Do you remember that old commercial? We never did get an answer to the question, did we? I find I’m asking a similar one this week…how many revamps does it take to get our curriculum really truly solidified for this school year?
Are you in re-do mode already? We just started school this week, and already I have swapped out:
- A workbook-format math for an online tutorial style math
- A syllabus-style language arts for an online grammar program plus a daily writing prompt
- A dry video biology class for a different video anatomy course that is more friendly
- And I swapped out diving into our new American History curriculum in lieu of viewing this excellent 20-year memorial video covering the events of 9/11 by Drive Thru History
Sometimes you just want to be spontaneous in your lesson plans. Sometimes things are not a fit, and you don’t find out until you try. Especially when you are factoring in learning disabilities as we have had to do over the years, each school year (all three of our kids have a reading disability ranging from information processing disorder to varying degrees of dyslexia) requires some experimentation. Our youngest is not the most profound dyslexic in our family, but she definitely does not thrive with instruction that is only in written format, no matter how much she enjoys the “closure” and simplicity of completing workbook pages.
It’s okay. We enjoy a luxury as homeschoolers, in that we can pay attention to what works and our kids are not stuck on an educational conveyor belt, forced into a learning situation that is failing them…literally. We can change it up. Watch the synapses begin to fire up again. Joy returns. Any time. How great is that?
Pray over your materials and resources. Don’t just go through the motions of “education” to check off the boxes or meet state standards. Make sure your kids are catchin’ what you’re curriculum is throwin’ and take every opportunity to see God’s hand in it all.
“You shall teach them diligently to your children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut. 6:7 AMP