Friday Feature: Cathy Duffy Reviews
It’s “back to school” season—when store aisles are full of crayons, folders, notebooks, and fancy calculators. For homeschoolers, this may also be a time to find a new curriculum for one or more subjects. This can be complicated since there are hundreds to choose from and they can be very different from one another.
Many homeschoolers turn to Cathy Duffy Reviews to winnow down their searches. Cathy was an early homeschooler, beginning in 1982 when homeschooling was still illegal in many states. In addition to educating her own three sons, she has years of experience teaching classes for other home educated children and church groups.
“I started searching for curriculum when we started in 1982,” she says. “I shared info through our typed‐up ‘newsletters’ we circulated among ourselves. It gradually turned into a comb‐bound book that I published first in 1984. I started the website much later… probably in the 90s. So my work has evolved right along with the technology.”
Her website is easy to navigate. It includes subject categories like art and music, religion, history and geography, math, phonics and reading, and science. Cathy Duffy Reviews is my first stop when considering a new curriculum because her reviews are quite detailed and she’s built up a lot of trust through the years.
Over time, as curriculum options proliferated, Cathy started publishing her 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, which she’s now expanded a little to 103 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Throughout the website, items that are included in her Top Picks are marked with a special apple symbol.
In addition to her curriculum reviews, the Cathy Duffy site includes “homeschool extras”—articles on different approaches to education, college and career prep, creative learning, and more. She also has a Facebook page where she shares updates and her followers can trade tips.
Cathy says traffic to her site increased quite a bit the first year of Covid but has dropped off because of a change in something on Google’s end. She notes there’s been “a large increase in secular homeschoolers and a corresponding increase in resources created for them,” including some that label themselves “progressive.”
Whether you’re new to homeschooling, considering it but not yet decided, or a veteran who is looking for new ideas, Cathy Duffy Reviews is a great resource.