MY HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM ISN’T WORKING?

HELP!!!!!

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The homeschool questions I frequently get asked frequently are oftentimes centered around the curriculum. What is the best curriculum? What curriculum would you recommend? Do I need to buy all my curriculum from one source? What do I do with a homeschool curriculum that isn’t working? Or my favorite: I bought curriculum and I hate it. Do I have to use it?

One important factor for planning your homeschool year is selecting the curriculum you’re going to use. However, focusing on what you’re going to teach and not who you are teaching is one of the biggest mistakes for homeschool parents to make. We are going to discuss ways to engage your child with your homeschool curriculum that makes what you teach so much more interesting. Additionally, these ideas will help to keep your child’s interest while teaching the lesson you planned.

WHY DOES MY CHILD SEEM BORED OR DISINTERESTED?

When children seem bored with the lesson you are teaching, that is because they are bored. As yourself these questions if you are not reaching your child:

The first question I ask is: Am I teaching with my child’s learning style in mind?

If the information presented isn’t tailored to your child’s learning style, they may seem disinterested when in fact, they are just not engaged. If you do not know your child’s learning styles, I highly recommend reading Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson. This excellent resource will help you discern your child’s learning style.

Do my children already know this information?

Boredom is often the result of repetition. When you hear the same information over and over, you tend to zone out.

Is the information I am presenting too challenging for my child?

Many times children zone out because they don’t understand what is being presented to them. If the material is too difficult, you may need to drop down a level or two to “relearn” some of the material.

Is my child unable to learn the information?

Does your child have some learning disabilities that prevent them from learning the information? Sometimes they may need additional outside help, or you may need to find someone to give you pointers to help you present the information in a different way.

We have a special needs teacher that I can call on when I need help presenting the information. Over the years, this teacher has helped tremendously when I feel overwhelmed.

WAYS TO ENGAGE YOUR CHILD WITH YOUR HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM

But what if you purchased curriculum and it is not working. How can you teach your child without spending a ton of additional money this year? Can you make your curriculum work this year and select something more appropriate next year?

Change the way the lesson is taught for your child’s unique learning style:

This makes the material more appealing to your child. For instance, if your child is a visual learner, incorporating a video about the subject matter along with reading a book. If you are learning about Germany, read the short story of Snow White, and then watch the Disney video. When you read the short story again, have the children watch for differences between the movie and short story.

Another idea is to watch different versions of the same movie. This helps to develop a child’s critical thinking skills. What is different between the two movies? Which movie did you like better?

How about teaching with books on tape or even finding a YouTube Video where the book is read out loud? These ideas will change up the everyday environment into a new and exciting way to teach your child.

Use the Curriculum as an outline:

If you realize that the expensive curriculum you have purchased is not suitable for your child’s learning styles, you can use it as an outline. Find living books, movies and hands-on activities that cover the same material, but in different ways. You will be teaching the same material but in a different and fresh way. Often times as parents, we are convinced that we need to buy “textbooks” but in reality, that is not how children or adults learn best. Finding ways to teach the same material will certainly help keep your child’s interest peaked.

Do Not Be Afraid to Skip Information:

If your child already knows the information, there is no need to repeat it endlessly just because the homeschool curriculum you are using has it listed to teach this year.

One year when my son was having difficulty getting through his biology book, I took a deep look at the information in the book. He was supposed to be learning about genetics, but a couple of years earlier he had studied genetics on his own to learn about cross-breeding chickens. I realized that the information was repetitive and we skipped that section.

Stop Worrying About Finishing the Curriculum:

One of the biggest mistakes I see parents make regarding teaching their children is that they worry about finishing the homeschool curriculum that they invested a lot of money in. Most textbooks begin with a review of the information, and they end with an introduction into the next years subject matter.

Through 12 years of public schooling, I do not remember any teacher ever finishing the book for any subject. They would select the information they wanted to teach and skip over chapters that weren’t in their outline. We as parents have the same ability to start fresh next year with a new book and a new approach without worrying about “finishing” last years lessons.

Other Ways to Engage Your Child outside of “The Homeschool Curriculum”

Make sure you have different sources of the same information. Movies, books, hands-on manipulatives, travel destinations, museums, science centers, online games and websites, all can work together to help your child learn the information presented to them. Additionally, finding other homeschool moms and how they approach a subject can be a valuable tool in your belt.

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Paint, color or create art while listening to a book on tape or while mom reads out loud. This helps to engage the entire brain and keeps little hands active. Additional items to keep hands busy and minds thinking:

Play with Thinking Putty, Play-Doh, or clay.

Squishy Balls

Tangle

Texture items

Sitting on an exercise ball.

Don’t Ditch the Homeschool Curriculum Just Yet, But Try Changing Your Environment:

Even if you can’t travel, you can pretend to travel. Get creative and make your living room into a scene from the prairie complete with a covered wagon box for your children to sit in they hear the story of Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.

If you have a daughter that is into fashion, having her design dresses or study the fashions of different historical periods may be just what she needs to get her interested in the stories of that time period. Additionally, hair and makeup from different time periods can take your child on a fantastic journey.

Field trips, whether it’s to the park, a science center, the zoo, or another local destination, can break up the monotony of doing the same thing day after day. Getting together with other parents who are covering the same topics can help spark interests in your child.

Trying to fit a round peg in a square hole, by continuing to force the homeschool curriculum to work, will only frustrate you and your child. Finding ways to make your curriculum fit for different learning styles will assist you with your efforts to teach.