Finding What Works

If you are just starting out homeschooling it can be very overwhelming when choosing curriculum. I am entering my 3rd year of buying curriculum, and I finally feel that I have found what works for my family. Go into it knowing that what you chose may or may not work and always be ready to make changes. 

Over the past 2 years I have started each year thinking I found the perfect curriculum for my kids. To only get a few months in and realize it's not working. Then I have to find a way to get something that will work. It can be frustrating or overwhelming, but once you find what works and your child's learning style it gets better! 

My oldest has always hated Math. I started him the first year using Saxon, because I felt I would be able to teach it to his understanding level. It worked but he still hated it. Then I decided to look at his interests. He loves video games and computer time. Why not find a program that will meet his interests while learning. So we started using Teaching Textbooks. It has been a totally different and pleasing year with Math! He loves it and we will continue to use it.

I also learned that minimal curriculum is better. Becoming a minimalist and realizing that less is more has been a blessing in disguise. Our first year I felt I needed to focus on just the basic subjects and we managed to get through them. This year I decided we needed to have writing, handwriting, spelling, geography and all this extra curriculum, which almost seemed like busy work in the end. I ended up setting it all aside and finding something that had it all mixed in and wasn't so overwhelming. We started using The Good and The Beautiful Language Arts and fell in love with this curriculum. We used the Science curriculum also and I could go on and on about how much we love this curriculum! It's very open and go, and they have just made it so easy to teach without stressing about all these extra subjects. 

It just goes to show that you can think you have it all figured out but they are kids and they will through curve balls at you. Interests will change and curriculum will need to be changed. If you go into it knowing this it helps when the stress of making a change has to happen.