Which Homeschool Curriculum is Right for You?

I am very much a list person. I LOVE lists. In fact, there was a time when I actually made a list of chores that I needed to get done every day. Some people would think that it was like putting handcuffs on, but for me, it was freeing. I could choose or not to do something off my list, but having it there was a comfort. And no one can deny that there is an immense amount of satisfaction in crossing something off the list. Without a list, I feel overwhelmed and confused. I forget what I want to do, and even if I remember, I still get paralyzed because there is too much to do, and I tend to just chuck it all and do something just for fun.

Before Super Stuffy was school age, I knew that I wanted to homeschool him, so I started to look for curriculum and ways to teach. From my experience in the first and second grade classroom I knew a lot about the ABeka curriculum. I loved ABeka. It is very straightforward, and I did not have to guess what I should be teaching. The curriculum presents material in a straightforward way from a Christian worldview that is very comfortable for my teaching style.  It is very paperwork heavy, but I would get a very clear picture of my child’s academic progress. However, we were unable to afford Abeka so I couldn’t look at that very long.

Charlotte Mason

I started to scour the internet for different methods of homeschooling, and I found the Charlotte Mason method and I fell in love with her philosophy. Her ideas made so much sense.  She emphasized the building of good habits when the children were young.  School included short lessons, living books, (books written by an author who was passionate about the subject), narration, dictation; art, music, and nature study.  She believed that no matter how young or where a child comes from, that child is worthy of dignity and respect.  

The only downside to Charlotte Mason is that it is not a set curriculum. How would I know what to teach my children and when should I teach it? I loved the thought of all these real living books, but I was overwhelmed with how many there really are and what I was supposed to teach.  My research continued to find just exactly how to implement her philosophy.

After a few days of searching I found the Ambleside Online website. (http://amblesideonline.org) The wonderful people at Ambleside Online took a lot of their precious time to put together a curriculum according to the principles of Charlotte Mason. There was also a forum that I could join where I could discuss and learn from other moms who were using the Ambleside curriculum. The best part of it was that it was free! I followed that curriculum for about a year and a half. I loved it. It gave me a list to follow, and I felt like we were really accomplishing something every day.

As each day passed, though, it got more and more difficult. My children began to dislike school immensely, even Bear Bear who started out so excited to learn. It also took a great amount of planning time. In the end it became so much easier to just take a day off, or two or three, when I didn’t have everything planned out the way I wanted it to be. Then I would have an enormous amount of stress because I wasn’t keeping up with where I thought I needed to be. My worst fears were coming true, that my children hated learning and hated reading.  

Unschooling

After consulting with my mentor mom, she suggested that I open up a little bit. I didn’t have to follow the directions exactly. She suggested that I just make some boundaries. They could learn any history that they wanted, they could read whatever books they wanted, as long as they were learning. She also told me that the most important things that my children needed to learn were reading, writing, and arithmetic. Everything else was just frosting on the cake.

So I went home with a renewed sense of hope. Maybe I could restore my kid’s love for learning by giving them some freedom. This began my foray into unschooling. Unschooling seemed to be a viable option. From the different blogs that I read, kids who were unschooled would learn what they needed to learn in order to function in society. All I had to do was put before them a myriad of opportunities and they would learn it on their own.

For my kids, it didn’t work as well as I had hoped. They binged on youtube videos, movies, and video games. I kept going to the same blogs that were telling me that they would max out on the video technology and they would find something else to interest them. My days were filled with notetaking and watching, just waiting for the day when they would turn to something more “educational.” They never did. They would watch the same videos over and over again, and Super Stuffy especially had a difficult time doing anything else, even though I could see that he was so very bored.

I fought with myself almost every day. It seemed obvious that they were learning, but just not learning enough, or even the “right” things. They would choose to watch some educational youtube videos, and Super Stuffy would watch marathons of The Kratt Brothers and Octonauts. There was a deep seated fear in the pit of my stomach that my kids were falling behind. Would they spend their entire lives playing video games and not contributing to society. It didn’t matter how many blogs I read, unschooling was not working for my children.

Project Based Homeschooling

Back to the research I went, trying to find something that would work. I found project based homeschooling, and it seemed to give a little more structure to the unschooling. Maybe this would be what would work. But it was still a little too overwhelming for my children, and not enough structure for my comfort. I didn’t know how to guide them, and so we ended up doing a whole lot of nothing.

How thankful I am for my mentor mom. She talked me through all of this, letting me make my own mistakes but guiding me through this journey. She said to me over and over in many different ways that I do not need to do what anybody else is doing. I have to do what works well for my children and my household. I learned throughout all this that my children are like me. For this time in their lives, they need some focus, some direction, and some boundaries. They also need a list to follow so they know what needs to be done in each day.

Eclectic

As a result, I have used my research to create a buffet.  I took the parts of each method I have tried and mixed them together in a shape that works for us.  There is no specific curriculum, and I use real life tools to teach them. 

I have made a list of the things that my children need to do each day. Math, reading, typing, music, taking care of animals and chores, spelling, etc. are all on the list. In addition to the things that I believe they need to learn, I have added things that they have requested to learn. For example, Bear Bear has asked to learn how to write in cursive and learn Spanish. I find good books on American history (check out the I Survived series) that tell stories, not dry facts, and I read those to them each day. We have a number of hours in the middle of the day where technology is not used so that they can get practice using their imaginations and stretching their thinking.

Inside those boundaries, my children are free to learn in the way that is best for them. They read, but we cuddle and read together and they can choose what books that they want to read. They can choose how and when to do their work each day. When they are done, they are free to do whatever they choose.

This has resulted in less stress for me, it gives us more time to enjoy playing together, and it teaches them a little bit of independence. My ultimate goal for my children’s education is for them to be able to learn independently, to know where to look when they want to learn something, and to be able to manage their time to balance between work and play. I know that this will have to change as they both get older and they need to start looking more toward the future, but for right now, this is what works. There might not be anybody else who teaches their children like I do, but that’s ok. I can live with that. The Lord gave me these children for a reason, and it is my responsibility and privilege to teach them. 

So what curriculum is right for you and your family? It might be a packaged curriculum, something free that you found on the internet, or a mixture of both. The curriculum you find might be the best in the market, but in the end, it must fit for you and your family. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and experiment. No curriculum, even if it’s the best, is worth it if it doesn’t match your needs.