Using Curriculums from Different Sources in the Same Year
Some homeschooling families use a curriculum from a different vendor for different subjects. For example, a family could use Abeka for English, Saxon for Math, and Sevenstar for a class in Computer Programming.
Doing this allows parents to choose the best possible curriculum for their student for each individual subject. The benefits are obvious, because many times curriculum publishers are more accomplished in one subject than in others. Additionally, some students may excel more in certain areas using one style of curriculum, whereas they may do well with another style in different subjects.
But there are some downsides too. It can often be more expensive because some curriculum publishers offer a discount for students to complete the full year of all main subjects with them. For instance, Abeka charges $959.00 for a full year of the five main school subjects for 4th grade, but they want $350.00 if a student wants to use only their math for the 4th grade. The cost per subject is around $192.00 if a family purchases all five subjects from them.
Furthermore, the more curriculum publishers a homeschooling parent uses, the more difficult it may be to learn how to work the programs and complete any things required by the parent, not to mention the fact that the student also needs to get used to how things are done with each curriculum.
And, of course, if the family is using a curriculum that comes with class transcripts, such as Abeka Academy, keeping transcripts from multiple locations is a bit of a challenge.
Still, the benefits may outweigh the negatives.
Some subjects are more difficult to teach. And, let's face it, not every parent is an expert in every subject. Therefore, many families opt to use some more expensive curriculums that come with added benefits, such as a live teacher, paired with less expensive curriculums for easier subjects, like Art. For example, if a student is in high school, and has to take Algebra II, but the homeschooling parent is feeling less than confident teaching the subject, a family could enroll the child in HSLDA's Academy for Algebra II, and use a less expensive option for the rest of the subjects. HSLDA's Academy will come with a live class, live teacher, and many other benefits that a simple book pack doesn't offer. Yet, the costs to enroll a student in HSLDA for all five main subjects would be $2645, which may be beyond the reach of many families.
Another example may be that a student is using a standard curriculum, such as Abeka, but the student wants to be involved in MOOT Court. Clearly Abeka doesn't offer MOOT Court, but HSLDA does. In this case, the student could complete the main subjects in Abeka, and add on HSLDA for MOOT Court.
In case you are wondering, we aren't affiliated with HSLDA Academy, but they do rank in our top recommendations for homeschooling academies, along with Liberty Academy, Abeka Academy, and Sevenstar.
Still another reason to mix-n-match curriculums could be simply to tailor a child's education. There are homeschooling families that conduct homeschool as a "Specialty School". For example, the homeschool may be set up similar to a Tech School, with all of the subjects centering around Technology. Or, it may be modeled after an "School of the Arts", whereby all material in the subjects has a heavy emphasis on Art. In this case, a parent may have to do quite a lot of research and mix-n-matching to achieve this goal.
Whether a family should use a "mix-n-match" approach or stick with only one curriculum is completely up to the homeschooling family's needs. Neither one could be stated as better than the other for homeschooling in general.
One recommendation that we do have, though, is that if this is the first year a family has homeschooled, it may be better to stick with one curriculum for all subjects if possible, with the exception of adding in an academy for more difficult classes if needed. Mix-n-matching is a little more difficult to master, and first year homeschooling families my have thier hands full just getting used to everything that is involved in homeschool in general.
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