gratitude Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) I have just been thinking and wondering how everyone's curriculum works for them, or if some of you actually do your own lesson plans or pull your own material together without a curriculum TM/Guide/IG/grid. I am looking at our year this year and keep trying to put my finger on home schooling and how it really works (my oldest is in 2nd grade). My curriculum for my 1st grader is so easy for me this year. It is a combination of what I liked best when my oldest was in first grade. I don't have to look at a lesson plan. I have an idea of what we need to get done this year, and what I want to get done. Then I pull the materials out that I really liked, and work with him as much as I can. Wow! So it is some strange combination of my absolute favorite parts of MFW1 (without a TM), R&S phonics, MUS (new math specifically for him) and Drawing with Children. Pre-K: simple. She is ready to read, so we read a little. We use MFWK as some sort of spine, but I tend to do bits and parts from 6 different units at once. It works though. I don't know why, but it works. Simple, modify, simple. I don't use the schedule or yellow pages, but the work sheets work as a guide, and the TM gives some fun activity ideas. Then I go to my second/third grader. I love the material we are using - MFW ECC, but... It is so DIFFICULT for me to follow someone else's schedule. I end up feeling like a slave to it. Does anyone else have this problem? My children don't help either. Can we do this please??? Look at this book??? (Not scheduled until week 20). Oh, mom look I just read the entire book (scheduled for the entire year)! Oh, mom can't we go back to the other science program. On and on. It feels disorganized and yet it is my oldest who always has the structured curriculum schedule. :tongue_smilie: I wish I could just pull everything out of a hat for my oldest like I feel I can do for my younger children from the experience I have... and have him learn everything he needs to learn! ;) I keep trying to follow a curriculum schedule for home schooling to help ensure that we cover everything. I also like what MFW has brought to our home school that we never would have come up with on our own, and the Bible Marie inspires. Yet, some part of me wants the freedom to pull together the things I really want them to learn. Some of the things I really want them to learn show up in the curriculum we use, and other things I would emphasize are on the side or not present at all. Every curriculum I have ever looked at brings in different elements that I wouldn't do if I was doing the planning, and brings in good elements that I wouldn't think of if I was doing the planning. I don't have the confidence to home school without curriculum, but I have trouble following curriculums exactly as written. I also long to pick and choose what my children learn. Does anyone else feel this way? So how does curriculum work at your house?? Edited October 27, 2011 by gratitude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I'm a tweaker, a trail follower and too many choices get me stuck. I need a general roadmap to where I'm going and that's my TM. I don't mind wandering away from it though for a bit but it gives me a way to find my place again. I also don't feel like I have to do everything listed. Make it work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I look at the TM like an optional map to WDW. Sure, we could hit all the rides and do everything in their order, but maybe it's just as fun and interesting to create our own memories. Maybe my kid is too old to enjoy Peter Pan's flight for the 6th year in a row. Maybe we we want to spend longer in Innoventions and just glance through the Walt Disney museum. I tweak and schedule week by week. This year we threw out 16 weeks of scheduled science and reworked it to fit his interests at his level. I work so much better WITH him when he's interested and engaged. I don't see the point in paying for a curriculum and then letting that dictate how we spend our time. Our money = our freedom to do what we please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 While I have a schedule to follow, I use it as a place to come back to after we add some stuff here and there. I don't use it as a day by day schedule at all. I put things together on our grid schedule that fit well and read until they lose interest or we finish the week's worth of stuff. I woudl feel like a slave if I were to follow it day by day. I am all over it in any given week, but I know I would like to finish it all in a week if possible. I also omit things if I feel its redundant or we don't have enough time for that activity, etc. I like to cross things off if we don't do it so my eyes don't keep seeking out that blank spot too while seeing what we have to do yet. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I'm using MFW K right now for my middle son. While it's laid out day by day, I don't do it exactly that way. I kind of look at the whole "week" (6 days of the unit) and just pick and choose what to do each day. I'm also using separate phonics/math, but I am using their calendar/100-chart recommendations (which are just like DS1 did in Saxon K at school - he has awesome understanding of place value because of that). My 2nd grader's school is pieced together. You can see what I'm doing in my sig. For history, I just do one section per day, 3 days per week. Science is one lesson per day, 2 days per week (it's a "semester course" if you do it everyday, but I'm stretching it out for the year... and possibly longer as often as I've skipped it :lol:). Everything we're doing is basically "do the next thing", so it's pretty easy to work with. I just go at whatever pace we need. I have especially had to do that in math, skipping things he already fully understands, combining lessons for things he hasn't had before but are very easy concepts for him to pick up, and slowing down when we hit something where he needs more time/practice. Curriculum is a TOOL that I use to educate my children. I'm still the teacher. So whatever curriculum I use, I'm going to make it work for us (or if I can't make it work for us, I'll find something that I can make work for us). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nono Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I look at the TM like an optional map to WDW. Sure, we could hit all the rides and do everything in their order, but maybe it's just as fun and interesting to create our own memories. Maybe my kid is too old to enjoy Peter Pan's flight for the 6th year in a row. Maybe we we want to spend longer in Innoventions and just glance through the Walt Disney museum. :D Excellent comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I can't follow someone else's lesson plans, it drives me crazy. I have learned too many times (already in my short homeschooling journey!) that even though X curriculum is for a year of subject Y, it never works out that way. We had a LA curriculum that we started in 2nd, that was meant for 3rd. We had to put it aside because it was too much, and now in 3rd she's already done with it and has moved on to the 4th grade book. I am one of those people who is very precise and wants to do a very neat and orderly schedule every day...and it just doesn't work for us! It feels like learning comes in fits and starts sometimes. Overall it evens out, but it doesn't work out into a neat packet of work every day. I have a goal of getting certain things done during the year, and I make up a 2 week at a time schedule (in pencil!) because things always come up. Math is the only thing I do "as written". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 The only subjects I use curriculum for are Math, Language Arts and Latin. I either plan a curriculum for the other subjects or the kids come up with ideas for the other subjects. Altho we're not using it right now, I am a big fan of My Father's World (which is a boxed curriculum). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gratitude Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 I am one of those people who is very precise and wants to do a very neat and orderly schedule every day...and it just doesn't work for us! It feels like learning comes in fits and starts sometimes. Overall it evens out, but it doesn't work out into a neat packet of work every day. This is exactly it! I am one of those people who want to follow all the boxes, do everything scheduled - drive myself crazy trying and basicly teach the way I learned in school. Everything was neat and organized. It doesn't work for us though! Not with 4 young children, and with how much my children Love to learn. :lol: I guess that is actually a good problem, but it does make following a curriculum difficult. Thanks for the encouragement to use it however it works... which for us I am sure will be all out of order. Math & English are the two subjects we do in order of the books, but the rest of it seems like a road map that goes all over the place but in the end they learn quite a bit. My type A personality is a big disadvantage as a home school mom. Children don't need neat and organized, they need life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiegal Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I've yet to use a curriculum the way it was intended; I constantly tweak. I used to wonder about this, and using curriculum at all (many of my friends don't) but came to the realization this year that I am a far better editor than I am a creator. Give me something to work from, and I adapt, spin, tweak, draw new connections, etc. etc. Give me a "blank slate", and I find it quite stressful. One of my latest adaptations has been with AAS. I'm not teaching the spelling rules in a "here's the rule; now let's memorize it" way; rather, I'm using "guided discovery" (Socratic questioning) so the boys are looking for patterns and discovering the rules together. It covers the same material, but for my kids, it's far more fun to brainstorm a list of "oy" and "oi" words, and then notice that "oy" is used at the end of the word, "oi" in the middle, than to to "told" that rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gratitude Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 I've yet to use a curriculum the way it was intended; I constantly tweak. I used to wonder about this, and using curriculum at all (many of my friends don't) but came to the realization this year that I am a far better editor than I am a creator. Give me something to work from, and I adapt, spin, tweak, draw new connections, etc. etc. Give me a "blank slate", and I find it quite stressful. This is helpful experience too. I think without any curriculum in front of me home schooling could really end up by the way-side, and I don't want that. I have wondered if it is worth buying when I change so much, but like you I am a better editor than creator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I am a better editor than creator. That is a great insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorrelZG Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I can't follow someone else's lesson plans, it drives me crazy. I have learned too many times (already in my short homeschooling journey!) that even though X curriculum is for a year of subject Y, it never works out that way. We had a LA curriculum that we started in 2nd, that was meant for 3rd. We had to put it aside because it was too much, and now in 3rd she's already done with it and has moved on to the 4th grade book. I am one of those people who is very precise and wants to do a very neat and orderly schedule every day...and it just doesn't work for us! It feels like learning comes in fits and starts sometimes. Overall it evens out, but it doesn't work out into a neat packet of work every day. I have a goal of getting certain things done during the year, and I make up a 2 week at a time schedule (in pencil!) because things always come up. Math is the only thing I do "as written". This is pretty much me, too. If only someone else could understand how desperately badly I want to be able to be an HOD mom - to have my whole year laid out in one guide for me to follow perfectly each day - but it's just a pipe dream. LOVE having a scheduled plan but pencils and dry-erase markers are my friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 I'm a tweaker. We use Sonlight (primarily), but I use it in a way that works best for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 another TWEAKER here.....this year we've been using ABEKA plus some things mentioned in TWTM....(wwe,sotw) in previous years I've kinda scratched a curriculum together using different resources (workbooks-online printables-etc)--this year I just didn't have the energy to do it and ordered a boxed set..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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