Creating Your Own K-6 homeschool Curriculum
Here you will find a step-by-step explanation of how I created a homeschool curriculum for my son. I’ve now used the same method for grades 1-3, and can say with confidence you can use it through all the primary school years. I have used a similar method when I created the curriculum for my college reading and writing classes. It’s a simple and effective way to set yourself up for a productive year. If you have a middle school or high school student, however, this may not be sufficient for you, but it will still be a good place to start nonetheless.
Once all the raised eyebrows start to come back down and people come to terms with the fact that our decision to homeschool is not going to change, the first question I always get asked is about my curriculum. Most often the question is some form of "so, how does it work? They give you the curriculum?" A question that always makes me laugh because I understand that the "they" referred to is the city, or the department of education. And no, "they" provide nothing of the sort.
After I made the decision to homeschool, I realized very quickly that I was not going to find anyone in my circle who could advise me. So I did what everyone does and took to Google.
I landed on the website of the NYC department of education (always a good idea to get your primary information directly from the source, so your city's official .gov websites are the place to start) where I found an explanation of all the requirements and links to all the forms I would have to complete in order to comply with the city's schooling requirements.
In NY, all you have to do is write a letter to the homeschool department stating that you intend to homeschool. You then have to complete a form in which you detail which materials you will use to teach each of the required subjects. Once this is in, all you have to do is submit a quarterly report 4 times over the course of the year (“they” provide you with a simple form), and an annual assessment at the end of the school year. For the younger kids, you can complete this assessment yourself. From grades four and up, you have to submit a more formal test score every other year. There is also an attendance sheet you can download and are encouraged to use and keep in your records. This is all the guidance "they" provide.
So, I submitted my letter of intent– a one-sentence email– and took back to Google to look for a curriculum. I found that there are companies that provide a full curriculum for you. There are even programs that your child can complete online and include access to tutors. There are plenty of parents who choose this route, but it was not what I had visualized for our homeschool.
I wanted a homeschool curriculum that was traditional enough so that my son would be able to transition back to regular school if we decide to do that in the future. But I also wanted a flexible curriculum that would allow us to include more of what we love. We started homeschool in the middle of a global pandemic, and I wasn't sure how it would work or how long I would sustain it, but I knew that I wanted to take each year as a gift of time with my son; time to cherish together and learn about each other and what we love. So it was critical to me to be able to change things if we needed to.
I also wanted a curriculum tailored to my son's abilities. His reading and math skills are exceptional, but he hates writing. If I was really going to do this then I could make sure the curriculum was at the ideal level for him in each subject–challenging enough to be interesting, but still attainable. It became very clear that if I wanted all of this, I would have to create the curriculum myself.
Here's the thing: I'm not new to developing a curriculum. I've never done it for grade schoolers, and certainly not for my son, but I have created a curriculum for several different ESL classes and for the college reading and writing courses that I taught. I knew what it would take to do this. I knew that it would require a good amount of research and that it would not be a one day job. But, I felt confident, and if you remember the summer of 2020 then you know I was home a lot. I accepted the challenge and designed a custom curriculum for my son that has been really wonderful.
If you're here looking for encouragement to take on the same challenge, I can tell you that it was totally worth the effort I put into it. And after getting to know the materials available for first grade, getting the curriculum for 2nd grade together was a snap.
On the other hand, if you're not up for this challenge at all and are actually really here hoping to find out what I put on my curriculum so you can make it your own, no worries. I got your back. You can find my curriculum, along with suggestions for customizing it on my next post: Textbook Picks for your K-6 Homeschool.
Here's how I built my own, custom, homeschool curriculum:
Create a list of the subjects you need to cover.
This was the only thing the Department of Education actually provided for me. A master list of subjects. Reading, writing, math, social studies, science, music, art, physical education. You want to make sure that your list includes all the subjects required by your city (check on their website), as well as specialty subjects that are important to you. We added Modern Hebrew and Jewish values to the city's list.
Figure out the grade level for each subject.
This does not have to be the same as the grade your child is actually in. Nor does it have to be consistent across your curriculum. You may decide to use one grade level for one subject, and a grade level that’s 3 levels higher for another subject. The most important thing is that the level you choose is optimal for your child’s learning wherever he is on his learning path. That’s probably the greatest academic benefit of choosing to homeschool. You get to teach your child material that is hand-picked for him. How great is that!
Before you can begin looking for materials, it is critical that you know what your child's abilities are. Choose materials that will challenge them, but be careful not to bring material that's so challenging it will be frustrating and unattainable. There's a sweet spot, and you want to find it.
