Don’t Panic–How to Choose a Curriculum

So you’ve got junior at home now.  And then it hits you–what am I supposed to teach him–how am I going to teach him–I don’t know how to teach him–WHAT HAVE I DONE!? As I’m always telling my son, the first rule is “don’t panic.”  Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you can do this.  You may not know how, but you’ll figure it out.  The following are some suggestions on how to go about it.

Give yourself some time

Most people realize that they are going to need some time to review their curriculum options but they often forget that they need time to figure out what works best for their children.  You may already have some idea about your child’s learning style in that it didn’t fit in with the school’s teaching style.  So now you need to know what works best or you’ll just be setting yourself up for frustration.

If you’ve decided to make the change at the end of the school year, you’ve got all summer to plan.  Don’t let it slip away.  If you withdrew your child during the school year, it’s especially important for you to sit down and make a plan, even a schedule for research.  Whatever your plan may be, simply having one will help alleviate your feelings of panic.

Learn to live with one another

One last note for working mothers who are quitting full-time jobs to homeschool.  If at all possible, quit at the beginning of summer rather than the end.  It will easily take you two to three months to learn to live with your child fulltime.  You have both been used to different schedules and interacting with one another in set circumstances.  Those will radically change with homeschooling–give yourselves time to adjust.

This is all fine and dandy you may say, but what do I do with junior in the mean time?  Remember, learning about junior or juniors, is part of this process.  Spend this time trying different activities to find out what is most effective for all involved. Take the kids to the local museums, check out books and videos from the local library, download worksheets and unit studies from the internet, read the local paper, and so on.

There are plenty of resources on how to choose a curriculum so I won’t try to duplicate them here.  Just remember, don’t panic, and a couple of weeks without a set curriculum won’t prevent them from getting into Harvard.

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