Let's talk homeschooling curriculum
First, an update from yesterday's post. R. slept; we slept. I am very hesitantly allowing myself to consider the idea that perhaps we have turned a corner.
But that's not what I want to write about right now. As the school year ends, with most traditional students doing so with some form of remote learning, and as people look ahead to a very murky future as far as what life will look like, I am starting to see more and more parents considering the option of homeschooling, some with excitement because this has been the impetus they needed to finally make a jump they had been considering for a long time, others very reluctantly because they feel as if they have no choice. Questions on various homeschooling facebook groups reflect these two populations as well as everything in between.
Inevitably the first question that is asked is::What curriculum is good?
Boy do I find this a difficult question to answer. I know some homeschoolers do have a favorite all-inclusive curriculum that they love and has worked for their family. For them, it is a simple thing to share what has worked with that curriculum's name. And for some it is a great choice, I'm not discounting their experience. It just feels as though it is a far more complex issue than just accepting a popular name and shelling out the bucks.
So what are my issues with the choose the "right" curriculum and be done method? You knew I was going to tell you, weren't you?
1. There is nothing magic about a curriculum.
I admit it, when I first started, I did spend time looking for a specific curriculum (usually for a certain subject) that would solve all of my perceived homeschooling problems. If I had the "right" curriculum, then my children would always understand the content, they would be cooperative and eager, and our homeschooling days would be a joy. After spending far too much money on whichever curriculum a publisher touted as THE way to educate your child, I had to reluctantly accept the truth that had been niggling on the edges of my brain that I was looking for a unicorn. In fact, it would probably be easier to find an actual unicorn.
There is nothing special about any curriculum. They each lay out a scope and sequence, have activities, lesson plans, teacher's notes, and usually a whole lot of added cost features that you can invest in. When you get right down to it, there just aren't that many ways to teach the various branches of learning. A good teacher will take any curriculum, take what is useful, add in their own experience and knowledge, and make it a living lesson. Even with good curriculum, it still requires effort on the teacher (or parent) to breath life into it and make it interesting. I'm afraid that too many homeschoolers, especially new homeschoolers, think that by finding the right curriculum that they are off the hook. While a good curriculum can help, I'm afraid that you are most certainly not off the hook. Teaching, whether done in a classroom or in a home actually requires effort from the teacher.
I will say it again for the people in the back. There is no perfect curriculum. There is no curriculum that allows the parent to opt out of their portion of homeschooling. Homeschooling will take the parent's time regardless of the curriculum you decide to purchase if you choose to go that route.
2. You don't actually need a curriculum.
I realize that for many people that statement is rather terrifying, but it's true. You can be interested in the world with your child... reading books, doing experiments, exploring the world, playing, writing, solving math problems, creating, chasing various interests down rabbits holes and discovering where you end up... and come up with a pretty great education. Because the learning has been generated by the learner, the chances are good that the content will be deeper and better retained than topics imposed by an outside source.
Now, while I do have radical unschooler tendencies, I am perfectly happy to use a curriculum for things such as math and grammar where someone else has come up with the exercises and problems in a systematic way, thus saving myself a whole bunch of time. I appreciate that since I would rather spend my time on history or geography or literature or... well, just about anything else. But there are those for whom figuring out a logical sequence of math skills or really delving into grammar is the fun thing about homeschooling, while history or science is really not at the top of their list. They would probably use curriculum differently than I do, spending their time creating what they are interested in and using someone else's planning for what they are not crazy about.
You don't have to have a PhD in every subject (or any subject) to design a perfectly acceptable plan for learning. I'd even be willing to suggest that most of the writers of K-12 curriculum do not, particularly homeschool curricula, are not written by PhD's. Don't discount the knowledge you have or your ability to find that knowledge for yourself so you can share it with your children.
3. Conversations with real human beings are far better than sitting in front of a screen.
Here is where I know I'm going to take some grief. That's okay. I'm even willing to say that for some children with certain learning differences that video/online/computer based curricula can be beneficial. However, I truly believe that most children fare best with real people, real objects, real conversations, and real books. It's just how our brains are wired. It's also one of the reasons remote learning has been so difficult. We need real.
