Many Christian families prefer curricula that integrate Christianity into every subject. The major publishers of such curricula are generally very good, their materials having been refined through years of use in Christian private schools. Because of the size of the Christian private school market, the number of publishers who serve that market (and Christian homeschoolers who use their products) is fairly large.

The availability in the US of specialized textbooks that integrate religions that are not in the Christian tradition into the subjects is much less. This is a function of demographics and immigration history, rather than of any lack of initiative or energy. If the numbers in the US of adherents of any particular non-Christian religion grow large enough, the demand for curricular materials designed for homeschoolers of that religion will make publishing such materials economically feasible. In the meantime, adherents of non-Christian religions who homeschool must use and adapt what materials they can find - secular, Christian, or public school - or create their own, using regular books they may find in stores and libraries.

Secular (having no particular religious faith, agnostic, or atheist) homeschoolers are similarly situated. Non-religious, non-public school curricula exist (e.g. Saxon Math, Key Curriculum Press products), but are not as plentiful as Christian and public school curricular materials. These secular textbooks, as would textbooks used in public schools, would require little adaptation with regard to religious content, which is convenient for those secular homeschoolers who strongly endeavor to avoid religious content. Some secular homeschoolers adapt Christian materials, skipping what doesn’t suit them, supplementing to achieve the desired balance of perspectives. The secular segment of homeschoolers has been growing, and will probably continue to grow. As the market for secular curricular materials suitable for homeschooling grows, so, too, will the number of publishers serving that market, and the quality of their products.

A wide variety of life philosophies, homeschooling methods, and reasons for homeschooling are found in the homeschooling community. On the other hand, homeschoolers share at least one common purpose - the education of their children. For homeschoolers who use curricular materials, the quality of the materials they use is a significant concern. Because having more options is desirable, the quality of public school textbooks - whether they are suitable for homeschooling use - is of interest to homeschoolers, and should be examined. What follows is not a review of all public school textbooks, but rather an examination of the process that produces them, and how that process is likely to affect their quality.

At a superficial first glance, one might think the writing, editing, and vetting processes (by the publishers and by states’ approval boards) through which textbooks must pass in order to reach public school students’ desks would produce very good or excellent products. As Diane Ravitch’s book, The Language Police, reveals in painful detail, this isn’t the case. While textbooks often credit well-known educators as the authors, these "authors" are more like consultants, brought in late in the writing process, largely to give their stamp of approval to work others have done. The writing and editing must follow and conform to the publishers’ exacting internal style and socio-political guidelines. These guidelines are designed, not so much to insure quality, as to cater to the hyper-sensitivities of a host of political, ethnic, sex, and religious groups. In some cases, specific material will be added, regardless of importance, to placate politically influential pressure groups. Since space is limited, important material may be supplanted through this editorial pandering. Materials pertinent to the latest (not necessarily tested) pedagogical fads often get thrown into the mix, as well. All these disparate elements are then combined by a writing and editing committee, with the nominal author then approving their work (although, if it’s a revision of an existing textbook, the nominal author may not be consulted).

Many states have their own textbook approval process (and other states rely on those approvals). A committee of educators and interested citizens reviews submitted textbooks for compliance with their state’s standards, over-all quality, and suitability for use in the state’s public schools. Citizens outside of the committee can also provide their comments and critiques. All these reviews and comments are used in informing publishers of reasons for rejection or of changes they must make in order to be approved. This may seem well and good, but this is the mechanism through which the pressure groups mentioned above write their concerns and agendas into public school textbooks. If a textbook publisher won’t conform to the approval committee’s required changes, the publisher will be unable to sell their textbooks. Should the approval committee decide not to include the pressure groups’ agendas in the required changes, the groups are able to use the courts to force that inclusion.

With so much energy devoted to not offending pressure groups’ hyper-sensitivities, pandering to their agendas, and incorporating the latest fads from the education community, quality, suitability, and educational efficacy aren’t the paramount priorities they should be. Too often the finished product is bland, uninteresting, and more a reflection of socio-political and education community trends than of what students need and would find interesting. In Readers, excellent stories sometimes get omitted to make room for lesser stories whose principal virtue is the ethnicity or sex of the stories’ authors and/or characters. Alternatively, some stories, even well-known classics may get edited to remove elements that aren’t in accord with pressure groups’ exacting sensibilities, or to add elements that are. In History, significant events and people get scant mention or are omitted to make room for less significant personages and events, usually to satisfy sex- and ethnic-oriented pressure groups’ demands for statistically balanced representation. Information may be used selectively, where certain political causes and personages are concerned (e.g. the anti-immigration actions and propaganda and the racism of some unions gets omitted so that unions can be portrayed as only right and just). Another common bias in Social Studies textbooks is portraying government intervention as the best solution for almost all social problems. As mentioned earlier, textbook publishers endeavor to incorporate the latest methodological trends from education theorists, often hastily, as publishers do not wish to seem out of touch or less than current. Words such as "progressive" carry great psychological weight in the educational community. On occasion, following what is trendy has yielded disastrous results for students.

The bottom line is that homeschooling parents have to decide for themselves what is suitable for their family’s homeschool. Every family’s - and every child’s - needs and concerns are unique. For reasons detailed above, trying to adopt public school textbooks for our family’s homeschool wasn’t worth the effort. The correctness of this decision was reinforced for me recently, when I reviewed an American History textbook series that is approved for use in California’s (and probably in some other states’) public schools. While the series had some appealing features (the writing was actually interesting) its defects, some of which are alluded to above, so out-weighed the good points that I could not recommend the series.

At the same time, it isn’t a situation of public school equals bad, private equals good. Some homeschooling families may find public school textbooks that suit their families’ and children’s needs, or that are easily adaptable to those needs. Christians need to do more than simply "look for the Christian label". Any textbook being considered should be checked for quality and suitability for one’s family. Homeschoolers of other religions and secular homeschoolers may, at this time, be faced with somewhat more difficult choices. The variety of textbooks closely suited to their religious or philosophical preferences may be somewhat smaller. Adapting a public school textbook may be a fairly attractive possibility for them, they may instead choose to adapt textbooks from a Christian publisher, or they may even create their own curriculum. Unschooling, which doesn’t use formal textbooks, could be another attractive option. Whatever your family does, make textbooks your tools, and make lovingly educating your children your goal.