Has anyone ever dropped everything (curriculum) mid-year and started over?...

[Sue G in PA]

First of all, there is way too much awesome curriculum out there. The decision could drive one over the edge (and some of us are already in a good position for that leap!:)). I'm one to leave things alone if they aren't broken (don't fix what ain't broke, right?). BUT, there are things that are "broken" around here. My dc hate school. I mean, they really hate school. With the exception of my dd11 who is content doing what she's doing, the boys all hate school. Some things can't be helped...math must get done, grammar, spelling, reading, etc. History has been a bomb, science, too. Ds9 loves animals so I figured start w/ mammals. Hated it. Move on to a Human Body lapbook to try and please dd11 and ds8 (my crafty kids). It's going so-so. I'm hoping that come spring, when we can be outdoors more and do more experiments and observations (butterfly life cycle, frog life cycle, bird watching, nature walks, plant growth...fun stuff like that) their interest will be peaked. Okay, so to make a long story short...has anyone every just ditched almost everything and started a new? I'm re-thinking my first graders plan (ds6 who has gone on an academic strike of late). I've never been into boxed curriculum but MFW 1st looks fun and a nice change of pace. I'd keep Saxon Math1, but I like the looks of the rest. My ds5 is doing MFW K and I'm beginning to really enjoy it. Other plan is ds6 keeps his normal curriculum but does the fun science stuff w/ ds5. I just don't know. All I know is something just isn't right, KWIM?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Can you narrow down why they hate school? Is it just the idea of having to stop playing and sit down to work? Is it specific things in your curriculum? I have asked my dc before what they liked and didn't like. I was surprised with some of the answers! I made sure that the decisions on what we were going to do curriculum wise was my choice though, not theirs. But I do value their input. I'd just hate for you to ditch everything, get a whole new curriculum and then have them still hate it!

[Beth in Central TX]

Hi Sue,

Aren't you about 6 weeks shy of delivery? If so, I would just plug along with what you have for now, take time off with the new little bundle of joy, and then reassess where each child is individually when you get back in a routine after this delivery. If a total clean slate is needed, I would probably do that in conjunction with next school year. You could start your school year early if you'd like since you're having some down time this winter.

If school is just really not working right now, go to the library and do some unschooling. Pull a couple of craft ideas from a SOTW activity guide and assign your 11-yr old and 8-yr old a group project. Get a botany book and plot out a garden for this spring. Pull your 6-yr old into MFW with your 5-yr old, but have him do some additional math flashcards and copywork. Keep your daughter where she is since she's happy, but have her help out the younger ones while you help the middle children (and get ready for a new baby in your spare time). I think I'm missing some of your kids in this mix, but hopefully, you get the idea. Don't rock the boat just yet; the new baby will do that all on his/her own...

[Michelle T]

but if I already have curriculum all bought and paid for, I just can't justify dropping everything to start over!

Maybe you could pinpoint what your DC hate about school. Is it really everything, or just one or two subjects? My DS will say he hates school, but when pressed, he clarifies that he hates spelling and math. Big difference! I just tell him that he can hate those subjects, but still must learn them. And I do try to play up history and reading, since he enjoys those.

Michelle T

[Beth in Central TX]

P.S. I just realized that I could be thinking of a different person. If you're not pregnant, please forgive me because then I truly have you mixed up with someone else.

[Sue G in PA]

Hmm...very good advice. Yes, baby is due in about 6 wks if not sooner. And, yes, he will certainly rock our hs boat all on his own. Unschooling sounds fun but I just can't wrap my ps-brainwashed brain around it, KWIM? I am sort of unschooling ds6 right now as he's gone on an academic strike of sorts (but I don't have to give account to the state for him yet!). Perhaps tomorrow we'll all have a heart-to-heart about likes/dislikes and WHY! Thanks Beth and Jean!

[Sue G in PA]

Thanks, Michelle, too...your post showed up after I typed my response!

[JFS in IL]

they dislike the most and make a point of doing them FIRST and getting them OVER with. Then note that "yeah - mathis done for the day!" and move on to something they like (or at least tolerate better). My dd, 11, does math first thing in the morning...then the rest of the day is better. She has all her daily assignments written on a sheet of notebook paper, and I cross off each one as it is done. After every three items, she gets a break. She (after math) picks what to do. I am there at the table or nearby (depending on the subject) so she is not lonely or messing up. History and one of our reading books we share - each reading a page in turn - and she likes that a lot.