Yet, time and again, I hear of homeschooling parents wanting to find not only the perfect curriculum, but one that is video-based, too. I think this is highly misguided, poor pedagogy, and a complete misunderstanding of the effort required of a homeschooling parent. (See item #1 above.) If you don't want to believe me, then find a copy of the book Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane Healy. She makes a well-reasoned and persuasive case for the place of dialog in children's education. If you haven't read it and if you have anything to do with children, you should find a copy of the book.
4. Curriculum doesn't know your child.
If I have learned anything about education over my 23 years of homeschooling and 27 years of parenting, it's that every child is very, very different. What works well for one child may not work at all for another. In our standardized world, we sometimes forget that differences are okay and even normal. Instead of assuming there is something wrong with the curriculum or the task we immediately assume there is something wrong with the child. This is ridiculous.
If you are going to use curriculum, you need to be able to look at something and say it is not right for a particular child, then either save it for later or skip it altogether. You won't be breaking any rules. You won't be ruining your child. No one will take away your homeschooling teacher's license. It is okay to use curriculum as the tool it is meant to be. Even if the fear mongering of the curriculum publishers tells you otherwise. A bad fit child to curriculum says nothing except that it was a bad fit. The curriculum may work well for someone else. Your child is not broken because a curriculum was a bad match. You're a homeschooler, you can kick it to the curb.
This is also the reason (well, one of the reasons) that a complete curriculum has never worked for me. It would be impossible to find something that would work equally well for all of my children, and I'd have to make up half of it anyway. If I'm going to make it up myself, I might I well create something that fits my family.
In reality, choosing (or not choosing) a curriculum for your family is a reflection of your underlying educational philosophy. Everyone has one whether they are aware of it or not, and sometimes what one thinks they believe about education is actually at odds to what they really believe based on their actions. If you want to be a successful homeschooler, you are going to need to spend some time really thinking about what learning is. What does it mean to be educated? What is the best way to learn? Can you learn without doing book work? How standardized does life need to be? What is the purpose of tests and grades? Does life need to be separated out into different subjects or is integration better? How much schoolwork is actually needed? These are the questions that need to be wrestled with. Once you have done that, then it will be easier to find what you need in terms of curriculum.
______
More (much more) writing about education, homeschooling, and practical homeschooling ideas can be found on my homeschooling page.
But that's not what I want to write about right now. As the school year ends, with most traditional students doing so with some form of remote learning, and as people look ahead to a very murky future as far as what life will look like, I am starting to see more and more parents considering the option of homeschooling, some with excitement because this has been the impetus they needed to finally make a jump they had been considering for a long time, others very reluctantly because they feel as if they have no choice. Questions on various homeschooling facebook groups reflect these two populations as well as everything in between.
Inevitably the first question that is asked is::What curriculum is good?
Boy do I find this a difficult question to answer. I know some homeschoolers do have a favorite all-inclusive curriculum that they love and has worked for their family. For them, it is a simple thing to share what has worked with that curriculum's name. And for some it is a great choice, I'm not discounting their experience. It just feels as though it is a far more complex issue than just accepting a popular name and shelling out the bucks.
So what are my issues with the choose the "right" curriculum and be done method? You knew I was going to tell you, weren't you?
1. There is nothing magic about a curriculum.
I admit it, when I first started, I did spend time looking for a specific curriculum (usually for a certain subject) that would solve all of my perceived homeschooling problems. If I had the "right" curriculum, then my children would always understand the content, they would be cooperative and eager, and our homeschooling days would be a joy. After spending far too much money on whichever curriculum a publisher touted as THE way to educate your child, I had to reluctantly accept the truth that had been niggling on the edges of my brain that I was looking for a unicorn. In fact, it would probably be easier to find an actual unicorn.
There is nothing special about any curriculum. They each lay out a scope and sequence, have activities, lesson plans, teacher's notes, and usually a whole lot of added cost features that you can invest in. When you get right down to it, there just aren't that many ways to teach the various branches of learning. A good teacher will take any curriculum, take what is useful, add in their own experience and knowledge, and make it a living lesson. Even with good curriculum, it still requires effort on the teacher (or parent) to breath life into it and make it interesting. I'm afraid that too many homeschoolers, especially new homeschoolers, think that by finding the right curriculum that they are off the hook. While a good curriculum can help, I'm afraid that you are most certainly not off the hook. Teaching, whether done in a classroom or in a home actually requires effort from the teacher.
