Magic Curriculum

When we begin our homeschooling journey many of us don’t know what the heck we are doing. Don’t we all wish homeschooling was easy? I know I am not alone in my fantasies of that magic curriculum. That magic curriculum you purchase that will teach your children with ease, it will teach them everything they need to know about a certain subject with little to no effort from me because I personally don’t love that subject and I am tired!

We have all been there

I am sure we have all been in this place whether it is a subject that we despise or a season that is just really hard on us, we are all guilty of wishing for that magic curriculum that will teach our children on their own. However, homeschooling isn’t about self-teaching, it is about learning and at times exploring on your own but not navigating a whole subject area with the only curriculum to guide you.

Instruction is needed

Children need a sounding board, they need instruction and demonstration. They need big juicy conversations that explore their thoughts and the ideas and methods they are learning. So if you can put on your grown-up homeschool pants and dig into the curriculum, do some independent research, sit down at the kitchen table beside your student and dig into the subject. If you can’t, it is okay. We can’t always do it all. Just because you are homeschooling doesn’t mean that you the homeschool parent always has to be that sounding board, there are options open to us to make sure our children are getting the best even when we can not deal with it at the time.

There are alternatives

If we can’t be the one to teach and be that sounding board for a certain subject or for a certain season and we want to continue to homeschool than we need to invest in other plans. These other plans can be anything from private tutoring for the subject, online classes where your child can communicate with the instructor and classmates, homeschool co-op or even some time in traditional school if need be.

We all go through seasons that are difficult and you are not a failure if you can not do it all. However, as homeschoolers it is our duty to make sure that our children are still connected and learning, they can not do it on their own with magic or non-magic curriculum no matter how much it costs or how fancy and fantastic it is.