, Art, Business Skills, Computer, Homemaking, Car Repairs..) and specific goals within those courses.

It is determined mostly by what you as a family consider to be the important goals of your family, as well as designing space and time to alter and add to your list according to the individual children you have.  As time goes on, you will discover that their interests come to the foreground and this is where you can really encourage them in their own personal life goals, strengthen and build upon their gifts.  Let me tell you that the list we compiled at the beginning, does not look like what we do now.  However, I still believe it was a valuable exercise to 'think' things through and not just go through the motions - or just take a curriculum because someone else was using it.  Make it yours! - and be flexible!

The materials you select are there to help you - to be your servant - to fulfil what you have planned (as a unique homeschooling family), to achieve.

Please Note: Home School Curriculum is not the set of books you buy!

This second step of the homeschooling guide is not necessarily about choosing a home school curriculum - that can happen in a minute.... But right now, you're thinking through what a "curriculum" actually means.

What is "The Curriculum"?

Basically, your homeschool curriculum is your particular course of study.

It is the set of 'homeschooling subjects' you decide that are important to your own unique family.

Listed below is an example of how you might go ahead and create your own home school curriculum or course of study.

Remember, you need to design it for your family - this is just an example.

 Home School Curriculum (Course of Study) Example

Course of Study

The course of study you design consists of a variety of homeschooling subjects that you decide are necessary for your children to know. It is not set in concrete, it is a guide and you will find that as your children grow, the course will develop to accommodate their interests.

In the end, every child will have some things which are common to the whole family, but also some subjects which are unique only to them. 

Our Family's Educational Goal:

The goal in educating our children is to raise………….....

This is where you write in the goals you have just been working on in Step One - Setting Educational Goals.

Design Your Bible Curriculum

Our GOALS:  Write out the big picture of what you want for your children to know.

Our METHOD: Write down the way you will teach this subject: Reading the Bible together; Devotional books; Memorizing Scripture.

Our MATERIALS: Write down a list of home school materials, home school books, supplies and home school curriculum that may help you teach this subject- The Bible; Bible Dictionaries; Bible Atlas; Study Guide; Curriculum that teaches systematic study of the Bible; Catechism, Songs and Hymns..

Design Your History Curriculum

Our GOALS:  Write out the big picture of what you want for your children to know.

Our METHOD: This is where you would write down how you would approach teaching this homeschool subject:  Reading living books in time period; locating places on maps; memorizing dates; learning art history with the time periods;

Our MATERIALS: This is where you would add the home school supplies and curriculum which may help you teach: - Living Books in Historical time periods; History curriculum; maps; time lines and time-line figures etc.

Where to from here?

 In the next step of the homeschooling guide, Step Three you can gain a general overview of each subject area, understand the skills in sequential order and view specific materials and curricula within each subject area.

Some people prefer not to re-invent the wheel and try pre-packaged curricula. This may be a suitable option for you.  But, before you begin - check out these Guidelines for choosing curriculum.

Check out Curriculum Descriptions Here... Add your review!

Back to The Homeschool Guide - and how this site is structured.

How do you write this into an educational plan?  See Homeschool Planning Page and for Australians - Australian Homeschool Registration Help.

Keep-on-Track E-zine

It doesn't matter whether you've been homeschooling for a week or a life-time, but we all need to be reminded of what is important and where we are headed. Would you like some guided help to Keep on Track?

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Developed around a specific goal, Keep on Track helps you to focus, keep motivated and strive towards your homeschooling goals.

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