This year has been somewhat of a curriculum overhaul for us. We have changed a lot of our curriculum and we are loving the changes. As we advance through each grade level, we are constantly learning what works and what doesn't. For a long time I would convince myself that the curriculum we had chosen was the only option and if it wasn't working it was because of a failure on my part. I've learned over the years that different curriculum works for different people. What you may think is the perfect curriculum simply may not be a good fit for your family. It isn't a failure to change curriculum.
A perfect example of this curriculum misfit was in our math program. We started homeschooling with Saxon math. It is a great math program. One of the best. Josh loved it. He understood it. He excelled. I had made the 'perfect' choice. Then, Joy started having trouble with math; lots of trouble. Still, I told myself that I had chosen the best curriculum and she would 'get it' eventually. She didn't. Also, as the three younger students started school and I found myself teaching every subject in every grade-level. Four grade-levels multiplied by how many subjects? It was all just too much.
I tried an alternative, Teaching Textbooks. If you're not familiar with Teaching Textbooks it is a computer-based math curriculum. I felt like turning my kids over to a computer for their education was a failure on my part. I felt like giving up on my 'perfect' choice of curriculum was also a failure. And you know what that made me. That's right! A FAILURE. Then, something wonderful happened. My kids started loving math. Josh had always loved math, but now Joy was loving math too. Also, my 2nd grader (at the time) was completing 3rd grade math at an alarming rate. I realized something. My first choice wasn't really the perfect choice I had thought it was because it didn't work with our family dynamic. What makes curriculum good for one family may not make it a good fit for another. Teaching Textbooks was a good fit for us because it freed me to teach other subjects.
This year we have started with completely new history and science programs this year. Our youngest students are in 2nd grade and our oldest is in 6th. Of course reading, writing, math, and language skills are vastly different for these students. Still, I wanted to spend as much of our school day as possible learning together. To accomplish this we have experienced a lot of trial and error, but we have found some excellent options for learning together.
For history we are using All American History from Bright Ideas Press. The textbooks are very large and the reading level is definitely above a 2nd grade reading level. Still, the curriculum has some optional features that make it perfect for us. All American History is a 2-part history curriculum covering American history from the age of exploration through current day. The textbook and student activity book are geared for the upper-elementary student. The activity book includes review work, notebooking pages, mapping exercises, and much more. What makes this program a good fit for us is the All American History Jr. download. The download includes coloring pages, lap books, maps, and notebooking geared for younger students. The download also includes literature studies for books that are on a younger student's reading level. Now, all 6 of us can study history together.
Science is a favorite subject for all of my little ones. I want a science curriculum that challenged my older students and encouraged the younger students. I wanted to study together if possible. Last year, Josh and Joy started science on their computers with Switched on Schoolhouse and they loved it. I wasn't completely satisfied though. Although they were learning a lot and enjoying science, I wanted our science study to be filled with reading, research, hand-on projects, and learning together. Apologia's Young Explorer series was the perfect fit. There are 6 titles in the series. The textbooks are wonderful science studies from a Christ-centered perspective. Each title offers a notebooking journal for upper-elementary students and a junior notebooking journal for younger students allowing us to work together while providing each student with grade-level appropriate reading and review work. Apologia also offers lap book options (downloadable from Kindle too), lab kits, and audio versions of the textbooks.
I have found that any opportunity for us to work together as a family instead of dividing us all up to work individually is a chance to learn more than what is in the textbook. It is a chance for us to learn about each other, teach each other, encourage each other, and share in the joy of learning.
