The Most Honest Homeschool Curriculum Reviews on the Internet
Most curriculum reviews are written by affiliates who need you to buy something. Here is a different kind of review: what we actually used, what we dropped, and what we wish we had known before purchasing.
A little note: Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you click through and buy something, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only ever link to things we would genuinely recommend to a friend.
I have purchased a lot of curriculum.
More than I care to add up financially. Some of it was transformative. More of it sits on a shelf, partly used, a monument to the gap between the review I read and the reality I experienced.
This is a different kind of review. I am going to tell you what we tried, why we stopped, what worked, and what I would do differently if I were starting over. There are no referral arrangements here beyond standard affiliate links. My incentive is to be useful to you, not to sell you something.
Language Arts
All About Reading — used for three years, still recommend
The Orton-Gillingham approach works. The multisensory component (magnetic tiles, careful sequencing) is not gimmicky — it genuinely serves how the brain processes phonemic information. The pacing is slow by design. Do not rush it.
What I would tell you before purchasing: it is expensive and the materials are heavy. The teacher's guide is scripted to a degree that some parents find liberating and others find constraining. Try one level before committing to the full program.
Writing With Ease — used for two years, recommend with caveats
The narration-and-copywork approach is sound. The actual activities in the teacher guide feel thin at higher levels. We used Levels 1-2 and switched to more self-directed narration practice at Level 3. Many families agree that the first two levels are the strongest.
Brave Writer — did not finish, would not repurchase
The philosophy is genuinely good. The products are inconsistent. We purchased the Arrow curriculum (a monthly guide to reading and writing through a specific book) and found it uneven — some months excellent, some months thin. The community is supportive if that matters to you. The products themselves are a mixed bag.
Math
Math-U-See — used for one child for four years
The manipulatives genuinely help children who need to see and touch what they are learning. The mastery approach is either the right call for your child or the wrong one — there is not much middle ground. Children who need spiral review will struggle. Children who click well into concepts before moving on love it.
Singapore Math — used for one child for five years
The hardest and the best math curriculum we have tried. The word problems require genuine mathematical thinking, not procedural skill. If your child handles challenge well and you are willing to learn bar modeling, this is exceptional. If math is a source of tears, start with something gentler and come back to Singapore later.
Saxon Math — tried for one semester, dropped
The repetition is not wrong in principle. The sheer volume of daily practice problems is wrong for some children. We switched when my son started doing the first fifteen problems of the lesson perfectly and losing interest before finishing the remaining forty. For a child who genuinely needs that much repetition, Saxon is excellent.
History
The Story of the World (Susan Wise Bauer) — used for four years, still active
Still the spine of our history curriculum. Narrative history written for children that holds up to adult reading aloud. The activity guides are optional and variable in quality. The books themselves are essential.
Science
Apologia — used for two years, would not repurchase for our family
Well organized, thorough, explicitly Christian in framework. The writing style is engaging. The labs are the weakest element — often more about following a procedure than about genuine scientific investigation. For families who want an integrated Christian worldview in science, this is the best structured option available. For families who want more emphasis on the scientific method and open inquiry, there are better choices.
Real Science Odyssey — used for one year, recommend
More emphasis on actual scientific investigation, excellent labs, good writing. Less explicit than Apologia but not hostile to faith. The chemistry course in particular is very strong.
The One Thing I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Curriculum is a tool, not a solution.
The families I know whose children are genuinely thriving academically are not using one specific curriculum. They are using whatever curriculum fits their child at that moment, they are reading aloud constantly, and they are paying attention to what works and changing it when it stops working.
No curriculum is going to do the teaching for you. The best curriculum is the one you will actually use, with your actual child, in your actual life, until it stops working.
That is the review that matters most.
Written by
The High Vibe Homeschool Team
We are a homeschool family that has been doing this for seven years across three kids. We write about what we have actually tried, what failed, what surprised us, and what we would do again. No credentials. Just lived experience.
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