Is this "normal?" Or am I doing it wrong?

[Runningmom80]

Did you find yourself scrapping curricula and switching mid year in these early years?

 

 

Because I've now done it twice. :) I find the threads asking about next year make me twitchy. I don't even know what I am doing next week!

[kiwik]

It seems to be quite common.

[AK_Mom4]

You sounds pretty normal to me!

 

Yes. Many accelerated kiddos are asynchronous. So something that looks like it is the right challenge level for science may not be a good fit because of the writing involved. Or the literature-based history may be a flop because it looked good, but the book choices were too advanced or mature for your kiddo. Or she finishes the entire year of lit in 3 months and you are left scrambling for something to do. Can you tell I've been there?

 

This is my new normal. Some things fit. Some things you can tolerate. Some things are a total flop for a variety of reasons and you end up scrambling.

[PachiSusan]

I actually haven't scrapped anything in 6 years except our Vocabulary this year. I've supplemented and finished everything we started. I'm too money strapped to change. LOL

 

Oops- I didn't realize where I posted. Sorry! I dont' have an accelerated learner. Excuse the ring.

[StartingOver]

I keep a few levels around just for this reason, I figure one of the kids will use most of it. LMAO

[dbmamaz]

my younger one doesnt much like curriculum. we are going free-style in almost everything. LoE i will try hard to finish, though.

[Wheres Toto]

This happened a lot with my son. We never even got through CVC words and he was reading everything. He takes jumps in math, comes up with weird interests, and some things just don't work.

[Runningmom80]

my younger one doesnt much like curriculum. we are going free-style in almost everything. LoE i will try hard to finish, though.

 

I think I'm going to end up going this route for at least science and social studies.

 

 

Grammar I'm winging it right now, until I can figure out if mct is even worth it. I don't thnk DS is up for the writing.

[dbmamaz]

yeah, thats a big part of why we dont like curriculum - he really struggles with writing. we did Time4Learning for a year and a half because that was so much easier. i wrote all his math for a while, and now we are back on the computer for math. we only read poetry, he doesnt write any. We read and discuss history. the writing in the LoE workbook is really frustrating for him, but really, dude, you are NINE YEARS OLD! its time to learn to write!!

[SunnyDays]

I can't even tell you how much curricula we've gone through in the past two years!! :)

 

It seems to be pretty common... as someone mentioned, the asynchronicity plays in here, as does determining a child's best learning style. There are times my DS has wanted to sit and read and explore topics with me, and times when he just wants to work independently at top speed. I've learned we need a mix of both, and also that if something isn't working at the moment (MCT's writing is a good example!), it doesn't mean that he won't enjoy it, or at least be up for the challenge, at a later date.

[jillian]

We use lots of living books but my little one loves worksheets and problems so while I"m "planning" I won't order until a couple weeks before we start lol. I'm really looking forward to next year because I've got a year under my belt and right now have the balance between living books and "work". I scrapped history this year and am going to just read through historical juvenile books with her about famous figures and civilizations since we are having such a difficult time with CHOW

[StartingOver]

LMAO I need someone to define "normal" for me. I have 5 children and still don't know what that is.

[Greenmama2]

Yes :)

[Runningmom80]

Ha! I meant normal for our crowd. ;)

[Ailey]

At 6? Yep, normal. We lucked into the right math curriculum at 5, but it's only been in the last year or so that we've settled into a good rhythm with the other subjects. My plans for my upcoming kindergartener are very vague and will still likely change a few times over the next year.

[boscopup]

The first few months I homeschooled, I scrapped half what we were doing. Some subjects I changed 3 times or so!

 

Now in third grade, I didn't have to scrap anything. I know how we both prefer to work, and his acceleration has settled down into something more predictable.

[Kathy G]

homeschooling for 3 years and it still happens- it is much better now though.

[8filltheheart]

I never form long-term plans for my little kids, accelerated or not. Their learning is a series of fits and bursts, completely unpredictable. Once they are 8-9, six weeks progressions are fairly stable. By late elementary I can typically formulate a general progression for the school yr.

[Donna]

I told my dd, who has an acquaintance (almost said friend but the child is not very nice) who tells her she is not normal (lovely, eh?!).... "Normal is boring and overrated!"

 

I switched curriculum all the time when she was little...sometimes I eventually came back to whatever I'd given up and other times I went completely a different direction. I was a curriculum junkie....now I am a recovering curriculum junkie.

[acurtis75]

Dd is almost 8 and I am still finding the need to re-evaluate every few months. I have only totally scrapped a few things. Mostly I just supplement or accelerate. Ther are probably some things I could have dropped sooner than I did. Spelling is a good example. I tried 3 or 4 programs over a few years and finally decided it was okay not to waste time doing worksheets when dd never got a word wrong and it was just busywork.

[LucyStoner]

We have not dropped too much. I bought a way too easy level of Singapore and had to skip ahead. We only opted to do 2/3 of Atelier 3 because we like art classes better.

 

We are pretty much using the next level of whatever we started with or completed it. We have added in things for either new subjects or extra challenge but not wholly replaced anything academic. I'd like to think that I am a smart researcher so I hit it on the nose the first time. But I know it has more to do with him being older when we started (7 was deschooling and light lessons, age 8 was our first more structured year and now he is 9.5) and also with me being lazy and cheap. If I have it, and can make it work, I am going to use it. Also the amount of secular materials are a more narrow set of the market so it's not like there is as many different choices. At least it seems that way to me. It's good for the pocketbook.

 

For my younger son, I bought OPGTR and I don't see us using it that much. He is learning to read the same way as big brother (though much later, thankfully, than big brother) and I am not sure if I see the need for structured reading lessons unless he was not reading by 7 or so.

[MissKNG]

I think switching and re-evaluating curriculum mid-year is "normal" for our non-normal crowd!