Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

Welcome

10 Signs to Know When to Walk Away from “Perfect” Curriculum

| 11 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I’m sharing 10 signs to know when to walk away from the perfect curriculum. Also, look at my page The Best Homeschool Curriculum by Grade Level for more tips.

The perfect homeschool curriculum is music to our ears or at least we think so.

Well, it was “perfect” homeschool curriculum at the time.

However, times change.

And having two homeschooled graduates, you think I would learn from my quest for the perfect homeschool curriculum.

Admittedly, I can be hard-headed, but I learned a few things as I knocked my head on the wall. (ouch, don’t do that)

10 Signs to Know When to Pitch the “Perfect” Curriculum

Sharing 10 tips to know when to walk away from the “perfect” homeschool curriculum hopefully you’ll not do some of these same things.

1. When your child out grows the curriculum.

You may think well duh, my children are getting older and they will outgrow it. No, I am not talking about that.

What I mean is that whatever made you decide to use the curriculum at that time and then suddenly the circumstance is not there, curriculum can turn from sweet to sour.

I have one son that went from wanting the full picture each day in his curriculum to a checklist.

The curriculum outgrew its usefulness and now becomes a burden. Time to move on.

2. When your child’s learning style changed.

Most kids are wiggly willies (meaning girls too) until about the age of 6 or 7 years old.

Along about 8 to 10 years of age, a child’s true learning style emerges. Normally, this learning style will be the one that will be with them longer or maybe even their whole life.

This happens at anytime and kids don’t wait to the first day of school to present their new learning style. But, you can start seeing frustration now in a curriculum that seemed to have worked before.

This happened to me with another one of my son and it was in the middle of a school year.

The textbook method to math no longer worked because his auditory learning style started to be dominant.

So in the middle of the year, I was on the prowl for a math curriculum that suited his auditory learning style.

 3. When you have to change your homeschool approach.

Saying that you’ll use the same homeschool approach your whole journey is a rookie mistake. I know, I did it.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to stick to a homeschool approach because it works for your family, but the problem is that life gets in the way.

Changing my homeschool approach because either I was pregnant, sick, or had to take care of aging parents are all things I’ve had to focus on.

Curriculum then becomes a burden when I don’t have time to plan it. Switching to a boxed curriculum was a welcomed relief.

It was easier to see this coming unlike some of the other signs.

Check out my tips at my article, Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean to Quit– Homeschooling Through Crisis.

4. When most of your days are filled with tears. (yours and your kids)

I thought this would be another one of those duh things that you think that most homeschool educators know, but I have tell you about helping a homeschooler one year.

I won’t forget her because no matter what her boys said about not understanding the method and curriculum she chose, it was going to be her way. They were going to use it.

She had great kids and their tears flowed because the curriculum just didn’t click with the kids.

However, because the curriculum fit her learning style, she wasn’t giving it up at any cost.

It was a pretty ugly standoff and ambitious homeschooling has a way of biting back.

Look at my article, Homeschooling for the Love of Learning – Does It Really Work?

5. When your curriculum makes you feel like you’re behind.

Pitch it. That is all there is to it.

When a curriculum takes over your life, your day, and your kids because it no longer is a tool but a taskmaster it’s time to walk away from it.

It really is very simple and uncomplicated though you may read a lot of curriculum tips that try to make you feel like its you or your kid’s fault. It is not.

Unless your child has learning disabilities, he is just where he should be.

Let me say that again. He is where he is suppose to be and not where the boxed curriculum touts that he should be.

Also, check out the tips in 102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum.

6. When you didn’t ask specific questions before you bought it.

It’s okay for one of your homeschooling friends to be over the moon excited about a curriculum. However, that doesn’t mean it will work for you because she has tremendous success.

Your kids are different and unique and so are you.

I have purchased curriculum based on suggestions before asking specific questions.

Questions like how long does it take you to get through the curriculum, how much teacher prep does it require, do you have to buy anything supplemental and can I use it with multiple ages are some very specific questions to initiate conversation.

