I have been frustrated lately with some of our school work. Namely: Weaver. Weaver is the main curriculum that I've been using since my oldest was 3. It's a unit study based on the Bible. It starts in Genesis and goes through the Bible stories. Science and Social Studies, as well as Language Arts are added to the Bible studies and usually somehow fit in with the story. For instance, when you learn that God created light, you learn about light, shadows, rainbows, the eyes, colors, etc. It has been a great curriculum, but I've come to a place where I don't like it so much anymore. It is bought by the volume. We are in Volume 4. This volume was written by a different author and that may be part of the problem. We are also to a part of the Bible that I'm not really that familiar with and if you were, I'd be surprised. It's the part after King Solomon dies and Israel divides into two kingdoms and we are studying the different kings. The Science and Social Studies lessons are just as obscure. How many of you know about the people of ancient Mesopotamia? Do we really need to study about that in 2nd grade?! I don't think so. I also have trouble pulling all the Language Arts together. It's such a vast subject. The way the curriculum presents it is a very good idea. . . in theory, but it's hard to do in practice and I have a lot of distractions. . . I mean blessings and responsibilities. I'm sure some moms can do it, but I am craving more structure in the curriculum. I've already put my older son on the Switched On Schoolhouse curriculum and now I'm thinking about ditching Weaver altogether. I can't believe I just said that. I've been using it for about 6 years. I feel like such a traitor. So, I have some ideas about what I want to do, but I'm not sure. Please pray for me to be inspired. I have a few ideas that mainly pertain to my 6 (almost 7) yr. old:
1) I think I want to continue to study the Bible chronologically. I think that's a great way to study the Bible. I have a Story Bible which is great for that and it just on the right level for elementary kids.
2) I'm not sure about what to do with Social Studies. I have a series of books that are biographies that the kids will listen to and I love to read. I'd like to use those, but I'm not sure they are enough. Maybe they are for my 6 yr. old. All of the major points of history are covered more than once through school. Right now my plan is to put him on Switched On Schoolhouse when he is older and he will definitely hit all the major history events in that. (It starts in 3rd grade.)
3) For Science, that's the hardest for me, but I could probably find a good book that we could use until he got to SOS.
4) For Language Arts, we are doing Hooked On Phonics and I could probably continue with what I have for that subject until 3rd grade. Although, I'm thinking about buying a workbook type thing for it. It would get him used to that for when I put him on SOS and it would be a lot easier for me.
5) I'm ok with what we have for Math, although it seems like we've been stuck on the same thing forever (skip counting and subtraction facts). I think he's "on level" or ahead, so I'm not too worried about that.
The rest of the subjects are a matter of finding time to get to them. They get music lessons once a week from a friend of mine. I'd love to teach them Spanish and if they'd quit dwaddling half the morning, I could get to it. I'd like to get them into an art class, but for now, drawing, painting, etc, in their free time is enough for me. They are pretty creative and come up with some good stuff--especially the older one. They also get crafts at church and home school co-op.
My mom bought me a Hooked On Phonics kit at Big Lots for $30. I'm so glad that she did. It is so much better than what I've been doing for reading. My 4 year old is blazing through the kindergarten level. (She is really smart.) My 6 year old has already been through a second grade level reading instruction, but I put him in the beginning of 1st grade just to get more review and practice. I thought it would help him because he tends to guess too much and sometimes gets stuck on easy words and mix words up. I think he does that because I didn't do a good job teaching him. I really don't think he has any learning disabilities or anything. He's doing really great with the HOP and I'm really glad that I put him where I did in it. He is going really quickly through the stories and books and creating better reading habits. I think each grade level has like 30 "stickers" for the chart and he's on 10 after a week, so he'll probably be done with the second grade one before a year's up. I'll just have to be sure to slow down when the words get harder for him. Both of them really like it and actually ask me to do it with them. They want to read more books and are motivated by the stickers, which actually surprises me--for the 6 year old anyway. Hooked On Phonics is part of the reason I'm thinking of ditching my other curriculum. It's so easy to use and I just thought, "There must be an easier way to teach the other subjects, too. Why am I using this curriculum that I'm having a hard time with?" Well, the answer to that is: I already bought it. But, I can resale it and buy something else. I just haven't figured out what.
3 comments:
Well, I am all for using the best of different curriculums. Graduating from the curriculum we did made me believe that. I do think it had it's strengths, but I think teaching/learning is just like everything else in life... You can't do everything at the same level of quality. It would be weird if one curriculum did do that, I think. It would be really convenient, though.
Your blog stresses me. I just don't see how I would be able to homeschool at all. I'm terrible at making decisions. Choosing a curriculum would stress me. Reading your blog and thinking about having to make those decisions stresses me. But for you, sure, switch curriculum. You never know where you'll find something new that you just love.
The way I see it, Kids are very resilient and they like to try new things. I am playing with your money here so the solution is easy - buy them all!!
I guess if you feel the curricula you've been using has the potential to meet your expectations in Volume 5 - you could veer away for the duration of this scoolyear for the child that is using it and use the preferred one for the rest of this schoolyear and then for the others.
You have got to be more familiar than I am with what's on the market for homeschooling, so I won't try to throw my two cents in as to which curriculum you should buy.
As for now, I will pray and ask around to the other homeschoolers I know of and tell you what I find out with regard to their choice.
I am waffling on what I think about homeschooling because of you. Yes, that's a good thing. you know what school we went to, you also know what public schools are like. As a mom, I sometimes listen to other moms with kids in public school and I begin to feel the push to get ready to homeschool - especially when I think about the very individualized needs of my oldest child. You make homeschooling seem very do-able but you also work very hard to make sure that your children are not slighted in any way - to the other extreme in fact - they are going to be better off than any public schooler because of your dedication and your effort-level.
My hat's off to you!
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