How do YOU choose curriculum?

[Pam B]

If you had to switch curriculums, how would you choose?

 

What are the things you most look for a curriculum TO have or NOT to have?

[regentrude]

This is a difficult question to answer because it would depend on the reason for switching. If some curriculum did not work for my kids because of feature x (for instance spiral approach), I would choose one that does NOT have this feature (i.e. a mastery based approach in this example).

If it did not work because it was too hard, I'd look for less challenging - if my student was bored, I'd look for harder.

If my student liked the curriculum, but needed more practice, I would try to supplement with additional materials to provide the practice opportunities.

 

Generally, the main deciding factor for my choices is content. I can compromise on other things - but not on content. Between choices that cover equal content, I examine how it is presented, how well the text is actually written, etc.

For high school sciences, I do not use any materials specifically designed for home schooling, but prefer introductory college texts which have been recommended by instructors who choose to adopt them for their classes from the multitude of available texts. This way I know that the people who are experts in the field agree with content and pedagogy of the book- a decision I do not feel competent to make for subjects other than physics.

 

Auxilliaries such as schedules, companion websites, teacher manuals, pre-made tests do not play a decisive role for me.

 

Not sure whether this is helpful.