7. When your curriculum doesn’t reflect your family’s values or goals.

When you start to homeschool, it seems like there are lot of things you are just suppose to know right from the beginning.

And knowing exactly the goals and values for your family is one of those things you need to know, but I also learned that goals and visions change and grow.

Do You Need to Unlearn these Homeschool Curriculum Habits

Whether you want to move toward more faith-based homeschooling or want to move toward a more secular approach, don’t wait to switch curriculum.

When a curriculum is not working, it sets your homeschool back.

Move forward by letting go of the weight of a curriculum that is not working.

8. When your teaching style has changed.

As you grow in your homeschool experience, there will be some subjects that you feel more comfortable teaching than others.

Some curriculum gives more detailed back ground information about a subjects than others do or they may not give enough background information. Your teaching needs changed and may be different than the present curriculum you are using.

What was a homeschool help at one time can become a hindrance.

Your teaching style will change, so don’t delay switching curriculum to breathe life into your teaching journey.

Also, I love trying out curriculum for free on a limited bases because it gives me a chance to see if it will work for me. You’ll love being able to do that with the Homeschool Buyers Coop. Although they have a lot of free curriculum during the summer to try out, they have many freebies throughout the year.

9. When you over buy one type and now need separate curriculum.

You are not alone. I think we all over buy at one time or the other.

But, what I am honing in on is that you may want to buy curriculum from different approaches.

For example, I have one son that likes textbooks and another son that wilts when one is pulled out.

Instead of buying or using the same curriculum across the board for all my children, I bought separate products that use a variety of homeschool approaches for each of my boys.

10. When you seem to be leaving more out than you’re covering.

This was the final straw for me when I left more curriculum out than I was actually using.

I knew that I had to change my curriculum. Becoming weighed down with curriculum caused stress instead of easing it.

There may be a lot of things you regret by the time you finish homeschooling, but switching to a homeschool curriculum that better suits your present needs won’t be one of them.

More Homeschool Curriculum Tips

10 Signs to Know When to Walk Away from the Perfect Homeschool Curriculum

11 AWESOME Ways to Learn Geography (Other Than Labeling a Map)

| 17 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Slapping down a map to label states and countries has never been an engaging way to teach my kids homeschool geography. Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Drill and kill of boring facts to remember only worked for a short time too.

So today, I am sharing 11 awesome ways to learn geography that don’t include labeling a map because geography is so much more than writing out the names of states and countries.

11 Awesome Ways to Learn Geography (Other Than Labeling a Map)

Can you say snore? zzzzzzzz. (okay, okay)

Including ways to teach geography to a variety of ages, I hope some of these help you to get out of your geography rut.

ONE|  Sing geography songs.

You can listen to a sample of these Geography Songs here.

Music helped my boys to remember important key geography terms and countries.

TWO|  Learn landmarks.

Learning about the Grand Canyon or the Amazon Rain Forest brings life to geography.

Even when teaching about ancient civilizations, it’s easier to remember them when they are associated with landmarks.

Look here at my information and free minibook about the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.

THREE|  Cover geography with science.

History and geography are not the only subjects that go hand in hand.

Geography Bundle

Science can also easily be added to geography.

Whether you have a child that eats up geography and could leave science alone or you have a child that runs from geography to study science, combining the two subjects is a win-win.

For example, we made a fun lava lamp when studying about how convection currents rise and fall.

FOUR|  Eat up and learn about geography.

Talking about eating, geography is especially fun if you can learn about the different foods of a country.

Isolating this idea more, focus on one food like the breads of the world or the spices of a country.

Have you seen the How Did That Get Here series?

And then you can never, never go wrong with making a food from a country or region.

Looked at a few things we have made when studying about certain areas.

  • Make pan au chocolat when studying about France.
  • Make celtic cakes when studying ancient civilizations.
  • Make baklava when studying about Ancient Greece.
  • Make victory soup when studying about the countries of World War II.
  • Make Cherokee pan bread when studying the states in the Southeastern United States.
  • Make soups from South America.
  • Make chili when doing a state study on Texas.
  • Make negrinho when doing a study about Brazil.

