Welcome back as we continue our 10 Days of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Homeschooling!

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Finding the right curriculum fit for your needs and your family is so important! Today we meet Dawn from Guiding Light Homeschool, who shares what she has learned through her curriculum challenges and the changes she has made to overcome them!

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Chaos and Craziness

Meet Curriculum Change

When it comes to being challenged as a homeschool mom, there are very few moments where I don’t feel a bit out of my league! This is our third year homeschooling and we have two boys, ages 15 and 4 so the older one is where my time has been mainly focused so far. The majority of our time has been “de-schooling” him – teaching him to think for himself and search out answers – this has been no easy task, for him or us. But now he’s in high school – next year he will be in 10th Grade! (my where has the time gone?) so I found I wanted something MUCH MORE than what I have been offering him so far, something with MEAT, not just potatoes. : )

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The last three years have consisted of me “throwing things together” for him…along with doing reviews, which only made things “worse” when it came to having ANY CLUE what we were actually doing (not that I didn’t love doing the reviews – I DID! but I came to realize that reviews for him needed to be minimal, if not totally removed). Anyway, over the last three years I have “picked here and dabbed there” and bought 99% of our curriculum used, piecing things together as I could and trying to figure out his learning style and what worked, or didn’t work (as was the majority it seems) for him.

EVER FEEL THIS WAY??

And the biggest challenge? LESSON PLANNING. Oh my, let’s just not even go there, okay? Seriously. Every Monday morning I find myself with all his books trying to figure out where he is with his assignments and what he needs to be doing for the upcoming week. A large challenge of this has been figuring out HOW MUCH to give him…what is too much? what is too little? What exactly should he be doing as a high school student? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? *grin*
So Chaos and Craziness Meet Curriculum Change! Everyone watch out – momma teacher bear is takin’ over! I have made some MAJOR changes – I quit doing so many reviews that required my oldest son (I do still do some with him but they are ones that *I* pick so they fit more into where we are) and the biggest change will be starting next year and I am SO VERY EXCITED!

We purchased an entire new curriculum that has everything in it and the lesson plans are done too! I am going to be in heaven (or as close as I can get while here on earth). I cannot tell you how excited I am! I look at all the books and lesson plans all the time and thank and praise the Lord that we will have everything we need for the entire year – WHEN WE START THE YEAR (what a concept). Is this how everyone else does it? Boy, they are smarter than I have been! Newbies, huh! (And not only did I order for the oldest, but I ordered for the youngest too! LESSON LEARNED! *grin*)

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So my prayer is that our entire family will “feel the change” next year and things will flow a bit smoother. I believe that just having the confidence that he has the proper assignments for his age and grade will help me A LOT…and you know the saying…”Happy Mom = Happy House!”
How have you handled your curriculum over the time you have been homeschooling? What has, or has not, worked for your family? I look forward to hearing.
Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Dawn is a woman of God who is married to the love of her life. She works part-time, homeschools their two boys (since 2008) and loves animals. She enjoys learning what the Lord will provide for each day. You can find her over at her blog, Guiding Light Homeschool, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Image Credit: Orderly School Books:Attribution Some rights reserved by eren {sea+prairie}
Image Credit: Classic Books:Attribution Some rights reserved by Elsie esq.
Image Credit: Screaming Kitten (I call it “Homeschool stress!”):Attribution Some rights reserved by GalgenTX
Image Credit: Textbook Love:a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>Attribution Some rights reserved by blair_25

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Thank you for following along on our journey through 10 Days of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Homeschooling!

If you’re just now joining in, you can start at the beginning by clicking here.

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“The 10 Days” Series is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects. Visit them on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

To find ALL the blogs participating in this run of “The 10 Days” Series, click the image below, a collage of photos for all 28 ladies participating. You’ll be blessed with tips on how to handle bad days, cultivating curiosity, teaching with Legos, and much, much more. Many thanks to iHomeschool Network for organizing this fun blog hop!

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Amber

Hey, y’all! I’m Amber and I wear many hats. I drink a ton of coffee and I’m constantly sweeping crumbs off the floor. After 20+ years of homeschooling, we are starting over at preschool with our fourth, Lil Miss Mouse. She keeps us young and she’s the main reason for my excessive coffee consumption. Drink up!