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What are some curriculum trends you’ve noticed over the years?


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Whaaat?! You mean homeschooling isn’t a perfect wonderland where your adorable children hang earnestly upon your every word, thank your profusely for your dedication, then scamper off to play kindly together for the rest of the day, leaving you to contemplate your many blessings in serene silence??

Edited by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax
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2 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Alas, our battles of will have not been restricted to math. Apparently, being academically demanding with a stubborn, stubborn child sometimes yields... sparks 😉 . 

But now she speaks Russian, you know? Ups and downs... 

Middle child was always difficult about a lot of things. Glad to be out of the daily head-to-head battles part of our life. 

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3 minutes ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

Whaaaat?! You mean homeschooling isn’t a perfect wonderland where your adorable children hang earnestly upon your every word, thank you profusely for your dedication, then scamper off to play kindly & together all for the rest of the day, leaving you to contemplate your many blessings in serene silence?? 

LOL, No. But I have used these times as a learning experience. How do you reconcile? How can you compromise? How can you make sure you don't always have the last word? How do real people in real families work together to become a strong unit? Life is real, and kids need to know how to navigate the bad as well as the good. 

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2 minutes ago, lewelma said:

As for thanking me for my dedication.... It took my older boy only about 2 months at MIT to thank me profusely for homeschooling him. 

I'm really hoping that's what happens here and not being sent bills from DD8's future therapist as the person whose fault they were... 😉 

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3 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

As opposed to what? Correcting while screaming? 
Must everything nowadays be infused with feelings?

I just think we make such a big deal out of such small things sometimes. 

As opposed to not correcting any of the child’s work, and never telling them an answer is wrong.

I believe in telling a child when they’ve gotten something wrong and correcting as necessary.

How else is a child supposed to learn, if they are not corrected?

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42 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I'm really hoping that's what happens here and not being sent bills from DD8's future therapist as the person whose fault they were... 😉 

I am so close to the finish line and I still can’t tell which way it will go.  Although I could also be justified sending them my therapy bill. 😂

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21 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

As opposed to what? Correcting while screaming? 
Must everything nowadays be infused with feelings?

I just think we make such a big deal out of such small things sometimes. 

I think this was in contrast to putting a red X over the wrong answer without any other explanation.  Even in high school, my teacher made an attempt to go back through my work and see where my error was and then use his red pen to show where I got off track.  

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On 6/10/2021 at 4:51 PM, goldenecho said:

This is the same for me.   I can think of some math related stuff my son would enjoy (he does like math), but I don't think he'd want a competition or something that felt like extra homework.  

Like, if in stead of calling it "Math Club" or "Math Circle" they called it "Fun Math Games and Projects" maybe more people would be more drawn to it.  I'd go to something called "Math Art"   and my kids would be more drawn to "Building With Math" or "Math Makers"  (playing off Maker Fair) or something like that.

 

I did "Math Maniacs" when L was the right level for the National Math Club. We used their materials, but only did it monthly vs weekly. The name seemed to get the kids who wanted to play with math, not the parents who wanted me to be the sole math teacher for their kids in 2 hours/month. I learned that lesson when my elementary Latin club turned into a bunch of high school kids who needed a language credit. 

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  • 3 months later...
On 5/15/2021 at 10:10 AM, GoodnightMoogle said:

I used to see BYL mentioned more in the secular group I’m in but now Torchlight seems to have taken the spotlight for people who want a bookish curriculum. In fact, though it still gets mentioned, I’ve seen mods mention that people aren’t “allowed” to recommend BYL anymore because there are elements in it that are non-secular or something 🙄

How dare people be allowed to use their own brains when selecting a curriculum??

I get that the mods own the groups, but I have seen too many FB groups just be platforms for the mods to censor everything. Remember the 70's, when we were taught, IN SCHOOL, how bad censorship and book burning was?

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It probably doesn't help that the first hit for "math circle" in my search engine is a company that creates educational software. Only 4 of the first 10 hits (i.e. the first page) are about the sorts of groups you are referring to when you say "math circle", and 3 of those are college/university-run. For people who don't exactly know what a "math circle" is (these also being more likely than average to not 100% trust higher educational institutions), searching the internet won't necessarily answer the question for them. So they may have any number of misconceptions by the time anyone suggests they or their children join their local circle.

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On 9/19/2021 at 8:36 AM, Janeway said:

I wanted to consider MCT, but I had no clue what to do or get or anything else! Their website looked like an endless chart with lists of books.

We’ve used Island & are in the midst of Town. It looks far more intimidating to schedule than it actually is, & half the books are unnecessary (you really only need either the TM or Student Text).

The material is simultaneously deep & playful, which makes developing a shared vocabulary about language a breeze. 

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On 5/24/2021 at 8:20 AM, HomeAgain said:

Oh.  My.

