101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum

by Cathy Duffy

Want to know the 101 best products in the homeschool market?

Cathy Duffy's new book, 101 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum is now available. Since 100 Top Picks was published in 2005, many great new products have been introduced. While many of Cathy's Top Picks from 2005 remain, many others have been replaced with even better options.

Cathy's book makes the job of selecting the right curriculum easy! It includes extensive reviews of each of her Top Picks.

101 Top Picks is a must-have for new home educators.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

330 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great tool and such a time-saver! I found myself overwhelmed in contemplating all the curriculum options out there. I knew it would take me waaaay more time than I could ever find to be able to sort through it all. I needed somebody trustworthy to sort it all out for me, according to my own preferences and interests. Imagine my relief in finding this book! This one is absolutely worth buying at any point of your homeschooling journey. I particularly found it helpful in that it takes into consideration each child's learning style (something I hadn't even considered, and which I personally felt was worth the price of the book right there) as well as how Christian-friendly each curriculum is and where each curriculum stands with all the various methods like unit studies, Charlotte Mason method, etc AND it also says how much work each program is for the teacher, etc. That's something I don't think you would find just by looking at catalogs or websites for info! We found our curriculum by using this book and think it is going to be a great fit. I really recommend this book!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I renewed this from the library twice; meaning I had it a total of three months. I checked it out once we decided to home school our daughter mid year and were terrified. It was recommended by many others who home school. I liked it because it considered what type of learner you had, what type of teaching style you needed (a hands off versus hands on) and then talked about curriculum for each subject. It is not all inclusive (there are SO many out there), but gave us an idea of what to look for. Since we pulled her out mid semester we just continued with what she was learning, but we will definitely use what I learned in this book for next year. Our daughter (7th grade) also liked being able to have a say.

[Heather B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me feel confident about the curriculum I chose for homeschooling!! Highly recommend for ANY homeschool parent that is struggling with find the right curriculum for their children's individual needs!

[Amber Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much information that is almost overwhelming, but so helpfully detailed at the same time.
I will have to check this book out again next year to figure out which curricula I will need for my son's first grade year!

[Ruth Benziger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really helped me pick my curriculum and gave me good ideas on how to structure my homeschool.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful resource for evaluating curriculum options available to homeschoolers. Cathy Duffy has portions of these reviews on her site, but I appreciated all the extra intro material in the book as well as the longer reviews. Even if you're not committed to using all set curricula with your homeschool kids (we're unschooling, for instance), this is still a helpful rundown of books, workbooks, manipulatives, and other materials available to supplement whatever other tools you're using for your home education.

The first section gives a good overview of different types of homeschoolers and helps you determine what sort of philosophy you fall under. It also guides you into considering what will work best for each child based on learning styles and attention spans. I was pleasantly surprised that there didn't seem to be a bias toward one or another type of learning model. I thought there might be, but the information was presented fairly.

Another aspect I appreciated was Duffy's pointing out, without judgment or alarm, that children could be behind or above grade level in any particular subject and that as home educators, we can tailor the education to where each child is at. She even points to curriculum choices that don't display an obvious grade level on them in case a particular child is feeling abashed for being "behind."

I wasn't surprised by Duffy's Protestant-religious bent, but I was bemused by it at times. She goes to great lengths to steer families of faith away from secular textbooks with any sort of "questionable" agendas, but the examples she gave were laughable to me, such as fear of environmentalists or (this was a biggie throughout) fear of evolution. We come from a similar background to Duffy, but we teach our kids actual science….

But, anyway, you can sort of ignore those bits and use what you need. She doesn't skimp on reviewing secular materials (as well as Protestant and Catholic Christian), so it's still possible to cobble together a curriculum that works for your family, no matter what your belief system.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recccommend if you are homeschooling, or contemplating homeschooling! Extremely informative, and through her questions, extremely accurate! No two families or children are the same, and this book helps you to feel OK with the fact that, " what may have worked for "Suzie" doesn't work for everyone"
There is a definite religious undertone (which I happened to appreciate) but don't let that discourage you in reading this! It will point you to the curriculum that will fit best with your values/family on all sides of the spectrum!

[Jessica S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a valuable, effective tool in helping guide you through choosing a homeschool curriculum! Being a mom, I don't have all the time in the world to go through website after website or review after review to figure out homeschool curriculums for the future. This book packed a ton of information and reviews in to one place. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to go with the author's review only, but it gets you narrowing down your choices and researching from there. A great resource for anyone considering homeschooling!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the beginning chapters. They were a workbook of sorts that really helped our family figure out our priorities. However, the rest of the book (the actual curriculum reviews) was full of Christian-centered information. While this is a good thing for some families, we are looking for curricula that include a world view and all faiths, not just our own. I found most of the books and curricula in the book to be useless for our family.

[Laura Stiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great resource. It gives a good overview of the various homeschool and educational philosophies and it was also very detailed in it's review of homeschool materials. She was slanted towards an eclectic learning style and Christian worldview, so if you're looking for a traditional/textbook education without religious overtones, you might appreciate some of her suggestions/reviews. It's definitely a reference I'll be coming back to several times.

[Rebecca The Files of Mrs. E, · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this out from the library and then had to buy my own copy to keep. I really appreciated not just the curriculum reviews but Duffy's whole approach to choosing curriculum and her guidance in deciding what kind of approach you want. This provoked wonderful discussions between my husband and I and gave us a wealth of information to last many years.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for choosing curriculum - a MUST HAVE for Christian homeschoolers. The best part, however, is the front section, which walks a homeschooling parent through teaching and learning styles as well as developing reasons and priorities for homeschooling. The curriculum reviews are written in such a way to correlate with the various priorities, teaching and learning styles.

[Chrisse Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the curriculum reviews themselves a but overwhelming unless I was looking for a specific thing, but the first few chapters were really useful in helping me to examine my children's learning style and the style of teaching/educational philosophy that appeal to me

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like choosing a curriculum is o overwhelming, and this book just simplified it. I loved the beginning chapters that help you define learning styles and setting goals for your homeschool. I would highly recommend!

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful resource on how to choose what curriculum is right for you. The author is definitely Christian and that comes out strongly in the book. However, she does not review exclusively Christian material.

[Sarah Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Wish I would have read it a year ago. A definite must read before you start homeschooling!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for the new or old homeschoolers. Great reviews of curriculum!

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have!!!!

[April Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reviews and help on figuring out exactly what would work for a particular child and family.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

VERY HELPFUL resource for this firsts time homeschool mom!

[Doni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated what this book tried to do. However, Cathy used a profile for learning styles to rate the books by. This profile didn't helpfully apply to either me or my child. After reading the book, I felt like most of the curriculum weren't ones I would bother using. Although I did pick up Teach a Child to Read with Children's Books on her suggestion and thought it was terrific, so maybe if I had explored her suggestions more, I would have had a better opinion of the book overall.

[LynnG]

Did not contain the specific info I was looking for, but was a decent book.