Organization question...

[3 ladybugs]

If you are in a situation when you try something for your child and it doesn't work, or you realize half way through the school year that you need to add something to your child's curriculum, do you add/drop it in the middle of the school year or do you wait till the following "school year" to do anything about it?

 

I keep seeing posts of "what I want to do next year" or something to that effect. For me personally there is no such thing as "next year" other then a continuation of programs that I am already using with my son and liking. I don't really even keep track of his grade other then how it applies to both baseball (he is grouped by grade, though age is a factor thankfully), and German (grouped by ability and grade). Those are in 2 different states so he is technically in 2 grades at once right there! 

 

This year Prima Latina didn't work for him. So I am dropping it and next month plan on ordering SSL. I also plan to add vocabulary and grammar as I think he REALLY needs both. It is the middle of the year but I am not worried as we will not be taking a huge summer break anyway. Doesn't everyone do this? I thought this was one of the beauties of homeschooling, or am I wrong with this? 

 

It just seems to me as soon as I think I have it all figured out, something gets thrown at me and throws that all out the window. 

[JudoMom]

When they were younger, I did this.  But now that they're all older and they are all out of early elementary, I do this less and less.  Looking back, I see the changing and jumping (mostly) wasn't helpful, and we would've been better off sticking most things out and reworking at the end of the program.  My younger boys are doing a couple of things we don't love, and I probably would've changed them in the past, but now I think just finishing them is the right choice.  

*disclaimer:  I did just change my ds15's grammar, but it was absolutely necessary and I debated for weeks before changing.  

[scbusf]

I am a hopeless curriculum changer.  I am really trying to change this.  I read something recently about a homeschooling family where the mom builds in review weeks into their schedule.  They do school for 6 weeks, then take a week off.  During that week, is when the mom looks at goals, looks at any changes that need to be made, etc.  She doesn't change any curriculum until one of these weeks so that she has a chance to really research it and make sure it's the right decision.  And so that she's not changing something every other week.

 

For me, I'm a grass-is-always-greener person.  Always have been, probably always will be.  I am actively trying to work on it, though.  For homeschooling, that means that I need to stick with a curriculum unless there are serious issues.  I am not changing anything any more for silly reasons.

[lllll]

nm

Edited February 2, 2016 by - 8 95

[3 ladybugs]

I think for me it is less of "sticking it out" and more of "beating a dead horse". For PL my son liked it for about 2 weeks. After that I could see that he wasn't getting much out of it, but I kept trying. After almost half the program, I am finally giving it up. Singapore math we tried for 1.5 years and it wasn't working fairly early on (meaning I purchased the next level knowing it wasn't working). We ended up changing that in the middle of the year and now my son is almost ahead in math then his peers despite having to start over from the beginning with his current math program (Shiller). 

 

I am just reminded of something that was taught to me when I was studying early childhood education. My college professor said "If it isn't working, try something else." It seems simple but it is very important when working with young children (early childhood education was birth to age 8). She pretty much drilled this into our heads. Maybe that is why I try to make sure I am doing everything I can for my son, even if it is changing things up half way through the year. 

[MerryAtHope]

If you are in a situation when you try something for your child and it doesn't work, or you realize half way through the school year that you need to add something to your child's curriculum, do you add/drop it in the middle of the school year or do you wait till the following "school year" to do anything about it?

 

Depended on how bad of a fit it was. If it's not optimal but I could make it work, we finished the year and then changed. We didn't have the cash to just drop and add things usually. But if it was such a disaster that there was no way either I or my kids could continue with it, then I did change it out mid-year. 

[zarabellesmom]

I change things up all the time! I have certain things that I love that I can't imagine changing and other things where I've always got my eye open for the greener pasture.  ;) Right now, I really love my oldest's curriculum for fifth grade. She's loving it too. I see us mostly continuing with it through the end of next school year.  My youngest, meh.  We just finished Math in Focus 2B.  I like the first two years, but year three feels like mostly review and baby steps forward. This is when we switch to Beast Academy (which I love love love). I'm still not completely in love with our language arts (2nd grade) and am always checking out what other people are doing. I guess I feel like I never really mastered the lower grades curriculum choice wise and it's only really this year in 5th grade with my oldest that I have been completely satisfied with our year. Also, changing things keeps it fun and interesting. (It's kind of expensive, though.)

