We are now in our 5th year of homeschooling here in the Hill House. That’s so hard to believe on many levels!
I could write a book on the many things I’ve learned in this 5 years. One of the biggest concepts?
I can change curriculum during the middle of our homeschool year.
I know that might seem obvious to most of you, but in the first few years of homeschooling, I was so reluctant to stop a curriculum!
There were several reasons why I didn’t want to give up our curriculum mid-year:
→ We already paid for the curriculum. It would be a waste of our money to not finish it.
→ We would have to buy a new curriculum. And we’ve just had Christmas! There’s not much extra money for new curriculum mid-year.
→ I would have to go back to square one and research a new curriculum path. Thorough research takes a lot of time! I just don’t have a ton of extra time.
→ We should just suck it up and plow our way through, right? Surely it’s all in my head that this just isn’t working for us.
A few years ago, I was complaining to a dear friend of mine about a popular curriculum we were using. Everyone in the homeschool world seemed to love it!
But my son absolutely detested it.
It wasn’t the subject itself, but the style in which the information was presented.
As I quickly figured out, my son and daughters learn best with reading living books. Textbook style learning doesn’t make learning come alive in the same exhilarating way that living books do.
As I poured out my feelings to my friend, she very wisely said, “Why don’t you just not do it anymore? Why don’t you just switch to something else?”
What?
Not finish the book? Switch to something else?
This was a brand-new concept for me: I am in charge of what we learn and when we learn it.
Some days, that thought is overwhelming.
Some days, it’s unbelievably freeing.
I needed permission to put that particular curriculum away and do something new.
So where do you find your homeschool this mid-year?
Are there things you need to change? Routines you need to establish or remove? Tasks you need to add?
Curriculum you need to put away until another time?
Please share in the comments. I’d love to hear what’s going on in your own homeschools!
And just in case you need someone to say it:
You have permission to switch curriculum mid-year. Put what is not working away and do something new.
Press on, Mamas.
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Color Your Own Calendar!
I’m not ditching a curriculum, but majorly modifying how and how much we use of it. It’s been useful, and continues to be useful. It is just way too slow and repetitive for my early reader (and is meant for a classroom). So we’re not finishing level 1, and speeding our way through level 2. I needed the kick not to switch, but to skip portions that aren’t useful to us.
Nicole, I totally understand!! You’re exactly right in that tweaking (not ditching) the curriculum is often the best solution.
I experienced your situation with a math curriculum when my oldest was in Kindergarten. I thought we would both possibly go insane with the repetition. That’s when I was introduced to the words ‘mastery’ and ‘spiral’. Boy, did THAT change how I viewed curriculum!! (I was an RN – not a teacher – in my pre-homeschool life, so I always have lots to learn about various learning styles, etc.)
I hope you figure out just the right fit for your young reader! 🙂
This is our first year of homeschooling and I am learning a lot. I am constantly revising our routine and learning but our curriculum that includes math English social studies and science has remained the same. It works OK but yesterday undiscovered on the testing pages it wanted them to know thingsbwe haven’t learned. I was mad but then thought OK so maybe this section of homeschool I will look at the test first and make sure I am teaching the missing parts so when they get to it they know it. I also am going to do the colour personality test to see how each Donny children learn best
Yes, figuring out how each child learns is so valuable! I didn’t know much about learning styles in the beginning of homeschooling, so I had to read/learn quite a bit. Such valuable information!
I hope your first year is going well! Thank you for stopping by today. 🙂
We’re 1st year homeschoolers and have had a horrible year! Family loss, my falling I’ll for several months, and of course we loathe our curriculum. Our oldest son (3rd gradr) hates workbook education but loves to read about things that interest him. Our youngest son (K) has learning disability & very short attention span. I’m researching for a new direction.
Amy, I’m so sorry it’s been a tough year so far. 🙁 Thankfully, your kids are little and you can just pick up and start something new.
Just a suggestion – Your 3rd grader might love unit studies. You can buy them all planned out or you can search and make your own. My children LOVE unit studies and I never get the whiny attitudes when we’re using those. 🙂 Just choose a topic he’s interested in, find the books at your library, and get rolling with it.
