When curric you love isn't working anymore...

[Wee Pip]

How do you know when a curric you love isn't the right choice for your family anymore? How did you make that decision and how did you move on?

 

Me: I have really liked BJU for math and la for a few years now. Over time, my philosophy began to change. Baby #3 arrived and our school days became hectic. I could no longer put in my time of teaching. I've been pondering Math (I love BJU's math!) - for some reason, I just hit a wall trying to teach 3rd & 4th gr math. We've been skipping the hard stuff (long division, multiplication of big numbers) and doing the easy stuff that gets repeated every year ad nauseum (time, measurement, geometry, etc). So I was thinking about switching the kids to MUS so that we can focus exclusively on the tough stuff, and have a teacher there to take over while I frantically chase a toddler. But it's a tough choice to make. I really do like BJU. But it might be better if we focus on one topic for awhile and master something. After T4L this year, I may use something else for LA next year.

[Another Lynn]

I haven't used BJU math (though I think I have one grade level of it in a box upstairs with 5 other math programs we're not currently using! :D) I totally understand the logic of your thinking - it makes sense to hit the trouble areas. My only caution is to make sure you like the way MUS teaches them. I started with MUS and multi-digit multiplication and long division caused me to part ways with them. I'm all for conceptual understanding, but to me it got more complicated than necessary. It may be just the thing you need, but try to sample as much as you can on those two topics to see if you like the approach.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Sometimes family dynamics dictate both productivity and materials used. I was happy with out Round 1 history materials, but they took way too much teacher time for me, so we switched. We use TOG now and I am even happier; even when I have to vary its instruction per child, the provided organization keeps me sane. You may be surprised that you can find joy in another program.

 

Here's my suggestion: since you love BJU, keep it, but use MUS as your teacher. Don't do all the MUS student book, just use it as a teacher and do a portion of the problems. Then you can get back to BJU and move forward. Summers make a very nice time for MUS Bootcamp. If you can get the BJU dvds, that would be even better. Whatever you use, letting DC alone for math is not the best idea (sorry :grouphug:).

 

Other thoughts: If you're not getting something like math done, then do it FIRST in your day.

 

Rotate history and science either by day or week. Don't do it every day. You have the rest of schooling to get deep, anyways. I.e. math is too important to neglect at all, while history and science, especially history can be done simply by reading independently and either narrating or summarizing. Hist. and Sci. do lend themselves more nicely to independence than math.

 

Remember, this is only a season. The toddler will eventually stop dropping bombs :)

 

I have some ideas on my blog on how to handle the littles. Perhaps you'll see a new idea.

 

How about you and exhaustion. Are you eating well? Are you exercising, sleeping, relaxing? There is a post on my blog about Habits of Effective Home Schoolers.....not my wisdom, but an accumulation of many years of wisdom. Enjoy it :)

 

Hang in there....it gets better!