Do you know what the PERFECT homeschool curriculum looks like? Let me let you in on a little secret. It looks exactly like what works best for your individual learner. There really is no secret.
What is perfect for me will not be perfect for you. And, chances are, it won’t be perfect straight out of the box. I can’t think of any curriculum that I use exactly how the publisher designed it. Their design was not perfect for my kids. We may use it “almost” the way it was designed, but I’ve tweaked almost every purchase I’ve made to fit our lifestyle/learning style/schedule/etc.
The Perfect Homeschool Curriculum
Don’t be a slave to your curriculum. Don’t be afraid to make your curriculum work for you. If you need to move faster or slower than the publisher’s schedule, do it. Do you only need part of the lessons? That’s fine. Do what works best for your kiddos and their learning needs. That’s the beauty of homeschooling.
We love our history curriculum
You do not have to do every activity, lesson, or writing assignment in your curriculum. You are not a slave to your teacher’s manual. For instance, our grammar curriculum assigns a lot of writing in each lesson. This stresses Emma out so we do most of the work orally. That makes the curriculum work for me and for her.
Another thing we’ve learned is that what works for one kid may not work for another. There are years when one of my children has used a different program than the other kids, because what worked for the others didn’t work for him.
Find what you like and make it work for you. That’s the beauty of homeschooling!
What have you done to make your curriculum work for you?
This year since we have only been homeschooling since Oct it has been Trial and Error and we are still trying to figure out what works the best for our family. But next year for 3rd if things work the way I hope we will be using K12 and I can add or take things away as needed. And know Charlie is getting what he needs because as of now I am not sure if he gets all he needs.
Thanks for the reminder. I’m trying to find something for my daughter who will be officially in pre-kindergarten in the fall. I’m finding most preschool curriculums are far too easy for her. I’ve decided to do a mix of pre-k and kindergarten because is going to be what works for her. She is more “likes worksheets” and less “get messy and be hands-on.” That is pretty much opposite of most preschool stuff so that makes it even harder. But I don’t need to follow one thing, I can make stuff work for her. I tend to forget that. (visiting from Meet Up Monday)
Julie, check out my other blog, Homeschool Preschool. You’ll find plenty of printables for the pre-k/k crowd!
http://www.dltk-kids.com/ has lots of Prek-K printables.