FIVE|  Make a DIY atlas.

My boys loved making a diy atlas when we studied geography using North Star geography for middle and high school kids.

Instead of labeling for the sake of busy work or so it seems like it to your kids, a diy atlas gives them a purpose for map making.

Make the project large if you are doing a world geography tour or make it only for a certain area if you don’t want to get too overwhelmed.

I like easy projects that focus on specific areas.

We tend to get more out of our projects when we can sharpen our focus on smaller chunks of information.

SIX|  Unleash your inner artist.

Another way to draw in a reluctant learner or to mix up your geography is to draw it.

Take a look at Geography Through Art or Mapping the World with Art.

Geography Through Art is a multi-age resource and has some terrific resources for hands-on activities.

SEVEN|  Use technology.

I love the free world geography games from Sheppard Software.

Shepphard Softward has been around for years and is another great way to change up geography. Another one we love is the stack the states app. The free version is fun.

EIGHT|  Do a lapbook or two.

You know our love for lapbooks and in most all of my lapbooks, I add in minibooks for geography.

Also, you can do a lapbook just on geography.

Check out the free geography lapbooks at Homeschool Helper Online.

NINE|  Living books and literature.

Another fun combination of subjects is to mix language arts with geography. A living book brings geography alive through a story.

Tell a child a story, adding in hands-on activities and they’ll see a purpose for learning about the world around them.

Though the series of books by Holling C. Holling say they are for upper elementary kids, they are such a precious and meaty resource that I feel you can use them for middle school kids too.

Also, grab this free 166 .pdf supplement to enhance your study of Paddle-to-the-Sea.

Then, I love these free vintage books that are recommend to study geography Charlotte Mason style. They are Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography and Long’s Home Geography for Primary Grades.

Scoot by and grab them if you are looking for free geography.

TEN|  Geography games.

Of course, who can deny the benefits of learning through games?

Have you seen GeoDice: Educational Geography Board Game and GeoPuzzle World – Educational Geography Jigsaw Puzzle?

ELEVEN|  Virtual travel.

And lastly, I love this unique and creative idea of virtual travel without leaving the comfort of your living room. Search for each day on her website. (day 1, day 2, etc. up to day 7)

Don’t settle for boring worksheets to teach geography.

Using one of these eleven ways, I hope will bring a little more pep to your step when teaching geography.

Hugs and love ya,

Also, check out the tips for First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography and also 3 Reasons Why Hands-On Geography is Important in Middle and High School.

Are you following my geography board on Pinterest on my first account?

Follow Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s board Ge-og-ra-phy {Earth Writing} on Pinterest.

And are you following my newest Pinterest account too?

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.

Save

22 Awesome Homeschool History Field Trips

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It’s one thing to read about the Holocaust in a book and quite another to bring history to life by visiting a museum and learning about the lives affected by this tragedy.

22 Awesome Homeschool History Field Trips. Bring history alive through interactive learning @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

History field trips have a way of not only making history fun, but places have a way of helping a child remember important dates, important people and events.

Moving from the book to visiting historical places makes learning history memorable and engaging.

Creative Ways to Give Life to Homeschool History

Look at this list of places to visit for history and oh yes, be sure to print off some copies of my forms below.

Historical Reenactments.

Civil War Battle Fields.

Old Plantations.

Renaissance Festival.

Historical Hotel.

Paddlewheel Boat Replica. (Enjoy a meal like they dined back in times past.)

Pioneer Village. (Learn about candle making, shoe cobbling and how to make soap to name a few activities. Call ahead and get a guided tour.)

Cemeteries. (Read about the people who lived in the past and read what the quotes say about older graves.)

State Capitol. (Our state capitol has homeschool days. Check with your state capitol.)

History Museum.

One Room School houses. (Super fun field trip if you have one in your area.)

Old Car Museum. (Learn about how people got around in times past.)

Old Stagecoach House. (We use to live near an old stage coach house. It was a place the stage coach stopped to change horses and for travelers to grab a meal.)

Old churches turned museum. (Many old churches have been turned into museums.)

