I homeschooled 4 and all are successful, even my youngest who chooses to be a stay at home mom. The most important thing you can teach is how to find out what you need to know... doing research. Instead of memorization, I had my kids read something (about which ever subject we were studying) and write me a paper on it. Then we would review correcting for grammar, spelling etc. As far as the curriculum mentioned- that's pretty much what homeschoolers teach anyway. My kids also learned how to grow a garden, can food and other useful skills.