I am DONE buying Curriculum...

Don't send me anymore catalogs... I am not going searching for anymore curriculum reviews... I am done!!!  Well, almost.

The whole situation reminds me of when my oldest children were infants and toddlers... I seemed to have a mentality "If I could just have the perfect toy... they would play by themselves; If I could find the perfect book... get along better; If I could find the perfect swing set ...they would play outside more;"
You get the idea.

I was under the impression that I needed some THING that would make my life and my kids' lives better.  I soon learned that there was no thing (toy, book, puzzle, t.v. show) that was magic.

Slowly, I realized that I was the magic.  Not me, but my time.  For me and my kids (for that is all I know, it may be different for different parent/child relationships) investing time, attention, and a little adventure/creativity payed off for me later.  Please do NOT ask me how long it took me to learn this.

Fast forward 15 years to when I am homeschooling my middle school child.  She is coming from traditional school that was a poor fit for her learning needs.  My first instinct was to buy the "right" curriculum for every subject.  THEN I see the cost.  I am NOT saying that buying curriculum is not worth the price.  Not at all, I know that much of what I look at is folks working on developing it after they have done their day jobs, their family life, said good night to his/her spouse and then work on it into the night.  I am not saying what I receive is not worth the money I have payed for it.  What I am saying is that buying curriculum is not the best use of the resources entrusted to me.

So I looked around and evaluated my resources.  We have a computer, a tablet, the internet, space, various art/office supplies, a car, time (though limited), and the library.  My #1 resource is the library.

I am super blessed to have borrowing privileges at the Ann Arbor District Library and then what print materials that it does not own, I can usually get from MEL Cat. (Michigan Electronic Library Catalog).

So, I used the library!  I checked out books, videos, Great Courses (Thinking Co. Inc), models of the human heart, brain, brain, thorax region, and a telescope (in winter -- brrrr).  BUT, I still bought curriculum... not that there is anything wrong with this, but money is tight, especially since I am working the minimum amount of hours so I can homeschool my daughter.

Now it is a new year (year two for learning at home) and time to re-evaluate.  I have noticed this past year that my daughter learns best and most enthusiastically when I am learning beside her. Notice, I said learning, not teaching. Yes, she can learn on her own. And, Yes, I can teach her many things.  BUT, that spark, that love of learning comes when I am learning along with her.  There was nothing wrong with the curriculum I purchased for us to use last year.  I purchased Math Mammoth (6A and 6B); Apologia (Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics); Brave Writer (The Arrow); and Visual Latin.  All fantastic materials.  I learned we learned a lot from each of them.

Sometimes it is history and we both have a book on the subject in our laps and it becomes a like a badminton match of "hey, look at [this]" and "did you know [this]".  Or we are watching the Sister Wendy  DVDs about art pointing and saying "wow" and "that is soo cool!".  Or poetry, or reading aloud, or... Yeah, she learns best when we learn together.

ALSO, we love to read.  We love to talk about what we have read.

So back to the subject of purchasing curriculum.  Most subjects I am not going to purchase:

• History: We are following the outline put forth by Susan Wise Bauer and we in in the Middle Ages this year.  We have various reference books from the library as well as novels that take during that time period. (We LOVE to read!)
• English/Language Arts (ELA):  Brave Writer (Arrow) taught me how to lay out books for my student.  Since we would now be in the "Boomerang" level we are stepping up our game.  We are finding literary analysis fun.  Sometimes we disagree on the theme or whether the conflict is Man vs. Man or Man vs. Self.  That is okay, because then we have to "prove" our view point to the other.  With what I have learned from Brave Writer, Deconstructing Penguins by Lawrence Goldstone, and other resources on the internet, we are piecing together a book based learning plan that will include reading, writing and grammar.
• Science: We are returning to human anatomy (more in depth) this year.  The print materials, dvd's, and 3-D models available to us at, yeah, you guessed it, the library!
• Math: More on this:  One Plus One: my math curriculum experiences Pt.1
• Art: Both art appreciation is integrated with history; other Art comes from my Pinterest boards and our passions.
• Music: also integrated with our history studies.

Now, remember I said that my child learns most enthusiastically when I am learning next to her, well, there are somethings, that I don't know enough about to teach her (as I was never taught them) and/or the library materials just were not what we needed them to be.

Curriculum I am purchasing:

• Latin: I cannot teach this.  Well, not so that anyone could learn this.  I tried using free resources on the internet, but I was sucking the life out of us.  Dwane Thomas is a lifesaver!  Visual Latin makes Latin do-able. It is still challenging for me, but I am doing it along with my daughter.  (note: she is learning it faster and better than I am )
• Logic:  I never took this in school and I want to provide the opportunity for her.  I have not purchased any curriculum, yet, but I am saving my pennies.

Extra Curricular Activities: piano lessons, local community youth theatre, Community Bible Study, cross country and track (community education).

This is what we are doing this year.  It is her 6th grade year, but the materials I am using are for 7th grade or higher.

Holy Toledo, long post, Batman!!

Once again, this would not work for everybody, I am only homeschooling one child, and it fits our relationship/situation.  BUT  if you could benefit from my experiences, that would be awesome!