I can say this, my youngest was not ready for Pinocchio before age 8 and it's listed as a 2-7yo book.  Vividly reading the chapter where he killed Jiminy Cricket about threw him over the edge.  It's a rough read for a child who only knows the kinder, gentler story.

I have many more thoughts about the others, some of which my kids have read, some I have not bought.

I can't imagine reading the Water Babies to a kid under 7 either.

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21 hours ago, Renai said:

I admit, I read the whole thread (ok, I may have skimmed some posts...). I don't think anyone has mentioned Latin-Centered Curriculum. One of our own boardies wrote it, and there were some nice discussions around it.

Yeah I’ve seen this pop up sometimes when I read old threads. It seems “many not much” really resonated with a lot of people, perhaps in response to the Charlotte Mason feast, which can become overwhelming. I myself read and enjoyed that book. It seems to be kind of tied with Memoria Press? Or at least I think Memoria Press call themselves a Latin centered curriculum.

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1 hour ago, GoodnightMoogle said:

Yeah I’ve seen this pop up sometimes when I read old threads. It seems “many not much” really resonated with a lot of people, perhaps in response to the Charlotte Mason feast, which can become overwhelming. I myself read and enjoyed that book. It seems to be kind of tied with Memoria Press? Or at least I think Memoria Press call themselves a Latin centered curriculum.

Memoria Press published it. 

Before that book, or around the same time, there was a lot of discussion around Climbing Parnassus as well. (for some reason, I'm remembering book discussions. Does that count as trends?)

The Robinson Curriculum initiated a lot of discussion as well.

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On 9/24/2021 at 9:26 PM, Renai said:

Memoria Press published it. 

Before that book, or around the same time, there was a lot of discussion around Climbing Parnassus as well. (for some reason, I'm remembering book discussions. Does that count as trends?)

The Robinson Curriculum initiated a lot of discussion as well.

Book discussions definitely count as trends; so many people build their curricula based on the philosophy of books. Heck, Charlotte Mason is all based on an old book series!

I haven’t gotten around to reading Climbing Parnassus yet - I honestly can’t even decide if I’m going to teach my son Latin or not yet. For us, I feel like Biblical Hebrew would be better than Latin but no one seems to talk about that very often in homeschool groups! (Which is interesting, considering the amount of religious homeschoolers - you’d think they’d wanna be able to read their book in its original language). 
 

I’ve been avoiding learning about the Robinson Curriculum for some reason but now you’ve got me biting the bullet and diving down some old and interesting threads. 

 

 

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On 6/12/2021 at 4:10 PM, lewelma said:

I think that this is one of the big changes in homeschooling over the years.  Now, people look to have their kids *take* 6 subjects each year. I say *take* because there is a new effort to make it all silo-ed and official -- either through a home-grown list of work to do, or a prepurchased curriculum, or outside homeschool vendors, or dual enrolment. There is no longer the idea that as homeschoolers we can create a learning-environment and let our kids explore their interests and world. And I'm not talking about unschooling here, I'm talking about self-led work and research projects. The old high-school WTM board was about teaching and educational philosophy, the modern high-school board is about clearly defined courses. There has been a major shift over the years in how learning in high school is managed and documented. 

I don't know any other families that homeschooled through high school but can see this in my own family.  In the 16 year split between oldest and youngest we've gone from no outside classes to almost all.  Certainly it's availability of options, but also youngest did a middle school co-op that introduced the concept and she's preferred it since.  Personality-wise, it's been helpful for her to interact with other high school aged homeschoolers, if only online.  Learning-wise, she now leans heavily into the structure of both online and DE classes and struggles to find time for the "class" I'm working with her on that is theoretically both self-led and research-based.

Edited by Harpymom
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/1/2021 at 8:13 AM, Ordinary Shoes said:

I'm not surprised to get push back. I anticipate push back because our culture is very relativistic about child rearing. Whatever feels good is good. And I didn't claim that the average homeschool is worse for kids but rather that the averaged homeschooled kid would be better off in school. 

Your Slate link doesn't align with what you claimed. You claimed "proposition" but the details are below. 

And if we're going to go down this path, how many homeschooled children are subject to abuse in their homes? More than 10% of children suffer some kind of abuse or neglect in their homes. These numbers include all children but would homeschoolers be less likely to abuse their children? 

Fear based homeschooling is bad. Whether the fear is of a gay teacher, transgender students, or sexual abuse in schools. 

 

No.  But those kids would be abused whether they were going to school or not.  Those who are only getting abused at school wouldn't be if they weren't at school.

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  • 1 year later...

I am so happy you dug this up, except I’m gonna have to reread all 11 pages now 🤦🏻‍♀️ Ugh I have a stack of real books I need to be reading, too!

I’ll add to the thread. Big new trends I’m seeing in my Charlotte Mason groups: “CMEC vs Alveary!” Those are both picking up steam. It’s the dream support Charlotte Mason parents have been looking for; I wonder how Ambleside Online will fare? Personally I say it needed to be dethroned; I’m not too fond of the way people consider it a CM gold standard. In fact, I think CM would not use many of their chosen books if she were alive today, but that’s a tale for another thread. 
 

