Dare to Let Go of “The Plan”

We have been doing this home schooling thing now for 9 years. You might consider me a veteran and well-experienced home school mom. You may even think that by now I probably have things figured out. Let me set the record straight:

I do not.

I’m still learning–about my kids, curriculum, styles of learning and teaching–and I don’t often feel like I have a good handle on any of it.

I have tried (and failed) many times to get it “right.” And now I’m discovering that my definition of “right” is probably not…right. But that can be a really good thing, and I’d like to share a little of what I’ve discovered just this year.

Before the school year began, I shopped around for curriculum, looking at all kinds of options, and then chose a boxed set that had everything I thought we needed. It came with a wonderful teacher’s lesson plan book that laid everything out for me, day by day, week by week. (Why are some of you snickering at me?! Oh wait, I know why.) I thought I was being brave because this curriculum was a step away from the textbook/workbook/teacher’s book norm that I tenaciously held on to in years past. I was feeling pretty good about my choice.

The year got rolling. We were doing ok, I thought.

Then the movie “A Dolphin Tale” came out and someone was offering a free unit study to go along with the movie. I thought I’d give it a whirl, just for something different, and, because I had already planned on taking my girls to see the movie. We had so much fun! After watching the movie, we spent about a week on the study and the comment was made, “We should do more of these types of unit studies!”

Really?

But…But…my teacher’s planning book was getting all out of whack already! So I filed the comment away in the recesses of my “need to stick with the plan” brain.

Until I started seeing advertisements for a month-long Thanksgiving unit study.

I timidly asked the girls if they might be interested in doing that. I bet you can guess their response. Yes, we spent the entire month of November diving into a thorough study of all things Thanksgiving. The girls made beautiful notebooks to hold all their work for the month. We did craft projects, baked goodies, and had great discussions about faith, freedom, and sacrifice. They–we–loved it!

Fast-forward to Christmas break. My sister just happens to live in Florida–near Clearwater, in fact. And we went to visit them for Christmas. And the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is where Winter, the dolphin from the movie, lives. And we got to see her, along with the other rescued animals they have there. And my 5th grader was so completely enthralled, she informed us she is going to be a marine biologist when she gets older.

When we resumed our school year after the break, I searched for unit studies that had everything to do with oceans, marine animals, and careers. A huge shout-out to Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett and Hands of a Child for helping me out!

My daughter looks forward to school now. NOW! She’s a 5th grader! It honestly took me that long to figure this out.

Yes, we still do the math, the grammar, the spelling. We still use that curriculum set I purchased. BUT, if something catches our attention, we WILL take the time to explore with unit studies.

Even if it messes with “the plan.”