Yes, I have found that Kindergarten boys have VERY short attention spans. 😉 Short bursts of school work here and there and lots of outside time is often needed.
Thankfully, tomorrow is new day and you can start over. Blessings to you and big hugs. You can do this! 🙂
I am bringing a child out of a public based homeschool program that is in 10th grade and trying to figure out what he know and don’t know. I don’t know what he needs to graduate or anything, trying to figure out how everything works. Struggling!
Bless you, Jennifer. That’s a tough situation! There are a few great high school homeschool bloggers, which I hope you’re able to find. I’m praying you figure it out quickly!
We ditched my daughter’s history just last month. She’s in 7th grade and this was the first year where she would be doing a lot of work on her own. After much research and debate, she picked what she wanted to use. Very quickly, it became apparent that the “living book” style she used with Mom in Elementary grades wasn’t going to work when she was in charge of her time. She got behind and started to loathe the work. We looked at some other curriculums that friends her age were using and she picked something new – one that use a spine/textbook. We’d never done anything like that before so I was surprised that she would want it. It’s working great for her. She likes working with one textbook and one literature book at a time. She even likes tests! What? I know. Nearly knocked me off the chair when she said she wanted to use the tests! She’s been at it for 5 weeks now and is much happier. She seems to be learning and retaining more too.
Kathy, thank you so much for leaving this comment! It’s so encouraging to me as I think about how our homeschool will work later on down the line. So helpful!
And I’m thrilled that your daughter found something that works for her and holds her interest. Success!
I let go of three years worth of curriculum that I had planned out. After trying to continue through for a year and a half I just had to admit that unit studies were just not for me! It was too much for my brain to handle. We switched over to Ambleside Online to get the structure to keep me on course, but it is so much better knowing if I just don’t have the mental energy we can just read and narrate, but if a thought hits me of a project or something to tie in to the reading then I have that time and flexibility to be able to learn about a topic more on our own. So much better for us!
Heather, I can relate to your comment in many ways! While I absolutely adore unit studies, they can be such a brain drain on this tired mama. 😉 I have put them away a couple of times myself and brought out a more check-off-the-box approach for a bit. It was just what I needed.
But you are so smart to ditch what isn’t working (regardless of how the rest of the homeschool world loves it), and switch to something that will work for you! I’m so glad you found a great fit for you!
The mental energy and effort that homeschool requires from the mother is a whole other topic, isn’t it?? I think I could write a book on it. 😉
We only Afterschool , but I strongly believe in connecting with PJs teachers each year. As I’ve checked to find out what materials and text work books would be used at the beginning of the year to mid year– Ive found each year his teacher is supplementing worksheets, skipping in the math workbooks, ect. All to meet PJs individual needs. I think this is great out of the box thinking!! We do what is best for our kids (I do this at home with skill mastery) and his classrm teachers do the same. No one curriculum has ever been a good fit for my youngest. I’ve been combining different and making my own curriculum materials for 4 years now. With my oldest (now 20) I still used “a DIY put together” curriculum. She was exactly the opposite of my youngest and gifted. It’s the only way to do:)
Crystal, thank you for such a thoughtful comment! Yes, I completely agree that each child is different and we have to figure out what works for them. Easier said than done sometimes, I have discovered!
Happy New Year!
-Lauren
I haven’t homeschooled for awhile now, but when I did it was for 16 years. I’m getting prepared for prepping my grandchildren now.
I learned right away that my kids don’t have the same learning styles and there just isn’t any one curriculum that fit even one child for all subjects. So, I ditched the curriculum sets in favor of mix and match plus library books and partial unschooling. I didn’t unschool but at the same time, I didn’t formal school.
Each child has a different learning style. My autistic son absolutely did not want anything colorful. The colors distracted him. Same with my youngest daughter. She isn’t autistic but just likes everything in shades of black, even in her artwork. My middle daughter was the opposite. The more color, the better.
As you can easily see, I could not get one curriculum for all three. And even each child as an individual would be receptive to subjects from different companies, such as reading from one supplier and math from another.
This worked very well for us. All three children went into management type positions after graduating. The biggest key I want to emphasize is that you are not teaching just the subject matter. That part is fine. The important thing that must be taught is HOW TO LEARN instead of memorizing.