Do you ever feel like curriculum restricts rather than enhances?

[Frontier Mom]

I remember reading TWTM for the first time and feeling so free!! Studying books and historical periods seemed so, shall I dare say it, fun. Reading the classics together and discussing them, writing the most important details, making timelines and studying together.

 

Well, somewhere along the line I think I have just become a curriculum junkie instead of focusing on the real reason to home educate. I feel like we have so many "subjects" to do each day that the time to delve into the classics has become harder and harder to find. Ok, so we got Math, Science, Reading, etc. done but did I really do the thing I love most - reading the classics and sharing with my dc's?

 

So, :w00t:, I'm at the point where I am ready to ditch some of the curriculum and get back to the learning. The real, everybody spread out on the floor, talking over supper learning. The joy I had a few years back.

 

Maybe it's the winter or the time of year, but I'm ready to regain the joy, even if it means we don't get all the "subjects" done every day. Hope I'm not alone. I might even play games all one day. You never know.

 

Anyone else feel this way sometimes? At the basics of this feeling is that learning happens irregardless of the specific curriculum I am using. Help give me some guidance.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes, I was just thinking about this, this weekend. We've circumvented some (but not all) of it by schooling year around. This gives me the freedom to have some days be days where we really dig into something that we are interested in. Or I will save up all those little rabbit trails that come up when reading (I write them down on post-its) and then we have a marathon google session to find out all the answers! But even then we don't do it as much as I would like. I realized yesterday that perhaps one of the reasons it doesn't happen as much is because I would be required to get off my butt and be more involved in the kid's learning.

[Peela]

Oh yes,I can relate. I tend to change curriculums a fair amount, but I keep our structure- the 4 year history cycle, and being literature and history focused. Maths is first in the day. Together work of an hour or so each day. Curricula come and go around here.

 

The workbox system is working well here though...I am loving that I can put ANYTHING in their boxes/drawers. Today I have crossword puzzles and a documentary I have been wanting them to watch. I could never work out before how to use all these resources I have floating around, or how to add in fun things without destroying our routine structure which works well for us.

And grandad has come to stay for a week, so on Friday we went to the beach, had breakfast at a cafe then on to the markets. I am not one to skip school lightly, but Grandad wont be around forever.

Yes, curricula can be restrictive for sure. Many times i have felt something was busy work or just not effective for the time it takes, or not good for my LD kid, and ditched it. I dont think I am a slave to curricula, although I am not at the point of writing it all myself either. Ideally though, I think I would like to.

[IsabelC]

I say tweak, tweak and tweak some more until you get the balance ;)

Your plan and curricula are meant to be tools for you to use. It something feels hugely restrictive, add more flexibility. If it all turns into anarchy, add more structure. I have no problem with just leaving stuff out if it seems unnecessarily boring, repetitive or pointless; after all, I bought the curriculum, so I have the right to use what works and ditch what doesn't.

[EKS]

Yes--but really it's my own compulsiveness that is doing the restricting. Once I give myself permission to tweak, things get MUCH better.

[prairiegirl]

I have ditched curriculum this year for history and science and just did our own thing. It was very freeing. We had a great time. I thought that I had shed my curriculum obsession but then I read the thread on History Odysey. I looked at the Try Before You Buy link and I am seriously thinking of going back to curriculum for those two subjects again.

 

Yes, doing it without curriculum is freeing but it is also alot of work. We had a very rough this year with my health issues and other things and I am just tired of making all the plates spin. So I think I may take the plunge again. :confused:

[patchfire]

This is why I generally don't use a set curriculum for history, physics, or literature, but pull various resources together. For whatever reason, I'm more likely to give us 'permission' to skip something if it's not set out as a full curriculum. ;)

[LibraryLover]

Absolutely, yes. A million times for us, yes. So much simply happens.

 

I speak more about the early years. (Ime, when kids are teens they often need many more specifics, esp as they prepare college applications. Good, formal programs can really help get them where they want to be).

 

But when kids are little, it's a whole different, open game.

 

I like SOTW resources. I love the bibliographies. I like it's open -endedness. I like it's pick -up -and -go -or-not -quality. Little kids are so interested in everything. So much can be learned in all areas from one main interest.

 

I mean, talk to a kid who loves Percy Jackson, and you have a child interested in the nearly the whole western world. lol Ok, maybe dramatic, but you could spend years trying to instill a love of story- telling, history, geography, mythology etc with dry history texts and it still might not click. A 9 yr old child interested in Percy may to want to live in the library, looking for anything and everything on mythology, Greece, Rome etc. When she starts reading the western classics, all those references are going to make sense. When my youngest started reading Lightning Thief, fi, she already knew so much from having been read the Odyssey, Du'laires Greek myths, and listening to Odd Bodkins' Odyssey. It all was so familiar! And with no curriculm.

 

You can't buy that kind of delight and retention. The same can be said for a child who loves dinosaurs, or the Titanic story, or the crazy Tudors , or the ancient Chinese stone army. Sometimes it takes but one Nova special, one book to spark a great and wonderful interest.

 

Sidebar- My youngest pulled a book about Czar Ncholas and his family from the top of our tallest shelves the other day. She had read most of the book before I realized. She is still such a young child...I asked her what she read...she said "They are going to kill all the children, aren't they?" That made me sad. I wish she could be 'held back' despite her lack of lots of formal curric.

