When it comes to choosing curriculum, it is a jungle out there.  Choosing curriculum for homeschooling doesn’t have to be overwhelming or stressful, once you know exactly where you want to go and how you want to get there.

It’s like going on a road trip. If we head down the highway without knowing what our destination is or what path we want to take to get there, we’ll be distracted by all the billboards and roadside attractions. Homeschooling is much like that.. Walking through a curriculum hall or surfing a homeschooling website, browsing and checking out the scenery, without a plan in hand, we’ll be overwhelmed with the choices. But if we know where we want our homeschooling to go and how we want to get there, choosing curriculum becomes a simple matter of evaluating which one is going to be the best tool to help reach the goal.

You can head out on this journey well prepared and confident. Taking a little time to decide where you and your family want to go with homeschooling, understanding how your children learn and retain information, and then choosing curriculum to fit is not a hard process. There are 4 basic steps: Define your goals, discover your children’s learning styles, designate a teaching method and determine your curriculum options.

1.       Define your homeschooling goals:

• Why are you homeschooling?
• What do you want your children to gain for their future from their homeschooling experience?
• Are you more interested in: advanced academics, hands-on experiences or character building?

2. Discover your children’s learning styles.

• Do they learn best by listening? Watching? or Hands-on?
• Will they do better with lots of short lessons each day or focusing on a comprehensive, group project (unit study type projects)
• All workbooks? All computer based? All hands-on? Or a combination of all three?
• How are the children’s attention spans? Can they sit at a table and do workbooks or will they be better off on the floor using manipulatives?
• How much time do you, mom, have to prepare, plan and present lessons? Some curriculums take a tremendous amount of prep time, others are completely self guided, others are a little of both.

3. Decide on a teaching method – based on answers to steps one and two, which teaching method seems a good fit?

• Unit studies which tend to be very hands on?
• Workbooks with lots of writing, logic and critical thinking?
• Advanced academics and accelerated learning?
• Classical studies following a structured, chronological program?
• Eclectic mix of several styles and curriculum?

Write down what you want in curriculum based on the answers to steps 1, 2 and 3 before going on to step 4.

4. Determine your curriculum options.

Focus on: does this help toward your goals and does it meet your learning style and lifestyle needs?

• Is the curriculum focusing on the areas of academics and character growth you feel are most important?
• Does this curriculum include lessons that meet your children’s learning styles? Can it be adapted to use their strongest learning style?
• Does it incorporate the teaching method you want to use?
• Does it fit your lifestyle, work for the number of children being taught, and most importantly, does mom have the time to do the necessary preparation work?

There are thousands of curriculums for homeschooling, don’t waste your time or money on ones that won’t help you reach your family’s goals or meet your children’s needs. By following the steps outlined above, you will be equipped to evaluate curriculum based on a clear understanding of exactly what you want to accomplish. You can quickly eliminate any options that don’t meet your goals and needs and whittle your choices down to 2 or 3 that seem to best fit what YOU want for your family.

Putting in the effort up front to decide where you want to go and how you want to get there will make the journey enjoyable, successful, and help you conquer the jungle of curriculum choices.

Not surprisingly, the impetus behind this new discovery was money. As World War II drew to a close, there was an rapidly growing group of young adults with disposable income the likes of which had never been seen before. Anxious to capitalize on this new market, an advertising agency came up with the whole idea of teenagers as a separate culture needing their own identity, clothing, music and media. Soon manufacturers were rushing to introduce hundreds of new products aimed at this emerging life stage.  Prior to that time, children matured in a gradual, steady progression from childhood into young adulthood and eventually into mature adults. There was no detour into teen angst, rebellion and identity crisis.

We decided to raise young adults in our home and so far have succeeded in avoiding the teenage detour. Homeschooling definitely has the home field advantage in this battle. We regularly reinforce this idea of young adulthood by words and actions and our efforts are not undermined by 7 hours of daily immersion in teenage life at a public school.

We talk to our children about God having a purpose and plan for their lives, just as He does for adults. We explain that in this stage of their lives, they are laying the foundation of who they will be as adults. The habits, disciplines and worldview they will build on as adults is being laid down now. Our children are given duties around the house with the understanding that they are part of the team, responsible for helping to keep our household running well. They know they are needed, their chores are important to helping the whole team functioning smoothly.

