This post is from contributor, Judy Hoch
You’ve invested your time in curriculum research and homeschool planning. You’ve purchased the best materials you could find.
But now, in spite of all your efforts, it’s just not working. The curriculum is excellent; your child is eager to learn. What’s wrong?
It’s very likely that the curriculum is simply not a good fit for your child’s learning style. The good news is you can successfully adapt almost any curriculum to meet your child’s needs.
Tips for Adapting Curriculum
1. Is it too difficult for your child?
- Be sure your child has a good understanding of previously covered material.
- Slow down and focus on allowing your child to learn at his own pace.
- Use extra activities, worksheets, and review to reinforce learning.
2. Is it not challenging enough for your child?
- Consider adding extra reading and writing to your child’s assignments to deepen his learning.
- Look for other learning options, such as online classes or local groups, that will allow your child to delve more deeply into the subject.
3. Does it include insufficient practice?
- Try adding in additional activities or worksheets to provide more practice. Pinterest is a fabulous resource for finding free printables and creative activities to reinforce learning.
- Spend more time reviewing the material with your child.
4. Is it too repetitive?
- Use only enough worksheets and activities to ensure the material is mastered, and ignore the rest.
- Check to see if your child could easily skip over repetitive areas of the curriculum.
5. Does it lack hands-on projects?
- Add activities or experiments to complement the subject. Again, check Pinterest for a wealth of ideas!
- Consider adding a more in-depth project that offers room for your child’s creativity.
6. Does it include too many projects?
- Substitute extra reading, audio books, or outside learning activities such as field trips instead.
- Allow a “hands-off” learner to demonstrate learning through narration or notebooking instead of projects or experiments.
How do you adapt curriculum that isn’t working for your child?
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I’m going to start homeschooling next year, and I’m kind of nervous about if I’ll do a good job of gauging where my child needs to speed up and slow down. I am so eager just to get started, but I guess this time of preparing and researching will benefit us.