100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Educational Philosophy for Your Child's Learning Style

by Cathy Duffy

The key to successful home education, homeschool veterans will tell you, is determining your educational philosophy and marrying it to your child’s learning style. Then you can make an informed decision in choosing the right educational curriculum for the child. This is the formula for success.In 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, homeschool guru Cathy Duffy can help you accomplish these critical tasks. Cathy will give you her top choices from every subject area, approaching everything through a Christian worldview perspective. This book is a critical volume for the homeschooling community.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Parenting, Reference, Homeschool, How To, Christian

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read many a homeschooling book and I found this one to be one of the most helpful for choosing my basic educational philosophy. Duffy's "quiz" helped me to evaluate my educational beliefs from several different angles and then pointed me toward the approaches that best encompass those. Very enlightening.

I only gave the book three stars because, as another reviewer pointed out, the word "Christian" really should be somewhere in the title, so you at least know what you're getting into. Duffy's religious overtones were quite heavy and that gets irritating after awhile, Christian or not.

Can't somebody PLEASE write a helpful homeschooling book that is not heavily Christian!!! (I need to get a few years of homeschooling experience under my belt but if it hasn't happened by then, I may take matters into my own hands.)

[Allison Dellion · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am homeschooling from a secular perspective and I found this book a waste of time and down right deceptive. Of course, I should of been prepared for that, but I was hoping for something less biased. Especially since the cover says nothing about religion. I was not familiar with Cathy Duffy before picking the book by chance at the library and now I am warned.

Coverage of preschool curriculum was dismal. Every curriculum presented was from a religious standpoint, so at least now I know what to avoid. That would be the only thing to warrant this book a one star from me.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an incredibly helpful book. First, Cathy Duffy encourages you to take an honest look at your personality, learning style, time constraints, and confidence (because, like Willy Wonka said, "Confidence is key."). You then deduce these same items in your children. Based upon the results, the author makes suggestions regarding the method or approach you should take in homeschooling.

The second half of the book offers up the author's top curriculum suggestions in the most standard subjects taught (with a few less standard subjects thrown in for fun). She rates these according to learning styles, prefered methodology, group activity vs. independent study, ease of lesson planning, "hands-on" vs. rigid approaches,and several more points. All of this information greatly narrows down your curriculum choices to a more manageable list.

Obviously, more research should be put into choosing your final curriculm, but this book gets one off to an informed start.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a fairly helpful guide. It's a bit complex since the author tries to rate curriculum based many different features (ease of use, prep time involved, type of learner the child is, helpfulness of the teacher's guide, etc.) But once you get the hang of all of the ratings, this is a good book for the eclectic homeschooler who is not necessarily looking to exclusively use a boxed set curriculum. I was disappointed to not have more through reviews of companies who provide boxed sets, but I picked up some suggested curriculum I probably would not have investigated otherwise. Overall, a good reference book which will hopefully be updated over time.

[Joselle173 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for anyone new to homeschooling who is overwhelmed by the thousands of choices available. Cathy Duffy helps you to define your philosophy of education via a series of questions and a short quiz, which in turn helps direct you in your search for curriculum that is aligned with your philosophy and approach to teaching. My only regret is that the book limits itself to the top 100! I'd love it if she did a series of books such as "the top 100 for elementary", "top 100 for junior high", etc.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great place for a newbie (like me) to start. She makes you think about "why" you are homeschooling and then talks about different methods, different learning styles, finally then getting to possible curriculum choices (& what "fits" with what styles). Obviously, she can't possibly mention all curriculum out there and the more the years go by, the more outdated it becomes, but the first few chapters are timeless.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is billed as a great resource for all homeschooling families, but that is just not the case. The author/reviewer is heavily slanted toward curriculum that focuses on biblical perspectives. None of the science curricula listed teach evolution and some of them actively teach against it. I'm glad I did not pay for this book.

[Tiffany Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author was far too preachy and political for my tastes -- had some good info in the beginning but the review setup made reading those early chapters a must -- not a basic review type book -- had some interesting tidbits but did nothing in helping to create a curriculum 1 1/2 to 2 stars

[Brittney Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wealth of information!

