Just How Important is That Curriculum Choice?

Curriculum choices, while important, are not as big a deal as some people make them. (My opinion)


What matters most in the success you will have in homeschooling is the philosophy of education that underlies each of your choices concerning the education of your children. 


As a "seasoned" homeschooler, this is where I encourage those considering home education for the first time to start. I have written about this before, but as the end of the traditional school year arrives and many people are now choosing the materials they will use in the fall, I wanted to climb up on this old soapbox again. 


If you already understand your educational philosophy, you can stop here. If, however, you haven't really thought about it, you might want to continue reading. 


Many approach home education by simply going directly to the curriculum catalogs. They may eventually get around to processing enough information about different approaches that they kind of end up stumbling into a philosophy of education. But it is much better to start from the beginning knowing what you believe about how a true education occurs so that it can guide you through all the choices necessary to effectively accomplish your goal. Be intentional.


During my education classes in college, there were basically two kinds of classes. The vast majority were about "crowd management" or education from a "herd mentality." But a couple of them were actually about the learning process. Those were the ones I loved. But I still didn't connect the dots. When we started homeschooling Hannah, I set up our little school room to look like a public school classroom. The curriculum I chose looked a lot like the curriculum I had used in the public schools. We had an okay year, but not a great one because I didn't "get it." I think the reason the year went as well as it did was because we did focus on reading wonderful books to her. But other than that, there were no memorable successes. 


In the years that followed, the Lord provided me examples of true education through a dear mentor/friend who was down the road several miles ahead of me in the process. I saw the difference between what I was doing/using and how she was teaching her children. There was no comparison. I was sold. The fruit I saw in their lives was so compelling that it quickly showed me I had settled for a mere shadow of reality. And there was no way, after seeing it, that I was going to continue down the path I had begun.


At that point, I wrestled through the philosophy aspect of homeschooling. And it has made all the difference. I read different authors from Marilyn Howshall, to Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, to Charlotte Mason, to Dorothy Sayers. I'm still reading about the philosophy of education: C. S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man and R. C. Sproul, Jr.'s When You Rise Up.


When we began homeschooling it was from a defensive posture, wanting to protect them from all the negatives that can be present in the public education system. But once I captured the vision for what true education is, it was no longer about defense. I was now homeschooling because I could offer them  much more by customizing their learning experiences to fit their giftings and their needs. 


So how does all of that affect the choices in curriculum? 


Recognizing that the curriculum is not the answer, but merely a tool to aid in the process affords great freedom in the choice. No longer do I have to find that one perfect curriculum that will solve all our educational woes. There isn't one. Instead, I look for tools that facilitate what we have learned about how learning takes place in the most efficient and fruitful ways. 


Sometimes that means a textbook for a certain season for a certain subject. Often it means using a great book to learn about a historical period. Or maybe a great resource that we can use as a jumping off place to delve more deeply into an area that fascinates us. We pull in LOTS of resources from field guides to internet searches to old, out of print historical fiction, to a simple framework that takes us through the Bible in stick figures, to the Character Sketch books, to an old series of books called the Book of Knowledge. 


It's about the process. It's about the tools of learning. 


What is your philosophy of education? What did the journey that culminated in your educational philosophy look like? What are your favorite resources? The ones you go to time and time again?