Hey Guys!
Earlier this year we started our very first year of homeschool. M (age 5) started kindergarten and I only cried a few times while my mama heart was wondering where in the hell all this time went?! Once I finally got my crap together, I had to start planning a curriculum for the year. Let me just start by saying that finding the curriculum that best fits your child is even harder than the teaching aspect of homeschool. I spent hours researching different curriculums until I finally came across one that I liked. Well guess what! 5 weeks into the curriculum, we sadly found out it was NOT the one that would stick. Back to the drawing board. Instead of going back to the internet blindly, I decided to post on Reddit (r/homeschool) and ask for websites that laid out some general standards/guidelines for kindergarten. I had already looked at Florida’s state standards and they were so oddly specific and not listed in a fluid order for teaching. That would require me to write out/create ALL lessons and make sure these oddly specific standards were included in them. I’m sorry, I have 3 children that require my attention…there is literally no way I have the time to create an entire state standard based curriculum on my own without ever having any kind of guidance or education on how to even create a curriculum.
When you ask the internet for help, get ready for a wide range of judgmental recommendations. I had people responding to me as if I was the 5 year old. I had someone recommend a website for children who have learning disabilities? I had people responding to the post telling me to look at my state’s standards and go from there. Like I said, I already did look at the state standards and it was not what I was looking for. Finally, one kind soul offered me a different resource that was exactly what I was looking for. The standards set out for kindergarten were laid out in teaching order and although they were very specific, they were just the basic guidelines I was looking for. The site has links and resources along with games on the computer for children to learn each subject and it’s broken down by subject. Score!!!
Over the summer I spent hours going through and organizing the curriculum we chose. I still really liked it and thought it was going to be a great way to introduce my son to home school. It was literary based and he loved being read to. We decided to buy the books required periodically as we needed them so I didn’t read the books before we needed to. Big mistake. The books were not holding his attention. Not even a little. I do like the books that we purchased so far but I do think they were a bit over his head. They are definitely geared more toward 1st or 2nd grade. So after getting extremely discouraged after only a few weeks of our first year, I decided to bail on this particular curriculum and find something else. We are in the process of starting the new curriculum but I am hopeful this one will stick.
The point of all this home school talk was just a reminder that parenting is literally a never-ending cycle of pivoting. Not the Ross Geller pivoting to get a couch up the steps although, it does often feel like parents have the weight of a couch on their shoulders. We always want to do right by our children. We want to see them grow up into happy, functional and successful adults regardless of the different paths we decide for them in their childhood. Home school parents want their kids to grow up to be just as successful as kids who go to public or private schools. Whatever path is chosen, success and happiness are the ultimate goals.
When there's a bump in the road, it’s important to keep the main goal in focus and find another path to get there. There is so much more to life than the education obtained in a school setting. By explaining to M that we have to adjust our home school routine and subject matter, is also teaching him how to pivot and adapt when things don’t go according to plan. I have learned that as long as we are putting our best foot forward in parenting and making sure our children are happy, healthy and learning, they will reach that end goal of success and happiness.
I am and always have been the lady with a plan. I typically plan out a bunch of scenarios in my head so when something doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to I have already considered a plan B, C, D and E. Parenting has helped me a little bit when it comes to planning (aka controlling) every situation because let’s face it, toddlers and babies are the most unpredictable little things on this Earth. It’s still a work in progress but the first step is acknowledging your problem, am I right?! Ha.
Mental Sweat Exercise: Next time there’s a hiccup in one of your plans (short term or long term) think about different ways you can teach your children to pivot and adjust. This will obviously depend on the age of your children. And if you don’t have any children, when something doesn’t go as planned, you can think about how to get better at allowing changes and paths to change.
Thanks for reading along and I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Please feel free to spread the word and share these posts if you like them. I’d also like to recommend another page I’ve been following that I love! Emily and her family have seemed to master the pivots life has thrown at them and their journey is so fun and inspiring to watch unfold. She’s handling it all like a boss while homeschooling her children! You go, mama! Click here to follow along!