Home Schooling and Second Guessing

Home Schooling and Second Guessing sometimes go hand-in-hand. Home school expert Terri Camp explains how she makes curriculum (and other) home school choices.

With the rise of home schooling in America has come also a natural progression of products for every style of child, and every style of parent. This can also be confusing for us. Homeschooling and second-guessing? Yes, even the seasoned home schoolers second-guess if they have chosen the right method for their children.

I am not immune to the second-guess game. I have a library full of the best stuff on the market. Some I chose with the best of intentions. Some I chose because the speaker was powerful, dynamic, and made me think that if I had this perfect curriculum, my child would, dare I say, be nearly perfect.

For teaching my children to read I have used the full gamut of products. I used Alpha-Omega, ABeka, Pathway Readers, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and the Bible. I have started them at five-years-old, and delayed them until they were ready. So far, the oldest five can all read. I guess one of those things was the right way.

I have lamented about a child’s atrocious spelling. I have broken pencils over a child not understanding a math problem. I did not break it over the child’s head! I broke it on the floor in the bathroom where I was also nursing a sick child at the time. Perhaps it was just too much stress.

I have cried out to my husband that I just did not understand why one of the kids did not think Latin was fun! I thought it was fun. What is wrong with this child? "Or is it the curriculum?" I wonder. Couldn’t be the teacher. We’ll rule that one out right away. I mean after all, I was fun, used all the learning styles I could think of, made up silly stories to go along with the phrases, wrote on the white board in her favorite color. I even gave her a spiral notebook to use. Still she didn’t like Latin.

She also didn’t find great favor with a classic book I had chosen for her to read. She appealed to her dad who said she didn’t have to read it. Is it okay to get a new principal midstream? I pondered the thought for a second, then decided he was probably better than most so I would keep him on staff.

He told me I was being inflexible with her. My mouth dropped open. I am the most flexible home-school mom there is. Show me a more flexible mom and I will show you a gymnast!

But, after thinking about it, I realized that he was right. I wanted her to read the book because other kids were reading the book. I wanted her to read the book because I thought it would help her to read something that was full of sarcasm. I wanted her to fall in love with French Revolutionary history. She didn’t want to. She didn’t care about it. And the book was just plain hard to read. So I changed my plan for her.

By the time I had begun the formal education of my fourth child, I had become quite relaxed with the whole thing. I didn’t force stuff on him. I didn’t make him read right away. I allowed him to fly through his Saxon math books without holding him back.

One of the greatest elements of being a home-schooling mom is that we know our children’s strengths and we know their weaknesses. This can also be one of our greatest challenges as well.