We have been homeschooling on and off for about five years now and although I love to search the Internet for a new special needs friendly curriculum, I have definitely settled on a few favorites.

These are my go-to curriculums when I am planning our year or refining our term; I am pretty sure when it comes to certain subjects we are just moving on to the next book in the series, not looking for a whole new approach.

All of these curriculums are “special needs friendly” although I hesitate to even use that terminology because I don’t believe in a “special needs curriculum” per se.

Adapting curriculum to our awesome kids is more about presentation, not content.

What makes a curriculum “special needs friendly” exactly?

You are looking for these key phrases…

• multi-sensory
• self-paced
• mastery approach
• living book
• language-rich/story-based (the focus here is usually based on listening and telling back verbally and not so heavy on writing).

Most of these curriculums are also “Charlotte Mason friendly” because as I’ve expressed before, I believe a Charlotte Mason style education is the absolute best fit for a child with autism.

I have already posted our schedule for the year but here are our favorites listed by subject.

History/Geography/Bible/Science (we teach this all-in-one):
Story of the World
Classical Acts & Facts(R) History Cards
Map Trek
The Action Bible
Dr. Jay Wile’s Elementary Science Series
Many living books 🙂

Art:
Appreciation: Simply Charlotte Mason’s Picture Study
Expression: Handicrafts

Foreign Language:
French with Cherrydale Press

Literature:
Really good books 😉 Our favorite books lists are from Simply Charlotte Mason and Read Aloud Revival. 

Music:
Appreciation: Music Study using this book
***note…I know there is no image for the book and you can’t get a feel for it but it is an INCREDIBLE living book – a very well written compilation of biographies.
Instrument: Hoffman Academy

Personal Development:
The Son-Rise (R) Program:Developmental Model
Habits: Simply Charlotte Mason’s Laying Down the Rails

Poetry:
Really good books including Shakespeare

Beginning Reading:
All About Reading

Spelling:
All About Spelling

Writing:
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears
Composition: Grades 1-3: oral narration
Grades 4+: written narration and IEW Theme-Based Writing

Grammar:
IEW Fix It Grammar

Math:
Math-U-See

What are a few of your favorite things when it comes to curriculum?