So how long do you give something a chance...?

[LunaLee]

I mean curriculum or really at this point a "method".

 

Last year I just did a really laid back year for my ds since it was his first year at home. Basically he just did some reading, Spelling Workout, Singapore math and tagged along as we drove big sis around. I knew, when I brought him home that eventually I wanted to use the classical framework and recommnedations with him because when I read the WTM, it just really made sense to me. Yes, it's partly because it's the way I wish I had been educated, but also, like I said it just really made sense. Sooo... that's what we've started this year. We're doing Singapore Math, Spelling Workout, Rod and Staff English, SOTW/History Odyssey, Writing Tales and Life Science. Except we are into it about 3 weeks. Well, 3 solid weeks and 2 half *** weeks because every one was sick when we were supposed to start and I just feel like this isn't working for ds.

 

I'm thinking he might be a more CMish and unit study kind of kid. He does his work because he's supposed to, but he's not excited about it. He used to be excited about it when he was at ps.:( When we do our work it just seems so disjointed. I know with WTM things are supposed to mesh really well, but it's just not working here.

 

The thing is, I don't want to be a hopper. I want him to learn with some kind of consistency. I learned with my older one you really can't just jump ship with something because the wind blows West. But, I also don't want to stick with something just for the sake of sticking with something (and because I've already spent $$$.)

 

Okay sorry to ramble, but again, how long do you really stick with something before you switch to another something else?

 

Thanks.

[LunaLee]

:lol:

[Amy in Orlando]

My general rule is six months.

 

Happy Honey-Making. ;)

[Chris in VA]

The thing I dislike about true unit studies is that skills are not presented sequentially. I have a couple of unit study books, and I just didn't like jumping from skill to skill. While WTM may feel disjointed, there are ways to make it hang together more--to incorporate more skills within the subjects.

 

I'm not being very clear (not surprising), but what I mean is, you can use narration and dictation in your history to pick up almost the same skills as you would in Writing Tales. You can also do a grammar review with your narrations, and extend notebooking and narrations to your science. What particular life science are you using? You could customize your child's spelling lists by taking, say, 3/4 of his weekly list from SWO, and adding the other quarter from his science and his history. It might help you feel you are tying things together more.

 

I usually can tell pretty quickly if dd isn't liking something we are using, but it takes longer to see if a curriculum is working in terms of what she's retaining and learning. While I place a high value on her enjoying our curricula, and I definitely want her attitude towards our subjects to be one of joyful interest, I realize that some things are work, and somethings won't come easy, but may pay great dividends in the future. How much time it takes to figure things out is so highly variable, but I'd at least give it a couple of months.

[3lilreds in NC]

I am not a terribly experienced homeschooler, but I'd say, give it a little more time. Maybe he just needs to adjust to the "feel" of homeschool, you know?

 

Have you ever looked at Ambleside Online? They have a CM curriculum outlined, for free. Many of the books you need are available online, too. If you wanted to try a more CM approach, you could take a peek over there and see what you think, maybe give some of the books a try. Although, I think SOTW is pretty CM-appropriate, especially if you add in extra reading from their recommended list.

 

Also, if you think he might like unit studies, maybe you could try doing one when you find something that really grabs him? If he gets really into a particular science or history project, it would be pretty easy to find something that would let you spend a little more time on it with him. Check out currclick.com for ideas.

 

I don't know if that's helpful to you - I can relate to school feeling like it's not working. It could be that he's not pleased with the amount of time school takes. My girls have never gone to ps, and yet my oldest still seems to think that homeschool means she gets to do whatever she wants:confused:, and she gets snippy about her work from time to time. I do think it would be worth giving what you're doing at least until Christmas, before deciding to switch.

[Stacy in NJ]

I agree with Chris in VA that most of the unit studies I've seen don't do a great job with skill areas like grammar, math, spelling and composition.

 

For us, we just accept the fact that some school related stuff just isn't exciting. Grammar is rarely all the much fun. I do think it's possible to still focus on those core skill areas while being more unit study-like in the content areas of history and science, especially since your ds is young. Are you doing read alouds with him via the suggestions from SOTW? I found that SOTW offers a lot of opportunies to follow our own interests while still just doing the next thing. We typically find a good read aloud or interesting topic to research via the internet. My oldest was reading a Pendragon book that talks about the Hindenburg disaster. We spent some time googling it and watching the actual footage then investigating why it happened (static electricity on the out fabric). It was fun and added to our modern history studies this year. We also talked about German pride in their accomplishments and engineering.

