Does anyone here ever want to throw all curriculum convention to the wind...

[Kfamily]

and just completely do your own thing.

 

Or am I just strange with that desire?:lol:

 

Some days I feel so tied to all the things I think we must do to meet the educational needs required to go to college and function well in this world vs. an education that truly educates the mind and especially the soul. I feel like everyday is long list of meeting everyone else's needs and ideas of fulfillment (everyone else meaning society in general).

 

Maybe I'll try a compromise...

 

Does anyone else feel this way?

[Lucy in Australia]

Ack!!!! Have you been reading my mind?! I have been thinking like this for the last couple of months. It's probably partly due to having a new baby in the house, but still...

 

It's also hard trying to balance the children's passions with the stuff they don't like but still need to learn. If he had his way, my 11 year old would know the name of every bird that ever lived on earth and yet be totally clueless as to who Julius Caesar was :001_huh:

[JennW in SoCal]

Welcome to the dark side, mwa ha ha! :D

 

Except for math, I homeschooled all my kids virtually curricula free all the way through high school. They've turned out quite fine, too.

 

The centerpiece to it all is reading and discussing. I've used Sonlight's reading lists, the WTM reading lists, books that I loved, books found on the library shelves; I've googled and and my kids have googled; we've watched every NOVA episode made in the last 10 years, lots of Mythbusters; had memberships to several museums and we've traveled, not extensively but we've traveled. We've studied nature, they've built catapults and other contraptions, and my kids developed expertise in their fields of interest. And we've talked about everything we read and see -- my husband and I are engaged in interested in the world around us, so my kids have modeled that.

 

I used the WTM as my guideline for writing. Download and listen to SWB's recent writing and literary analysis lectures from Peace Hill Press to get an idea of how it works in real life -- it will give you confidence to dump much of your curricula.

 

I did use logic curricula, and grammar -- but it wasn't the focus of our day the way math and reading were, so I tend to forget about it when I detail our lives. We got more formal in high school, though I still create my own courses.

 

You aren't crazy, and an excellent education can be had doing things on your own. I've blogged a bit about this and have a few draft blogs I haven't cleaned up and posted yet on HOW to do this. Perhaps over the weekend...

Edited April 22, 2010 by JennW in SoCal

[PeterPan]

Yes, it's called the year of the unit study, and I've planned on doing it ever since dd was in 1st, when I started into that oh so structured VP history. 6th grade was the plan, the year when we would study countries, read, do projects, and have fun! And you know, I think you captured what I was wanting and didn't even realize! After that we can buckle back down and be normal. :)

 

Oh, and you wanna know the coolest way to get there? Christian Cottage Unit Studies vol. 2. Use that with the questions from Around the World in 180 Days. That way you have the thought provoking researching questions with the fun day to day already scheduled.

[KrissiK]

No. I like using our curriculum. It gives a sense of stability and structure to my life. I feel like I have freedom within the curriculum to emphasize what I want, but there are other things I want to do with my time than figuring out how to wing it.:tongue_smilie:

[ReneTL]

Sometimes I wish I was the kind of person that would be happy doing that, but I guess I know myself too well. It might be fun for a few days, but then I think I would explode from anxiety - it's just not my nature to sail wherever the river takes me. I am struggling to find more balance between the two because I certainly can see the value of less formal structure.

[momto2Cs]

YES! I have absolutely had those days. I do piece everything together on purpose - I have a hard time following any one curriculum. We do a LOT of reading on many subjects, which seems to balance out my desires and the kids' interests a little...

[Laboroflove]

That's exactly how I feel. It's been such a rough homeschool year. My girls enjoy reading literature and non-fiction so I've wondered what if we just did our own thing, yet my 5th grader is feeling the pull of a two day program which would scrap that. I look forward to hearing what you decide and how it works for you.

[Guest]

It can be very frustrating to feel controlled by outside dictates rather than your child's needs and passions. In California the entire high school curriculum has fallen more and more under the way of the University of California's entrance requirements, to the point that there is hardly any room left for electives or off-beat classes or in-depth seminars. Because California weights AP classes, as do so many universities, high schoolers are stuck even more piling on the APs to raise their grade point averages so as to qualify (you must be in the top 15% or so of your graduating class; I forget the exact figure). As a result, high schools are looking more and more alike and turning out cookie-cutter kids.