I think with the release of the Sold a Story podcast many homeschool parents are feeling rather smug their children weren’t subjected to the whims of public school reading programs. Though I do think it’s made them more cautious about whether or not their reading program aligns with the science of reading. The secular groups are especially sensitive to this. I’m seeing these three programs mentioned a lot: Logic of English, All About Reading (that’s been popular forever), and something called Pinwheels by Rooted in Language.

 

There seem to be more math options than ever. Math with Confidence is really starting to have its moment; you still get those Singapore loyalists, though. I definitely see a lot of Right start and Beast academy mentioned in my groups. Are we seeing a strong lean towards more  highly conceptual programs and away from the old kill and drills like Saxon? Perhaps.

Books programs are big. Everyone, secular and non-secular alike, seems to want lots of pretty picture books for their kiddos. Secular groups seem to favor BYL and Torchlight. Nature study is everywhere too (good)!

I’m seeing a very positive trend in my CM groups of moms really taking “mother culture” seriously. I’m seeing moms who want to learn teaching methods themselves rather than follow a script, moms who want to cultivate their own minds and skills alongside of and outside of what their kids are doing. It’s wonderful! 
 

Maybe I’m being naive, as there are more online programs than ever for kids, but I really think people are starting to see the harm of putting their kids on a computer screen all day and are taking steps to get away from that. But perhaps that’s wishful thinking? 

Edited by GoodnightMoogle
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I am no longer on FB.  When I was I felt pulled towards lots of the trendy new things, bought many of them, and tried doing them all.  Having been away for several months, I’ve slowly been able to find my own way, putting aside a lot of the things I had bought.  This thread is super helpful for me to let go of any remaining attachment to things that are pretty but not necessarily beneficial. 

I enjoy a few online resources and apps, mainly ones that aren’t popular.  There are some great tools available, I just had to search the internet/ App Store myself.  A few friends often tell me about newer online programs, so to me it doesn’t seem to have decreased, but my view is limited.
  I’ll also hear of pretty printable (or already printed) programs from a friend and being out of the loop can easily examine it for our family without feeling pulled.  I tend to like bare bones mostly independent Math / ELA, and hitting the library for the rest (using all those pretty book guides to help me order them for pick up).  We have a lot of time to play rummy, go on field trips, read, cook/bake, and dive into our personal interests.   If I try to do all the instagram worthy things, something else will have to give.

I think the biggest influence for me on social media is the visual aspect (seeing pretty things or happy children) and the crowd influence.  If 200 people are raving about it, then it must be good!

Edited by Lovinglife123
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On 5/17/2021 at 9:55 PM, GoodnightMoogle said:

Your comments hit me so hard. I’m afraid of letting my identity get too wrapped up in being a “homeschool mom.” I’m not one yet, but I’m more then planning on it; I’m leaning on it, dreaming on it. I spend my free time looking at curricula and researching educational methods and grappling with my own educational philosophy and hanging out in forums like this one because I am so, so afraid of failing.

I was the honor student. The kid in too many AP classes. The girl with the high ACT score. Everyone had “great expectations” for my future. I went to college and got my Masters in education. And then....I became a stay at home mom.

At first, it was okay. It was seen as “great” that I was staying home with my newborn. Then the months rolled by. “When are you going back to work?” People ask, even near strangers. I feel more and more sheepish every time I say that I’m staying home with my little one. As he gets older, the judgment seems become more pronounced. It’s mostly in my head, I think. My own insecurities. But still, I feel it. 

My mom (isn’t it always our own family who cuts us so deep?) is the first one who used the word I most dreaded hearing: waste. “Aren’t you ‘wasting’ your education? Aren’t you ‘wasting’ your degree?” (The silent question: aren’t you wasting your life)?

When asked what you dream of doing, it isn’t cool to say “homemaker” or “stay-at-home mom.” But really, that’s all I want. I want to homeschool my son, I really do. I’m incredibly passionate about it. But I can feel my identity leaning on the idea. I feel this pressure for it to be successful, to “prove” that I have the “right” to stay at home. That my education wasn’t a waste. And maybe even that it somehow proves I’m a good mom.

None of that is healthy! I know that, and I try not to think that way. But it creeps in all the time.

 

I absolutely understand all of this.   And then I wonder if some of the issues with our older ones comes from a failure on our part to separate parental identity from our hopes for the kids.   Parenting and home education is so much more complex than the people writing the books and presenting at the conventions often promise:).

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5 hours ago, Shoeless said:

Solidarity, yo. 

Every February/March, I start daydreaming about unschooling. 

I've learned that in our family February means I plan for fun. Poetry Teas, baking, art, board games and movies. If we get Math and read aloud done then it's a good day. 

I am also planning next year for my upcoming kindergarten kid. 

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