Behold, it is that time of year again, homeschool friends. You know what I mean: time to start thinking about wrapping up this year while simultaneously planning for next year. It can drive me batty. And yet there’s something I relish about the search: perusing message boards, trying to find the best prices and perhaps even scoring some gently used curriculum on occasion. I love the opportunity to get my hands on curriculum and give it a thorough inspection before I buy it. Yet I rarely attend homeschool conferences, mostly because they are held where I am not. I prefer to borrow from friends who are not in a hurry to have it back. Curriculum evaluation takes time– it simply cannot be rushed.
So while I am not an expert, I have been doing this for about 15 years and I have learned a few things: Curriculum can sound great, look great and be packaged very attractively and still NOT work for your child. Look for things that can be returned (in new condition of course). Do NOT write in any books until you know for certain that you will be using the curriculum. A small photocopier can be priceless in protecting your investment. School budgets can balloon out of control in the beginning, (and in the middle and at the end) if you are not careful about keeping receipts and ensuring return policies are meeting your needs. We began our journey with A Beka, a well-respected curriculum that many private schools and home educators use to meet their needs. Results for us: Disastrous. DS hated it. I hated it. The next year we enrolled him in public school. Not for long… but I honestly didn’t realize there were other curriculua out there. Happily he did have a good Kindergarten teacher.
In the middle of first grade, we began our homeschooling adventure again, this time with Sonlight. I was in love. Sonlight is literature-based and my son and I love to read. We were in heaven. Except for math, we were in heaven. Finding math curriculum could be a blogpost in itself but for now suffice it to say that eventually we ended up with Math U See and we were back in heaven. Which brings me to point two: sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay more than you want to get a good curriculum. You end up spending more money on cheap curricula that doesn’t work than if you had just gone with the one you wanted in the first place. Many people think Sonlight and MUS are expensive. I guess if I had a lot of children and needed multiple curricula I might agree. But my kids are really spaced out (four years between first two, eight years between second two) so that was not an issue for me. In fact, I used Sonlight with my two eldest for years—the same core. I just made it simpler for little one. Remember in regards to cost, perspective is everything: Have you priced private school tuition lately???
Then we had several years of private school after my youngest was born and I was unable to homeschool for health related reasons. Five years to be exact. We could have pulled them back home after a year, but they seemed happy and we were happy to belong to a community of learners and… Anyhow, my kids were enrolled in Ambleside which is a school operating on the educational tenets of Charlotte Mason. I had never heard of her before though I had heard of living books. In retrospect I wish we had pulled them back home a bit sooner but one thing I don’t regret is that they went. Because it opened up an entirely new philosophy of education to me and except for one brief deviation (trying “classical education” for two years) I have remained sold on her principles. We homeschool moms need to be willing to follow the Spirit’s prompting and try new things. Getting out of our comfort zones is not only setting a good example for our kids, but it is essential to following the Lord and relying on him to guide our paths. Of course if you are married, you should consult Principal Dad before making major changes.
Lastly, don’t forget the forums. They are truly indispensable, both for the novice and the expert. I use Ambleside Online forums and Simply Charlotte Mason, which is another great resource for CMers. We’ve switched math again because MUS wasn’t working for ds2 and we are very pleasantly happy with Right Start Math. It’s pricey initially but again, worth it (he’s finally solid in place value) and the customer support is out of this world! They too have a forum but, as of this writing, it needs some work. You will find some forums are better than others (easier to search, better layout) but it is a great way to reach out to other users of your curriculum and ask for advice or even to offer your own.
I think I’m actually done, for the most part, shopping for next year. Experiencing is making me quick. It’s kind of like a video game, or a sickness, but I’m going to indulge for a while to come. I love the sound of the UPS truck pulling up to my house, the smell of a new (or used) book, the excitement of a new adventure. Ahem. Not that I ever cheat (read ahead) on my kids… well maybe mostly never. My children have been known to hide books on me. Who can blame a girl? It’s really quite comparable to the excitement of Christmas morning. In fact, I might need to adopt more kids to homeschool once youngest gets a little older. Or maybe just homeschool the (currently non-existent) grandkids?!?
Decidedly Different 