 

Also, I think it really depends alot on how strong a student you have. If your son is a strong speller or catches on to grammar concepts quickly you could probably spend less time on those subjects.

 

Really, I wish we could spend all of our time just pursuing subjects that interest us. We don't because I believe that having a firm grasp of those skill subjects really makes for a more successfull and satisfied student later on. Also, because I've found that learning the discipline to soldier on through the less than fun stuff is necessary for daily life as an adult.

 

Sorry, I've really gotten off topic here. Sooooo, any who, if it's important to you that your son really have fun with his school subjects, I'd just a two pronged approach. First, stick with the core skill subjects of math, grammar, spelling and composition. Since you've already begun with Singapore, R&S, SWO and Writing Tales, I'd stick with those. Second, use a more delight led approach for history and science. I've always used alot of "enrichment" stuff to make these topics more fun; audio books (SOTW comes CD) and DVD's.

 

I'm just about to look into Drive in History for a fun enrichment to our history program.

[hsmamainva]

For me, it depends on 'how bad is bad' .. if that makes sense!

 

If the curriculum is just sort of ... ehhh... then I usually stick with it through the school year and vow to purchase something else next year!! And I try to figure out *why* the choice was 'ehhh' so I don't make the same mistake with something else! If I do find something else and it isn't going to cost an arm and a leg, then I'll often switch before the end of the school year -- so cost is important!

 

If a curriculum is overwhelming in the sense that it's too time-consuming, then I usually will modify it -- sometimes quite a bit! -- rather than tossing it.

 

Now...if one of my children is really miserable (as my 14yo, who has special needs, was this year when he was trying to use the 9th grade curriculum that my oldest daughter used) -- where they're in tears and genuinely overwhelmed --- which is different from a 'Do I really hafta do this?' generic whine --- then I give it about a week or two! (My son was soooo happy when I dropped everything for him and started over with a new curriculum two weeks into the school year)

[LunaLee]

Believe me, I'm really in the firm belief that not all school should be "fun". It's like everything else, mostly just hard work. So it's not a matter of him whining about how he doesn't like this or that, because he's never actually done that, at worst he's only requested more color in his math books. It's just this great interest in the world around him he used to have but doesn't anymore. Yes, that could be because he's getting older, but deep down I can't help but think I've not my best to support his couriosity in a way that will help him learn from it. He also has this incredible ability to "hyperfocus" and that's why I thought unit studies might work for him.

 

I think what I will do is continue doing what I'm doing for our core subjects because they are solid products and then maybe create some mini unit studies of his choice for him to do in his off time. It's only been a few weeks, and it could be I may need to make some adjustments in my scheduling and planning. It's so hard not to become a slave to a "schedule" and sometimes have a momentary lapse in why we are doing this in the first place.

 

:grouphug: Thanks everyone for your support in my moment of weakness. You are all right of course.

[Veritaserum]

I've wondered about doing only 2-3 subjects per day and going year round. Right now it seems I can get only one kid through all of the subjects I planned on any given day. A big part of the problem is having a toddler and a baby. They cause many interruptions. Another issue is that only one of my school-aged kids is reading/working independently.

 

I've also wondered about doing cycles of sorts through subjects. Some subjects would be daily (spelling, math, reading) and others would be cycled in units: history for 4 months, science for 4 months, etc. Each of those unit subjects could then be explored with greater depth and leisure.

[Stacy in NJ]

Believe me, I'm really in the firm belief that not all school should be "fun". It's like everything else, mostly just hard work. So it's not a matter of him whining about how he doesn't like this or that, because he's never actually done that, at worst he's only requested more color in his math books. It's just this great interest in the world around him he used to have but doesn't anymore. Yes, that could be because he's getting older, but deep down I can't help but think I've not my best to support his couriosity in a way that will help him learn from it. He also has this incredible ability to "hyperfocus" and that's why I thought unit studies might work for him.

 

I think what I will do is continue doing what I'm doing for our core subjects because they are solid products and then maybe create some mini unit studies of his choice for him to do in his off time. It's only been a few weeks, and it could be I may need to make some adjustments in my scheduling and planning. It's so hard not to become a slave to a "schedule" and sometimes have a momentary lapse in why we are doing this in the first place.

 

:grouphug: Thanks everyone for your support in my moment of weakness. You are all right of course.

 

 

That sounds like a great plan. I'm just going to put in a plug for the SOTW audio CD again. If you're finding history less than stimulating, try just listening to the audio cd in your car, then read aloud a book from the AG recommendations.