The best homeschool curriculum is the one that gives your students the kind of education they can be proud of. The beauty of homeschooling is that you, the parent and/or teacher, have the freedom to create a curriculum to meet the specific needs of your students. You are not limited to conventional teaching methods or materials; nor are you restricted by time frames and schedules. Your curriculum can combine both traditional and contemporary educational knowledge and skills to give your students a well rounded and complete education.

Teaching Younger Children

When children are small, most all school curriculums teach the basics of the four core subjects to include Math, Science, Social Studies/History and Language Arts/Reading. In your homeschool curriculum, you should follow suit. You may want to focus more time and attention on Reading, Math and Language Arts in the beginning, as these are the subjects they will use most in younger years. As they grow older, you can incorporate Science and History into the curriculum for a well balanced education.

One of the major arguments in modern schools today is that students are not receiving a solid foundation in the basics to carry them forth into higher learning. In your homeschool setting, it is imperative students learn the fundamentals of these subjects so they will have a strong foundation upon which to build. When the basics of these subjects are not learned well, students develop learning gaps that can greatly hinder them, as they grow older. The basics in Math and Language Arts, in particular, are essential to learn in order for your students to understand concepts that are more difficult in later years.

Although the basics of the four core subjects may vary depending on the teacher, the following are some general guidelines to consider when making your homeschool curriculum.

Basic Math Skills:

•Learning the numbers and their place values
•Simple adding, subtracting, multiplication and division
•Learning the multiplication tables
•adding with carrying
•Subtracting with borrowing
•Rounding off numbers and estimating
•Counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s and 100s, etc.

Basic Language Arts Skills:

•Learning about nouns, verbs, articles and adjectives
•Learning pronouns
•Learning simple sentence formation and structure
•Simple spelling rules
•Simple punctuation rules
•Basic tenses of verbs
•Four types of sentences

Basic Reading Skills:

•Names of the alphabet
•Sounds of the alphabet
•Long and short vowel sounds
•Two letter consonant blends, such as "bl", "cl", "dr", etc.
•Three letter consonant blends, such as "spl", "str", etc.
•How to sound out three letter words
•Basic phonograms such as "at", "am", "an", etc.
•Forming words using phonograms
•Simple sight reading words (in, on, at, is, the, etc.)

Young children are like little sponges. Their capacity and desire to learn is generally much greater when they are young. Hence, this is the best time to provide them with as much knowledge and homeschool learning opportunities as you can.

Teaching Older Children

The best homeschool curriculum for older children will help them to build on the concepts they learned when they were young. As children grow older, they begin to develop special interests in subjects beyond the normal curriculum. They may portray a desire to learn skills and abilities in areas such as music, computers, art, writing, foreign languages, culinary arts, etc. Homeschooling gives teachers the freedom to incorporate additional studies such as these into their students' curriculum to give them a more rounded education. In addition to these practical skills, older children can branch out into different themes within the core subjects. In the area of Language Arts, students may show interest in learning story writing techniques, poetry, literature, spelling, etc. In History, students may want to study more about world cultures and history than that of their native country. All these alternatives are viable options within a homeschool curriculum, making school more interesting and fun.

Developing a Homeschool Curriculum

There are many educational companies offering pre-established home school curricula and materials for children of all ages. Companies such as Cambridge International, A Beka, Christian Light Education and others carry extensive educational materials in the form of textbooks, workbooks, documentaries, tactile teaching aids, science equipment, etc. for home school settings. If you are new to homeschooling, it may be easier for you to follow their curricula until you learn the ropes of developing your own. The more experience you gain in homeschooling, the more comfortable you will feel in creating a curriculum of your own, using the best ideas and materials from each company to meet your students' needs.

Homeschooling provides a wonderful opportunity for children and teens to receive a high quality education in an unconventional setting. The homeschool environment offers greater freedom and variety for a student's education, without lowering the learning standard. Due to these advantages, homeschooled students often receive a superior education than what conventional schools have to offer. The best homeschool curriculum will open the doors for students to advance into the world of adulthood with confidence and wisdom, knowing they have received a quality education to enhance their future.