Don't be a Prisoner to your Curriculum

One of things I had to come to realize as a new homeschool mama is that my children or myself should not become captive to our curriculum. What do I mean by that?  Well, there's some wonderful people out there that take the time to put together some amazing curriculum, with everything all nice and planned out for you, they have suggested booklist, suggested activities, I mean they have it all planned out for you, from beginning to end!  That sounds awesome, right?  Yes, it is and it's such a relief knowing that everything is laid out for you, however, you can quickly become stressed and/or overwhelmed.



We use one of those curriculum, and in the beginning I was trying to do it all from beginning to end. I did EVERYTHING the teacher's manual said whether we were interested or not. We quickly became burnt out, stressed out, overwhelmed, and bored.  Why did this happen?  Well, because I was so caught up in completing what was scheduled in the teacher's manual, doing it the way that the teacher's manual had it laid out that I became lost in the curriculum. I was no longer paying attention to what my children needed or wanted. I wasn't focused on how my children learned, or how I could accommodate their learning skills.  I completely forgot all of those things,  and so, school was not fun anymore. We were not ourselves. We were who the teachers manual said we were, if that makes sense. Everything was a disaster at this point.   How did I correct this bad habit?   I had to tailor the curriculum to fit our family and each one of my children's need. I learned that the teacher's manual and all the fancy scheduling is just a guideline,  it is not a requirement. What let me say that part again. It is NOT a requirement for you or your child.  We started adding to it and taking away from it.  When my kids wanted to learn more about a topic we took a break from the "scheduled" layout and we added and pulled in more about that topic.  The library is an awesome resource for this.   If we were covering something my kids were not interested in we would move past it more quickly. You can always reintroduce it later in life.   We are homeschoolers and that's one of the perks.   Be encouraged mamas!  This is not a race or a competition.  When my children struggle in an area we pulled from other sources, add in games, read stories, etc. so that we master that concept.  Using YouTube, the library, talking to other moms, etc.  I wanted to be sure they truly understood a concept before moving on, if that meant we've been in school for 20 weeks and we are only in week 10 of the curriculum, that's fine.  It's not a race!  Don't let your curriculum stress you or your child out!  It's not worth it.  We started taking breaks when they were needed. We would put the books away pull out documentaries, check out the museum, take field trips, etc.   We enjoy our curriculum so much more nowadays, that it is not holding us captive 😉  I hope this encourages someone!