Homeschooling this year?
Posted by: dhaley <dhaley@...>
curriculum. I've always been big on unit studies and have never done the
textbooks. However, this past year, my eldest was a 9th grader. He seemed
to get frustrated with our unit study approach. I've always sort of
combined the unit study approach with a classical bent, with a bit of the
eclectic thrown in. One day in frustration David blurted out a statement
that stung to the heart. He said "mom, I'm never done! There's always more
to study on this subject, there's always more work. If this is what school
is all about I don't want to go to college. I need time to do the things I
like to do and not worry that I have all this undone schoolwork".
I had just been thinking the same thing about how burned out I was getting
with farm life. How depressing it was that there never seemed to be an end
in sight to all the work. My son expressed that same frustration. After
discussing this with hubby we prayed and decided to make a temporary change
and see how it went. We ordered the LA program from Covenant Home
Curriculum. It was a detailed program with clear cut guidelines yet
appealed to the classcial in me. We also switched Rachel at the same time.
They both love it. It's really working for us. It seemed to really relieve
alot of the homeschooling stress/burn out we'd been feeling. We have since
decided to stay with Covenant for the Fall for several reasons. 1) it was
the only "canned" type curriculum that allowed me the flexibility I desired.
2) it was classical in nature and seemed to have solid Bible without a
denominational bent
3) it allowed us to use the Apologia science and Jacobs Algebra and Geometry
(something we were already using and liked).
4) They do use some textbooks (BJU) but write their own teacher's materials,
lesson plans, tests and worksheets. The worksheets provide for alot of
dialog and interaction with the teacher and their family as opposed to the
typical classroom canned type answers.
Just my two cents. I've learned that we need to be open to change as our
lives change and the needs of our children change....Deanna