Using Train up a Child Publishing Curriculum With Another Curriculum

I’m going to be frank.  Many people use Train up a Child Publishing curriculum on its own, as it was designed to be used. But it’s also okay to use Train up a Child Publishing curriculum with another curriculum, too.  I mean really — there’s no wrong way to use a curriculum.

I take that back. There IS a wrong way to use a curriculum.

And here it is:  It’s wrong when you use a curriculum exactly like the instructions when it doesn’t fit you or your children.  If your curriculum is bossing you around, and it is in charge instead of you, you’re using it wrong.  Curricula is meant to be used as a tool to help you teach your children.

The homeschool curriculum that works best for you might tell you what to say and do. Alternatively, it opens up a subject for you, provides you with options, and lets you choose the best path for your family.

A curriculum may have chapters to read. Questions at the end of the chapters.  A test at the end of the questions.  And everyone that uses that curriculum reads the chapters, answers the questions, and takes the tests.

When you start homeschooling, in fact, you often try and make your homeschool look like a traditional (public) school. (Although when you look back at the history of education, you discover that homeschooling is really more traditional than public school.   But I digress.)

Back to when you started homeschooling. New homeschool parents often start with a “boxed” curriculum. One that includes all the subjects and usually contains textbooks and worksheets. And you use it until your kids are bored out of their skulls.

Then, you go through the SOS (Shiny Object Syndrome) phase. You pick up the curriculum your best friend is raving about, then, the new, flashy one you saw on Pinterest… and so on.

Especially if you have been homeschooling a while, by now you probably have a roomful of materials and curriculum. 

And then you come across our Unit Study Tools

When homeschool moms come across our relaxed, Charlotte Mason style, customizable Unit Program Tools, they first say: I love this! It’s just what I’ve been looking for!

And then they say:

BUT,  wait! I am in too deep with my science curriculum to switch to another…  can I use that instead and still use your Unit Program Tools for history, language arts, and fine arts?  

In other words, “Can I use Train up a Child Publishing  Unit Study Tools with another curriculum?” 

And our answer is always a resounding yes. 

Other ways to use Train up a Child Publishing Unit Study Tools with another curriculum.

These are how some of our customers use our Unit Study Tools:

• for their history and/or science only (using their own language arts, instead of our DIY language arts using Charlotte Mason-inspired methods)

 

• to increase student interest and engagement by incorporating our high-interest book suggestions and activities into their textbook/more traditional studies

 

• to have a ‘safe’ book list to choose from, organized by time period and topic, that has already been read by a trusted advisor with a similar worldview
  

 

• as a break from traditional reading and writing assignments for their students who are hands-on/auditory/kinesthetic learners
  

 

• to teach/practice Charlotte Mason’s tried and true techniques of oral narration, dictation, nature study, art study, character study, and music study.
  

 

• to spice up their student’s language arts study and give them a break from worksheets and traditional textbooks

 

• for their younger children who are more hands-on by nature 

 

• for higher interest schoolwork in the summer 

 

• just for their high school students, as they can often plan it themselves

 

• to add more hands-on projects and fine arts into students’ textbook or more traditional studies

 

Whether you choose to use our Unit Study Tools for all of your history, science, language arts, and fine arts or not, it’s OK to use our Unit Program Tools along with another curriculum you have on the shelf.

After all, we want to be good stewards of our pennies, right?

 

Using Train up a Child high school elective courses with another curriculum

Each of our history and literature courses is a full year on its own. But did you know we also had English elective courses?  Because of the nature of these courses, you can use each one of them for a stand-alone course of 1/2 credit AND use them with other high school courses. For example:

• Our Essay Styles for High School course is a high school level, one semester, composition course that teaches your student how to write the five required high school essays. But it’s also an essay handbook to use when your high schooler is assigned an essay from another course.

 

• The Steps to Writing a Research Paper is a one-semester, 1/2 credit course. But since your student should write at least two research papers in high school, use it as a step-by-step handbook for other research papers your student writes in high school.  Whether you assign a second research paper to your homeschooler, or she’s assigned a paper for her outside science, English, or history course, she’ll have the perfect step-by-step instructions to refer to.

 

• The Art of Public Speaking, like our other English electives, is a one-semester, half-credit course on its own. But anytime your high schooler is assigned an oral presentation for a class OR has to speak outside of school, this course will show him how to plan and execute his speech with confidence.

 

So it’s just fine to use Train up a Child Publishing’s Unit Study Tools and our High School elective courses on their own, or with another curriculum or high school class your student’s taking. You get more bang out of your buck if you can use your homeschool curriculum more than once. And if they are the right resources for your family, then they will help you bring your kids’ homeschool education to life while saving time and energy and helping you get the rest of your responsibilities taken care of.

 

Happy homeschooling!

 

 

P.S. Do you have any questions about how to incorporate our Unit Program Tools or High School courses into your other curriculum?  Contact us!