Choosing Teaching Materials

Choosing teaching materials can be an overwhelming decision because there are so many excellent products available and each one claims to be superior to all others. Many veteran home schoolers suggest that you stick to a "prepackaged" traditional curriculum for the first year or so. Others encourage new home schoolers to consider correspondence schools. We do not completely agree with these recommendations, because for many it seems to perpetuate a mentality of home schooling as being "school at home" instead of an exciting lifestyle of learning. We know that is takes some experience to determine which materials are best suited to your teaching style and your children's needs, but we are also convinced that the Lord can lead concerned parents to the teaching materials and methods that work best for their family. Here are some suggestions concerning choosing curricula:

Rules of Thumb for Choosing Teaching Materials:

     Rule #1: Consider your situation and budget. A farm family will have many opportunities for "hands on" learning in the areas of math, science, economics, etc. A city family has access to museums, libraries, cultural events, and more support group activities. You can make the most of the real life learning opportunities God gives you, perhaps never needing textbooks and teaching materials in certain subject areas. As far as budget is concerned, as our friend Carole Seid says, "All you really need for home schooling are a Bible and a library card."

     Rule #2: Choose teaching materials that compliment both the teacher and the learner. Textbooks developed for classroom use tend to be "teacher directed" and chalkboard oriented, seldom taking into account different teaching approaches or the different ways children perceive and process information. Each student has a style in which he learns best. Different children have different learning strengths and weaknesses that the perceptive parent can take into account when choosing teaching materials. 

     Rule #3: If you don't like the material, you will resist using it no matter how good it is. All teaching materials have a bias, not just in the subject matter, but also in the way the subject matter is presented. Every teaching parent, whether he recognizes it or not, has an educational philosophy--some set of values and beliefs about what and how children should be taught. Sometimes we will have an unexplained inner resistance to certain teaching materials. It could be that this inner resistance arises from a conflict between our educational philosophy and that of the teaching material. Trust the Holy Spirit and choose from your spirit as well as from your head.

     Rule #4: Avoid programs that require a great deal of teacher preparation. Unless you are a researcher-type or high-energy person, you will be frustrated by programs with detailed teacher's manuals to wade through, supplemental books or seminars that are necessary to fully utilize the program, or lots of activities to prepare beforehand.

     Rule #5: Don't judge a book by its cover. Expensive and "glitzy" does not necessarily mean better. There are $250 reading programs with "bells and whistles" and $25 "bare bones" reading programs. Any dedicated teacher with a good phonics program can teach a child to read and spell well. Remember, this is home schooling. Some of our favorite programs look like they were put together on someone's kitchen table. We've been so conditioned as consumers to want slick packages, that we will judge the quality of a product by how it is packaged.

     Rule #6: Be aware that there are various schools of thought concerning the teaching of any subject. Some examples: In math there are programs that are primarily problem solving with manipulatives and programs that are primarily problem solving on paper. In reading there are programs that focus on learning phonics before learning to read, programs that focus on learning the rules while learning to read, and programs that focus on just learning to read and letting the rules come later. Each school of thought has produced excellent mathematicians, readers, or spellers.

     Rule #7: Realize that needs change. What worked one year may not necessarily work the next. Your family's needs and interests will change. Buy materials that meet present needs. Mold the curriculum to the child, not the child to the curriculum. Also be aware that not all books in a series are equally as good. For example, the fourth grade level of a particular program may be excellent, but this does not mean the other levels will work as well.

     Rule #8: God gave you YOUR specific children because there is something in YOU that He wants imparted to them. Teaching materials are only tools to help you impart yourself to (disciple) your children. You can trust the Lord to lead you to those materials that will help you best disciple each child.

     Rule #9: Remember that teaching materials are often the least important elements of your home school. Books are easy to discard if they don't work for you, but attitudes and destructive family dynamics are not. The five major reasons families fail at home education are:

they lack the personal conviction to persevere through the difficult times;
the father is not involved;
the children are undisciplined and resist parental instruction;
the parents are undisciplined and cannot handle the added responsibilities; and
the family has unrealistic expectations.