School and life are not meant to be solely separated, learning should be applied and application should offer new opportunities to learn.
There is no perfect. A perfect homeschool does not exist, a perfect curriculum is an illusion, the perfect life is merely a mirage. If you are aiming for perfection you are not being present. The only real goal should be to look at those in front of you and remember that they are ever changing, sometimes the day’s experiences will get the best of them, sometimes it will light them on fire to achieve a goal, sometimes you will get it right and sometimes you will get it wrong. Even the best of intentions will not always avail the outcome that we desire.
Upon reflection, the big shiny curriculum sets I have bought were merely to cover my own insecurities regarding will I measure up to what my children need. Curriculums are tools, they are not the rules. If you are not willing to bend and grow when your weaknesses are revealed, the best curriculum will get you nowhere.
You come with a new understanding of math, Language Arts, history, or whatever topic that you struggled with as a child. Give it a try, are you willing to take another look and model what it means to never stop learning when new opportunities present themselves. Perhaps you come up with an alternate solution; combine math and building, math and music, math and baking, math and taxes, maybe you hire a tutor or ask another child to help explain a concept in different terms.
As a former tutor, I was hired to help a parent homeschool her high schooler in Language Arts. It removed stress from her plate and she was able to meet her child’s needs by specifically selecting an adult to meet her child where they were.
I joined a co-op when I had no adults to relate to about homeschooling. It didn’t just add to my week, it fit a specific need. When co-op no longer served a need for our family we left and cultivated smaller meet ups to cover a specific topic or just allow free play within a small community setting.
I ditched bedtime stories because I was so exhausted when my kids were small that it was not good for anybody and switched to reading at breakfast. I was refreshed, the kids had energy, they were often eating at the same time which helped entertain them and kept us on a similar eating schedule.
Set down the curriculum and ask yourself, why am I considering these books? The best intentions may quickly guide us to live a life that is more about checking off a rubric to get into a good school and less about creating a life we once dreamed for ourselves. Do not be afraid to reset and do not be so quick to reset at the slightest sign of pushback, give it some time to see if your new ideas settle in. We are not taking a scantron test, the results take some time to see.
Our family goal is always to be able to demonstrate practical application. If you get the right math answers, but struggle to apply applications outside of the workbook, I know that we are not fully learning. In addition, an occasional Madlibs, will provide reflection into what my children actually remember on parts of speech and spelling, as we take turns now completing the sheet. These are merely just windows that allow me to see inside children’s applied knowledge. Whatever you do, look for windows that allow you to see what your children are retaining.