More Homeschool Field Trips Resources

Old forts. (We visited the Alamo and tried to vision what life would have been like then.)

Visit war ships.

Historical part of a town. (Look for the historical markers and find old buildings. Also, look at the old advertising on the side of the buildings.)

Lighthouses. (This is next on our list to visit.)

Federal Reserve Bank. (We learned about the history of how money is made)

Library. (Read old newspapers and magazines.)

Courthouse. (If you call ahead, you can coordinate a viewing of old Wills and Deeds. So much fun reading what was willed to family members. You get an idea of every day items used back in the day that were important to a livelihood.)

Old people. (A truly valuable resource especially if you have an older aunt, uncle or grandparent that can tell your children about the past.)

Anything else to add to this list?

How many of these things have you done to make homeschool history come alive?

3 Ways You’re Making Homeschool Harder Than It Has to Be

| 10 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

3 Ways You're Making Homeschool Harder Than It Has to Be @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

3 Ways You’re Making Homeschool Harder Than It Has to Be

If only magic fairy dust could be sprinkled in my fairy tale land that I like to escape to when the hard times of homeschooling hit. And then all my homeschool woes could go away. I’m still waiting for it to happen.

In the meantime, sharing 3 ways you’re making homeschool harder than it has to be, I hope these tried and true tips will help you make some changes and sprinkle a little magic fairy dust for you.

1. STICKING POWER OF A SCHEDULE.

Wait, don’t run. This is not another tip about a schedule that holds a stranglehold on you, however, a workable schedule has sticking power and it relieves stress.

The magic fairy dust is that a schedule can be as detailed or not as you need it to be.

If you don’t have a schedule, you really aim for nothing in the day.

It can be as simple as scheduling zones in your day like a homeschool zone, a cleaning zone and a resting zone.

Divide your day into zones that work for your family and you’re done.

Simple, but effective schedules gives you a flow to your day.

I go into more detail in my article, How to Create a Homeschool Schedule that You Can Stick To. And if you are doing unit studies like I do, look at the flow to my homeschool day with this schedule.

2. ARE YOU STILL TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN AT SEPARATE GRADE LEVELS?

Believe me, transforming over to teaching multiple ages of children together only sounds like it’s for tough homeschoolers.

You know the ones you think that have it all together. They may or may not have it all together, but they have successfully tapped into a teaching tip from the past that has worked for homeschoolers for many years.

Staying Ahead of the Pack

The one room schoolroom is a thing of the past, but not for most homeschoolers.

The big scare factor when you have not taught multiple ages is thinking that you need to teach them all together at the same time.

Tap into the tips I share in 5 Days of the Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together series.

3. NOT TAKING TIME FOR YOU.

When I started homeschooling, I only read encouragement about eating right, taking vitamins and exercising to take time for you.

Though I love all those things and have done them throughout the years, I really crave time to read more, organize my house, write lesson plans, search for hands on activity.

Every mom is different, including me and sometimes my mom time includes meal planning or kitchen organizing.

It also includes using YouTube for workouts and lesson planning.

The longer I homeschool, the harder it is to separate teacher and mommy things I enjoy and I don’t need to because I am both of those things.

Homeschooling becomes a way of life and so in my mommy time, it’s about what makes me rock or relax for the day.

Things like organizing, meal planning, exercising with YouTube and doing nothing at times all fall under mommy time for me.

Create a simple, but effective schedule, learn from the past about how to teach children together and spend free moments in the day the way that relaxes and refreshes you.

You’ll also love these tips when you start back at the basics of homeschooling.

Day 1: Learn the Lingo – Then Go

Day 2: Homeschool Roots Matter

Day 3: What is NOT Homeschooling

Day 4: ” Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace” – Confronting Relatives & Naysayers

Day 5: Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round & ‘Round – So Get Off

Day 6: Homeschool Hangouts & Socialization Situations

Day 7: Tied Up With Testing?

Hugs and love ya,

Be sure you are following BOTH of my Pinterest Accounts for more tips on not just surviving homeschooling, but thriving, growing and flourishing.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.

Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

Go Ahead and Make a Mistake: Homeschool Without Fear

| 17 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Go ahead and make a mistake. Homeschool without fear @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Go Ahead and Make a Mistake: Homeschool Without Fear

Perfectionism somehow has been linked to excellence altthough they are completely different concepts.

Unintentionally, some homeschoolers feel that homeschooling is about making all the right decisions.

Messing our kids up for life can be a paralyzing and harder to shake for some homeschoolers than others.

Well, guess what? It’s okay. Go ahead and make a mistake. It’s the expectation of perfectionism that is the burden, not making a mistake.

The first of my many big homeschool mistakes was choosing the wrong reading program for Mr. Senior 2013.

Tears and the ugly cry followed. You know the kind of cry that is uncontrollable where you don’t want anybody to know that you can still cry like a baby.

However, after the ugly cry stopped, I could face constructive self-criticism that I wasn’t the excellent teacher I thought I was. It was a huge eye opener.

As I sat down wondering if I had messed my first homeschooled kid up for life, I realized then that my first mistake was like a huge exhale and really a relief. Wait, this wasn’t about me, my ego or my intelligence. It is about finding what is the best for my children.

The buildup to my homeschool mistake was far worse than actually the great big blunder.

How To Go from Stuck to Unstoppable

Instead of making me want to quit though, what I learned was that I knew deep down that mistakes were going to happen.

Who was I kidding? I am not into homeschooling by perfect parents. I am far from that.

To take that mindset one step further, as I examined my homeschool fears, I knew that to survive homeschooling I had to let go of my perfectionist tendencies.

Facing the fact that perfectionism is an ugly tendency is a giant first step in letting go of homeschool fear.

Perfectionist homeschoolers can be so busy or so they tell themselves that when in fact it’s procrastination because they want to find the perfect (?????) insert here: math, reading, history or whatever curriculum.

It didn’t mean that I had to let go of my standard of excellence in teaching reading, but I had to learn something from it.

Releasing the fear and facing a mistake dead on didn’t make my knees crumble, but it did make me stronger.

Mistakes are stepping stones to progress.

Must read book for new homeschoolers. 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers!

Not wanting to homeschool with constant stress because a perfectionist attitude makes me constantly wanting something better and bigger, I know accepting best, even mistakes meant that I was on the road to homeschool progress.

Learning from the mistake and now knowing what to choose or not choose whether it was a reading program or activity outside the house enriched my homeschool journey.

My mistakes moved me from novice to empowered educator. Look at my tips in my article, From Struggling Homeschooler to Empowered Educator.

Too, I have never wanted to be the kind of person who is wounded by criticism, let alone be that type of homeschool teacher.

Constructive criticism is part of making a mistake and being a novice. It is part of growing as a seasoned homeschooler.

When Teaching is Infectious and Contagious

Not only does making a homeschool mistake make you stronger, but it gives you empathy for other homeschoolers who are struggling.

It’s true that I can’t even start to be an awesome teacher unless I learn first from my mistakes and then help others.

Homeschooling is not for cowards or the faint-hearted because it takes courage to learn from the mistake and not make the same mistake again.

Removing the fear of a mistake or perfectionism allows room for excellence to grow in our homeschool journey.

Don’t let fear breed, cripple, poison, and paralyze your homeschool day.

Make a mistake and feel the freedom of guilt and fear unburdened. Progress is just a few tiny steps away.

What homeschool mistakes have you made that set you on the road to an empowered educator?

Hugs and love ya,

P.S. My homeschooled child, Mr. Senior 2013 that I knew I was going to ruin for life not only reads well as a young adult, but has a passion for reading. It is a toss up between how many books he and I hoard collect.

Update: Did I mention he has graduated homeschool (along with 2 more kids) and has moved on into successfully being an adult? Did I also mention HOW GRATEFUL he is to us as his parents that we did not give up homeschooling. No better gift ever have I had.

Also, look at:

Follow Both of My Pinterest Accounts too for more homeschool fortitude.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.
Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.