 

The grade school equivalent is the growing amount of curriculum controlled by the district and the state through testing requirements, which in turn dictate the curricula.

 

I have been able to escape these grinding restrictions because of my daughter's Asperger's Syndrome, which makes it virtually impossible to teach her through any conventional curriculum. When she was younger she had severe dysgraphia, which enabled me to escape many writing demands for a number of years. As a result she wrote for pleasure and experimented with many, many different forms and ideas she would have not had time or energy for had she followed a more rigid, writing-based curriculum. She has become very familiar with Shakespeare by seeing plays ever summer at our local outdoor theater. We're currently having a hunt for Shakespeare quotes or references in popular culture, and she's found about eight in the past several days. We've even done math outside the box, because her inability to line up numbers correctly made written computation almost impossible for a number of years. So we did mental math (lots), games, and activities daily for years. Turns out this prepared her perfectly well for algebra in 8th grade.

 

Ironically, my own doubts go in the other direction: should I follow MORE curricular dictates? I think no matter what road we follow, we're always just going to have doubts, itches to get out from under it, and periodic bouts of huge frustration. Seems to just go with the territory.

 

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you can try something different for a time if you really feel burnt out, frustrated, or limited by what you're doing now. You don't have to jump ship or toss everything away. It won't put you way behind or off course or harm your child's educational progress to have a period of time to experiment: a month, two weeks, a project- and game-based summer: whatever you feel comfortable with.

[Closeacademy]

I did that. I did our own thing for a while. We did lapbooks and only used a true curriculum for math. I piecemealed and even created our own curriculum. It was a lot of work.

 

We are now using a boxed curriculum. Somethng I have never really done and we really feel at peace. I love Oak Meadow and I wish I would have used it all along.:001_smile:

[ssexton]

Yes! I've been more structured with our oldest kids (now finishing 4th and 5th grades). But for our son going into K next year, we're doing our own thing using the scope and sequence from Rebecca Rupp's book Homeschooling Year by Year. This book is a treasure! I love how it helps me figure out what topics to touch on, and then I can pull from the books I've collected over the years from thrift stores and yard sales!

[mom2boys030507]

I have been finding that balance. I use set cirriculum for math and grammar. The rest I have guides like HO Ancients, but we don't necessarily go in order or cover everything in the guide. We also have lots of time for our own interests. I have the guides more so that I have a structure when I need it. At this point, this is a good balance for me and the boys. They can explore and learn and I can direct and excite. Our copywork and writing come from what the current topics of discussion are. We also seem to trade off every other month between history and science, just the way it seems to work.

[Karen in CO]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

[TXMary2]

I think about that often and have come briefly done it a few times only to pick up the curriculum again. About two months ago I was REALLY serious about putting my own history lesson plans together for the fall utilizing as many resources that I already have. Then I started to realize just how time consuming and not simple it really is! I'd rather buy something and tweak it than start from scratch. I don't have the time or patience.

[Katiebug_1976]

and just completely do your own thing.

 

Or am I just strange with that desire?:lol:

 

Some days I feel so tied to all the things I think we must do to meet the educational needs required to go to college and function well in this world vs. an education that truly educates the mind and especially the soul. I feel like everyday is long list of meeting everyone else's needs and ideas of fulfillment (everyone else meaning society in general).

 

Maybe I'll try a compromise...

 

Does anyone else feel this way?

 

 

Right there with ya sister! This is a regular struggle for me. I find myself often asking "Is this really necessary?" or "Does it really matter?" about quite a few of the things on our schedule. I am trying to take the next couple months and reevaluate what really matters to us and try to find middle ground between what is required and what is necessary/important.

[~blessedmom~]

You are an inspiration! .....I'd love to read your posts!:D

 

Welcome to the dark side, mwa ha ha! :D

 

Except for math, I homeschooled all my kids virtually curricula free all the way through high school. They've turned out quite fine, too.

 

The centerpiece to it all is reading and discussing. I've used Sonlight's reading lists, the WTM reading lists, books that I loved, books found on the library shelves; I've googled and and my kids have googled; we've watched every NOVA episode made in the last 10 years, lots of Mythbusters; had memberships to several museums and we've traveled, not extensively but we've traveled. We've studied nature, they've built catapults and other contraptions, and my kids developed expertise in their fields of interest. And we've talked about everything we read and see -- my husband and I are engaged in interested in the world around us, so my kids have modeled that.

