In the early days of homeschooling, homeschool textbooks were hard to find.
Now there are so many of them it's hard to know what to choose.
There are several reasons people use homeschool textbooks.
Here are a few of them and some tips on how to avoid burnout if you use them.
1.
You want someone to hold your hand through homeschooling.
Many people think they are not qualified to homeschool and want someone to guide them through exactly what to do.
2.
You want to be sure to "get it all done".
People think the public school systems are able to use textbooks and teach the children what they need to learn.
Therefore, they think that homeschoolers need to have textbooks to complete a year of school.
3.
Textbooks are better able to keep you on track.
If you follow a textbook, you know exactly how far into the year you are and whether you are behind or not.
The fact is that people who use homeschool textbooks tend to have a higher burnout rate.
If you use a textbook and find that it is too difficult or too easy or doesn't fit your child's learning style, you either need to adapt the curriculum or plod through the year.
One way to avoid burnout is to vary the learning/teaching style that you are using.
Children who like workbooks will probably enjoy sitting and filling them out for an hour or more a day, but children who are more hands-on learners may struggle.
If this is the case in your home, find ways to reinforce the material in the textbook without having to read text and answer questions.
Take field trips, act out the war or time of history that you are studying, do experiments, draw pictures or do art projects related to the text.
Sometimes parents enjoy using checklists instead of homeschool textbooks.
They still keep them on track, but provide a more varied approach to homeschooling.