If you’ve been receiving the HBD newsletters, you’ll notice a change in the format. I’ve included a short article rather than listing all that’s new at the site. I hope you enjoy the article and get the chance to visit the website again soon because I’ve added a lot of new pages since my last newsletter.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think would be interested in Homeschool by Design!

Best wishes!

Jill
Homeschool-by-Design

We had only been officially in school for 2 weeks and I decided to scrap the science program with my younger daughter. We started with Chemistry. Sarah loves it, but Bec just wasn't getting it. Electrons? Protons? Neutrons? Atoms? WHAT?!? The program is written for 3-6th grade. I knew since Rebecca was a 4th grader and Sarah a 6th grader, she and I would probably have to hang behind Sarah a little, but she is strong in math and reading, so I thought it would be OK. She would have, but the fact of the matter is, she has absolutely NO interest in chemistry right now.

Now, I am not advocating scrapping a program at the first sign of trouble, but even the experts in “how to homeschool” have been guilty of choosing something for their child that turns out to be a dud. How do you know the choice isn’t right?

* Learning is a chore. There are going to be some bad days no matter what you do, but if the bad out number the good, you may want to revisit your curriculum choice.

* Your child is not progressing. You’ve tried to explain fractions 10 times using the directions in the book and you child just isn’t getting it. Maybe you need something different for just that lesson, or if this happens often you may need a new plan.

* You feel overwhelmed by the amount of work required on your part. This may not always necessitate a complete curriculum change, but it may help to “tweak” what you have to fit your needs.

* Every day is a battle to complete “school”. At the end of the day, your child is frustrated and irritable and so are you.

Coming to the realization that you need a change may take a few weeks or a few months. Like a said before, don’t feel like you have to bail out at the first sign of trouble. Give it an honest chance. Try to modify it to meet your child’s needs. In my case mentioned above, I realized that I was trying to make Rebecca’s needs fit with Sarah’s needs to make my job easier. I used the wrong criteria to make my choice in the first place. Once I realized this, it was easy to change. Sure it’s more work for me to plan for two different sciences when I could have easily kept them in the same one, but as a homeschool mom, working to raise and teach them is my job.

For some unknown reason, the idea of picking the wrong curriculum has risen to a status of the “homeschoolers’ unforgivable sin.” New homeschool parents tend to have more questions and panic about curriculum choice than anything else. Let me throw out two suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Remember you ALWAYS have the option to change.

If you make a choice that you aren’t happy with – and experience shows that you WILL – CHANGE! Don’t feel like you have to finish the book, the year, the program…or the next page for that matter. There is no sense in you and your child being miserable. Yes, it may be a bummer if you spend a bunch of your hard earned money on a resource that isn’t working, but suck it up, sell it used and move on.

2. Don’t feel like you should regret your choice.

Although curriculum choice is important, it pales in comparison to the relationships and the love of learning that should be the focus of your homeschool journey. If those are nurtured, choosing the wrong curriculum won't be something to get upset over.