Ism Friendly Curriculum

Ask any homeschooler and they will tell you there are as many flavors of curriculum as there are ice cream at Baskin Robbins - oohh the days of dairy - Anyway, ask those same families what is the "best" curriculum and you will get some pretty passionate responses. Ask a family "livin' with isms" about curriculum and you will get a WHOLE different answer - usually followed up with the phrase "for now."

To explain, I have been to more seminars than I can count on the way to best groom a future Einstein for college that include well-trained minds, copywork, Latin, intricate math skills, circus-like acrobatics when it comes to language arts and science lessons fit for Copernicus. And all these I am sure are wonderful in the rare home without an ism. In our house, however, we have tried and failed, tried again, and have finally landed on a theory that seems to work. Our educational philosophy comes from the classic - What About Bob. We are in the school of "baby steps" or so as to not give the impression we are weak on the emphasis for maturity - how about "doing everything in bite-size chunks."

Being in the dark about our isms initially served to rip every stitch of pride I might have ever had about my own abilities, creativity or sufficiency - all a good thing. Once the light was turned on, I was so grateful for the pruning season and the sheer kindness of the Lord to bring us home completely. It forced me to rely on Him for guidance and creativity. We learned pretty quickly that the sin of comparison is nowhere greater than in the homeschooling community. I wanted so badly at the end of every school year to be able to say just how many poems, soliloquies, symphonies, theorems and diatribes my children had learned. The truth was I was wincing in shame when I had to admit to myself and everyone else that we were still learning addition - for the third year in a row. But slowly, as He so often does, the Lord moved my humiliation into a place of humility, which far better served my girls. I took a deep breath and soaked in the realization that our homeschooling journey was different, slower, and sometimes even sweeter than what I heard about at the conferences. We work best in peace, joy, adaptability and making the most of every opportunity. The curriculums He led us to fit our girl's personalities, learning styles and isms so well. As with all things on this journey, we hold it all with open hands acknowledging His sovereignty over it all.

I say all this to give the disclaimer that these are the curriculums we have found work best for US. They may spell disaster for someone else, but they might be worth at least investigating if you too are livin' with isms.

This is what they consider their "seatwork."

Ellie's 4th grade curriculum
Growing with Grammar - Grade 4
Handwriting Without Tears - Can Do Cursive
Math U See - Beta
Math Skills 3rd grade
Kumon - Multiplication
Rosetta Stone Chinese
I Can Do All Things - art book
She learned State Capitals and the US Presidents

Annie's 2nd grade curriculum
Explode the Code
Growing With Grammar - Grade 2
Math Skills - Grade 2
Math U See - Alpha and Beta
Handwriting Without Tears - Printing Power
Rosetta Stone Chinese
I Can Do All Things - art book
She learned her states and presidents this year - well the first and the last president anyway.

We do Science and History together
We use My Father's World as the backbone and then often diverge from there depending on our speed and interest. We have slowed down and spent months on the American Colonization, Revolutionary War, George Washington and Ben Franklin. Just too many good books and stories to speed through them. MFW supplies the science, literature, etc. We are looking at doing Apologia Science this year - we'll keep ya posted.
And our dessert of the school day is the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. It also serves as our current Bible lesson. As soon as I pick up on where Lewis is going or has gotten the theme, we turn to it in our Bibles and drink it in. There is not a chapter that does not represent scripture or a biblical lesson in some way. I am usually in tears during our read-a-loud-time because Aslan always makes an appearance.
The funny thing to me about hoping for an Einstein is that poor little Einstein was riddle with isms and was thought a failure for most of his young life. It wasn't until he was unleashed in an environment suited for his isms to thrive that he did. I wish I could say that my girls are thriving in their homeschooling environment. I'm not sure I am that brave, but I do feel like we have at least moved away from mere survival mode.