Decision Three:
Choosing Homeschooling Curriculum
This is the most difficult area for new and experienced homeschoolers alike. Do not get me wrong,
we do not want to discourage anyone at this time, but, as parents, we must keep in mind that God has created
our children with unique gifts and talents, not little computer chips that can all be programmed to be
the exact same little robots. Our challenge as parents is to match our children and home schedule with the
books and materials that will best meet our needs. By way of explanation, on the following pages we have
divided the major suppliers of schooling materials into three categories with detailed overviews. A note of
caution on the selection of books, regardless of the publisher: what they have decided to publish for a particular
grade may not be what Florida requires for graduation or what your student is ready for right now. It
is especially important to confer with the high school guidance department before deciding which subjects
to purchase for any student working on high school credits. At FFCA. we believe the parents are the ones
who must make these choices, not a school board looking at hundreds of students instead of your child individually.
For most homeschoolers, one publisher does not fit all. First look at the basic description of each
of the three types of books. Then, you can proceed to a detailed description of publishers in the type that
you believe will work best with your student.
If you read ten books on homeschooling you will be presented with ten ways of choosing a curriculum. The Classical approach, delight directed, un-schooling, unit studies, modern approach, plus those approachs that have no name because they just bought what was on sale, what susie used, you know that publisher that they use at that little school down the road.
Our goal here is not to teach a new method, but to classify the material that is out there into usable catagories. Most of the curriculum that you can find will fall into one of three groups. We have given each type its own page. If you click on Type One: Classroom Based or Teacher Directed you will first see an overview of this type of material. From that page you can click on a detailed page for that publisher, or if you wish you can jump to the publisher directily from the link below.
Type One: Classroom Based or Teacher Directed
A-Beka Books
BJU Press (Bob Jones)
Christian Liberty Press
Florida Virtual School (Not approved for Science or Social Studies)
Horizons (Part of Alpha Omega)
Key Curriculum Press (Not all materials qualify as complete courses)
Rod and Staff
Public School Textbooks
McGraw-Hill Houghton-Mifflin Prentice Hall Glencoe
Holt McDougal Oxford etc.
Teaching Textbooks
Videotext Interactive
Type Two: Self-paced
Alpha Omega (Life-pacs and Switched on Schoolhouse)
School of Tomorrow (Also know as ACE or Pace)
Christian Light Publications (Light Units +)
Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum
Switched on Schoolhouse
Type Three: Non-Traditiona Publishers
Apologia Science
Chalk Dust
Common Sense Press
Easy Grammar
Saxon Math
Shirley English
Sonlight (Publisher and developer of "Grade Sets")
Veritas Press (Classical Approach Publisher and developer of "Grade Sets")
Type Four: Non-Traditional Approaches
Classical
Living Books
Unit Studies
Supplemental Curriculum