The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

thy children.” My job is to teach them of the Lord, and He will take care of the rest and provide the peace!

Since I am a highly distractible personality, I have developed a new condition, which has no known cure. I call it “ Curriculum ADD.” I treat this condition by changing up our curriculum on a regular basis. When asked what type of homeschooler I am, I can only answer “ eclectic.” I like to customize to each of my children’s strengths (plus, I love to shop at curriculum fairs!). After all, isn’t having the curriculum that makes your child learn best one of our main goals? With eight children and ten years of homeschooling experience, I have learned that each of us is a beautiful, individual creation of God. No “perfect” curriculum exists. My advice is this: Search high and low until you find what works best for your family. We have used many different curricula, and each has had its pros and cons. Let curriculum be your tool, but don’t become a slave to it. Think outside

the educational box, and you will find true freedom in your homeschooling.

A typical day . . . Let me try to describe one, although I don’t do “typical” very often! We get up early to get the oldest off to basketball practice (yes, we do socialize), and Dad heads off to his job. Everyone has chores, and those who play instruments practice. Yes, this is all before 8 a.m.—I am still drinking coffee.

My advice is this: Search
high and low until you
find what works best for
your family.

I have found that our school efforts are
most successful when I take the time to
pre-plan the assignments. Each of the
children has a weekly assignment sheet
with the basic expectations of what each
needs to accomplish. On a good day, we
try to cover some “all together” subjects
first. These are subjects such as history,
geography, worldview, and devotions. If
we don’t do that, everyone gets going on
what they can work independently on
and Mom works with the youngest stu-
dents first. (The kindergartner can’t just
get started without me.)