Living My Days With Passion, Purpose, and Pizzazz

It alone, was worth the price of admission to the convention, to have the ability to look at all these curriculum choices in person. I am quite visual and find that I really need to look through and touch these textbooks to figure it all out. If that wasn’t enough, we got to talk to reps too. Our basic line was walk up to a booth and say, “Go! Tell me everything wonderful about your curriculum”. Apparently by the look of shock, that wasn’t the usual question. Ha ha. We got TONS of information. A little overload on the brain, but worth it.

What is the best way to teach phonics and why was the Bob Jones rep dissin’ the Abeka Way to teach it? I have no clue. So, I walk into that exhibit hall expecting that all the “ways” to teach lead to the end result of learning. Are some better than others? I am sure they are, but as an upcoming second year homeschool mom with a background in event planning and nannying, I can not make an educated decision on this subject any more than I can decide the best course of treatment for someone who is ill. I literally didn’t even understand his words while he was explaining it. When it comes to textbook driven, literature driven, etc…THAT I can pick to the best of my knowledge for my child, but the rest I am leaving up to the experts. I am choosing to stick with well known, established, and well reviewed companies and trust that they have the “how to learn part” figured out for me.

After all the research, time, and conversations these three companies were my favorite…

I heart Abeka…

~I LOVE the way Abeka’s text books are laid out. They are beautifully illustrated and easy to follow and understand. I really like their younger grade curriculum. It is engaging and adorable.

~I find their prices to be very competitive. They are a lot lower than at least what I have seen out there for traditional style learning.

~It is God integrated, truly. There are Bible verses everywhere and God is found in everything from word problems to science discoveries.

I do not heart Abeka’s…

~Bible program. It seems quite old fashioned to me, pretty pricey, and is not very interactive.

~Lesson plan books. Although they are all done for you and laid out day by day. My brain and their organizational method are not friends. They verge on enemy status and it’s pretty frustrating.

I heart Sonlight…

~This company exists for the homeschooling family. You are not using a curriculum designed for the classroom yet adapted for home. It is designed for a home learning environment. It does make a difference.

~Curriculum is designed to teach multiple grade levels at a time. It is laid out by age range and grade range. So if you kids are within a three years or so of each other. ONE CURRICULUM LEVEL, not two!

~It’s very easy to understand and put together. You can buy a newcomer kit or customize your own.

~They offer several math programs and handwriting programs, so you can choose what’s best for you!

~Tons of gorgeous books and more books. No textbooks.

~Incredible customer service. That’s huge to me.

~ Lesson plans and I are already BFF. They are not bound, laid out by week, and each week is on it’s own page.

Sonlight kinda scares me…

~ Literature based learning. No textbooks. No quizzes. No tests.

I say…WHAT? “They” say it works. I’m more than willing to step out of the box and try it.

Check out their website. It’s great. It will explain everything far better than I. Make sure and check out 27 reasons why families love Sonlight and 27 reasons why NOT to buy Sonlight. These two articles seem to do a pretty thorough job of explaining Sonlight.

I HEART TEACHING TEXTBOOKS.

The end. Admittedly, I have not used it yet, but check out their website and tell me what is not to love. This is a math curriculum only. I am just a little excited about it.

My curriculum plan for 2010-2011 school year will be found in the next post. I have decided and it’s May, YAY ME!

Now there is just 40 school days left until summer.

Curriculum catalogs are daily arriving in the mail. Registration forms for endless amounts of homeschool conventions are joining them. I hear the excitement in blog world about curriculum ordering time! It’s landing upon us. There are coupons, ads, and free shipping deals everywhere.

There are SO many choices. They all kind of scare me, honestly. There is a trap out there of endless planning and purchasing curriculum. I have seen it and don’t want it to become the focus of school for us. I love party planning and event planning. Believe me, sitting in that trap, would be quite comfortable for me. Looking through catalogs and living online for hours is not out of the question. Choosing from all the bright new shiny books, fun educational helps, charts, planners…and what about all the extras involved with electives, field trips and art? I’m hyperventilating just thinking about it.

The bottom line is this. The end result hopefully will be the same with whatever method or curriculum company you choose. Learning. So, how much does it REALLY matter? I have no answer for this, unfortunately.

I have read that if a curriculum isn’t working. Stop using it and try something new. I have to say, I am not sure I agree with that 100% of the time. Especially when you are new to homeschooling. Simply because it could usher you right into this trap of never really getting to the learning aspect. Maybe down the line if I had more years of experience behind me, I could see this being the case.

A big lesson I have learned after my extensive 113 days of homeschooling behind me is: Don’t forget to TEACH. After all this is homeSCHOOL. Don’t get caught up too much in the how, where, when, and why. If you do you may never actually get to looking at the “what” of it. Homeschooling is not simply about the curriculum. Learning how to balance both teacher and mom, how to integrate school into our home, help my children through the adjustment of being at home, and deal with the new found relationship dynamics in my home. These are at the top of my priority list, for now. The way I figure it, there are EXPERTS who are writing and producing all of these fab books and programs. They have sometimes hundreds of years behind them. I’m pretty sure they are all gonna work, right?

Curriculum is important, do not get me wrong. It just needs to be in the correct place on the priority list. It’s too easy to become consumed. Being overwhelmed will make me lose sight of all of the valuable things.

School days march on. Vacation is staring at me. I can hear it calling…

Now there is just 56 school days left until summer.