New to Homeschooling?

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New to Homeschooling?
Not sure where to start?

First things first—figure out your covering. Will you homeschool under your county, or under a private/umbrella school?

For us in Florida, we chose HomeLife Academy. Another option here is Florida Unschoolers. These are essentially the organizations you report to as a homeschool family.

Next, take time to learn your state laws. Some states require more record-keeping or testing than others, so it’s important to understand your responsibilities.

Once that’s in place, the next big question is:
What curriculum should I use?

This is honestly where the fun begins (at least for me—I’m a bit of a curriculum junkie!). I love researching and trying different programs.

Start by identifying your child’s learning style—but just as importantly, your teaching style. The best curriculum is one that works for both of you.

I consider myself an eclectic homeschooler. We mix and match based on subject and grade level. For example, we use traditional boxed curriculum like Institute for Excellence in Writing (which includes video instruction), along with printables from other homeschool moms and unit studies from Gather ‘Round Homeschool.

That said, this approach isn’t always ideal for brand-new homeschool moms—it often develops naturally after a few years of experience.

One important reminder:
Curriculum is meant to serve you—you are not meant to be a slave to it.

There are so many options out there, but here are some we’ve personally used or loved:

Curriculum We’ve Used
• Gather ‘Round Homeschool
Great for unit studies, especially during seasons of transition or when homeschooling multiple kids (or adding a new baby). We eventually paired it with IEW for older students (5th grade and up).
• The Good and the Beautiful
An affordable, all-in-one curriculum. It has a gentle mix of Charlotte Mason style with traditional structure. We especially love their math.
• Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW)
A game changer for teaching writing, especially for 5th grade and up. The video instruction makes it much easier to teach, and we plan to continue through high school.
• All About Reading
Excellent for kids who need movement or struggle with reading fluency. Uses levels instead of grades. This helped one of my children significantly.
• My Father’s World
We loved this for 1st grade. It has a gentle, Bible-based approach with lots of hands-on learning and phonics games.
• Master Books
We used Language Lessons for a Living Education alongside All About Reading. We appreciated the weekly Bible integration.
• BJU Press Homeschool
A more traditional, private-school-style curriculum. We used it for spelling.
• Abeka
A rigorous, structured program often used in private schools. We tried it for kindergarten, but it wasn’t our favorite fit.

• Tuttle Twins      We are currently using their History and throughally enjoying the fact they have audio for it to read to the kids as they follow along in the book.

• Journey Homeschool Academy      We have used this Science Video Teacher a few times for elementary. I am considering it for highschool since you can watch thr labs.

• Drive Thru History     I really love this option especially for learning the bible. I think we tried it too young (3rd grade) I have learned many people use it in middle and highschool.

Curriculum We’ve Heard Great Things About
• Sonlight
• Accelerated Christian Education (ACE PACES)
• Apologia Educational Ministries
• Five in a Row
• Memoria Press
• Lifepac
• Horizons
• Notgrass History
• Saxon Math
• Math-U-See
• Teaching Textbooks
• Christian Liberty Press
• Science Shepherd
• The Mystery of History
• Treehouse Schoolhouse

Here is a fun quiz to take to see your style of homeschooling.