You’ve Consumed Enough Curriculum---God Wants You to Start

Education is more than simply academics. Curriculum matters, yes, but it's only a part of what you're doing. You're discipling the whole child, not just assigning bookwork. So stop overthinking this. Stop doubting yourself and your choices. Stop waiting to feel ready. God called you to teach your children. It's time to trust that call and begin. When we were young parents and our oldest son was turning 5 or 6 about kindergarten age, we were confident that God was moving us toward homeschooling. It was a perfect fit for us at that time. My husband was working swing shifts and this meant that he wouldn't have to miss seeing his dad because of being away at school all day. There were other reasons too. We wanted more time with our kids and having been a public school teacher, I felt confident that he could get an excellent education at home in much less time. First and foremost, as Christians, we wanted to also give him an education that came from a biblical worldview. So we stepped out in faith to homeschool, not really knowing exactly what it would look like, and of course I started looking into curriculum. This is the stage in homeschooling where I do think it's really important to do the work and to research, to take your time, because I do think there is a lot of benefit to sticking with the same curriculum as much as possible. So in the beginning, this is a big step because you don't know what your homeschool is going to look like, especially if you haven't homeschooled before, you haven't tried the curriculum, you really do have to use something before you can see how it's going to work. So this beginning step of picking your curriculum is important and you shouldn't take it lightly. However, I also see a lot of moms camping here in this spot permanently. Early on in our homeschool years, providentially, God brought four other families into our lives who are also in the same spot. We were all thinking about homeschooling but not really sure. Our oldest kids were starting kindergarten. We ended up meeting up every week in each other's homes and this eventually turned into a co-op, which we're still a part of today. The beauty of this was that we would get together and I could talk with all these other moms who were doing the same thing and we would ask each other questions. Whenever we would hit roadblocks, how are you doing this? Or do you ever have a problem with this? How do you manage the housework and homeschooling? All those questions that we moms have, we were able to get together. And honestly, I think for homeschool moms, co-ops or just meeting up with other homeschool moms is just as important for the mom as it is for her kids. Having some friends around you that are doing the same thing is the kind of support that's going to help you keep going over the long haul. This kind of community is so important and it's great to to see so much support online through groups, through YouTube channels and blogs. There's so much out there to support homeschool families now. We're living in a great time. But one thing that can inevitably happen as you gain more support and see all the interesting ways that people are educating their kids at home is you can begin to compare yourself. Every new trendy curriculum becomes a temptation. You can begin to doubt yourself because you're not as smart or as crafty or as fun as that other homeschool mom. And comparing can cause you to forget that God has given these children to you. He's fully equipped you. And education is not just about academics. It's about the whole child. Before I move on, if you're new here, hi my name is Sheri. I'm a Christian homeschooling mom married to my high school sweetheart Nelson and together we have 10 kids. I love encouraging other moms here on my YouTube channel and on the blog ourlifehomeschooling.com. I've also recently joined made to homeschool as a quarterly contributor. Made to homeschool is a thriving community dedicated to supporting Christian homeschool families as they raise the next generation of godly leaders. I'm going to be doing a live workshop on Monday March 9th at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on homeschooling littles and bigs at the same time. I'd love for you to join me and I'll leave the link for that below. Back to our conversation on finding homeschool support. As you begin to meet other homeschool families and as you ask around and talk with other moms and see what they're doing, that kind of encouragement is so helpful. But you almost have to put blinders on while it's great to see what other moms are doing with their kids or some interesting curriculum they're using or what they're learning. It doesn't necessarily mean you need to jump ship and try this other new thing. There will always be a shiny object that appears to be so exciting. But especially if you took the time in the beginning to pick your curriculum, there are so many benefits to sticking with it. Especially for math, one of the biggest benefits is what I like to call the trickle-down effect that as your oldest child moves through their lessons and through learning, the younger kids are sitting there right beside them picking up on everything. The format, the concepts, so that when it comes time for them to start that lesson or that concept, it comes much more easily to them. Not to mention, when you stick with the same curriculum, your kids get a comprehensive mastery of the content and you also get better at teaching it. While your friend's exciting new curriculum looks fascinating to you, just remember that when you switch, you have to spend several weeks, sometimes months, learning that new curriculum and understanding how it's laid out. Whereas when you stay with what you've been using and tweak it, adjust it. I've adjusted every curriculum I've ever used. If I see something that's interesting, I don't completely jump ship. I just change some things. You have the freedom to do that as a homeschool mom. When you do this, you are continuing to teach your kids instead of having the setback of having to learn something new. So if this is you and you are always enamored with the latest and the greatest, I just want to encourage you that your homeschool can be simple. If you, like me, know that God has called you to do this, don't waste precious time floundering between how to do it. Just get started. And what I've learned is that you just learn so much as you go. You get better at different things. I've learned how to teach math just from doing it with several children. You get better at it as you go. Just to share a few things the kids have been learning this week, our four-year-old has shown interest in writing her letters. So my philosophy with young kids like this is as soon as they start asking, when they start looking at the cereal boxes and trying to pretend read and trying to write their name, then it's ready. It's time to sit down with them and start showing her little by little. So she's really loved that this week. And then our seven-year-old has been learning his fours and fives tables in math and we do this through skip counting and flash cards. Our nine-year-old is doing problems with money this week and she's also reading Child's History of the World where she's learning about the invasion of Rome. Our 11-year-old is learning factoring in math. In morning time this week we read the missionary story of Hudson Taylor who founded the China Inland Mission and we also started our new artist Mary Cassatt and I just love her paintings because she seems to paint a lot of pictures of families or mothers and children which I really enjoy. We finished up reading George Washington with my younger kids. This is by Ingrid and Edgar Dallaire and our seven-year-old has been doing copy work with us. I have some free copy work on the blog. I'll link it below. Our older girls are in a podcasting and Shakespeare class at co-op so they've been working on something. But as we're talking about comparison, another pitfall that can happen so easily is for us to think that academics is the main thing. We forget that we're shaping the whole child, their character, their spiritual formation, teaching them life skills. In midwinter January and February we do a lot of book work because it's cold outside and we're all indoors but as soon as it gets warmer we are teaching our kids outside with gardening and preserving and our kids are a part of all of it. There's more to children than just the academic side. What about teaching them to be kind, to have compassion for other people, to be a good friend, teaching them to be honest even when it's hard, to do the right thing, to be real outflow of who we are but it goes much deeper than the academics. We care about the whole person. With these cold months we've been trying to get outside every day. I know the fresh air and sunshine is good not just for the kids but it's good for me so we make that a priority. But I think we're all getting really anxious for spring. In the afternoons we are still reading our island story about one chapter or two a week and what's really nice when you have older kids is sometimes my older kids will read for me and this is nice. I finished up the Saturdays this week by Elizabeth Enright and I think we're going to move on to her next book which is The Four Story Mistake. This is a series I'm reading with my younger kids and I'm still reading through God's Double Agent, the story of Bob Foo with the older ones and we are all loving it. The last thing I want to challenge you with when it comes to comparison, it not only can cause you to overthink your curriculum and to forget that curriculum isn't everything, you're teaching the whole child, but it can also cause you to forget that God has given your kids specifically to you and you are fully equipped to teach your child. Don't fall for the idea that a quote expert automatically knows better when it comes to your child. You're their parent. That's your qualification. You know what makes them tick, where they struggle, what they're good at, and how they learn best. No one knows them the way you do and above all this responsibility was entrusted to you. Stop doubting yourself and just get busy doing what he's called you to do. Thanks for watching. I do one video a week on homeschooling encouragement for everyday moms. I'll see you next week.