How involved is your child in determining what he/she studies? How have you gone about facilitating that involvement? At what age?
My son is not really involved in what subjects we study, but I do let him somewhat guide how we study them. I let him decide if he wanted a computer-based or book-based math, for instance, but he has to study math one way or the other. I also let him decide in which order he wanted to do his science experiments/lessons, but he has no choice as to whether or not to do science. He is 8, doing 3rd grade work this year. Last year was really the first year that he seemed to not enjoy/learn from some of the curriculum I had chosen, so it was the first year that he really made any suggestions as to how he wanted to do certain subjects.
I absolutely let my kids pick topics for unit studies. One it encourages their pursuit of knowledge. And two it allows them to be really keen on what we are learning. I also make sure the 3 r's are always going so they are never without the basics.
MIne have no say in the math or Grammar, but I do ask periodically if they like the program we have been using. I did ask what language after Latin, they chose German. And I have asked my 13 yo what online science she would like, bio, chem, physics, earth. She's done bio and chem. THey have chosen their own instruments after piano.
The basics are standard, but I have encouraged individual studies and pursuits from the time they were toddlers. If they have a drive, I'll try my best to drive them there!
We've done a little of the "do you want this one or that one", but we haven't done any "pick something... anything." Does that make sense?
I should have noted that my kids are old enough now to actually need to broaden the scope of their education with "electives", which often are things they enjoy doing, like cooking, construction, musical instraments, volunteer hours, sign language, etc. In some cases I'll be purchasing curriculum, but not for most of the "classes" they have chosen. I've found the closer they get to adulthood, the more they need to explore things they even think they might enjoy.
Maybe you could give them a choice about topics of study as opposed to the actual curriculum, for example they could do a research project which involves; research, writing, spelling, editing, project design etc.. But they can do it on what ever topic they choose, even if it's video games, skateboarding, pokemon! If they're engaged they will get more out of it.
My little guy is in K. I give him his core curricullum, but he often picks out a unit study. We've done mapping, forest animals, sea life, weather, and vehicles - at his request. I have a copy of the learning outcomes used by our areas dept of Ed, so I take a look at those and see what kinds of things we can tackle that they would. It helps me a little bit to look, then often we cover much more than PS would. (Sometimes less!). But he is engaged in his learning, and we are covering good ground. As long as he alwasy knows that he has to do what "teacher" says, we'll be good! As I'm starting to think about next year, I may show him some samples of curriculums I'm looking at, and get his opinon. But I will still make the final decision.
I allowed my oldest to help pick some of her stuff for 5th & 6th grades. At the end of 3rd, she was really unhappy with many of her subjects. Math was her biggest issue. I downloaded all the placement tests that I could find, and had her take them all. Then, she came with me to the Homeschool Convention so that she could touch, feel and look at each one. She ended up picking Teaching Textbooks (which wasn't a surprise at all), and it's been amazing. Also, this year, I let her help pick her vocabulary program. She picked Vocab from Classical Roots - i told her she'd have to finish 2 in the same year because I was going to back her up to the first book (which is 4th Grade). She's finished the 4th & 5th Grade and is working on the 6th Grade one right now! She EATS it for lunch! Absolutely loves it. I will let my son help start picking out stuff. Also, we kind of do a combo approach between school at home and CM or Classical. I have the kids read books based on the time period (or country) we're studying. I do let them help pick those out - I give them some choices but let them decide what interests them.