[GVA]

But speaking frankly, I know what's best for them, so they deal with it. I've really worked hard on their attitudes over the last two years, and complaining during school is not an option. They can appeal outside of school for changes with both DH and I present, but not during. Someday they may have to go to a classroom where the subjects and curriculum are not to their liking, and they may be in a job where things are less than ideal. Now is the time in our house for learning to work through things they may not enjoy.

We all have our ways of doing things, but I'm not one to let the child dictate the curriculum (and my unschooling friends say I'm an utter meanie!).

[Laura in VA]

It seems like every year around January I get an itch to do something different. I have a friend who says the best advice she's ever received about homeschooling was to not make a curriculum change in Jan or Feb. I think for me it's part of the winter blahs. Of course, I don't always take that advice! :D

[Stacey in MA]

I have found that my way of handling the "I hate school" syndrome is to simply trudge forward. I find they get most like this during 2 times - firstly is when we are OUT of routine - if we've just had a trip to Grandma's house, and we have to ramp back up into our meaty school routine, they balk. Also, if we've been in the routine too LONG (not having taken a break for a few weeks), then they get burnt out, and balk. Both are so important to the personalities of my kids that I have learned to pay attention to that. I can't take too many "breaks" or "field trips" too close together or we are forever getting back on track with the table work. Also, I have to plan an outing or something periodically when haven't had anything in too long.

Once a month on Mondays, I allow "alternate day" - this is when we still do school, but we do it in some other, random way. So instead of Singapore math, DS8 might do math on a computer game. We might cover our much-neglected art lessons instead of grammar. We might watch a bunch of documentaries instead of doing science and maybe history (depending on what I have available to watch). Anyway, you get the idea. The kids do look forward to this, and I allow tons of input from them and try not to take the day too seriously.

In terms of changing curriculum (and we have - subject here and there - not a complete flip of everything), I simply fold the new into or in place of what they're doing, but I don't start over. I have found that curriculum DOES make a HUGE difference in their interest level. And it also varies by child. We went through 3 other math curriculums before we found that Singapore was right for him (by me and by his style). Then along came DD, and I started her on Singapore, and it completely did NOT work. She couldn't tell me this, but I could see that her work wasn't measuring up to what I felt her abilities were. So I tried others. We ended up on Saxon for her - she needs the repetition, whereas DS could not tolerate it one bit.

Anyway, the idea is that for me, it's nice if I'm able to match the style of the kid to a curriculum. But, if it's not possible, we still trudge through.

So, lots of rambling here! But I just want to give you hope that some of us struggle with the "I hate school" thing too, and it can get better.

Oh, and happy birthing to you!! ;-) Congrats on that! Give yourself a break until after baby. I had my last a year ago, and I was simply CRAZY with tiredness, hormones, emotions, etc. Hang in there!

- Stacey in MA

[Stirsmommy]

Well I have jumped ship on a couple of curriculums. One was Saxon math which was a terrible fit for dd our first year out and truly it was making math a subject that ps had already made her least favorite something she truly dreaded. She would have kept plugging if I hadn't pulled the plug. I am glad I did it. Now I am dumping right now for my ds who has some new diagnosis. What we were trying to do is inappropriate. I do feel guilty about dumping perfectly good curriculum. I will say that for science I found with my 7yo ds that he loves lots of experiments. I went and got some of the ooey gooey experiment books at the bookstore and we do them. He also "helps" his sister with her experiments from Apologia physical science. Sometimes I think kids just have to buckel down and do it so I doubt I would dump everything before the end of the year. But if there is something that is really a bad fit I would probably drop it and use some on line resource for the rest of the year.
Melissa

[Laura Corin]

And now I'm glad I did. Calvin hated his maths and I was casting around for another programme. I felt that what I had was solid but that he found it off-putting.

Then over the last couple of months, I've come to realise that the problem is not the curriculum, but his attitude to it. It was deadly for him because he wasn't concentrating, wasn't moving fast enough and was getting bogged down. Once I changed the way that I made him accountable for his work, he suddenly sped up, the maths was miraculously not so deadly, and I now have no intention of changing programmes.

So.... all this to say that sometimes it's easy to think that a change of curriculum is the answer, when perhaps there is actually something else going on. It might be the curriculum in your case, or it might not.

Best wishes

Laura

[OnTheBrink]

Yes, I did that this year. With being a single mom, babysitting 4 days a week and just being busy, I found that the methods we were using were dragging me down and consequently, nothing was being done well, if at all. I bought some new things, borrowed others and we're marching onward. I did struggle with the fact I had paid for a lot of things we're not using now, but the primary goal was the education of my daughter and while wasting money hurts, in this case, it was a necessary evil.