The Curriculum Debate

If you’re new to the game (or seasoned) one of the hottest topics this time of year is curriculum. It’s summer. Like Ants stocking up for winter, you are getting ready for fall. This article assumes you’re a homeschooler of some sort. But if you aren’t the same rules apply. The kids are completing summer reading, learning something new at camp or at a school (in person or online) or you’ve got them working on activities from one of those “Summer Bridge” books you found at the local bookstore. The race is on to start the next school year off right.

Stop it.

Take a second and pause. Consider your child carefully. Think to yourself – what do they really need right now? For some kids it’s an activity, others a limitless supply of reading materials. A chance to sleep late. Gaming without ceasing. A summer job. To learn how to swim. The answers to this question are as varied as the children of the parents that are currently reading the post. Let me tell you what mine needs.

My kid needs purpose. Cash is a very unique 5 year old. He wakes in the morning spewing math questions and goes to sleep at night reluctantly doing the exact same thing. Taking a summer break was never in our plans. He wasn’t having it. Hot off the tail end of COVID-19 spring, most parents were run ragged from distance learning and could not wait to be rid of their school issued devices and tell the kids to go do something not involving schoolwork. Many were dismayed that the gently relayed stories about their sweet child’s attention span or refusal to complete work were indeed, true. Teachers everywhere are owed apologies and gifts. Who would have ever thought that my child was ACTUALLY this difficult. That same parent may have noticed that their child was struggling in a class or two but had NO idea that their little angel was barely literate! What do you do in school all day?? The pandemic was an eye opener for parents (and children) worldwide.

So what do you do with this new found information. Learn from it. I’ve been actively educating my child since birth. No daycare. Just his parents. Who knew not to look at their child through rose colored glasses. My child is tough to deal with emotionally but he’s a little genius when it comes to learning. Meeting him on his level, I’m having Summer school mommy style. I’m having a ton of fun – we are spending 4 days a week learning about S.T.E.A.M. topics and playing mad scientist. It’s wonderful. He can’t wait to wake up each day to see what we’re doing in “school”. I’m doing research, creating posters for the wall, writing lessons that all match up together, and choosing the perfect YouTube video, game or other manipulative to accompany it. BUT I’m still making the same mistake as the rest of you. I’m preparing for the upcoming school year by looking for a prepackaged solution to educate my child.

I had to stop myself. I’d never done that before. I’m not sure if it’s influence from YouTube or the concerned threads I read in my various social media groups. My kid has made it this far with me teaching him whatever he desired to learn. Even in Public Pre-K all the way until the closures this year, Cash would get in the car and we would continue learning. After and before school was just as important to his development as the school day itself. And before he started formal school, we would have “Mommy School”. Those “classes” started before he even learned to walk and talk. The kid I sent to school last year was reading in two languages and had a great concept of basic addition. Since when had I started doubting myself? Why did I need to purchase someone else’s ideas for what my child should learn?

An aside here: I’ve decided to unschool this coming year. I love our Public School system but I’m not a fan of the Coronavirus. I personally do not have confidence in anyone besides us to monitor Cash’s social distancing. We’ll be back when something changes.

I’m sharing this revelation with you for a reason. I need you to trust yourself as a parent to figure out what your child needs. Stop searching for a quick fix and really meet your child on their level. With their interests in mind. For me it looks like this:

1. Digital Curriculum – to just make sure I’m hitting all of the state standards and to reinforce what I’m teaching. This year I’m using iXL.
2. A Digital organizer for lesson plans. I’m a fan of writing things down but you can’t beat having it on any device. Right now I’m using the free version of Trello. I’m organizing my lessons by subject and theme. For example, for the summer session, we’re tackling Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts and Math between the hours of 10am and 2pm. We’ll break as we see fit. For each subject there is a common denominator to bring the entire lesson together. If my theme was color that day, we’d complete number color sheets for math, study the spectrum for science, learn about how projectors work in technology and study a famous artist known for their use of color for art. Maybe even focus on a colorful piece of architecture for engineering. I may not use all subjects that day or I may continue the lesson over 2 or 3 days. That’s the beauty in creating your own lessons.
3. A large 3 ring binder. This holds all of my printables by subject. Cash is not a fan of writing but I recognize that he needs the practice. We won’t do a lot of worksheets, but yes, there will be some. I find free worksheets everywhere!
4. My laminator. This is one of my most important educational tools. My child is a perfectionist and a defeatist. If he does something wrong and can’t easily fix it, a full meltdown ensues. He’s still a baby – it’s to be expected. So I need the means to fix it as quickly as possible. We’re primarily working with dry erase markers. I’m laminating EVERYTHING…

For Fall, my kindergartner needs 2nd grade reading/language arts, 2nd-3rd grade math, intensive science (maybe 4th grade with concessions for a 1st grader), 1st grade social studies, world geography, Intermediate Spanish, kindergarten arts and crafts and whatever else we run into. If you know someone who sells that…let me know. But until then, Mama and Daddy knows best.