[HS Mom in NC]

I've done it each way.

If something isn't working after a consistent, thorough, extended attempt, then it's time to make a change. But if you're going to make a change, you should have a clear idea of what kind of change you need. What was the problem?

 

The pace was too fast or too slow.

Review and/or practice was inadequate, excessive, incomplete.

Explanations and/or examples were inadequate or confusing.

The content didn't meet your goals.

The approach was geared to a different learning style than your child needs.
It was not organized in a way that works for your particular situation.
Other.

If you don't have an idea of what the problem(s) are you'll have a hard time evaluating other curricula.

 

[Mystie]

Before I started out, I had multiple homeschool moms who were nearing the end of their road say they wished they hadn't been curriculum hoppers. They wished they'd done their research before they jumped in and stuck things out through the hard times, because learning can be hard and sometimes you have to stick it out and pull through. Mostly they regretted jumping math curriculums so often. 

 

I think we should change if there's a real problem or need, but also be discerning in knowing whether jumping ship is the answer or just tweaking the routine or the expectations or whatever. The older the students get, the more changing things is difficult and costly. Not simply costly in monetary terms, but costly in the kids learning to expect that they can demand a change whenever something gets hard and they don't want to do it anymore.  

[abba12]

My mum was never satisfied, she jumped to new programs (or schools) at LEAST yearly. This leaves me extremely hesitant to jump around and I spend excessive amounts of time researching things before I commit to them. I am also not the 'different currics for different kids' type, I definitely fall into the 'adjust the program to make it work' camp, and select the best curriculum for our family goals and general learning styles rather than per-child, so I am quite happy to adjust and tweak a program to suit us and to slog through for a bit.

 

I would change a program if it was obvious that it was a BAD fit for an explainable reason

 

Otherwise I'm more likely to modify, adjust, delay, slow down, speed up, drop altogether, or otherwise make it work either long term or until the following year when I would reassess. 

 

Edited January 20, 2016 by abba12

[scbusf]

Before I started out, I had multiple homeschool moms who were nearing the end of their road say they wished they hadn't been curriculum hoppers. They wished they'd done their research before they jumped in and stuck things out through the hard times, because learning can be hard and sometimes you have to stick it out and pull through. Mostly they regretted jumping math curriculums so often.

 

I think we should change if there's a real problem or need, but also be discerning in knowing whether jumping ship is the answer or just tweaking the routine or the expectations or whatever. The older the students get, the more changing things is difficult and costly. Not simply costly in monetary terms, but costly in the kids learning to expect that they can demand a change whenever something gets hard and they don't want to do it anymore.

You said this much better than I did! This is exactly why I am trying to not be a curriculum hopper.

[FO4UR]

I am just reminded of something that was taught to me when I was studying early childhood education. My college professor said "If it isn't working, try something else." It seems simple but it is very important when working with young children (early childhood education was birth to age 8). She pretty much drilled this into our heads. Maybe that is why I try to make sure I am doing everything I can for my son, even if it is changing things up half way through the year. 

 

 

Your college professor is right.  That said, trying something else may not mean a curric switch.  Sometimes it's better to work with what you have, even if that means simply using it as a teacher's guide and writing your own daily lessons. With Lain, for example, you could simply put the vocab on flashcards and play games with those.  Then do the Latin copywork as handwriting practice.  That is one option. 

 

I know I've switched math currics way too much. That was in part b/c I was learning how different people teach math...and in part b/c I was searching a curric that might teach itself. LOL  I'm sometimes envious of the simplicity other moms have found using one math curric for all kids for all years.  I've got 3 school-age kids, and all 3 use a different program.  It sometimes feels disjointed for ME to switch modes...I plan for child A and think "If he would just use ____" but he's been using something else and CHANGING modes eats up valuable time.  Yes, when they get beyond about 4th grade that becomes a big deal.  They want to swim all summer and I want them to complete their math books...changing things and eating up weeks of school in a subject in the process puts us at odds.  (When they were 6/7yo, this was not an issue.)