Chapters 1-5 are devoted to going over different homeschool styles (Charlotte Mason, classical, traditional, unit study, etc) and explaining each one; helping you figure out your most probable homeschool style with a questionnaire; helping you establish your homeschool philosophy; helping you establish your homeschool priorities; understanding learning styles (yours and your child's) and what methods of teaching may work best for each type of learner.

Chapter 6 is devoted to her top 100 recommendations for each subject, and chapters 7-14 go in depth on recommendations for each subject.

Obviously this could become a bit overwhelming if you look at it as having to know everything right away and have a fear of messing up (*cough* like I like to do *cough*) but she reminds the reader that a big part of homeschooling is learning as you go and being ok with changing things up if something just isn't working. She offers great tips on how to set up your list of goals for the year, as well as other useful tips.

[The other John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why did I read this? Oh, yeah, it was my wife's idea. She's on her deliciously long winter break and is looking for something to do. Me, I'm going to be putting in weekend overtime so that we can take a two week trip and not have the kids fall too far behind. So remind me, how is home schooling better than public schools? Seriously, this one is an overview of the wonderful world of home school materials out there. Ms. Duffy picks out what she considers the 100 best packages and offers her reviews on them. We borrowed this tome from a friend and my wife pored over it, comparing Ms. Duffy's reviews with the choices we made all those many years ago. She--my wife, not Cathy Duffy--came away pretty satisfied. For the most part she felt we chose rightly. (Though she is going to make a tweak or two based on what she read.) Now me, I wasn't really interested in re-evaluating anything. I found the book to be waiting room material--worth a quick read, but nothing I needed at this stage in my life. Were I just starting out the home school adventure, however, this would be quite a nifty resource.

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one in my local library system. As AppleBlossom's first birthday is right around the corner I have been thinking about the future a lot. One thing in serious consideration is homeschooling. My first choice is a Classical Christian School like I substitute taught at in Georgia. But considering the tuition, and our projected budget, it would be more realistic to homeschool with Classical Christian elements.

Being at the beginning of research, this is the perfect book for people like me. Cathy Duffy really gives a great overview over different types of homeschool curriculum and learning styles. She goes into just the right amount of depth for a person to find something to go with and adjust themselves to the appropriate system for their situation along the way. I recommend this book for anyone thinking about homeschooling or even some that already are just to get another insight.

[Cindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I'm still just investigating home-schooling, I read parts of this book and skimmed other parts. I think it's a great resource for seeing what kinds of materials are out there. It's good that the author started with types of home-schooling and learning types and then rated materials based on those things so that home-schoolers can find their best fit.

My kids are 12, 9, 7, 6 and 2 and four of them are in a terrific public school system. I'm playing with the idea of home-schooling in the summer, but making it fun enough that they don't even know that it's happening. That way I can have the best of both worlds!

This book has already pointed me toward an art book that I may buy for my older kids.

Lots of lists of good books. I like any book with lists of books! :)

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated Duffy's setup in this book. She began by encouraging readers to consider their personality and their children's and to ponder their purpose in homeschooling. She referred to those elements as she then continued by discussing different styles of homeschooling, sharing the personalities that worked well or poorly with each style and the goals pursued by each style. She ended with a long list of resources for each subject, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses as well as providing cost when available, all while referencing the various homeschooling styles and goals that she had readers ponder earlier in the book. This was an excellent resource for determining what style would work well for my family and finding curricula options that would meet our needs.

[Ashlee]

*There has been an update with some additional curriculum since this edition. I have not seen the updates, however, I would still recommend this book if you are new to homeschooling and would like to delve into your homeschooling 'style'.

The first half of the book there are several questions to answer, open ended, as well as questions to answer yes or no to. This allows you to get a % of interest in different areas. For example I got 90% classical, 87% Charlotte Mason and 82% Unit Studies (and on the opposite end of the spectrum 50% traditional and 68% unschooling). The second half of the book is all curriculum, with descriptions.

The author if this book is a Christian, but I think she does a good job of including curriculum that range from secular, to Christian and in between.

[Jen Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so helpful for me, as I am going to try homeschooling in a couple years. It isn't just a review of different textbooks. Before you even get to that part, there are questions for you to answer that help you figure out your homeschooling goals, your child's learning style, what your child needs to learn at what age. Then there are charts that help you match up textbooks or other books/programs to the goals and methods you have chosen for your family. Then come reviews of each book on the charts. I had to give the book back to the library b/c it was overdue but I definitely plan to buy it.

