Stressing Over Homeschool Curriculum....NOT!

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Have you ever heard the old joke about how, if you go to a fight a hockey game will erupt? Go to any homeschool event and sit with one or more homeschooling parents and a conversation about curriculum will erupt. The tiresome, never ending, fretting conversation about curriculum. Have those parents be secular and the conversation is almost always about secular science curriculum. Even harder: atheist homeschool science.

I have stayed out of those conversations for almost a decade now.

I don't want to know what you are using and I don't want to explain why I am using what I am using as compared to what I have not selected to use. I don't want to know about the newest, shiny gimmick. I don't want to hear about the most recent apps.

My conversations about what materials we use happen with my son only; absolutely no one else gets input. When determining materials John and I consider four things: John's learning styles, my teaching style, our ability to afford the materials, and what we want to cover.

I have absolutely no need to look at every new gimmick that comes out onto the market. With the number of homeschooling families growing so quickly the amount of available materials has also grown at a phenomenal rate over the years we have homeschooled in this family. So many of my beloved friends who homeschool have kept up with so many of the newest materials being revealed each year. I have watched families change curriculum choices again and again and again.

I know! I get it! You want to do your absolute best.

If I may be so bold, my best advice to you when you hear the ravings about the wondrous results a family is getting from their curriculum:  IGNORE THEM. Be happy for them, congratulate them, and move along. There is absolutely no need for competition, nothing works for everyone, and just relax. Once you have selected your homeschool materials, close that door, put your head down, and get to it. 

Nothing brings more stress to homeschooling moms and dads than those fears that they are missing something magical, special, 

new and improved, or perfect. But you are missing nothing. Every single homeschooling family is unique and all of those choices are unique as well. 

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Other posts you might enjoy:

Thinking About Homeschooling? Here is the Info You are Looking For

Secular Homeschooling Materials

Do You Need a Homeschool Strategy?

How do you Know What to Teach?

Curriculum for our Atheist Homeschool
Parents Need to Deschool Too: Part One