Making Adjustments

As parents, every homeschool year starts off full of eagerness and excitement. We picked the perfect curriculum for each child, we’ve planned out the first several weeks at least and it’s going to be fantastic! Then we start the actual school year. And ‘fantastic’ is not the word we would ever use to describe it. There are the normal challenges like getting back on schedule, balancing school, sports and life stuff, and getting Peanut to wake up early enough to do any school at all.
Then, there are the curriculum adjustments. After doing this for seven plus years, we’ve learned that no matter how hard we work to pick the perfect curriculum, we always have to make adjustments to it to tailor it to the kid. This year is no different despite my efforts to pick THE PERFECT ONE. So, six weeks in, I am making adjustments.
Heart of Dakota is a great curriculum and it may be absolutely ideal, out of the box, for some kids. Peanut is not most kids (nor are most kids, I’ve come to realize). The emphasis on history is heavy and there is a lot of written narration centered on the history components. In theory, this sounded great to me. In practice, with a perfectionist child who worries over every sentence that she writes, this leads to very slow progress. I can either keep going at this snail’s pace or make some changes that will allow her to get most of the benefit, but in a faster way. I’m still working out the method, but we are still soldiering forward enjoying most of the other components of HoD which we love. Especially the science (Apologia Astronomy), Shakespeare and Poetry (Emily Dickinson).
Long story short, don’t be so beholden to ‘The Plan’ that you don’t end up doing what’s best for your kid.