Guest Author - Meg Grooms

It's the middle of September and home schools around the country are back in session. This is about the time parents start to realize that maybe they made an error in judgment and purchased the wrong curriculum. Signs that a curriculum aren't working well are usually obvious (crying during school time) and sometimes not so obvious (chronic stomach aches, stress behaviors).

Sometimes the curriculum isn't the problem, rather the atmosphere is. Perhaps your student needs more or less structure, perhaps your idea of education and theirs don't mesh.

Regardless of the reason you aren't quite sure how to proceed. I know because I have been there and I seem to do the same thing year after year. What works for my family is to drop all pre-packaged curricula and start fresh with home-made unit studies based on the child's interest. What works for my family may not work for yours.

In times like these I find the words of those who have paved the path ahead of me comforting and insightful. I have selected a few of my favorites and I hope they provide encouragement to you as well.

“Education extends to all life. The truly educated person has only had many doors of interest opened. He knows that life will not be long enough to follow through fully.”
-Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, For the Children's Sake

“It seems to me that we live in an age of pedagogy...that parents are ready to yield the responsibility of directions, as well as of actual instruction, more than is wholesome for the children.”
-Charlotte Mason, Home Education

“A steady diet of [text] books deprives children of the joy of original thought. It turns them off to learning.”
-Ruth Beechick, You Can Teach Your Child Successfully

“Don't let self-proclaimed experts intimidate you. What was accepted as educationally sound a few years ago is now regarded as incorrect. Why? Because the experts are realizing that their inferior teaching methods and materials don't work.”
-Valerie Bendt, How to Create Your Own Unit Study

“But if you find yourself struggling to mold your child to a book, try reversing priorities. It's the child you are teaching, not the book. Bend the book or find another; make the studies fit the child.”
-Ruth Beechick, You Can Teach Your Child Successfully

New to Homeschooling?
Take a look at my ebook
Homeschooling With Confidence: A Plain English Guide to Homeschooling in the United States