Be open to the idea that your child may be on a different grade level in different subjects. One of the greatest advantages of homeschool in my experience has been that I'm able to tailor the material in each subject to my son's abilities. For example, for second grade I bought David a first grade writing workbook and a first grade phonics workbook, even though he was reading on a fourth grade level. They were both so easy for him he could finish his work in minutes, but it built up his motivation and overall like of writing. Not to mention how much the phonics workbook improved his spelling. He still doesn't get excited about writing more than one sentence at a time, but the resistance to writing is slowly going away, and he'll never admit it out loud but he actually enjoys it and is super proud when he can spell things without my help. These days, that’s most of the time.
If possible, "try-on" the material with your kids before making a purchase. I wish this was easier to do. I haven’t been able to find a local bookstore or library that carries children’s textbooks for me to be able to see the content of the books before making a purchase. If any of the publishers are reading this–McGraw Hill, I mean you– it would be great if you can make this easier for us. When I was looking for materials for David for first grade, I would look at the table of contents for books I was interested in, and then try to find a comparable worksheet on google. Some books give you previews of the text, and some customer reviews include pictures of a page or two so you can see what the book looks like inside. I would sometimes show David these pictures right from my phone and ask him if he knows the answers. "Hey David, come here one sec, can you read that?" "Hey Dave, look at this, can you figure out that answer?" If it's too easy, look into the next grade. If it's too difficult, don't be scared to go down a grade. If the material is at the right level, learning will be engaging and fun, and you'll be making much more progress than trying to force a higher level on a child who's not ready.
Once you've figured it out, write your target grade level next to each subject on your list.
Look for a textbook for each of the subjects on your list.
My years in the ESL classroom taught me that the textbook you choose is everything. A good textbook does most of the work for you. It should cover all the required material. The presentation should be clear and easy to understand. It helps if it has chapters that group content in a logical way. It should have sufficient opportunities to practice what was taught. And above all, it should be engaging and fun.
The right book saves you the trouble of planning what to cover each week and searching for materials. It will help you pace yourself, and create a reliable routine. It will also ensure that your curriculum aligns with national and state standards. If you're going to make your own curriculum, investing time in choosing the right books to use is probably the most important thing you can do.
At the very least, you want to choose a solid textbook for reading, writing, and math. I also got textbooks for social studies and science. These books are awesome because they plan out the whole school year for you, they cover everything, they include topics you may forget about or overlook if you try to create a curriculum all by yourself, and they are self-paced so you can easily tell if you're on track to finish the curriculum on time. For example, if your textbook is divided into ten units, you know you’re on track to finish the whole book if you’re completing about one unit each month.
Click here to see the textbook and materials list I ended up choosing for my son for first and second grade, with an explanation for why I chose them, and how it worked out.
Supplement the textbooks
Arts and crafts? Science experiments? Music and dance? Google is your friend! Poke around the web a bit. There is a wealth of information out there, as well as free worksheets and printable activities. Bookmark your favorite sites (like this one 😉) so you can easily come back whenever you need something specific.
I also love YouTube for arts and crafts. We often set up our tablet in our work area and craft alongside the tutorials on YouTube. We pause when it moves too quickly, and resume the video when we're ready for the next steps. It's like hiring an art teacher!
Finally, especially for your elementary age student, I find that extra workbooks for practicing core skills are very helpful. Things like spelling, handwriting, and math facts—you really can’t practice these too much. I included some of my favorite picks for this here.
Make sure your list is complete before you place the order.
I created an Amazon shopping list specifically for our homeschool and added anything I was interested in to the list as I browsed. I would revisit my list to check which subjects I was missing, and also to see if I had materials that overlapped. There may be five different reading workbooks that are very appealing to you, but you really only need one. If you have multiple texts for one subject and find it difficult to make a decision, see who the publisher is for each of them. Each publisher tends to have a consistent teaching style across different subjects, so if you love the science book of one publisher, it’s likely you the same publisher’s reading textbook would be a good fit for you. It’s also more likely the books will complement each-other seamlessly. Topics that go together “magically” come up at the same time, and the books use similar language that reinforce core concepts across the curriculum.
When your list looks finished and you’re happy with it, you can add everything to your cart and check out. Or, if you’re like me, you can try to buy the more expensive items used. You can do that in amazon by looking at all the buying options for your item. I actually bought many of my textbooks directly from thriftbooks.com for a fraction of the price, and they look brand new. Just be careful when buying used workbooks. You want to make sure what you get isn’t missing pages, and that the workbook isn’t so full of writing that you can’t use it.
That's it! Except, remember also to enjoy the process. Have fun! The year you're about to spend with your child and these materials will be an incredibly special one. Make sure that staying open and flexible are a part of the curriculum as well.
Homeschool is extremely rewarding, but let’s not tell lies— it’s a challenge too! If you found any of this helpful, let me know how it worked out. And if you have other tips, I’d love those too.
Cheers to you, Friend!