My Favorite Curriculum When I Was Homeschooled
As a second generation homeschooler, I often think back about my own homeschool experience and the things that I enjoyed about and the things that I didn’t. One of the things I enjoy remembering is my favorite curriculum from when I was homeschooled and the studies that we did that really stood out to me. There are a few that I’m very excited to do with my own kids, so I thought I’d share them with you all, too.
But first, let’s pause for a moment to admire this photo throwback of me when I was homeschooled. I’m on the far left. Lol. You’re welcome.
I was homeschooled in the early 2000s, when there were quite a few less resources available to homeschool families. So some of these are actual curriculum and some of these are resources that my mom used but aren’t actually curriculum designed for homeschoolers.
For a few of these, I had to ask my mom the name of the curriculum, because I remembered doing the studies, but I didn’t remember the curriculum itself. It was fun to go down this rabbit trail of memories.
WriteShop
We used WriteShop when I was around 10 or 11 years old, and I LOVED it. In my memory, this curriculum walked us through different writing projects that taught us how to be better writers. And the projects were just so fun.
I remember several of the projects, but let me give you an example of just one. As we learned descriptive writing, we had to write out the steps involved in a simple process. Then my mom followed the steps exactly as we wrote them. I remember one of us writing about making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the absolute giggle fit we all had while we watched my mom try to stick a knife into a peanut butter jar she hadn’t opened yet because the instructions hadn’t told her to open the jar.
Overall, I love to write and this curriculum fueled that fire for me and I’m so glad my mom decided to use it. It’s definitely a curriculum I look forward to using with my own kids someday.
Drawing Book
I have a fairly vivid memory of learning to draw using a book that contained a variety of drawing projects, but this is one I had to ask my mom about, and, turns out, she doesn’t remember either. I’m guessing, though, that it was fairly similar to any other book about drawing that you might find.
I remember enjoying learning about the actual art of art. Up until doing this study together, drawing and the various techniques I used were just based on my own thoughts and what I had seen others do, but it was neat to begin learning about the formal techniques and how to create things like perspective in a drawing.
I also remember my mom doing the drawings alongside us, and seeing what she created was really inspiring to me. Going through this study together is what kicked off a lifelong love of drawing for me.
Keepers at Home
Okay, this one isn’t actually a curriculum, but it could be used as one and sort of was for me. It’s actually designed to be a club, like a Christian version of Girl Scouts, but the books are a really great guide for teaching life skills to elementary-aged girls (and there’s a boy version, too.)
When I was four or five, my mom started a Keepers at Home club with some other families at our church. We would meet regularly to work on projects, memorize scripture, do service projects, etc. The guidebook contains a list of different badges you can earn by completing a set of activities. There’s a wide range of life skills, including everything from Bible memory to hospitality to crocheting to canning to hiking.
After we moved when I was six, my mom continued to use the book just for our family and we were able to pick the badges we wanted to earn. It was fun to have a list of options to choose from, and I’ve always been fairly goal oriented, so having a list of achievements to work through was exciting to me.
While the company is technically closed and the book is slightly outdated now, you can still download a PDF copy of the guidebooks on their website for free. They have a version for boys and a version for girls and I plan to use them with my kids once they reach early elementary age.
If you’re interested in learning more, Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler has a couple great posts about how to do this with a group.
Konos Original Volumes
Some of my favorite memories from homeschooling were when we did unit studies. I have memories of studying about ancient Egypt, the tabernacle, Japan, light, African tribes, and so many other subjects in a unit study format. I think these memories have strongly influenced my pull towards doing unit studies with lots of hands-on activities for my kids.
While I have the memories, I had to ask my mom about the curriculum she used for creating these unit studies. It’s a curriculum called the Konos Original Volumes, and as soon as I saw the photo, it all came back. I remember the Volume I book sitting on the schoolroom table and the timeline that I now know came with this curriculum, as well, circling the room. This was the primary curriculum we used as a family during the elementary years to cover topics like history and science.
The curriculum is unit study based and focuses on specific character traits, which each have a few unit studies within them. For example, you would learn about obedience with your children while going through the unit studies on light, kings and queens, and horses. The curriculum itself seems very open-ended, and, looking at the curriculum now, I’m kind of impressed at how much work my mom would have needed to put into this to make it work. It’s certainly not open-and-go.
But from my perspective as a kid, it was awesome! Each unit included very hands-on activities and those are what I remember the most from my time being homeschooled. I remember the tabernacle and its layout because I actually built a replica of the tabernacle. I remember Japanese culture because I actually wore a kimono and ate a traditional Japanese meal while sitting on pillows on the floor. I remember how light works because we spent an afternoon setting paper on fire using a magnifying glass (lol).
One Last Note
I’m so grateful that I was homeschooled and it gives me a great foundation for homeschooling my own kids. I know what I enjoyed about it and what I didn’t, and I hope that I’m able to use those reflections to help shape my homeschooling journey with my kids. Hopefully, sharing these reflections with you on my favorite homeschool curriculums from when I was homeschooled is helpful for you, too. If you were homeschooled, come over to my IG and tell me what your favorite curriculum was. I’d love to hear!