 

I used the WTM as my guideline for writing. Download and listen to SWB's recent writing and literary analysis lectures from Peace Hill Press to get an idea of how it works in real life -- it will give you confidence to dump much of your curricula.

 

I did use logic curricula, and grammar -- but it wasn't the focus of our day the way math and reading were, so I tend to forget about it when I detail our lives. We got more formal in high school, though I still create my own courses.

 

You aren't crazy, and it an excellent education can be had doing things on your own. I've blogged a bit about this and have a few draft blogs I haven't cleaned up and posted yet on HOW to do this. Perhaps over the weekend...

[8filltheheart]

and just completely do your own thing.

 

Or am I just strange with that desire?:lol:

 

Some days I feel so tied to all the things I think we must do to meet the educational needs required to go to college and function well in this world vs. an education that truly educates the mind and especially the soul. I feel like everyday is long list of meeting everyone else's needs and ideas of fulfillment (everyone else meaning society in general).

 

Maybe I'll try a compromise...

 

Does anyone else feel this way?

 

This is basically how I teach k-8. I do use a more standard approach for high school. I call it "interest driven" studies......but definitely not unschooling. I do control the "list" of subjects and the amt of time spent on completing each daily.

 

My kids have completely free reign on what science topics they study. My 5th grade dd did spend the entire first half of the school yr on bird studies (she is definitely a rising ornithologist)

 

I let them have an influence on history and lit. I give them lists of topics and they can choose. Then, I give a list of book titles and they can choose among those.

 

Only math/spelling/religion are pretty much standard approaches. I teach writing directly and vary writing assignments across different subjects.

 

I have tried "canned" curriculum and it drives me crazy. I love freedom to do our own thing and my kids thrive on investigating areas of interest.

 

It works here.

[fractalgal]

I have been finding that balance.

 

This is what I do, too...seek the balance.

 

My first and most important focus for each child is: Math and Language Arts.

 

Everything else is secondary. (Note: my oldest is only 10)

 

We use the History Odyssey guide and pick and choose what works for history. We have the map skills books that we work in at the same time.

 

I also outsource some things. We use a paid certified science teacher for Science classes. She does the classes back to back so the timing works well and each child is in the appropriate level. We moms pick the topics and have a choice over the curriculum she has available to teach. I find it reduces my stress levels. I still supplement with my own science at times, but it does not feel overwhelming.

 

Art is kept simple, but we also attend an art co-op every other week. When the topic is art the kids usually relax and have fun.

 

I think we sometimes have days where it feels like there is too much to do. I try to focus on keeping it as simple as possible.

[Kfamily]

Whew! Thanks all...I really do wonder about myself sometimes.:001_smile:

 

I don't mind using some curriculum each day, but as soon as you add them all up it equals a lot of time spent doing the next page or lesson and not much time for exploring anything. I think sometimes I see my dc children and our day to day life with different eyes. I look at us and see my older dd looking at the world differently now (she has a renewed excitement about some aspects of learning...part of her growing up) and then I see my younger dd and I feel like she is losing some of her excitement and passion. I want to allow my older dd to explore her new interests and find some new sparks for the younger one. I'm constantly feeling like I'm pulling myself in two different directions. I want to prepare them well for the world but I also want to use teaching methods and ideas that are sometimes not conventional. I want to use more methods that they enjoy and that allow them to really own their learning.

For example, I've come back to the idea that sometimes drawing a picture of a plant and labeling it after reading a very interesting story about it is more interesting to my dc and yet accomplishes more than some pre-drawn worksheet that has aspects of it that don't fit us (as in maybe it includes a level of detail I don't want or maybe it doesn't have enough). Or lettting my dd write a narration of her favorite tale so far from Tales From Shakespeare. She wrote 3 pages on Romeo and Juliet. Then we played a family game where each of us picked a character from one of Shakespeare's plays and we all had to guess which play after receiving some hints. We all had fun and learned a lot and dh was impressed that both girls knew more than he did. And playing the game made me aware of my weaknesses and renewed my resolve to read The Complete Tales From Shakespeare and take notes and be more knowledgeable myself. It seems like more learning takes place when we follow our instincts and interests.

We'll always use curricula... I just want to figure out how to use it as needed and then have more time for all our unconventional trails, outputs, etc.

 

P.S. JennW, I will be looking at your blog for ideas and inspiration. Thanks!

Edited April 22, 2010 by Kfamily

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

WOW. Is she going to be blogging about this?

