How to choose the best Catholic Homeschool Curriculum

How we got started with choosing the best Catholic homeschool curriculum

My husband and I both attended public schools for elementary, middle, and high school. We have no problem with the idea of public schools themselves, though we are concerned with a curriculum that opposes Catholic teaching. Where we lived when we were selecting a homeschool curriculum, we were not sure that public schools would provide the best education for our children as the nearby schools did not score well. The ones that did score well, required testing to get into and weren’t close by. Taking into account student loan debt, we knew that paying for Catholic schools was out.

So we decided to homeschool as so many of our friends were already doing. We have a close-knit group of friends so our children can socialize and we could be in charge of what our kids learned. We researched studies that found how much time is wasted at regular schools between switching classes, lining up, recess, lunch, etc. and found a good balance of how much time we would need to spend teaching. At the time we were both working full time (I work at a local hospital) and we knew we could still make it work.

Being a list maker I got to work making checklists comparing and contrasting different programs. I want to share how I did my research with you!

catholic homescool curriculum

17 tips to choose the best Catholic homeschool curriculum

Decide if you want the option of video instruction now, in the future, or at all. We decided with our educational background, we were comfortable teaching into middle school. As working parents, my husband and I chose a program that instructs students online in high school.
Research if the video instruction is live or recorded. If your family can work around live instruction, great! If not, find a program that lets the child do instruction at any time.
Programs will sometimes offer free tutors and grading! If you don’t think you can do a biased free grading system, this may work for you
Determine how the curriculum fits into your family life. Do you have a job with set hours, sports practices in the afternoons, piano lessons in the morning? Make sure you can fit the program into your family schedule.
Some programs might be accredited and offer official diplomas while others may not be accredited or offer an official diploma. Research homeschool accreditation and diplomas and find the best fit for your family.
Ask about the program’s graduation rates. If most students graduate, feel comfortable knowing this might be a good fit for your children. But, if you have special education requirements, look into this as well.
One of the favorite things I did was research what college graduates of the program got into. If students were getting into strong colleges and universities, I had more faith in the program.
Some Catholic homeschool programs are classical and others are not. Read the book “The Well Trained Mind” by Susan Wise Bauer to help discover what is right for your family.
Explore not only the curriculum course offered but what types of books are used for the classes. Sometimes the course names were excellent but the actual subject material is lacking.
Determine the total cost per year or for the whole program. For large families, a multi-student discount may be offered. Certain homeschool programs charge a low price but the curriculum books cost a fortune. Find the right balance for you. There are 100% free courses but they might not offer the complete curriculum you are seeking.
Does the idea of teaching your children from home all week scare you? Do you want your children to still be in a classroom setting with other children their ages a few times a week? Look into hybrid programs like Regina Caeli, that some feel offer the best of both worlds.
Please be careful as some programs do not offer course substitutions. If you are looking to use a specific science or history program like the one from TAN BOOKS, it might not be allowed.
Some programs allow college-level coursework and/or award an associate’s degree upon graduation from high school. Plus, one more year of coursework after high school at Angelicum Academy and the child has a bachelors’ degree at Holy Apostles College!
If you are short on time and want to make one purchase per child per year, a proprietary curriculum can offer that. You buy all of the child’s books from the source and don’t have to find books from multiple websites. Of course, if you are a bargain hunter or want to buy used books or change up the curriculum some, you want a program that doesn’t rely on a proprietary curriculum.
Pay attention to example schedules. We found one program that wanted students to be in class 5 to 7 hours a day AND to do homework. This was not a good fit for our family. We choose a program with a mix of some one-on-one schooling and some independent work.
There are even curriculums that are 100% online with NO textbooks. This can go either way; your child might thrive with this or might do poorly and rely on physical textbooks.
Some families do none of the above and make their own curriculum. This requires a lot of time, effort, and research but can certainly be done!