Do ALL homeschooling moms tweak curriculum?!

[CarrieF]

I'm in my 4th year of homeschooling and feel that I have yet to "hit my stride" with curriculum. The ONLY things that are working are Sonlight for reading/history/Bible and Horizons for math - otherwise I feel like I am always changing something up. Maybe that is what being a homeschooler is all about: modifying, tweaking, supplementing?! Any veterans have advice for the "still feeling like a newbie" mom?! :001_huh:

Thank you in advance!

[MrsMe]

I think there's a few out there who just do it as written. But my guess is most of us tweak. I'd love to just do as written and I tried this year, but then I get bored. But this year I wouldn't say I hit my stride, but am relatively happy with what we're using. There are things that are getting redundant, but if I change an element, sometimes I have to change other elements because the original ones no longer fit well together. Then it starts this huge change.

 

I'm still looking. I'm about 70% happy. I'm looking for a little more. Hard to please I guess.

Edited September 30, 2010 by alilac

[mom2boys030507]

I don't think this is unique to homeschoolers - I think all teachers tweak their curriculum some. We all want what is bet for our kids, so we change things so they work the best for the kids we are teaching.

[Harriet Vane]

I don't think this is unique to homeschoolers - I think all teachers tweak their curriculum some. We all want what is bet for our kids, so we change things so they work the best for the kids we are teaching.

 

:iagree:

[NotDaMama]

I don't think this is unique to homeschoolers - I think all teachers tweak their curriculum some. We all want what is bet for our kids, so we change things so they work the best for the kids we are teaching.

 

:iagree: From my experience, all home schooling parents, and teachers in the public and private schools, tweak their materials. Either out of care for the student, and/or to match their teaching style.

[RootAnn]

In the HS group I am a part of, there are only a few of us who really "tweak" our curriculum. I would say that definitely the majority get their stuff & just do it almost exactly as it is written (within the bounds of life which can throw you a curve when you are trying to do things on a schedule).

[phathui5]

Tweakers here. We're in our sixth year of homeschooling and we've changed things around every year that I can remember. The curriculum is here for us, not us for the curriculum.

[Pam Wilhelm]

Major tweaker here! Today I decided to tweak my Beautiful Feet guides by eliminating a lot of the "busywork".... it annoys me and the kids. We'd rather read the books and talk about them...alot!

[johnandtinagilbert]

Some programs like CLE, RS, FLL and scripted programs lend nicely to no tweaking, but others are tweak lovely! I'm a tweaker!

[Mallory]

I don't think this is unique to homeschoolers - I think all teachers tweak their curriculum some. We all want what is bet for our kids, so we change things so they work the best for the kids we are teaching.

 

 

I agree, it isn't tweaking, it is teaching!

[Zoo Keeper]

I agree, it isn't tweaking, it is teaching!

 

 

Preach it, sister! :)

[Guest TheBugsMom]

16 yrs of tweaking

The only curriculum I have not tweaked in all those years are BJU Math and Abeka Math, these I have used as is. Everything else gets remolded in some form or fashion to fit my kids and me.

[CarrieF]

The curriculum is here for us, not us for the curriculum.

Great reminder! Thank you for that. And all of the rest of you for helping me to feel "normal" - whatever THAT is! :001_huh:

[CarrieF]

I agree, it isn't tweaking, it is teaching!

Love it! :001_smile:

[siloam]

I'm in my 4th year of homeschooling and feel that I have yet to "hit my stride" with curriculum. The ONLY things that are working are Sonlight for reading/history/Bible and Horizons for math - otherwise I feel like I am always changing something up. Maybe that is what being a homeschooler is all about: modifying, tweaking, supplementing?! Any veterans have advice for the "still feeling like a newbie" mom?! :001_huh:

Thank you in advance!

 

Carrie,

 

I started out with SL and I think Core K, my first year hsing, was the only thing I didn't modify. Everything since I am tweaked to no end. Core 1 I dropped the Bible, went back to K Bible (I had so many younger kids, it just made sense), added MOH, added hands on, and stretched it out given I had so many younger kids following along. I still change everything, and yes to meet our current needs.

 

Some don't feel the need, but my kids are not typical textbook learners. If their learning styles were more standard, and I wasn't so obsessive ;) then maybe I wouldn't tweak. I honestly enjoy getting into the programs and making them our own, so it jut works here.

 

Heather

[Carol in Cal.]

I know some homeschoolers who use all Abeka, or K12, or Calvert, just as written. But those are few and far between, IME.

[CarrieF]

Thanks to all of you who have responded - I guess this is just "life" for most homeschoolers! I have to admit that I enjoy doing the tweaking as it makes it feel more "mine." : ) We've decided to add MOH and SOTW to our SL 1+2 because it just works better for my history loving sons. Love hearing what others do - great ideas to store for future reference. Well, that is IF I can remember to retrieve the info! Ha! Ha!

