Curriculum: how do you learn to relax about it?

[Mommie_Jen]

I'm not even sure this will make sense, but I'm going to try!

 

How do you get out of the mindset of "it says we have to do it, so we have to do it"? I am totally like that. Where do you find the freedom to slow it down, the knowledge of how to expand on something, and the knowing when enough is enough?

 

Does it just come with experience and trial and error?

 

Obviously, I'm pretty new at this!

[pjssully]

don't know if this will make any sense either. it has taken me awhile to learn that "I" teach my children, not the curriculum. I use to have the mind set that if i just did everything the curriculum said and had the "right" curriculum, I would be set. After some time, i have gained some confidence in realizing that i know my child best and i do have the wisdom to teach-the curriculum is merelly the guide. I do a lot of what the curriculum has listed, but sometimes in a different order, a different time line, or add in things. Life happens and I don't let the curriculum rule my life-I am in control.

Does that make sense?

pj

[Lily_Grace]

It comes and goes in waves. As I get more confident about my kid's abilities (and my own) I move away from strictly adhering to what the book says. And then something will trip me up or I'll panic and we'll go back to using it as intended. Some subjects are better than others (and some I just really like the curriculum and how it fits my kid!) but yeah...waves.

[SorrelZG]

It comes and goes in waves. As I get more confident about my kid's abilities (and my own) I move away from strictly adhering to what the book says. And then something will trip me up or I'll panic and we'll go back to using it as intended. Some subjects are better than others (and some I just really like the curriculum and how it fits my kid!) but yeah...waves.

 

Same here, I think.

 

I started the year with Heart of Dakota having everything planned out for me day to day. That was a great way to start and I needed that to get going but after a few months and having to deal with my son's growth spurts in some areas and other various individual family factors I gained the confidence to move forward without having my hand held (the bubble of being daunted by kindergarten burst as I realized that there was no esoteric knowledge involved in teaching it).

[Tess in the Burbs]

I used to do everything. Every lesson. Every activity.

 

Last year I had to dump a lot at the end of the year. Kids had tested and were fine. I dumped 6 weeks of history and only read one spine book to the end. The rest are in a pile to read whenever they want to read them. Math I looked ahead and realized a lot of the stuff we had seen, but the next book was a lot of newer stuff. So we skipped through the math quickly. Took the tests to skip lessons last year and now, this fall. And I have dumped some fun stuff along the way when time just doesn't permit. Once I learned to dump or skip things I have to make sure I don't do it too often :tongue_smilie:

[Amy Jo]

Time and experience. I'm a lot more relaxed with the younger children than with my eldest. EVERYTHING with him is new! But with my younger ones, well I've already done it before, and I have experience to back my knowledge. For example, I really want to try a math journal approach. I have no worries about K and 2nd grade math. But my eldest... 4th grade! Fractions & long division & who knows what else! LOL. So I don't think anyone is immune from worry.

 

Knowing your child's style & limits helps, as well as keeping your goals in mind. When I see them (or me) getting tired, frustrated, etc., I know I need to change something, back off, or just stop for a day (or more). I know my eldest will start to slump and look tired, the younger ones tend to get wild.

[MerryAtHope]

don't know if this will make any sense either. it has taken me awhile to learn that "I" teach my children, not the curriculum.

 

I agree with time and experience. In addition to the mindset PJ expressed here, I would also add, using the same words...

 

I teach *children,* not curriculum. My goal isn't to finish xyz curriculum...and this is VERY hard to let go of sometimes! My goal is to teach my children. Maybe they need to spend extra time on a concept. Maybe they are interested in learning something more about a subject. Maybe they really don't need time on a concept at all and we can skip it.

 

Early in my hsing days, I ran across this quote:

 

Education is the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a bucket.

 

There are too many books out there--you can't possibly read them all, nor can your child. You can't specialize in every topic. You can't know everything there is to know in our world--barely a fraction of what there is to know. You can't use every curriculum out there--and there are lots of good ones.

 

With that in mind...then who says that what one curriculum provider chose is *better* than what you might choose, in tailoring curriculum to your child's needs and your family's needs?

 

Personally I find this much easier to do in knowledge-based subjects--it's not *better* to know more about the Civil War and less about the Revolutionary War, should my children be interested in knowing more about one or the other.

 

In skills based subjects, I find it more difficult, but I do still pick and choose. In grammar for example--I go for exposure to terms but mastery in usage. If they were interested, I'd probably go for really detailed programs with lots of diagramming and the like...but they aren't. So...I'm teaching children. What do they *need?* I think they need to be able to read, write, and speak effectively for many common, every-day tasks and even for many jobs. So I educate with that in mind, rather than worrying so much what the curriculum says.

 

Probably the place where I do the least picking and choosing is math. I do cut some things if it's obvious my kids don't need to review that topic, but otherwise I just go through and do it all.

 

You'll find the areas where you feel freer to explore, freer to cut or add things as you go.

 

Most of all...enjoy your children. If you are enjoying them and enjoying the work you do together (for the most part--there are always trouble spots!), then you're probably making good choices. If they're stressed out and you are too--you may be letting a workbook get in the way of your relationship with your kids, and you'll have to decide if the subject matter is really worth that or not.

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[rocketgirl]

I get it, when we work on something, if they get it, we just move on. If the page says 'correct and rewrite each sentence' then really we just need to correct it, rewriting it would slow us down. If my kids get a lesson, we're done. Lessons are for teaching and learning. Some take longer, some don't. I can't say a Math lesson starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday. A lesson might start on a Tuesday and she gets it and we move on by Thursday. I don't know, I just keep seeing that the 'gains' they are making are so much more than if/when they were in school, (just based on my own teaching in ps experience and having my kids in ps through 4th) Even if we don't do everything every day, they get so much out of what we do when we do it. My oldest, who isn't math=y, completed Math U See's Beta, Gamma, and Delta in 1 year. My 2 oldests completed a whole level of Spelling in 3 months. The leaps they continue to make constantly amaze me.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

For me it came with time, built up confidence, and some experience. I'm using many of the books the second time around with DS 6. I find myself changing things up and skipping stuff more than with my first DS. I've just gotten to know what is worthwhile and what isn't. Plus I feel like I have learned the material so I rely on the book as a guide less than before I learned what was in it.

 

It's kinda cool. :D

:iagree:

This exactly.