B2HS week draws to an end.......

O Curriculum, Curriculum! wherefore art thou Curriculum?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name!
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a frazzled homeschool Mum.

Curriculum is not one of my favorite words. No other thing has caused as many wars in my family than curriculum. Not reading, not writing, not keeping up with the laundry has caused me more grief than that dreaded C-word. Let me set this up here abit for you.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a boy. He was a very good boy, well-behaved, obedient, organized. He went to school and did what he was told and did it well. He followed all the rules given to him by others, his parents, his teachers, his pastors. He listened in class, did all his lessons, got good grades, graduated, went off to college, listened in class, did all his lessons, got good grades and became a teacher.

Once upon a time, long ,long ago (well, ok, not THAT long ago) there was a little girl. She was not a very good girl, she mis-behaved, was disobedient, disorganized and messy. She went to school and did not do what she was told and did not do well. She never followed any of the rules given to her by other, her parents, her teachers or anyone. She didn't listen in class, didn't do any of her lessons, didn't get good grades, graduated anyway, probably just because her teachers and her parents were finally glad to get rid of her.

As fate would have it, this nice, obedient boy and this crazy mess of a girl, met, fell in love, got married and started having babies. When the time came for her to send her beloved babies off to school, she didn't. She couldn't. She remembered how much grief it had caused her and she did not want to inflict that on her sweet little ones. So, she didn't. Lo and behold, her nice husband agreed with her and they homeschooled them.

However, HER idea of what homeschooling was and HIS idea of what homeschooling was were not exactly the same thing.

So began a feud greater than the one between the Montagues and Capulets. I think its lasted longer than theirs did too.

LOL!

Ok, it's not really THAT bad between DH and I. We do have very,very different ideas on how to do things. God must have a sense of humor, He put us together and with His help and grace, we've made it work almost 20 years now. Made it work AND have raised 3 really awesome teenagers despite them having two Bozo's like us for parents.

Curriculum.
There are SO many out there, so may options, so many choices and ways and programs and books and bags and boxes of them. How do you chose? How do you know which one is the best?
You don't.
If you're like me, you look around the Internet and/or the homeschool conventions for hours. You flip through the books and the magazines and the catalogs. You talk to friends, snoop through their bookshelves, ask tons of questions, lurk on message boards and blog rings. Pray like mad, make your choice, pay out way to much $$, wait for the big brown truck to arrive. (Try to remember in February just how exciting that day was when the big brown truck arrived.)

Like I said yesterday, its really not about the curriculum. There are some really good ones out there and some not so good ones out there. Kids learn, no matter what and no matter where. Kids learn, we learn. Even as adults, I think we should always be learning, growing, stretching ourselves, changing. Sometimes its easy and sometimes its hard, sometimes its fun and sometimes its not. In the end, I really don't think it matters all that much if you chose traditional textbooks or unit studies or unschooling or Waldorf or Classical education or the Charlotte Mason method or if, like us, it ended up being some weird, wild and wacky blend of all of the above. I think what really matters is that you have a heart for your children and a heart for God and somehow He takes that combination and works everyday miracles with it.
Everyday.

PS
You still have time to sign up for a chance to win a MOTH book, complete with scheduling kit.
Comments are open until 8 pm Eastern and I'll draw and announce the winner soon after.