Can I Switch Homeschool Curriculum
As we approach the first day of school something noticeably different was happening this year. Very little of my time was spent frantically researching curriculum. I have spent lots of time trying new things, switching curriculum, and asking other homeschoolers what they suggest.
It’s comforting really, to be fairly confident in what we are doing. So I wanted to share how we got here, how it took nearly 5 years and maybe give you some reassurances.
Our Journey
This year, 2022 we will be entering our 5th year homeschooling. Our first year began with a 6 year old kindergartener and a 3 year old toddler. So unsure of myself and this journey I spent hours researching “best homeschool curriculum”, “hands-on learning”, and things such as those. This continued through the first year. Every time we hit a hiccup I was researching something to fix it.
The next couple years were similar. Something surprising happened this year. I knew what we were going to use and with confidence. I’m not saying I’ll use the same curriculum forever or I won’t ever frantically research again but it was certainly nice to have one less thing to worry about.
Like everything else in homeschooling this curriculum path was not linear or did it come easy.
They Still Learned
The main thing I want to share is despite being unsure and switching curriculum once or twice…or thrice my children still learned and they learned a lot at that.
When children are consistently being taught, read to, having discussions with you on a day to day bases the only thing that can happen is they will learn!
My daughter learned to read and do math and her passion was science so she learned a ton on that!
No matter which curriculum I tried out it continued us on our path. Albeit some made it easier and some made it more difficult but that was all part of seeing what worked.
If I could tell myself one thing 5 years ago it would be “these kids are smart so just keep looking forward momma, you did not and will not fail them”.
There Will Still Be Changes
In case you think I’m saying that I got it all figured out, I don’t! I know very well that at any moment things may stop working for us. The curriculum may need to be tweaked or even changed. We will likely try lots of different things this year but maybe with a lot less worry.
Changing the Curriculum?
So to the question “can I switch homeschool curriculum?”
The answer is yes! It will be an adjustment. It may present some hiccups but it also may be the best thing you ever did! The real question is “does this change serve me and my children enough that it is worth these hiccups?”
Often times curriculum changes in public schools can be a problem. Unlike public school though we have a way smaller class size and it is glaringly obvious when something has been missed or skipped over in any curriculum transitions.
So as long as we are on the look out for that, a comfort is knowing most curriculum cover similar things within the grade.
Thanks so much for coming by. Be sure to check out what we are doing daily on our Instagram here. Also checkout our curriculum year end review here and here to see how everything worked for us this year.