How to Create a Homeschool Curriculum

Do you wonder why families create their own homeschool curriculum when there is so much fascinating material available on the market?

The reasons for this may be numerous; however there are usually two primary ones:

1. Lack of financial resources
2. Not finding the best fit for their particular family needs

There is a beautiful example of a mom, Linda Lacour Hobar, who combined her deep love for history with a desire to commit the history knowledge into her children’s long-term memory. As many of the curricula are built to learn and forget, she set herself on a path to create “The Mystery of History,” which has now become one of the most popular history curriculum for Christian homeschooling families.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, you too may consider creating your own homeschool curriculum.

Is Creating a Homeschool Curriculum Hard?

No matter how simple or complex homeschool curriculum you may have in mind, it will require your time and energy. Therefore, if you don’t have one or both of these available, start by creating a simple curriculum. If time permits, you can always expand your beginning creation into a deeper and more extensive one for your next student. After you gain experience by creating a simple curriculum, you will be able to dive into more complex ones without feeling overwhelmed.

How to Create a Simple Homeschool Curriculum

A simple homeschool curriculum will require about 15 minutes of your online research a week, plus a trip to your local library.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s assume you would like to teach your second grader history based on historical figures but cannot find any textbook at your child’s grade level. Following are a few steps you can take:

1. Visit your local library and find picture biographies of famous people (for example Meet George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, etc. series).
2. Borrow one biography and read one chapter at a time with your student.
3. After you finish reading, ask your child several questions related to the text and discuss the pictures. [Sample questions for Meet George Washington by Joan Heilbroner.]
4. Next day, review the previous chapter/chapters, look at the pictures and continue reading another chapter. Please do not skip the reviews! In order for the information being committed into long-term memory, it must be reviewed often.
5. Additional fun activities you may consider:
   1. Print a coloring picture with the person you are reading about, house they lived in, animals they owned, maps from that era, or clothes people used to wear. [Sample coloring pictures: George Washington, horse, Mount Vernon]
   2. Find a free printable lapbook online. [Sample: George Washington Lapbook]
   3. Find a short cartoon-type video on YouTube. [Sample: George Washington video]
   4. Create a short worksheet to fill in words or sentences to answer questions.
   5. Play an online “Who Am I?” game. [Sample: George Washington game]
6. Create a binder with all the printed information so that your child can present these to other family members and friends. This is a very important part of learning as retelling what they have studied helps your children solidify the information in their brain and ensure the long-lasting retention.
7. Revisit the library and borrow another book in the series.

Research for creating a simple homeschool curriculum requires minimum time and much of it can be done on the spot, for example while your child is coloring. Also, it is very economical and will give your student a solid foundation for any curriculum you choose to use in the future.

How to Create a More Complex Homeschool Curriculum

Creating a more complex curriculum follows similar steps as the simple one; however, it will require much more time and research on your part. I highly recommend preparing your basic structure and outline at the beginning of a school year and then dedicating 2-3 uninterrupted hours each week to create a lesson.

Let me give you an example:

Several years ago I was to teach physical geography in a small coop group. As the children were different ages and came into the class with different backgrounds in their geographical studies, I needed to bring them to the same general knowledge before moving on. But I had an extremely hard time finding exactly what I was looking for. So I created my own curriculum which I called Physical Geography 101. It worked; we had fun and we learned. Following are the steps I took to create this curriculum:

1. First, I researched online what physical geography included and why.
2. Then I divided the areas into weeks. I also included review weeks and games.
3. With all the information gathered and an outline made, I created a simple textbook. This gave the students enough material to be able to complete their homework and do a review before the next class. (Example: World’s Islands)
4. I downloaded pictures related to the particular theme in order to visually support the lessons. [Example: Most Beautiful Lakes in the World]
5. I collected a number of maps and atlases that we then used in class. Children would work in pairs finding rivers, islands, etc.
6. Blank maps: After the students familiarized themselves with the atlas, they would fill out a blank map for reinforcement. Sometimes this was assigned as homework. [Example: Major Rivers of the World]
7. Each week we would watch a short video(s) related to the lesson’s subject. [Example: Creation of a New Island]
8. For younger children, I would have coloring pictures available in case their attention started to diminish during our discussions. [Example: Kilimanjaro]
9. I built in reviews, quizzes and tests in various formats for the children to retain the information. [Sample: Locating Mountains] They especially enjoyed a jeopardy game for prizes at the end of the semester. 

There is no limit to the curricula you can create for your children. The internet is a vast resource of ideas and information. If you keep your children’s needs and interests in mind, you will be able to enjoy learning together and creating a curriculum will become a pleasure for you. And you never know, one day you may become an accomplished author just like Linda Lacour Hobar with her “Mystery of History.”

Have your created some curriculum for your family? Please let us know in the comment section below. We would LOVE to hear from you!