It seems to be working. Our oldest is out on her own now and at 21 years old, she is consistently commended for maturity and wisdom beyond her years. Even adults look to her for advice.

Don’t get my wrong, I am not bragging (well, maybe I am a little    ) My children are not perfect by any means. But we have managed to completely miss the rebelliousness and striving for a separate identity that most kids seem to go through. We get just about what we expect, and I expect young adults in my house. We can all skip right over the trials of “teenager” by reinforcing the concept of young adulthood, instead.

Stay tuned, my youngest just turned 13, we’ll revisit this topic in another 4 years or so and see how we’re doing then…

into a motivated student!

Learn how a below average student turned into an academic superstar and is now working as a life-saving medical professional.

Go from a daily battle  of wills to experiencing the joy of learning by applying an understanding of multiple intelligences into your homeschool. Easy to understand, easy to use, this remarkable eBook will revolutionize how you approach your homeschooling.

Learn how to identify the many ways our children are smart.

You know your child is gifted, with this book you can identify exactly what ways your child is intelligent AND how to help them enhance and develop those talents.

Every child is Gifted will give you the full story about multiple intelligences without all the scientific jargon or dissections of  boring lab studies. This book was written by a homeschool mom for homeschool moms. It is easy to read, easy to understand and full of practical applications that you can use TODAY.

Click here to learn more

What do you do when your friends all go home and you’re not done swimming? Make your own fun!

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

This test is designed to give you a general idea of where you fall on the temperament grid. See this article for a brief description of the four personalities and how they are arranged on a grid. Use the information as a starting point to appreciate your strengths and recognize your weaknesses.

You’ll need a piece of lined paper, down the left side write the 4 letters a, b, c, and d, in order, 13 times and number the sets, 1 – 13. From each set of four words or phrases below choose the one that best describes you and write a 4 next to that letter on your paper. Choose the word that is the second best match for you and write a 3 next to that letter on your paper. Now choose the word that is least like you, give that letter a score of 1 on your paper. The remaining letter gets a 2. Do this for all 13 sets of words. Directions for scoring are at the end.

1.

* a-party
* b-lead
* c-organize
* d-relax

2.

* a-make work into fun
* b-tell others what to do
* c-do it myself
* d-help others

3.

* a-fuschia/pink
* b-red
* c-black and white
* d-beige

4.

* a-bubbly
* b-controlled
* c-sensible
* d-calm

5.

* a-let’s go
* b-let’s do
* c-let’s think about this first
* d-let’s wait

6.

* a-laugh
* b-change
* c-research
* d-empathize

7.

* a-actress
* b-director
* c-stage manager
* d-chorus

8.

* a-optimistic
* b-decisive
* c-details
* d-consistent

9.

* a-expressive
* b-collected
* c-private
* d-gentle

10.

* a-distractible
* b-bossy
* c-perfectionist
* d-lazy

11.

* a-creative
* b-projects
* c-planner
* d-serve

12.

* a-selfish
* b-tactless
* c-unemotional
* d-stubborn

13.

* a-see the people
* b-see the big picture
* c-see the details
* d-see the needs

Don’t worry if you weren’t able to choose one word over another easily. Most of us are blends of two personalities and are able to operate in the behaviors of three types. There will be one type that is most definitely NOT you. Usually your dominate type is the one opposite the one you are definitely not. Once again, see THIS post with the personalities laid out in a grid to see what I mean about opposite personalities. To score your test add up all of the numbers next to your A entries, all the numbers next to the B’s, and so on for C and D as well. You’ll likely have two fairly close scores, one very low, and one somewhere in- between. To learn more about the specifics of each temperament, simply click on our character from the Hundred Acre Woods.
If your highest score is A, you are predominately a Sanguine or Tigger
If you score highest as a B you are mostly Choleric or Rabbit.
If your highest score is in the C’s you are a Melancholy, just like Eeyore.

A high D score indicates you are mostly Phlegmatic as Pooh Bear

. One note on Phlegmatics, they are the most flexible of all personalities and will sometimes score very close in all four areas. Either you are fooling yourself about your true strengths and weaknesses or you may be a flexible Phlegmatic. I would suggest you ask a friend to fill the test out for you and find out how others see you.

We use all three methods in different combinations.  To explain it very generally, our brain has 3 components: the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious mind. I really like what Dawna Markova explains in her book How Your Child is Smart.  She points out that we learn in all three ways.  She says:  “…the mind digests thought by moving it through itself in three different ways, sometimes called states of consciousness: conscious, subconscious and unconscious. Each state of mind has its particular function in learning.”  Each state of consciousness also uses a different one of the three learning styles.

The conscious mind is responsible for absorbing what is happening around us and communicating back what is inside of us. It is our most alert and focused state of being. Think of it as being roughly like the librarian at the front desk of the library, receiving and passing out information.

The subconscious mind is like a transportation system. It takes what we’ve absorbed, sorts it and moves it on to the unconscious mind for storage. It also takes information from the deeper recesses of our brain and brings it up to the surface for our use. In our library example, it would be like an automated conveyor belt system for sending books back down into the lower reaches of the library stacks or bringing them back up to the main floor when someone needs them.

The unconscious mind is just that, unconscious. In this state we are unfocused, out of touch, looking inward. The unconscious is responsible for comparing all new incoming information with what is already stored in your brain and making the connections, seeing the patterns, between them. It is like the deep underground shelves where all the library books are neatly categorized and stored with similar materials.

Each of those three states of mind utilizes one of the three learning styles.  A person might take in information best if it is Auditory, sort and transport it easiest with a Visual reference, and store it in permanent, unconscious memory through Kinesthetic movement.  We would refer to this as an AVK learning style. AVK kids are the ones who do best in school, by the way, because they listen so attentively (their most alert brain state is stimulated by sounds, like a teacher lecturing) and they sit still while listening. They tend to move when doing the deeper, introspective thinking, later on.

Understanding the full learning style of our students allows homeschool parents to create a homeschool learning environment that allows our children to reach their fullest potential.

Our beloved Topper
Friend, guardian, companion. Babysitter of ducks, bunnies and chickens, canine good citizen award winner, treasured member of our family for almost 10 years.

His registered name, Tavern Hill Mariner High Flight, comes from the poem, “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, American Airman who served in WWII

High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlight silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark,or even eagle, flew;
And while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed santity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God

A video slide show to go along with my session “Every Child is Smart”
downloadable pdf of the slide show and audio mp3
Keeping Mom Filled to Overflowing mp3
Access to a special report “10 Ways to Bring Out the Best in Your Child”
A Free sample chapter from “Every Child is Smart, the Story of Multiple Intelligences”
Links to our most popular articles written especially for YOU
Special Offers not available to the general public
and more!

These free gifts and special offers are only available to participants in the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. In order to keep that webpage exclusive to Expo members, it can not be accessed through the public pages of this website. Go to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo Member site and in the middle of that page you will see a link to “Our ULTIMATE Vendor Hall”. Click on that link for access to all the wonderful, generous, and valuable freebies and ultimate offers from all of the Expo vendors! To take advantage of all the goodies listed above, look for the link to “Homeschool Success for Every Child” or “Homeschool.SusanScott.org” in the vendor’s page of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo

If you are not yet a member of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, you do not want to miss out on the biggest, most exciting homeschool conference of the year. It is ULTIMATE!

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For one low low fee (less than the cost of most conferences) you get unlimited, lifetime access to ALL the workshops. You can listen in the comfort of your own home, when it is most convenient for you. And you can go back and listen to those workshops over and over again. The membership site will stay up indefinitely.

You also get access to almost 3 dozen top homeschooling experts and their virtual vendor’s booth, filled to overflowing with free giveaway products and special offers. The freebies are top quality, full products, available to purchase on most vendor’s sites – you get them absolutely free!

You can’t miss this one! Really, you can’t miss it. The workshops are recorded and posted on the membership site so even after conference week is over, you can still listen in to all the workshops, access all of the speakers webpages and take advantage of all of the virtual vendor booths even 3 years from now. As a matter of fact, you can still purchase tickets to any of the last four Ultimate Homeschool Expos.

Click here to get all the details: Ultimate Homeschool Expo