[MIch elle]

You may still use a program as "is" BUT you tweak it so it works for you & your dc. It's the name of the game. I like curricula that can be used as written with just little changes here and there. ;)

[Dmmetler]

FWIW, I'm currently a professional "tweaker"-my job is to read the posts on a discussion board for a specific music curriculum, see where people are struggling or making suggestions, and write blog posts that address their concerns, both from my own experience and from those posted by others. I think most school-level curriculum publishers do something similar-because the assumption is that you WILL tweak-and if you're not, you're probably not meeting the needs of the kids in your classes-and, if the curriculum was dictated from above, you may well end up with a curriculum that meets the needs of NONE of them.

 

With homeschooling, you can pick a curriculum up-front that is more likely to work, so you might not have to tweak. There's a series of little LA books published by Scholastic that speaks my DD's language and requires nothing more than my giving her the pages and turning her loose. Singapore requires only slight tweaking as far as compressing here and adding more drill there. Sonlight...well, I think I got off the IG in week 1 and now use it mostly for correlations between books and the occasional map. The books are great, but their schedule wasn't a good fit for our family.

[TXMary2]

I have always tweaked. Even straight textbooks. I can't help myself. LOL This is another reason I love TOG- it is made to be tweaked. It's a guide for me to make my plan. I don't want to homeschool without tweaking. :D

[Abigail4476]

I can't speak for all homeschooling moms, but I definitely tweak! Some curriculum is so involved, there's no way to possibly do every suggested companion activity, discussion, assignment, or project. I usually follow the lesson plan fairly closely, but pick and choose between the assignments. Plus, I add in supplements and activities that may not be suggested--and often my ideas are just better! :D (for my kids)

 

As long as you're covering the basics, I don't think application and practice should be set in stone. :001_smile:

[Brindee]

Tweaking is one of the good things about homeschooling! You tweak to fit the learning styles and needs of your children/family! Yep, I think I've tweaked since the 2nd month of homeschooling 13 years ago! The first month I was trying to do everything as it was set up, but soon realized I COULD tweak and started changing things up to fit my ds's needs. It's been downhill since! ;)

 

I know some people love doing all their own thing. I actually get overwhelmed, though, if I have to to ALL the research, organization and implementation. So, I like to buy a curriculum that has a good teacher's guide, or lesson plans. Then it's already organized, and we can go off on our bunny trails from there. :D

[Testimony]

I do definitely. A lot of these curricula like A Beka or Christian Liberty were really designed for a classroom. So, you need to modify them. Some curricula generate more busywork than actual academics. Well, even curricula designed for homeschoolers are not going to always suit my needs, the style is not conducive to my child's learning style.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Kebo]

The fun is in the tweaking! But, I rarely even make a recipe the same way twice. I guess I'm easily bored.

[robsiew]

I tweak, but my bf does not. I think a couple things promote "tweaking"...

 

1. We are schooling kids one on one so we CAN adapt it to meet their particular needs.

 

2. Homeschoolers **tend** to be out of the box type people. Not saying everyone is, but we tend to go against the grain more, which means we probably don't want to do everything the way someone else has "told" us to!

 

3. I think it also comes down to personality. My bf is a very "by the book" person. If it's not on the page she doesn't do it. If something isn't working she tends to come to me for advice! :D

 

Personally, I think tweaking is a good thing. It becomes a lot of work though if we are changing things more than just using them! :001_smile:

[Mallory]

I still think it is interesting that so many think "tweaking" is a homeschooler thing.

 

When you were in school did you do every assignment on every page of your text books? Did you do every section in your workbooks? Did your teacher read the lessons out of the teacher manual?

 

OR

 

Did you have certain pages and exercises assigned? Did your teacher stand up there and teach from his/her head or just a few notes? Did your teacher tell you to skip these instrutions and do this?

 

I still stand by "it is teaching not tweaking". Sure in some subjects with some teachers sometimes we did the books just as written, but most of the time my teachers "tweaked".

[scrapbookbuzz]

I have two very bright children, one of whom falls into the Gifted Learner category. That being said, one of them also has Asperger's Syndrome. SO there is no getting around tweaking here. It's just a given. And, as pp said, the curriculum is here for us, not the other way around.

[Brindee]

I still think it is interesting that so many think "tweaking" is a homeschooler thing.

 

When you were in school did you do every assignment on every page of your text books? Did you do every section in your workbooks? Did your teacher read the lessons out of the teacher manual?

 

OR

 

Did you have certain pages and exercises assigned? Did your teacher stand up there and teach from his/her head or just a few notes? Did your teacher tell you to skip these instrutions and do this?

 

I still stand by "it is teaching not tweaking". Sure in some subjects with some teachers sometimes we did the books just as written, but most of the time my teachers "tweaked".

Agreed that it's not a homeschool only thing. Just sayin' in my post that because I homeschool a CAN do that for sure to fit the needs of each of my children.

 

Teachers often have to follow certain criteria set up by somebody or other that require certain things to be met. So maybe they MUST finish this certain book by the end of the school year. Or, as what happened with my ds and another boy in his classroom in 1st grade, you CANNOT go into the 2nd grade reading materials, because "then what would you do next year?!" That's a direct quote from his teacher!

 

There are limits to how much "teaching/tweaking" can or cannot be done in a classroom, whereas in homeschooling you do what you feel is best for your child. So, I appreciate the freedom of being able teach/tweak the materials we use or not, as is best for us, which is NOT possible in a classroom!