This post will cover our own curriculum choices for this year, how to tell when a curriculum (or method) isn’t working, how to make a switch and the many ways that life can be a curriculum of its own.
Much of what we do is pulled from multiple sources and then I compile it into a cohesive curriculum. This is not random or flippant. I spend hours and hours and hours searching and scouring curriculum. I choose very intentionally. I’ve tried many things. And if I haven’t tried it, it’s likely because I felt like it wasn’t a good fit for us. We are eclectic in our approach but mostly we rely on unit study with a side of unschooling. Though we do incorporate aspects of a few other methods (more on that later). I do not save lesson plans. Occasionally if a certain book or activity is a big hit, I will keep it in mind for the future. But mostly I feel each child is so different in their interests, learning styles, etc that it’s best to “start from scratch”.
Here is an overview for our current curriculum choices (we change curriculum as needed):
Pre-k/K:
I use Learn + Live Letter for lesson plan ideas (it’s more of a subscription to lesson plans than a traditional curriculum). I use maybe half of their ideas, but it gets my creative juice flowing and I piece together the rest on my own. You can see videos of some of our units on my Instagram.
I mix Montessori materials with crafts and printables. We are not strictly Montessori as I don’t 100% align with the philosophies of the method.
Each week they have a “unit study” based on a letter. We do not go in alphabetical order. There is evidence to support presenting letters in a way that logically teaches letter sounds. This also helps avoid consistent focus always being placed on the first letters and then dwindling during certain parts of the alphabet.
I incorporate worksheets from Learning Without Tears, Funschooling, and TPT (teachers pay teachers). I use printables that Learn + Live includes (they source from a variety of blogs etc), My Mega Bundles, Treehouse Schoolhouse, and Arrows + Applesauce.
They also have a Kiwi Crate subscription and we will be starting Play Your Way to Reading (a play based approach to literacy).
6th grade:
I am using a mix of unit studies from Gather Round, Learn + Live and Daily Skill Building. We are currently doing one unit study based on a geographic location, while also doing a composer study and a Farm Anatomy companion book (both of the latter are from Daily Skill Building; if you have the Nature Anatomy, Ocean Anatomy, Farm Anatomy or Food Anatomy books you may really appreciate their companion books).
In addition to those unit studies (which cover multiple subjects), we are using Mel Science for chemistry, Tinker Crate for STEM, Yousician for piano, Teaching Textbooks for math (about to try Beast Academy as well), and Tuttle Twins for history and debate (logical fallacies and bias).
There is a lot of unschooling that happens as well!
Speaking of unschooling (more on this method with another post), here are just some of the ways homeschooling parents said they use “life as learning”:
Getting gas (economics), learning to shingle a roof with a retired carpenter, identifying flora and fauna, visiting museums, learning local land and history, learning to fix things that break, cooking family meals, sewing, gardening, helping with a family homestead, grocery shopping.
We use many of those things as learning opportunities too! Now what do you do when a certain curriculum or method isn’t working? Let’s take a look at this question submitted to this chat:
“Say you’ve decided a certain curriculum or method isn’t working. How do you transition? It seems like that could be confusing for the kids and leave you feeling like you’ve lost time.”
My reply:
First, I think we need to identify what it looks like when it isn’t working. Here are some red flags I look for:
➡️Extreme aversion to wanting to participate (I don’t mean a little normal groaning, I mean begging not to “do school”)
➡️Obviously bored, not stimulated. Flying through the work with little thought or effort.
➡️Consistently confused by the method not the material. (i.e. they show signs of understanding when you try a different approach but the way a certain textbook or online instruction explains it always leaves them confused). If they are completely lost, you may need to consider changing what level they are working at or look into other challenges.
➡️Not engaged and having fun. Yes some things may be more fun than others. Not every subject will be there favorite. But they should generally be in a pleasant mood… learning should not be miserable.
➡️When you sense you are just plugging along, going through the motions every day but there is no excitement or “lightbulb moments”. They are never taking something they learned and excitedly connecting it to another concept in their “off time”.
➡️Tears. Seriously. This is more common than you think. If it’s making them cry, it isn’t a matter of “let’s keep pushing through it”. You need to re-evaluate.
Given that this is what it looks like when it isn’t working; I would say that switching to a different curriculum or method is not confusing. It’s a huge relief. They are excited to be given something new, different, and more their speed. This is not a situation where they are going to miss what they have been doing or a situation where they have been learning and then you rip the rug out from them… They haven’t actually been learning and they are not getting any joy out of trying. So they’re happy to try something else.
When we switched curriculum in the past, I put us on a break for a few weeks, brainstormed, researched, shopped around… and then started us back on something new after our break. We also kept other aspects of our rhythm/routine consistent.
If they’re old enough to understand, you can explain, “So I know math has been a struggle lately. I got you a new curriculum to try so we can see if it’s a better fit for us! This is how it works…”
If they’re quite young they likely will just roll with it… especially since it’s a switch from what hasn’t been working!
And I wouldn’t get hung up on lost time. Remember that it’s a gift you could even figure the issue out and push pause while you fixed it. Imagine this being an problem in a classroom setting. What would you do if the books and materials they were using were just a horrible fit for your kid? There is only so much a teacher can do to accommodate them.
And remember that timing in homeschooling is very different too. The pace is just a different beast. You are able to work through things so much faster than a classroom setting allows. I can teach Ezra his entire school day in the time I used to spend teaching 6th graders one subject.
So even if the switch takes three weeks out of your year, remember you have the ability to more than make up for that. Especially when they they are eager to learn again.
Emmy Goulet 