It was 10 in the morning.
Reading had been completed.
Science had been completed.
Art had been done and thoroughly enjoyed.
Time for math and five minutes in my older boy, his twin sister and I were all crying
This is an obvious case of when to change curriculum but for me it was one of the hardest ones. I was still new to homeschooling, we were extremely tight on money, I had already bought the math program and I had heard wonderful things about it.
Why wouldn’t it work for us?
What was I doing wrong?
Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything wrong and there was nothing that I could do to make it work. That particular math program just was not a good fit for us and yes, I had to change it. Thankfully the twins were only in first grade and all I had to do was teach them basic math skills. We survived, but what about when needing to switch curriculum is not such an easy thing to see?
Fast forward a few years and I am trying to teach the twins how to write paragraphs, essays, and stories. My daughter is breezing right through the work and even starts writing extra stories just for fun. My son on the other hand is struggling. He goes from skipping his work, to debating if he even needs to do it, to being angry over writing and even frustrated crying . The tears are the worst. Breaks my heart.
At first I thought it was a character issue with him. I held firm to the curriculum and told him to work harder. As often as I need to tell him those words, this time was not one of them. He became more frustrated and more defiant. I became more persistent, telling him he needed to work on it and I held even tighter to the curriculum. We went back and forth like this for half of the year until I realized that absolutely nothing was getting done and that I needed to let go of the curriculum. I needed to hold tight to my boy and hear him when he said it was difficult.
Sometimes we become more invested in the curriculum we buy than we are in our children’s learning. This is not something we consciously do, but tends to happen slowly over time. We have spent weeks investigating, comparing, and purchasing curriculum. We have spent hours, or even days learning the curriculum ourselves, preparing all the things needed for it, and setting up the schedule to do it. We are invested but we need to keep our focus on why we do this. We school our kids so that they can learn the best way that works for them. Whether the realization that the curriculum needs to be changed is obvious or just small little things you notice over time, it needs to be changed right away.
It’s not a failure
It’s what is necessary for your babies and your sanity.
Greetings! My name is Joy and I am currently a stay at home mom who is home schooling her three kids in South Carolina. I love learning and I love sharing the love of learning with others so getting to home school my kids and watch the “ah ha” moments when they understand something is unbelievably rewarding. I have been homeschooling since my twins were preschool age so we are going on 8 years now. I am also a military spouse so we have the added joy of being a military family with some of the complications that come with it. As a family we stay busy with our scouting groups, American Heritage Girls and TrailLife, and we do many camping and hiking trips with them. When I have down time, I am typically reading books I have sitting around the house, on YouTube/websites getting more information on different home school programs or working on plans for homeschool. I look forward to being able to share our experiences with everyone and help encourage all homeschooling families.