 

I tend to tweak in October and January.  I think that is a healthy balance.  This year, in October I moved some books from read-alone to read-aloud, and others from read-aloud to audiobook...and then others to read-alone.  I didn't change WHAT we were doing, just HOW we were doing it.  In January, I am always nudging for deeper, harder, longer, and more independent.  I'm thinking, next year I want them to _______ and I spend the last half of this school-year preparing for that.

 

One warning:  Do NOT switch a curric b/c a child whines or drags their feet with a subject. They will learn that they can keep mom buying a new math curric every 2mo and never have to get beyond the easy chapters. For this situation, it is much better to use the math book you have and work orally, on the white board, practice with games, and watch Khan Academy.  Communicate "We can learn this content and make it less painful, but we must keep working." 

[3 ladybugs]

Oh I didn't change anything because my son wanted to. In fact I can't think of a single time when he brought it up. It was always us as parents looking at him and trying to fit what we had into what my son can learn. A prime example of this is his math. He wasn't getting it and wasn't getting it. I thought long and hard about how he learned and realized that Singapore was too focused on workbooks for him, and not enough on hands on. So I searched and searched and ended up with Shiller math because it is mostly doing, and less workbook-y. He is thriving in math now because we stopped what wasn't working for him, and switched him to something that I think is working very well for him. 

 

Latin was much the same. He LOVES his German classes. It is all hands on and he has little book work (at this point). His homework generally is writing 5-10 phrases 2 times each (this is homework for a whole week). However his at home latin wasn't engaging him. I didn't even get exposed to Latin growing up so I didn't know ways to help him with this. One of the biggest reasons I choose PL was because I thought it would help him next year with grammar. Well if he is getting nothing from it THIS year, next year will not matter. That is why I am going to SSL. I know he will memorize songs. He will likely even sing them to his younger brother like he does with German songs now. So hind sight being 20/20 I choose the wrong curriculum for him because I was too concerned with the big picture that I forgot about the small stuff. Once I realized that, we can change things. 

 

His writing curriculum changes (if you can see my siggy) is because I was confused by how they were teaching. He has been doing no handwriting for much of this year because I have spent months researching how handwriting was taught in the past, how people wrote things for important historical documents, and even how my own family writes (we historical pieces in our family that include an autograph book from 1895). 

 

I guess the bottom line is live and learn. Who knows how my younger one will fare but I imagine he will be much like his brother on many things. 

[stutterfish]

Homeschooling is all about fitting the education to the child. If it doesn't fit the child, then, yes I change things and I certainly wouldn't wait til the end of the year to do so. My kids' happiness is the main priority. And I need to be happy, too, even if that means I waste a bit of time researching new shiny curricula and waste a bit of money on curricula that doesn't get well-used :)

Edited January 20, 2016 by stutterfish

[pehp]

My oldest is 8, so I hold onto curricula pretty lightly. We've mostly stayed the same with math (Miquon--I've just started adding Singapore, which we are loving; I added in some R&S last year to supplement the Miquon but it was so boring and felt so rote to us that I just stuck w/ Miquon).  I have used a couple different spelling (R&S last year, K12 this year)--but I honestly don't think spelling curriculum matters to me.... I can make anything work. I bought K12 LA this year b/c I wanted to try a K12 product and see what the online experience was like.  It's underwhelming, so I have eliminated the parts I think are useless and we are just doing the parts that I think are good/helpful/enjoyable.    Everything else for us is basically just books. I will happily ditch a book that doesn't engage us, or shelve it and wait until another year to read it.  A couple of years ago when I attempted to do AO Year One with my son I ended up ditching nearly all of it.  And we had a great year just the same!

 

So, I do feel quite free to ditch things that don't work, but I don't find myself "curriculum-hopping" at this point.  Just sort of adjusting and re-assessing, and I think it's a good thing!

 

I think this might change as we age!