Six Smart Questions to Ask Before You Buy Curriculum

Homeschool Better Together with Pam Barnhill

Pam Barnhill

Kids & Family, Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 683 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s curriculum season, and you know what that means: a flood of shiny programs, glowing reviews, and unboxing videos that make everything look like the answer to your homeschool stress. But here’s my honest take—it only counts if it actually works for your own real-life family, not just the influencer on YouTube.

Today, I’m flying solo to give you my six best questions to ask yourself BEFORE you hit “add to cart” on that next curriculum (plus a bonus one at the end). This is all about helping you dodge curriculum regret, stop chasing endless FOMO, and make smart, confident choices—even when everything looks “perfect” out there.

Whether you’re new to homeschooling or a seasoned vet with a closet full of half-used programs, you’ll find practical strategies, real talk, and permission to pivot without guilt. I’ll share my own wins (hello, DIY Shakespeare lessons) and fails (science experiments we never actually did) so you can learn from my messy middle.

Links and Resources From Today’s Show

What You'll Learn About Choosing Curriculum

Are you making your curriculum choice based on your season of life—or wishful thinking?
How to ditch the comparison spiral and stop second-guessing yourself
The ONE thing every curriculum that “works” has in common (spoiler: it isn’t expensive flashcards or pretty boxes)
Concrete examples to help you decide if you need hand-holding—or can wing it like a pro
Why you don’t NEED to die on every homeschool hill (goodbye, busywork battles!)
Sneaky ways life seasons—from new babies to job changes—should guide your curriculum decisions

For full show notes and a transcript of today’s episode, head to pambarnhill.com/hsbt37.

Mentioned in this episode:

Spring Curriculum Showcase – Fresh Deals Every Week at PamBarnhill.com!

Say goodbye to overwhelm and hello to joyful learning! The Spring Curriculum Showcase at PamBarnhill.com/shop is live, featuring weekly spotlights on our most-loved and brand-new resources for the 2025–2026 school year. Discover open-and-go language arts bundles, brand-new middle school resources, geography notebooks, a new photography course for teens, and more! Each week brings a new special you won't want to miss—shop now and find flexible, family-friendly curriculum that fits your real life.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey there, friend, it is time to shake off the overwhelm and get excited because the spring
0:06.1	curriculum showcase is happening right now at pambarnhill.com slash shop.
0:12.2	Each week, we are spotlighting a new special from our most loved and brand new resources for the
0:18.6	2025-20206 school year. You can grab our language arts together bundle
0:23.6	number three. That is a whole year of open and go lessons that your kids are actually going to enjoy
0:30.0	teaching all of them together. Also, we're going to have our language arts together middle school
0:35.4	bundle, the first one of those ever we're going to have our
0:38.5	land that i love geography companion notebooks and our all new teens on track photography class so if you
0:46.4	are looking for joyful flexible curriculum that works with your real life and not against it you don't want to
0:52.2	miss the showcase visit pam pambarnhill.com
0:55.2	slash shop to catch each week's deal before it's gone and check back each week for something new.
1:03.1	Are you ready for homeschooling to feel joyful again? Do you long for support as you learn alongside
1:10.6	your kids?
1:12.5	Welcome to Home School Better Together, a podcast about building a homeschool experience that works for your family.
1:20.5	I'm Pam Barnhill, and it's time to step out of the overwhelm and into the wonder.
1:26.2	Let's do this.
1:37.3	Hey there, everyone, it's Pam Barnhill, and I'm coming to you solo today to talk to you about six smart questions to ask before you buy homeschool curriculum. Yeah, this is all about being a smart and savvy shopper when it comes to buying homeschool curriculum.
1:51.6	And I want you to avoid curriculum regret.
1:54.5	And in order to help you do that, I want to walk you through six key questions to help you choose what is actually going to work for your family.
2:01.9	Because, you know, shiny curriculum is fun, but at the end of the day, it has got to work
2:08.4	for you and your family. Not just the lady doing the unboxing video on YouTube, right?
2:16.0	So let's start with question number one. We're just going to dive right
	...

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