Last year was our first year of homeschooling. I bought portions of a preplanned curriculum last year, but with the intention that I was just using parts of it and would just plan the whole thing myself. (Then I sold most of it shortly after starting the school year anyway.)
And that was just what I did all school year long -- I planned everything, and almost all from different sources. But, do you know what? I was exhausted. I was sometimes planning right while we were doing school. As long as I stayed one subject ahead of the kids, I felt like I was keeping up.
Not only did I suffer because of this, but I realized they were suffering with it too. I was often stuggling to get in all of our core subjects, and was neglecting many of the subjects that were the very things that I was excited that I would be able to do with them while we homeschooled.
This year, I decided that I couldn't do it all. So, I did some serious research (and prayer!) about what I needed to do. I finally settled on Winter Promise for next school year. Although I will continue to plan out several of our subjects, I am letting them plan our social studies, reading (not language arts, just reading), and science. We use Horizons for math, so there is not really much planning involved at this point. Not only does this free me up to focus on the parts that I will be planning within the core subjects, such as Language Arts (which encompasses so much!) and Religion, but it also frees me up to add in things that we were really lacking, like art and music, as well as subjects like Spanish (Rosetta Stone) and Typing.
Now that I am giving up on planning it all myself, I'm actually excited for next school year. And, even better -- my kids have been so excited as they see all of the fun books coming in to the house to go along with Winter Promise. And, really, that was one of the biggest reasons that we started homeschooling -- we just wanted them to be excited to learn. But, if I can be excited about it too, then that's even better!
This post is linked to Thirsty Thursday.
photo by jimmiehomeschoolmom
3 comments:
I can relate! I really wanted to be one of those moms who planned everything out for her kids, but I realized rather quickly that it just wasn't possible for me. I finally realized I needed curriculum that required me to actively participate in the learning process, but not necessarily the planning process. Once I figured that out, it was so much more fun and educational for all of us!
This is the second time I've heard about Winter's Promise. I'm not familiar with that curriculum at all. I need to look into it I suppose. :)
I give you a lot of props, Angie, for homeschooling!!! I tell this to every homeschooler I meet. I don't think I personally could do it. I give "mini-lessons" here and there, but I honestly believe that I would be a very strict teacher (even though I was one in my past life) to my own teacher. Maybe strict isn't the word, but expecting so much that it wasn't achieveable. Does that make sense?
BTW, I found an old globe at a thrift store for $3 with all the continents raised...painted it with chalkboard paint so the kids can identify continents, oceans, countries. Maybe that can help with any geography lessons if you come across an old globe. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow on my blog, since today is about my fireplace.
I've heard great things about Winter Promise. I look forward to hearing what y'all think about it.
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