Edited February 15, 2010 by LibraryLover

[IsabelC]

Yes, doing it without curriculum is freeing but it is also alot of work.

Yep. Some people design a fantastic curriculum of their own, but I'm way to lazy to start from scratch. I find it's simplest and easiest to start with whatever I can find that's closest to what I want and then customize it to meet our needs. Tbh, I don't quite get why some people apparently feel a compulsive need to follow things to the letter? (Perhaps those are simply people who lead more organized lives lol)

[Night Elf]

Yes, and it took me 7 years to figure it out. We switched to online classes, first with K12 and now Keystone, and taking some classes with a group that is specifically geared to offer homeschool classes. The only course we use outside of those things is Math-U-See for my dd11, but we may switch her to Keystone math when she is finished her current level. Planning my own homeschool program or even trying to follow a laid-out program like Sonlight didn't work for us. I find it much less stressful to be enrolled in classes.

 

We don't school every day, that's way too much pressure. I consider setting our own schedule a perk of homeschooling.

[Denise in Florida]

Yes, absolutely!

 

I did not use any curriculum until at least 4th grade. I read a lot of child development theory and educational advice like Ruth Beechick's books, but no textbooks/curriculum for the kids.

 

The first year I used a textbook was fourth grade math for my oldest dd. My mom, was sooooo disappointed in me for caving in to the textbooks. :001_smile: She felt that textbooks were not a suitable approach for learning math until at least high school algebra.

 

I bought a lot of games, study guides, reference books, etc. but they were treated as resources which we could pick up and put down as we pleased.

[KrissiK]

In a sense, yes, but in other ways... no. My kids are young, learning the skills. So, we use phonics curriculum and math curriculum. I kind of look at it like, "Why re-invent the wheel?" Putting together your own curriculum (whatever you use is curriculum, whether it is boxed, or just library books) and it's easier for me to start with something and tweak it. We're using SOTW1, and I guess that's a curriculum, but it's been good for us. It's been fodder for a lot of discussion with my young boys.

[angela in ohio]

Yes. I am a fan of the book Seven Laws of Teaching. In it, he discusses the fact that a teacher who knows the subject matter is better than a teacher relying on curriculum, because they are better able to focus on the student (among other reasons.) I know that when I am not desperately reading a TM while trying to teach a subject, I can talk more comfortably with my students (at home or in classes) and watch their reactions more closely. I can go back over what we need to, I can review the correct amount, I can move on when they are ready...

[muffinmom]

I remember reading TWTM for the first time and feeling so free!! Studying books and historical periods seemed so, shall I dare say it, fun. Reading the classics together and discussing them, writing the most important details, making timelines and studying together.

 

Well, somewhere along the line I think I have just become a curriculum junkie instead of focusing on the real reason to home educate. I feel like we have so many "subjects" to do each day that the time to delve into the classics has become harder and harder to find. Ok, so we got Math, Science, Reading, etc. done but did I really do the thing I love most - reading the classics and sharing with my dc's?

 

So, :w00t:, I'm at the point where I am ready to ditch some of the curriculum and get back to the learning. The real, everybody spread out on the floor, talking over supper learning. The joy I had a few years back.

 

Maybe it's the winter or the time of year, but I'm ready to regain the joy, even if it means we don't get all the "subjects" done every day. Hope I'm not alone. I might even play games all one day. You never know.

 

Anyone else feel this way sometimes? At the basics of this feeling is that learning happens irregardless of the specific curriculum I am using. Help give me some guidance.

 

 

Feeling this way SO much lately. My trouble is not so much that curriculum is getting in the way, but extracurricular activities are eating up my days. I'm trying to give my kids some outside experiences (gymnastics class, piano, and a morning of play and friendship with other homeschoolers), but I find myself trying to cram in our subjects when we are home, and neglecting those wonderful read-aloud times, etc. Makes me sad.

 

I do feel my kids need structured physical activity because they are the kind of kids who won't seek it out on their own. And I really think music is important. My issue is probably more that my head tends to spin when I move from activity to activity. My focus gets destroyed pretty fast with a lot of varied activity. I work best when I stay in one place for long block of time. Don't know the best way to handle this.

[Frontier Mom]

Thanks for all your answers. I decided we are doing Math for everyone, Science for the two oldest and I am going to do some read alouds for science with my two youngest. They are also doing an online science class with my two youngest through CurrClick.

 

Also, we are starting Amanda Bennett's Winter Olympics 4 week Unit Study today!! I am thinking the break will give us more together time and a break from the same ole, same ole. I'm also instigating a Math problem contest where I am putting a problem on the board and we submit our answers during supper.

 

We are continuing our RA of Lightning Thief and we will see what else. Maybe a game?

 

I have just gotten to the point where I feel a slave to the curriculum instead of using it as a tool. I'm completely stressed that we might not finish (insert any curriculum) instead of making sure we are learning and loving it. Now, I'm no fool, I know they are not going to love everything. But, I think the more I get into their learning, the better things always go.

 

I'm just backing off the restrictions I feel and looking for some creative ways to learn the same things. Wait, that was what attracted me to home education in the first place!!

[LibraryLover]

I'm just backing off the restrictions I feel and looking for some creative ways to learn the same things. Wait, that was what attracted me to home education in the first place!!

 

 

:001_smile::iagree:

 

The olders will have different needs, esp as they prepare for college/SATs etc-- if that is a goal. Declaring your freedom and independance from restrictive programming does remind us why we chose to become hsers!