As a budding homeschooling mom, I’ve faced many decisions over the past few years.

Scary decisions {with a splash of panic}…”My child’s education depends on me” kind of decisions. Decisions that kept changing by the day, morphing by the minute. In short,

I’ve realized that Small Son and Tiny Daughter are not the only ones in school.

For K4 and K5 I used Abeka workbooks. K5 especially was a rough year. I may or may not have cried more than Small Son did as I tried to teach him how to read. In frustration, I wailed to my husband and myself “I’m a piano teacher, not a phonics teacher!” I desperately wished for a better way- an easier way.

While Small Son was in K5, I had a breakthrough. I came out of my cave and discovered video school. Some missionary friends were at our home visiting for a week, and consequently we did homeschool together while they were here. It was then that I got to preview the Abeka video school. As I researched the details, I realized that this curriculum was God’s answer to a frazzled mom’s pleas for help. So I took the plunge and ordered the video school for my soon-to-be first grader. My sister helped me find the readers at low cost, and by following her recommendations and buying only what I absolutely needed, I saved well over $300 for the year’s worth of materials!

Video school was the perfect jump start that this Mommy needed to help me get my bearings on the commitment of homeschooling. Small Son did very well over all. He quickly learned to read, excelled in math, and memorized large portions of Scripture. He became virtual friends with his teacher (Miss Weiler) and his classmates. In fact, for the first 2 months of school, he actually thought that Miss Weiler was waiting for him each day. So he would rush through breakfast. 🙂 Also of interest to him was noticing what colour Miss Weiler was wearing each day. I was glad that he really felt like part of his class. So over all, it was a good year that greatly decreased my stress level and gave me hope for future years of homeschooling.

So now I hear you wondering…“If it was such a good year, why are you switching curriculum?”  Well, I have 7 main reasons that summarize our decision to shake up the newly established equilibrium in our home school:

1. I’ve been homeschooling a boy. 🙂 As the year went on, it became increasingly harder for Small Son to focus on his video sessions. I personally feel that the arithmetic sessions in particular were much too long, resulting in a fuzzy comprehension of some too-well advanced concepts and a struggle to complete seatwork.

2. The amount of extra seatwork was overwhelming. And while I realize that I didn’t have to do it all, it’s hard to justify not doing it when you’re pretty much forced to buy the books.

3. Shipping items across the American/Canadian border was a nightmare. I won’t bore you with the details, but I may have lost a few hairs while trying to convince Abeka that Canada is indeed international.  School has been over for 2 months and we just recently managed to get those videos back across the border…after already mailing them once and having them end up back on my doorstep.

4. I’ve spent the past year learning who Small Son is. I’ve observed his strengths and  weaknesses, and I’ve prayed that God would open my eyes to his areas of interest and talent. God answered in SO many ways, to the point where it was easy to zero in on exactly what I wanted his education to look like in the future.

5. I’m homeschooling two children this year. Yep, it’s hard to believe, but Tiny Daughter is in Kindergarten. I desperately need a curriculum that is more flexible and ‘shareable.’

6. As a teacher-mom {and sometimes ‘mom-teacher’}, I see areas where I need to grow. I need to be more self-motivated for longer periods of time. I need to commit more time and undivided attention in my homeschooling. I fear that using video school long term could promote my own lethargy when schooling gets hard and the “I don’t feel like doing this today” days come.

7. I want to learn things WITH my children, not just watch them learn! I’ve been reading ebooks and blogs about simple homeschooling. Perhaps it was an overdue breakthrough for me when I discovered that I could use homeschooling as a venue to learn new skills/concepts. I don’t just have to teach basic and boring elementary facts that I’ve known all my life. I can choose topics that interest me, and my children and I can learn together!

Well, those are my top 7 reasons for switching curriculum for this coming fall. So what did I choose and why am I beyond ecstatic about it?! Stay tuned…there’s another chapter in this story. And I feel sure {already} that it has a happy ending.