THE TRUTH ABOUT CURRICULUM
Wise home-educating parents should understand that curriculum and other educational resources are merely tools - just means to an end - and that the heart of homeschooling is a parent's love for and commitment to his/her children, not "the right curriculum." The truth is that any diligent parent can effectively homeschool without specialized, expensive materials; in fact, homeschool veteran Carole Joy Seid has said (accurately, in our view) that it can be done with only a Bible, a library card, and a math book.
With that in mind, The Homeschool Resource Roadmap does not exist to promote the notion that parents must purchase a plethora of curriculum; quite to the contrary, we encourage simplicity and the development of a joyful lifestyle of learning over any sense of servitude to curriculum. However, the project's director realizes that most parents seek resources of various kinds to guide their home learning endeavors, and it's clear by the sheer number of options set before us that entrepreneurs have seized hold of the homeschooling market. So our lists serve to show parents what exists, not to suggest that any of it is a necessity. Use the lists to show you the options and then prayerfully consider which - if any - you should use.
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THE PROJECT
On March 8, 2013, Tina Hollenbeck launched an effort to contact every provider of curriculum, resources, and material that homeschoolers use in order to ascertain each one's position relative to the Common Core Standards (CCS) - alternately known in some contexts as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework (C3). To date, she has contacted or otherwise checked on over 5,300 entities. She has heard back from and/or discovered clear website statements from nearly every provider and is continuing her efforts, working tirelessly to gain replies from every entity she contacts. The results of that research are located on our Common Core Project page.
Phase 2 of the project began in November 2013, after Tina realized through many discussions in the Facebook group she started in conjunction with The Roadmap, that homeschoolers want a one-stop resource where they can learn important basic information about homeschool-oriented materials. Her compilation of that data began with the launch - in January 2015 - of a basic version of what she called the Subject Area Project.
By 2016, Tina knew she could do even more for her fellow home-educating parents. Thus, she began Phase 3, delving more deeply into her research of each and every provider. She revisited every website in order to ascertain answers to questions homeschoolers typically ask about curriculum. With 3,000+ providers to review at the time, this process took quite a bit of time in 2016 and consumed all of her free time in 2017. But it culminated on January 21, 2018, with a much-anticipated relaunch of a greatly expanded Subject Area Project and the introduction of an extremely comprehensive Curriculum Gazetteer and a Bypasses section.
In mid-2018, Tina began Phase 4 - the Deluxe Charts Project, which summarizes in one place all the information contained in all the other lists - and eventually added a Special Projects section as well. In so doing, the previous individual charts became obsolete, though she has chosen to retain the Common Core Project as its own entity since that was her original cornerstone content.
Tina has also compiled a rather substantial collection of helps in the Rest Stop section - links to several articles she has written along with other useful information - to which she adds regularly.
She was unexpectedly forced to move to this venue from the site's old URL in January 2019, following a significant site hack and changes to Wordpress that were incompatible with her files. In a way, though, the problems proved to be a blessing, as she realized she needed to simplify the site in order to continue properly maintaining it. Rebuilding in a new location - a process she completed on March 8, 2019 - was easier than attempting to redo the old (potentially corrupted) site.
Since then Tina has continued to regularly add to, update, and improve all the lists and charts on this new platform. In Spring 2020, she began the extensive process of once again revisiting every website - over 5,000 at that point - in order to upgrade the Common Core Project lists and improve the information detailed within the Deluxe Charts Project and Special Projects; that endeavor culminated in April 2022 with a relaunch of all lists and charts. She then spent some time making adjustments to a few of the charts - particularly those for Ages 0-5, as well as to some for Ages 5-18 - and uploaded the improvements in early June 2022.
Then, in late March 2023, Google decided to target The Roadmap by restricting all of its files any time even one website to which we happened to link suffered a malware attack. Though Tina does her best to keep all the files updated, and she removes any hacked site as soon as she discovers it, she cannot keep up with Google search 'bots that penalize her without even telling her which links are problematic. For that reason, she had no alternative but to remove direct links from all the files while still trying to maintain the site's usefulness. In the process, she realized it would be time-prohibitive to maintain the Special Projects lists going forward and officially retired them.
Tina Hollenbeck, The Homeschool Resource Roadmap's creator, is a veteran homeschooling mom (i.e., educational entrepreneur) who passionately advocates for the merits of home education. She launched the research project that birthed the Common Core Project database and later created The Homeschool Resource Roadmap to serve the homeschool community she loves. Through this initiative, she seeks to provide useful information and encouragement for those called to raise and educate their own children, so that they will feel confident that they are equipped for the task.
In addition to educating her own children and curating The Roadmap and its affiliated resources, Tina has also written for a number of homeschool- and parenting-related venues. In 2015, she co-authored a booklet, Celebrating Children's 12 Genius Qualities, and in 2021, her first solo book, 8 Great Smarts for Homeschoolers, was published by Moody Press.
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THE PROJECT DIRECTOR
In addition to educating her own children and curating The Roadmap and its affiliated resources, Tina has also written for a number of homeschool- and parenting-related venues. In 2015, she co-authored a booklet, Celebrating Children's 12 Genius Qualities, and in 2021, her first solo book, 8 Great Smarts for Homeschoolers, was published by Moody Press.
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| Click HERE to purchase a copy. |
Tina has spoken at HECOA online conventions and at various homeschool-related events in her area. She was also a featured speaker at the 2015 Great Homeschool Conventions in Texas and Ohio.
And in May 2021, Tina and a local friend opened The Homeschool Loft, a parent resource center based in their community. The Loft seeks to support and encourage home-educating parents, primarily through one-on-one consultations (in-person, by phone, or online) and various workshops and seminars.
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ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS:
Tina is grateful to many people who have helped along way:- Her HUSBAND JEFF AND THEIR TWO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS, who have allowed Tina to devote thousands of hours to this project since March 2013, and who continuously cheer her on in the process;
- Her CO-ADMINS at The Christian Homeschool Oasis, hosted both on Facebook and on its own stand-alone site, who selflessly give hours and hours of their time to advise and encourage fellow homeschooling parents;
- MEMBERS of The Christian Homeschool Oasis and OTHER HOMESCHOOLING FRIENDS, all of whom enthusiastically spread the word about The Homeschool Resource Roadmap;
- GAIL NELSON, who voluntarily took a great deal of time from her own endeavors helping Tina set up and troubleshoot our former web platform;
- JONATHAN LAWRENCE, owner of All Unlimited Design, whose services provided an invaluable transition point between our former and current platforms;
- BOBBIE HOWARD, author of Encouragement Along The Way, who has been a blessed Titus 2 mentor to Tina since they met online in 2009;
- Dear friends JERRY PRICE, CRAIG ABRAMS, and JONATHAN PETERS, whose guidance, mentoring, and counsel were instrumental in helping Tina to "grow up" so she could learn to see and begin pursuing God's call for her life.
