Change: An Inevitable Part of Homeschooling
Early in our homeschooling years when I would buy curriculum, my husband would say things like “Are you going to stick with this one?” or “Is this the last curriculum you will buy?” or “This will work for all of them, right?” At first, I would try to convince him that it would be the curriculum I would stick with, and that it would work for every child. Eventually, I got to the point where I would just laugh and say, “I have no idea.” Now (nearly a decade into homeschooling), he doesn’t even ask.
In the last couple of months, my family has come upon a time of drastic change in our homeschool. After seven years of using a wonderful program that we love, we are changing things up. Why change if we love the program and it is wonderful? It is not working for ALL of my children, and it is not serving our main goals of instilling a love of learning, teaching our children how to learn, and creating a lifestyle of learning. It does some of these things for some of my kids, some of the time; but it is the type of program that really needs to work for everyone to work well.
This has been a hard change. I started noticing something was off over a year ago and felt the prompting to make a change, but I resisted it because this is what we have done nearly the entire time we have homeschooled. It is a GOOD program, and I have personally learned a lot from it. Sometimes you have to give up the good for what is best. Sometimes making a change you know needs to be made is hard. Letting go of the familiar and embarking on something new can be scary.
If you have been homeschooling for more than a couple of years, you have probably accepted the fact that change is inevitable. If you are newer to homeschooling or just haven’t come to this place of acceptance yet, let me encourage you to embrace change when it comes. There is no one perfect curriculum that will fit every family, every child, and every educational goal perfectly and will be the only curriculum you ever need. It doesn’t exist.
You may find something that works for your whole family the entire time you homeschool, but more than likely, you will need to tweak things along the way to fit each different child or even the same child in a different phase. And occasionally you may need to make a drastic change. That is OK! It doesn’t make what you were using before bad or mean you did anything wrong. Tailoring our curriculum to fit the individual needs of each child and each phase of development is a big part of why most of us homeschool to begin with.
If you are feeling burdened by your curriculum, if you feel like you are trying to stick a round peg into a square hole, or if you just feel like things could be a bit better, let me encourage you to be willing to explore other options. It doesn’t matter that it is the middle of the year. It doesn’t matter that you already bought that curriculum (there are many free and inexpensive options online if cost is a concern). If it is not serving you and your child, feel free to make a change. You should not be a slave to the curriculum; it is there to serve you, not the other way around!
And one last note—don’t compare. Just because you don’t love or aren’t seeing the success you hoped for with the curriculum your best friend, homeschool mentor, or that really awesome family at church uses does not mean you are doing something wrong!! Each family is different; you can’t force your family to fit the mold (and curriculum) of another family. Let me repeat, there is no one perfect curriculum. Find what works for you, and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. On the other side of that, please don’t be that person that tells everyone the way you are doing it is the only right way.
Sabrina Scheerer is a homeschooling mother of five high-spirited children and an Army wife. Prior to motherhood, she worked in childcare and early education including roles as a daycare inspector, daycare center and home daycare director, preschool teacher, and trainer for childcare providers and directors. She has been involved with early childhood education for over 15 years. Sabrina earned a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Maryland and has graduate hours in human development plus countless hours of continuing education in early childhood and education. Sabrina has served as a Classical Conversations Director and tutor for her local communities and has taught classes for a local homeschool coop. She has extensive, personal experience using many different homeschool curricula. She is also actively involved in her church and community, volunteering with Operation Christmas Child, International Student Ministries, and AWANA as well as working as a local coordinator for an international exchange student program. In her free time, she enjoys crafts, reading, and raising critters on her small homestead. Sabrina blogs on parenting, faith, marriage, homeschooling, homesteading, and natural living at www.kidscrunchandchrist.com where her hope is to inspire and encourage mothers to live joyfully.
