Hello, to all. Hope you are having a good weekend! Do any of you ever feel like you get too caught up in what books and curriculum to use? The grass-is-greener syndrome strikes, and you spend HOURS each month/year researching, planning, even praying about what curric to use?? Only then to find that you've gained nothing, but only lost precious time you could have spent otherwise, such as further building your relationship with your children, or your marriage? And then most of a schoolyear has gone by and you almost feel like you've accomplished little b/c your mind was so consumed by thinking about the "next" book?? Kind of a rant....but has that ever happened to you? Terrible regret for time wasted always follows. It's true for me.
Yep, yep, yep. I used to spend so much time wishing I could buy D, E, and F that I didn't appreciate using the A, B, and C that I had. Now that we are almost done with homeschooling (only a few years left!), I finally figured out that we are "just get it done" people. Workbooks to finish pages each day and we are off to do what we enjoy. Wish I had listened to my kids years ago on it. I could have saved us a lot of time and heartache (and by heartache I mean meltdowns :roll: ).
I think I just want to get my nose out of the catalogs, advertisements, etc. and JUST focus on our relationships! Isn't that what really makes homeschooling work anyway?? Isn't that how children learn?? I can just use what we have, and quit obsessing over which method/curriculum and whose advice I should follow, and just.....be a family!!! Do you know what I mean?
Well, dog-gon-it!! I think I'm just going to throw away all catalogs. Stick with what I'm using ALL the way through and only change curric if there is a SERIOUS and REAL need to.....and don't look back...hhhmmmmmm...... and only use the computer to talk generally about motherhood/homeschooling, not to view online samples. So many times I've switched to something "better". And ya know what?? Out of all the times I've switched to something "better", our homeschool is still exactly the same as it was (with a few small exceptions, like changing from saxon to rod n staff math). Better isn't better, usually. It's like thinking I'll look thinner in the brown slacks than I did in the black slacks. Uh-uh. Not happening. I still look just as fat. :lol:
Yep, guilty as charged! I do this all the time, sadly. I am constantly searching for the "perfect" curriculum. I still haven't found it.
No. Never. LOL RIIIIIIGHT..... Only, I've learned to not regret those sidetracks and tangents....it's taught me to be more confident in myself and my choices, and just because that seems perfect because of how someone else's kid seems to love it, etc....doesn't mean it's going to work for my kids or for ME.... I have learned to trust MY choices and investigate without wanting to completely scrap what I'm doing/plan to do.... I feel like a much more confident homeschooler than ever before because I feel like I now KNOW my kids, and I KNOW myself....so I'm able to rule something out sometimes before even getting tempted! I.E. My friends are all drawn to Classical Conversations. I admit I am, too. BUT....it's REALLY expensive. REALLY EXPENSIVE. For me to do 3 kids would be OUTRAGEOUS. And while I like what they are doing, I cannot do it on my own, and I cannot pay what they want. So....I can walk away without feeling like my kids are missing out on something. At all. (((HUGS)))
This was me this past year!! I tried to go cheaper on some things (money is TIGHT here), and in the end blew a ton of money curriculum hopping because I was trying to get what I wanted in a cheaper form... so tons of time and money wasted trying to find the next great thing. I also spent countless hours piecing together SL core A... only do decide we hated it. We aren't Christian, so we didn't use that part, we didn't use the LA, my kids hated most of the read-alouds (they prefer to hear funny stories or look at beautiful picture books while I read them), and well the history was easy enough to do without an expensive IG.... but it wasn't really the history I wanted us doing... I want more of a Social Studies than just history. In the end, we ended up starting our year pretty much all over in Feb.. with the math we should have been using, the science and history I originally planned to use but then just didn't, and a whole new LA system (which I have decided to drop this year, and go back to the cheap, fun, colorful, Total Reading books that I used for my oldest when he was in the younger grades). I am much more at peace with my choices for this coming year (you can see them in my blog). One big thing for me... I can not, under any circumstances, read about what others are using if it's not something I have picked out for us... it always leads to the grass is greener way of thinking. I start to doubt myself then I spend hours agonizing over the whole situation and eventually spend money I don't have to buy something to fix something that wasn't broken.
Apples, I go back and forth all the time or really I did up to the point when my ds said to me " mom, I will do whatever you choose to give me to do. I don't really care what curriculum we use as long as you are teaching it to me." talk about an eye opener. As yourselves did you really care what you were being taught? Or did you do the work you were given because it was assigned as a kid/teen? So choose something you know you will enjoy teaching, cause when we enjoy it we do a better job really! Then don't second guess yourself, decide once and for all you have made a choice and stick with it. I seriously do not understand, other than with math where its important to make it work in an understanding way, why we choose a style then switch mid stream in a year, I figure it must be confusing to the kids so I decided to stop that sort of thing. I am sticking things out to the end of the year, aside from if there is a major problem in which case I would stop at semester end. I will keep it up for the full program and not look back. I say that because I get so excited then go back and wish I had not already ordered cause something better would come along. I just have to trust myself and my God who is my home school consultant, that I made the right choice for what my ds needs to know this coming year.
Of course ive bought materials and found they really weren't for us, but we live and learn! At least after two years, I now know what works and what doesn't! I never let anything, including planning and housework, get in the way of our days activities. Some days are flops, but most are wonderful. I have to learn to give myself a break and remember how well we are doing over all!
Although I still have plenty of time to figure it out, I'm already obsessing over choosing the "perfect" curriculum for each subject... you know, the kind that turns my children into learn-loving geniuses in minimal time at an affordable price.
Yes! There is so much choice out there- and a lot of good quality curriculum too! But Like TeacherMom says- only works well if you teach it well! I wish I had a store to go to and look at everything hands= on- I think that's that hard part for me- is just seeing samples online- I want to pick it up skim it all and then decide! If I could I would probably spend less time browsing online! =)
I totally agree! I would love to be able to look at everything in person; it would make my decisions so much easier and less time-consuming.
Me too! I love touching it! lol sounds kinda weird, but I love to get my hands on the books and look at them page by page, etc seeing what it would feel like to use it, then go back online to order it. So if you can get to a book store I totally recommend doing so, but don't force yourself to buy it full price. In face some stores will price match these days so check if they will!
Apples, honey, you can do a super bangup job with nothing more than a library card, a math book, a notebook and pencil, IF YOU HAVE TO. With all the stuff that's free on the internet, add a printer and plenty of ink to that. IT CAN BE DONE! and done well with nothing more than that. It just depends on how much time you want to spend searching for stuff, and how much time you want to spend teaching whatever you've got. Over the past 12 years, I've narrowed my choices down to a precious few. If one doesn't work for somebody, I'll switch to one of the others. But if that isn't working, it's either me or the kid that's the problem, not the curriculum choice. I'll still try something new now and again, but only one subject at a time, probably with one kid at a time, and with my "favorites" waiting on standby. I'm confident that I can do better than public school can, regardless what I use.... And you can too! Now that I've realized all that, I still like to look through the catalogs and look up the links and google the stuff people post about, but I've learned that it's just different not necessarily better, and I stay with what fits MY style because if it's not fitting MY style, it just won't work for us, regardless the kid's style.
