In my opinion, it is better to create your own curriculum because you can quickly change or adapt a lesson to fit the needs of your child. If you find something at the last minute that works better for you and your child, you can incorporate it very easily.

Choosing literature selections for the semester is one of the first things we do as a family. We make a goal to finish five to seven books per semester. When it comes to spelling or vocabulary, we don't need to buy specialized homeschool books; we just use the literature we already have.

For example, my kids write the words and definitions that we are working on in a notebook. These will also be their spelling words for the week.

When it's time for history lessons, we study the time period for each work of literature we're reading. Then we add on science lessons by researching the scientific discoveries of the period.

When we format our homeschooling like this, it leads to some fascinating discussions at mealtimes.

Depending on your child's interest, you have the freedom to study a work of literature in-depth, or you can just cover the most important facts. Unlike the rigid outline of homeschool books, you have the freedom to do this when you build your own curriculum.

One thing we do use regular homeschool books is for math. However, we try to turn the standard math worksheets into something more interesting that will help the children incorporate the math skills into everyday life. For example, when we work on fractions, we do a lot of cooking.

One of the key factors to creating your own curriculum is to understand your child's interests and needs. Creating your own curriculum can help your child in ways that a public education couldn't.

There is no need to spend a lot of money on homeschool books. You can use great literature as building blocks to create curriculum that fits your family's needs.