[Guest]

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

I second the Wow! We did an abbreviated version of this in 6th grade with a co-op; it was about a two-month project. The kids built an arch (plus we found a museum exhibit on arch-building and you could stand on what you built, which was great), made a mosaic, read Homer, etc. By far the biggest hit was the wool. I was given a huge, unwashed, straight-from-the-sheep pile of wool. The kids picked it over, washed it (repeatedly), hung it outside to dry, carded, and spun. We never got around to dying and weaving, which had been my intention. I think they would have spent an entire year carding and spinning. Never expected them to enjoy it so much.

[LauraQ]

I suspect that the things we teach in traditional (public & private) schools initially had more to do with that which lent itself well to classroom study than it did with that which was most needful to be learned. I suspect that, today, the content of those same subjects has more to do with what some well-funded PACs, or what some agenda-driven teacher college profs and school board members can get put into the textbooks than with what is most needful to be learned.

 

I have cut back drastically on what my kids were officially "doing for school" out of need (reading, english, math--everything else was gravy, and SOTW done haphazardly from CD 'cause I had no time to read it) and the kids still thrived. I've put back lots and lots of subjects that some people might consider a useless waste of time (Logic and foreign languages in grades 6 & 8). I've also chunked everything to do a week-long intensive writing course with my kids, or to do a unit study on something interesting that sparks someone's interests, or to spend intensive time working on practical life skills.

 

I say, go for it. But I'm what some would consider recklessly adventurous, and am wholeheartedly supported by a similarly adventurous dh who trusts me completely to make sure that, in spite of our side-trips, we get the big important things done in the end. We have no desire to ever send our kids to school, hope we never have to, and also have no desire to worry about whta goes on in regular schools when deciding what will go on in ours.

[Karen in CO]

WOW. Is she going to be blogging about this?

I'll be adding the progress to my blog, and she is planning to keep a journal written from the pov of herself as the Roman girl. We have been thinking about a digital journal or picture blog also to keep the progress of her learning her crafts. We have found some great local resources for teaching the spinning and weaving and have a resource for the materials and tools. She is also planning to learn to adapt ancient recipes which will be fun.

[King Alfred Academy]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

I love that you decided to do this! Will you be blogging about it? I would LOVE to see what the year ends up being like! :001_smile:

[Ester Maria]

I declared war to curricula when I started to realize how they lack content and are filled with distractions. We never used the curriculum-approach in the first place.

 

Granted, they have their sets of textbooks which they need to go through in order to pass their yearly exams - no discussion about that, the "formal" part has to be done. But, that's not what we do for school 70% of the time (let's say that the other 30% is dealing with the content that those textbooks bring out, though maybe on a different level, or dealing with the overlapping readings, etc.).

 

Since I'm peaceful about the "formalities" - I know they will be done, they have textbooks, I take care they actually do it and that we don't completely ignore it, thus my estimate of 30% of dealing with that - I have the "mental peace" of creating my own materials. MOST of the things they studied were from a mishmash of my own materials, particularly with regards to languages and humanities, and not once I completely designed their course of studies of some area (usually, of course, based on something... but as a rough guide, tailored it as I deemed best).

 

So I totally understand you.

I think we'll be losing that freedom in the upper years (provided we continue homeschooling, which I doubt will be past next year, but okay, it's still too early to speak about it), though, since the "formalities" will complicate and require more time.

[momto2Cs]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

What a FANTASTIC way to homeschool! I absolutely love the creativity of that, and it gives me so many ideas for the future! I'm totally picturing a medieval herb garden now....

[swimmermom3]

First, a big "thank you" to the op for this thread. The longer I homeschool, the less concerned I am about what I am doing versus the why and how.

 

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

You, Ms. K, are too cool for words and your daughter is fortuante to have a mom willing to help her pursue her passion. It will be fun to follow your progress next year.

 

This is basically how I teach k-8. I do use a more standard approach for high school. I call it "interest driven" studies......but definitely not unschooling. I do control the "list" of subjects and the amt of time spent on completing each daily.

 

My kids have completely free reign on what science topics they study. My 5th grade dd did spend the entire first half of the school yr on bird studies (she is definitely a rising ornithologist)

 

I let them have an influence on history and lit. I give them lists of topics and they can choose. Then, I give a list of book titles and they can choose among those.

