Over the last 18 years, we’ve explored many, many curriculums. You might have even called me a curriculum junkie at one point—I was on a mission to find the perfect one. I wanted a curriculum my kids would love, one they might even beg to dive into each day.
Fast forward to now, and I’ve realised something important. While I don’t want my children to dread their schoolwork, I’ve accepted that they won’t be excited about every single subject, every single day. Some subjects they enjoy more than others, and honestly, their interests can change from day to day. I keep my curriculums to the bare minimum and the rest of their homeschool programs are taken from their own interests and passions. Read about my homeschooling philosophy here.
Sometimes, we just need to “eat our frogs”—to tackle the challenging tasks, knowing that hard work has its own rewards. Keep the 'frogs' or challenging tasks to a minimum and passions and interests need to be the main feast.
Over the years, there are curriculums we keep coming back to. They’re the ones that have consistently worked for us and have stood the test of time.
So here, I’ve created a specially curated list just for you—our favourite curriculums from nearly two decades of homeschooling. These are the ones we trust, the ones we know are the best we could find. I hope they’ll be a blessing to your family, too.
ENGLISH
Writing ~ We have one main recommendation for English...Institute for Excellence in Writing or more commonly known as IEW.
This program is one which you can do throughout all your homeschooling years. My adult children who are now at University say they still use the concepts they learnt during this course. The method they use to teach writing is like nothing I have ever seen in schools. You can use their general courses or you can choose a theme that ties in with what you might be doing in history.
Their PAL program which teaches beginning readers and writers is engaging and effective. It then moves seamlessly into their other writing programs. It pairs with the All About Spelling program.
Grammar ~ Fix-It Grammar is yet again another IEW course. It teaches grammar though stories. I believe this is the best way to teach grammar - with beautiful literature that is engaging. Not boring worksheets with repetitive questions. My recommendation with this course is not to do it every year. Every second or third year is generally enough. On alternative years we continue with copywork and dictation from Brave Writer Literature Singles. Again, this is grammar taught through literature.
Spelling ~ All About Spelling taught me spelling rules I never knew existed! We use this curriculum up to Level Three, approximately age 8. Then we move onto Phonetic Zoo from IEW. Depending on the child and how proficient a speller they are will depend on how many levels of this IEW course I would do.
Literature ~ Brave Writer Literature Singles are a lovely way to introduce your child to grammar concepts, literary devices, juicy discussion questions and book parties. We generally do about three to four of these a year, and continue during high school. We read the books during our Morning Time and discuss the concepts and do the activities later on in the day.
Poetry ~ IEW has a fantastic poetry course called, Linguistic Development Though Poetry Memorisation. My adult children can still recite some poems from this course. Building a rich vocabulary of poems is an amazing party trick to keep in your back pocket!
MATHS
Primary School ~ I have used Singapore Maths up to level 5 with most of my children. I find this course clear and easy to use, but the edition I have been using is about to be discontinued and replaced with a newer version. The text book is bright and colourful and the student book is well set out and not too tedious. Sometimes my children take a year off Singapore and do a year or so of Life of Fred. This is a hilarious course for those children who don't particularly like maths. It is in story form and is centred around a character called 'Fred'. It was also great for my son who was struggling to visualise his maths concepts.
High School ~ Some of my high school students used Life of Fred and would highly recommend it. Others have used Saxon or Shormann Math. Really I think it depends on the child and if they enjoy maths or not. My son who loved Life of Fred is now doing very high level maths at university for his engineering degree.
SCIENCE
For the primary years I don't believe there is one curriculum that is any better than another. Children in these years just need to explore and dive into a wide variety of science concepts. This can be done through books from the library, videos, fun experiments and enjoying and exploring nature. We have really enjoyed some of Supercharged Science's programs though. Also Real Science for Kids has some great programs too.
In the high school years for an in-depth curriculum the most popular one is Apologia, and for good reason. It is so meaty and leaves no stone unturned. For mid-high school I tend to let my students choose their own science topics and do their own deep dives and go on their own rabbit trails. For this, I use my own curriculum I have written which will be available on the printables page soon.
HISTORY
For most of my home school years I have done a cyclical approach to history.
Year A - Ancient History
Year B - Middles Ages
Year C - Modern
Year D - Australian History
For all but Australian History I have used a combination of TAN History of Civilisation and RC History.
I have also at times gone completely along with the children's own interests. They chose interesting topics such as Ancient Japan, The Space Race, Australian Shipwrecks and Ghengis Kahn.
Both approaches work well. The most effective approach is what engages your children in the best way possible. Also stocking up your library so you always have fiction books available that puts the child in a certain time period of history. In homeschooling language, living books are what we call books which teach children while they are reading an engaging story. Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting has a free database you can use to search for Australian living books.
GEOGRAPHY
To be honest, I have never found a geography program for primary school that is perfect. We have enjoyed Our Child's Geography though and the children have learnt a lot from it. It's a great family geography and works great as a read-aloud. I have found the most engaging way to do geography is to engage with the world around us. Study of the world's cultural, economic, demographic and social diversity, draw maps of the world (we've used the Draw books), learn about biomes, how the environment supports the lives of people and all other living things, and learn about what sustainability means. All these topics can be covered by getting books out of the library, watching documentaries and having deep conversations about the topics.
As you develop these ideas into high school, a good resource is North Star Geography. This book covers a wide range of topics that covers a few years of geography. For the learner who just doesn't engage with textbooks, I've used my own curriculums (available soon in the shop!)
ART
There are a lot of free resources online for art. It's nice to include some study of some artists and various art forms. Charlotte Masons picture study is easy to do with books out of the library. For the younger child, Child Size Masterpieces is a beautiful program where you can expose children as young as 3 to beautiful works of art.
For when you want to dabble in some art with your children a great Australian resource is Artventure. My children have enjoyed this in primary school. They also have a high school program too.
My boys who weren't particularly artistic, Mark Kistler's Draw Squad was amazing! They learn how to draw in 3D in a fun, engaging and humorous way. This particular book is out of print now, but I'm sure that any other book by him would be just as good.
If you want to pair art with music, You are an ARTIST has fine arts programs for children from grades 1 to 12. These are wonderful for large families as you can use it with a wide variety of ages.
LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH (LOTE)
If you are like me and you have no confidence teaching another language, you can't go past Duolingo. It's an app and it's free! It's an
achievement-based app and incorporates many gamification elements, with a strong focus on rewarding users for their progress and accomplishments. My son loves it!
OTHER SUBJECTS
For all other subjects - civics and citizenship, economics and business, technology, and health - we cover these without specific curriculums. Books from the library, excursions, apps for technology (such as scratch), family discussions, and the children are encouraged to start their own businesses - there is nothing like real world learning for business experience!
If for any reason you want to contact me, I love to chat all things homeschooling!
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