Back to Homeschool Week
I have been homeschooling for 7 years now and I totally agree with Randi at i have to say when she said :
I have learned that when something doesn’t work, stop doing it. That perfect curriculum that everyone is talking about, the one that has revolutionized everyone’s homeschooling experience, may not work for my children and me.
I’ve posted earlier the list of curriculum we are going to be using this year. The only thing new for us this year is the curriculum we will be using for our 12th grader. I found with the younger children a mix of curriculum works best for them. It holds their attention and some subjects they can work independently on. That can be a big help when teaching three different aged children. I try to plan out the children’s lessons in advance so they just look at their lesson plans and know what to do.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
I think it can be tempting to try to switch when everyone is talking about something…or to hold on to something too long when it obviously isn’t working.
Those are hard decisions to make!
August 9th, 2007 at 5:24 am
That is so true. I had to do that with our science this past year. I really didn’t want to stop because I had spent so much money on it, but then I though that was silly. If it isn’t working why am I wasting my time?? We stopped it and I just did my own thing with them this year. It was fine, pressure off.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:43 am
In reference to Dana’s comment: I agree it is hard not to get caught up in the flow and try the “newest perfect all inclusive curriculum”. The thing is there ARE perfect curricula out there for all of us, it’s just a matter of finding them or bending them to meet our needs.
August 9th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Or, I’ve spent so much money on this stupid thing we’re going to keep using it until we’re done with the whole book!! That’s sometimes my reason for sticking with something I shouldn’t.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:39 am
I have learned that when something doesn’t work, stop doing it.
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One of the sad things about public schools is how often teachers will know that the given curriculum isn’t working, but not be able to change.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
One of the first things my children taught me when I began homeschooling was to back off if they showed resistance to what and how I was teaching. I learned that they learned just as much when we weren’t doing ’school’ and gradually began to trust in their innate ability to learn. This led to my gradual discovery of learning styles.
The early years are more about learning who we are as individuals, what our learning needs are, learning to live with our limitations as well as building on our strengths, and learning to stop comparing ourselves with others. No two homeschooling families are the same. There definitely isn’t a perfect curriculum suitable for everyone. We homeschool because we reject the ‘one size fits all’ curriculum of schools.
Having said that there are some brilliant resources available as well as methods of helping children learn that can really help us settle into our own personal homeschool routines more easily.
cheers
Beverley
http://homeschoolaustralia.com