 

Only math/spelling/religion are pretty much standard approaches. I teach writing directly and vary writing assignments across different subjects.

 

I have tried "canned" curriculum and it drives me crazy. I love freedom to do our own thing and my kids thrive on investigating areas of interest.

 

It works here.

 

I know you are really busy right now, but I have been wanting more details as to how you plan for the year when using "interest-driven" studies. Your description of your science studies has long intrigued me. I just can't put out more money for another dull science program for the middle school years.

 

I declared war to curricula when I started to realize how they lack content and are filled with distractions. We never used the curriculum-approach in the first place.

 

Granted, they have their sets of textbooks which they need to go through in order to pass their yearly exams - no discussion about that, the "formal" part has to be done. But, that's not what we do for school 70% of the time (let's say that the other 30% is dealing with the content that those textbooks bring out, though maybe on a different level, or dealing with the overlapping readings, etc.).

 

Since I'm peaceful about the "formalities" - I know they will be done, they have textbooks, I take care they actually do it and that we don't completely ignore it, thus my estimate of 30% of dealing with that - I have the "mental peace" of creating my own materials. MOST of the things they studied were from a mishmash of my own materials, particularly with regards to languages and humanities, and not once I completely designed their course of studies of some area (usually, of course, based on something... but as a rough guide, tailored it as I deemed best).

 

So I totally understand you.

I think we'll be losing that freedom in the upper years (provided we continue homeschooling, which I doubt will be past next year, but okay, it's still too early to speak about it), though, since the "formalities" will complicate and require more time.

 

Ester Maria, you are another poster whose less-than traditional methods intrigue me and I would love to hear more about how you do school.

 

Often times, the best results in home schooling occur when we shift our thinking, not when we spend hours designing the "perfect" curriculum or we spend large amounts of money buying the new magic cure.

[Kfamily]

Lisa,

I agree...I would love more details from all three of these ladies. Details are so interesting(and helpful)!:001_smile:

[Jen+4dc]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

:001_smile:Wow!! Can't wait to read about that, she'll learn sooooo much more than Roman life!!

You can't get that kind of learning in ps!

 

Often times, the best results in home schooling occur when we shift our thinking, not when we spend hours designing the "perfect" curriculum or we spend large amounts of money buying the new magic cure.

:iagree: Now, if I could just put that into practice.....:tongue_smilie:

[swimmermom3]

 

:iagree: Now, if I could just put that into practice.....:tongue_smilie:

 

You heard the voice of vast experience in that one, I'll bet!:tongue_smilie:

[Stacy in NJ]

After 6 years, I'm fairly confident in my ability to keep them moving in the right direction. Our school isn't perfect or without "gaps", but my kiddos learn and grow tons every year. I also continue to learn who they are as people, what they're capable of, and how to teach and reach them. :001_smile:

 

ETA: We do use traditional programs, but I see them as tools, not the be all end all.

Edited April 22, 2010 by Stacy in NJ

[mo2]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

 

This is awesome. Would you be willing to share some of your resources?

[jg_puppy]

I know you are really busy right now, but I have been wanting more details as to how you plan for the year when using "interest-driven" studies. Your description of your science studies has long intrigued me. I just can't put out more money for another dull science program for the middle school years.

 

 

:iagree:

 

Jan

[dovrar]

I love the idea, but many times I come to the conclusion that it's difficult to teach what you do not know. So many times I feel as though I'm learning right along WITH the kids and am not sure I would do well enough without a curriculum.

[homeschooltoone]

I'm kind of doing that next year.

My dd will be spending a year studying like a Roman girl. She'll learn to spin wool, weave fabric, plan and grow a garden, plan and create a tile mosaic, learn to build an aqueduct, study Latin and Greek, continue with her study of the barbarian French, study music and art, and read some Homer and Virgil. I think the only thing we will do traditionally will be math. She helped me to plan the study which will make it more successful. She is so bright and full of ideas that I couldn't waste this opportunity to let her follow a passion.

 

What a great idea? I would like to read how you'll pull this together. It nice that she's involve in the planning.

[sewpeaceful]

Okay, when I first read this, prior to reading the other posts, I thought you meant you wanted to throw conventions about curriculum to the wind! lol

[dovrar]

:lol:

[jazzyfizzle]

Lisa,

I agree...I would love more details from all three of these ladies. Details are so interesting(and helpful)!:001_smile:

 

 

 

:iagree: :iagree: