Middle school ~ Starting over

While most of you are trying to prevent homeschool burnout or counting down the days to creating this year's portfolio or taking pictures of and posting used curriculum for sale, we are starting over.

If you think I'm freaking out about that I have to tell you, YES about two months ago I was, but right now, not so much.  This is the second year we've gone through this, and after much frustration and tears I'm pretty much immune to the "freaking out" emotion.

When we started over last year, I thought I'd learned a lesson that wouldn't be repeated.  Boy was I wrong.  This year it was a little easier, but I was still upset to be experiencing the same issues as before.

So what went wrong?  Well it was a number of things that got us off to a rocky start:

• wrong curriculum
• my son wasn't ready to work independently
• he also wasn't prepared for consequences for not taking more responsibility
• my parenting style
• scheduling (I'm working more hours)
• lesson presentation
• etc, etc, etc

The first thing I did was put a stop to all schooling.  We took several weeks off just to breathe and unwind.  I took some time to deprogram the whole schooling mentality I was holding on to, and my son became a teenager right in front of my eyes.  (Seriously, at 12 years old my son should not have a mustache, talk in such a low tone, and be less than an inch shorter than me.  I'm 5'11" for heavens sake.)  But I digress...

Here's what I did after my brain was clear of all the clutter from schooling expectations.  First I looked for homeschooling bloggers with similar aged children, checked out curriculum they were using, and asked many of them if they had dealt with any of the issues I was.

What I found out was, many of them had.  Heidi shared her daughter's struggle with Math, and her advice for when curriculum just isn't working was very helpful.  Mary has a son about the same age as mine, and I've been visiting her blog to pick up a few tips from her.  She has three boys, oh my, and one is a homeschool graduate.  Then I stumbled across Rebecca's post and things started to click for me.

What was I forcing on my son just so I could boast about his education?  I forgot why I was homeschooling my son, and the benefits open to us because of this choice.  Most of all I forgot to keep God in the center and stay mindful of my calling to train up this child to know Him.

Here is our new curriculum: (some of the links below are affiliates, please read my disclosure for more info.)

Bible (30 min.) ~ Guys Life Application Study Bible NLT,  Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions For Kids,  Little Pilgrim's Progress: From John Bunyan's Classic

Math (30 min.) ~ Learning Wrap-Ups Introductory Math Kit,  flash cards, Life of Fred 3-Book Set : Kidneys, Liver, and Mineshaft (How much does my son love Life of Fred?  While I was planning his schedule he saw the books, started reading the first chapter of Kidneys, and then asked me for a piece of paper so he could figure out the problems.)

Language Arts (45 min.) ~

• English (M/W/F) - We are continuing with Rod and Staff
• Spelling - Word Roots because my son is an amazing speller and he is bored with worksheets.  This curriculum has already proven to be just the challenge he needs without the drills and tests he is used to.  I'm also impressed with the critical thinking skills my son is learning with Word Roots.
• Composition (T/TH) - Writing With Skill, Level 1 
• Handwriting -  A Reason for Handwriting

History (20-60 min.) W/F ~ The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 3: Early Modern Times, My son loves this series, but he is not interested in completing the activities.  We have been supplementing with videos on Netflix and Theresa's suggestions.  I've also been adding biographical books we own or have found at Old Fashioned Education or Ambleside.

Geography M/T/TH (30-45 min.) ~ Cultural Geography, I won this textbook in the Mega Homeschool Giveaway three years ago.  I have been looking forward to digging into this book and I think my son will really enjoy the change of pace.  I have purchased the activities and tests to reinforce what he's learning, but we will take this as fast or slow as desired.  I also won Around the World in 180 Days in the same giveaway, and I'm hoping to work this in along the way.

Literature (60 min. ) ~ Memoria Press, plus other books from Ambleside or Old Fashioned Education.  He also has 100+ The Hardy Boys books that were given to him from a good friend.  He has really enjoyed these and will continue to read them for fun.

Computer Science ~ I have saved the best for last.  The biggest problem we've had with school work is getting my son to concentrate on anything other than computer games.  He is addicted to playing them, watching videos of others playing them, and talking incessantly about them.

I have completely given up (unless he shows interest later) on studying nature, plants, animals, the body, and any other normal science study until much later in High School.  I am choosing my battles, and this is not one I want to fight.

The only way I could see him getting interested in learning was if he could study what interests him.  I figure if he wants to play on the computer, he should know everything about them.  For this subject we have Building a PC in Easy Steps and Troubleshooting Your PC in Easy Steps.

If he wants to play on it, he has to know how to take care of it.

Later we will add Adobe Flash Professional CS5 Classroom in a Book and Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML.  If he shows an interest in having an IT career we'll add this CompTIA A+ Certification which even has a Workbook.

Now I realize this seems like a lot, but we've had one week with this curriculum.  Other than a total melt down during our second writing lesson we've had a great first week.  We are taking it slow, adjusting and tweaking as we go, and both our attitudes are more positive.

It has also helped that we are getting out and walking for half an hour every morning.  The one day we didn't was the day of the melt down.  It's amazing how a fresh look and fresh air help us see the whole picture in a better light.

What I've learned ~ It's ok to start over, throw out the curriculum, and spend a little more time in prayer.  Oh and adding a little more laughter and lightening up really helps too.

photo credit: Maryam (one bored chica)