I will say it again for the people in the back. There is no perfect curriculum. There is no curriculum that allows the parent to opt out of their portion of homeschooling. Homeschooling will take the parent's time regardless of the curriculum you decide to purchase if you choose to go that route.
2. You don't actually need a curriculum.
I realize that for many people that statement is rather terrifying, but it's true. You can be interested in the world with your child... reading books, doing experiments, exploring the world, playing, writing, solving math problems, creating, chasing various interests down rabbits holes and discovering where you end up... and come up with a pretty great education. Because the learning has been generated by the learner, the chances are good that the content will be deeper and better retained than topics imposed by an outside source.
Now, while I do have radical unschooler tendencies, I am perfectly happy to use a curriculum for things such as math and grammar where someone else has come up with the exercises and problems in a systematic way, thus saving myself a whole bunch of time. I appreciate that since I would rather spend my time on history or geography or literature or... well, just about anything else. But there are those for whom figuring out a logical sequence of math skills or really delving into grammar is the fun thing about homeschooling, while history or science is really not at the top of their list. They would probably use curriculum differently than I do, spending their time creating what they are interested in and using someone else's planning for what they are not crazy about.
You don't have to have a PhD in every subject (or any subject) to design a perfectly acceptable plan for learning. I'd even be willing to suggest that most of the writers of K-12 curriculum do not, particularly homeschool curricula, are not written by PhD's. Don't discount the knowledge you have or your ability to find that knowledge for yourself so you can share it with your children.
3. Conversations with real human beings are far better than sitting in front of a screen.
Here is where I know I'm going to take some grief. That's okay. I'm even willing to say that for some children with certain learning differences that video/online/computer based curricula can be beneficial. However, I truly believe that most children fare best with real people, real objects, real conversations, and real books. It's just how our brains are wired. It's also one of the reasons remote learning has been so difficult. We need real.
Yet, time and again, I hear of homeschooling parents wanting to find not only the perfect curriculum, but one that is video-based, too. I think this is highly misguided, poor pedagogy, and a complete misunderstanding of the effort required of a homeschooling parent. (See item #1 above.) If you don't want to believe me, then find a copy of the book Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane Healy. She makes a well-reasoned and persuasive case for the place of dialog in children's education. If you haven't read it and if you have anything to do with children, you should find a copy of the book.
4. Curriculum doesn't know your child.
If I have learned anything about education over my 23 years of homeschooling and 27 years of parenting, it's that every child is very, very different. What works well for one child may not work at all for another. In our standardized world, we sometimes forget that differences are okay and even normal. Instead of assuming there is something wrong with the curriculum or the task we immediately assume there is something wrong with the child. This is ridiculous.
If you are going to use curriculum, you need to be able to look at something and say it is not right for a particular child, then either save it for later or skip it altogether. You won't be breaking any rules. You won't be ruining your child. No one will take away your homeschooling teacher's license. It is okay to use curriculum as the tool it is meant to be. Even if the fear mongering of the curriculum publishers tells you otherwise. A bad fit child to curriculum says nothing except that it was a bad fit. The curriculum may work well for someone else. Your child is not broken because a curriculum was a bad match. You're a homeschooler, you can kick it to the curb.
This is also the reason (well, one of the reasons) that a complete curriculum has never worked for me. It would be impossible to find something that would work equally well for all of my children, and I'd have to make up half of it anyway. If I'm going to make it up myself, I might I well create something that fits my family.
In reality, choosing (or not choosing) a curriculum for your family is a reflection of your underlying educational philosophy. Everyone has one whether they are aware of it or not, and sometimes what one thinks they believe about education is actually at odds to what they really believe based on their actions. If you want to be a successful homeschooler, you are going to need to spend some time really thinking about what learning is. What does it mean to be educated? What is the best way to learn? Can you learn without doing book work? How standardized does life need to be? What is the purpose of tests and grades? Does life need to be separated out into different subjects or is integration better? How much schoolwork is actually needed? These are the questions that need to be wrestled with. Once you have done that, then it will be easier to find what you need in terms of curriculum.
______
More (much more) writing about education, homeschooling, and practical homeschooling ideas can be found on my homeschooling page.
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