[Moriah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great! The first half has you think through what you want to get out of homeschooling, and what your resources/limitations/preferences are. Then there's the list of 100 picks in a table that rates on things like ease of use, whether or not teacher manuals are necessary, how programs suit different learning styles, etc. After that there are nice, in-depth reviews of each of the 100 top picks as well as lists of "honorable mentions" with a brief description. You can then go to www.cathyduffyreviews.com for more detailed reviews of those. VERY helpful!

[Stacia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book and more than I expected it to be. I highly recommend this to other homeschoolers who are just starting out or any veterans who may want to reevaluate what their doing, to try and figure out their kids' learning styles or even just to look through the reviews of the different curricula as you head into a new year. It gave me tons of insights and ideas. Once all my kids are established in school I'll probably buy the book (as I'm sure they'll be updates) and until then I will more than likely check out of the library at least once a year.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more thorough resource that is basically the same as the information in this book is her website, cathyduffyreviews.com which reviews far more curricula than this book. The book also has a "what type of schooling approach interests you" quiz, where my scores were thus:
81% Charlotte Mason
79% Classical education
75% Unit Study
74% Unschooling
69% Eclectic
46% Independent Study
41% Umbrella Program
36% Traditional

Somehow, I don't see a lot of textbooks in our future. :-)

Obviously, I didn't read most of the reviews of the various curricula.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is another version currently out with some updated information. However, I would say the most valuable part of the book was the first several chapters. They define and sort different homeschooling philosophies, your long-term goals for children being schooled, and your child's learning style. Then, it uses these categories to begin to identify which curriculum might be most helpful in meeting all three of these. I found it a really great place to start our homeschooling journey.

[Jodi A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been one of my favorite homeschooling books so far. It gives a really good overview of each style of homeschooling so you can see the options you may want to go with. It also gives a lot of good resources and rates each website or book with a star rating so you know which are the best places to check out.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly enjoyed the part about learning styles. It gave a lot more information about learning styles than I have read anywhere else. It was revelatory. Also, the curriculum picks really helped me figure out where to start. I went to the website listed in the book, and it was very helpful in providing me with even more reviews.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by a home schooling friend. It is great because the author tells you the top curriculum's she has researched.

It also tells you which curriculum is best for your child based on their learning style and by completing a questionnaire you can tell which curriculum is best for your teaching style.

She also has an updated website online which lists updates.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpful tool. I sat and read through it in a sitting, and it helped me with my philosophy and specific choices. I chose to buy the outdated $10 version rather than the $25 new edition, with the obvious sacrifice/reward ratio being that my book was sort of outdated (but I don't think the book is worth the higher ticket price). Good resource.

[Daree Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful resource for me as I consider the decision to begin homeschooling at the top of next year. After assessing my child's learning style, I could review all the materials in her book to get a feel for what may work for my child. It makes the task of selecting curriculum a lot less daunting.

[Kierstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for those who are planning on homeschooling. There is lots of information on discovering your homeschooling philosophy and determining the kind of learners you have in your home and then reviewing lots of different curriculum in every subject. Very helpful and very well organized. I borrowed this from a friends, but I might have to buy it to have on hand.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Figuring out what type of learners my kids are and what kind of teacher I am. A good resource -- came out in 2005. Whenever I find out what kind of curriculum people are using I look it up in this book.

[Ann Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've found for reviewing homeschool curriculum. It helps you decide the style of learning best suited for your kids, then directs you to the curriculum that can meet those needs. My "bible" for choosing curriculum!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reference book as a starting point for figuring out your child's learning styles and curriculum to match. I was glad she made also made me think about my educational philosophy for my children. Everyone is different, and it helped me to see what we wanted to do.

[Corie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always have this book at my side when shopping for the school year. Not only does Duffy give thorough reviews of her top curriculum picks. She also takes you through the process of identifying your learning style and philosophy of education, as well as your child's learning style.

[Sanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read this cover to cover because it's not a cover to cover kind of book. I thought it was helpful, but it should have the word "Christian" included in the title. That is a bit misleading.