What Does It Mean To Be Family Focused Instead of Curriculum Driven When Homeschooling?

I failed too. When I struggled with homeschooling it was because I hyper focused on breezing through the curriculum instead of focusing on my family.

Family Focused Instead of Curriculum Driven

I just knew that if I finished a lesson, a book or an assignment, then my children were “properly taught.”

When I completed a curriculum, I felt we were making progress and learning.

That is a false sense of accomplishment.

Public school is curriculum focused. What makes homeschoolers different?

Let me make clear that I am not advocating unfinished lesson plans or half-hearted days of teaching.

What I am advocating is that at times during our journey it can take one or two days to get a point.

At one point in my journey,  it took one of my sons a year and half to learn one level of math.

Am I to feel that if my child completed 5 lessons in one day or one book in two years that I wasted ANY of my time?

Family focused goals don’t keep pace to the time table in a curriculum.

Switching from a Public School Mindset to Family Focused Goals. Big Difference.

You probably have heard before that curriculum is a tool. It’s true. But what does it mean exactly?

■ Well a tool can serve a very useful purpose.

A paintbrush, a pen, a drill, a saw, a hoe, a shovel, a hammer have all been used to create the most exquisite pieces of art like the Mona Lisa, beautiful poetry or the most breathtaking pieces of landscape or architecture.

■ What was more important, the tool or the skilled craftsman?

It was the attitude, patience, devotion and skill of the craftsman to shape the masterpiece, not the tool.

When we realize that curriculum doesn’t teach anything, but our attitude and time spent with children in productive learning does, then we are TRUE TEACHERS.

We are then not curriculum driven but family driven.

We are goal oriented, not lesson oriented.

Curriculum is a must-have tool and we have to have it.

For example, if three teacher’s manuals make you feel more equipped to teach and you glean from each one what you need, then GET ALL THREE. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks.

However, don’t purchase them because you are afraid.

You have been equipped with what you need to do this assigned work.

Focus on improving yourself as a teacher, your skill, your devotion and then you will have a true masterpiece – YOUR CHILDREN!

Hugs from me to you today,

Also read:

6 Things I Won’t Regret After Homeschooling 16+ Years
Second Chance Homeschooling – We Can Have Do-Overs