by Laurie White
When my car’s GPS is on and I take an unexpected turn, I immediately hear the voice saying, “Recalculating, recalculating.” It reminds me of how often life itself requires many minor or major recalculations at times. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey describes how a navigator gets an airplane to its intended destination by constant recalculation. The navigator plots an initial course to fly, say, to New York City. The pilot steers the plane along that trajectory, but always, always, the plane veers off course a bit. The navigator now must plot a new line from the plane’s new position to the destination. The pilot reconfigures the settings and heads along that new line. But the plane veers slightly off course again and the course must be re-plotted. This process continues the entire trip to New York. The plane may never again be flying along the original trajectory, and yet it arrives at its intended destination. Covey says that this is how life operates: correcting and re-plotting our courses is part of the process.
This also is a perfect analogy for homeschooling. What mom isn’t constantly having to reconfigure and re-adjust some part of her plan for the year? The need to recalculate and re-adjust is not some kind of failure on the parent’s part, but rather an inevitable and healthy part of the process. In fact, you should plan specific times to reassess throughout the year, to look at what is and isn’t working, and re-plot your course accordingly. Homeschooling is more a creative endeavor than a mechanical one. As C.S. Lewis says of marriage, “It’s more like a dance than a drill.” How true of all creative ventures! Yet we often beat ourselves up for not figuring things out better from the beginning: “I should have known we couldn’t do dance class on Wednesday afternoons before church;” or “I just wasn’t thinking when I chose that funky, off-beat science curriculum.” Relax and know that experimenting and trying things out (whether they work or not) is a healthy part of any new venture. Each year presents unique situations,different from any you have ever lived before, so if you want freedom and creativity to flourish along with discipline and organization, then embrace “recalculating” as normal and teach that principle to your children.
No matter how much research you do, it happens--you buy what looks like a great curriculum and it totally bombs with your child. I remember when my daughter Hetty was in third or fourth grade, she was not a big fan of math. At the yearly homeschool convention, I happened upon this unique curriculum that was guaranteed to help your child understand math at a deeper level and engage even your most recalcitrant student. I really loved the author’s presentation on using his method, so I plunged in and bought the book and workbook for Hetty. She was excited to try something new. Well, about 3 months into the year, Hetty and I both were completely frustrated and I agreed to switch her to another program. She said she never wanted a “deeper understanding” of math again! That became one of our favorite homeschool jokes--no in-depth understanding of math for us! We were on a tight budget and new math books meant spending more money, but it was worth it to rectify the situation. I know that can be part of the angst of switching mid-stream, but if you can, plan into your budget a certain amount of leeway for changes. Emotionally it is so much healthier to welcome the new insight as a good thing, even if it means some extra expense. Think how fortunate we are to be able to switch curriculum when we see it isn’t right for the student! A classroom teacher would have no such flexibility. She would be forced to continue to struggle with a math text she hates because a teacher just can’t switch a whole classroom of students over to new textbooks. But as homeschoolers, we are blessed with the freedom to tailor the curriculum to the individual needs of each student.
So, as you traverse your homeschooling path, expect to reassess and to find that changes are called for, and not just with curriculum. Schedules may need to be shuffled around and other types of priorities shifted and prayerfully realigned. But you can rest in the knowledge that mishaps, flat tires (like my bad curriculum choice), and unexpected detours are part of the process and are an essential factor in growth of any kind. Be thankful for the flexibility and freedom to do it! Remember that you are like the navigator and that job description entails a constant realigning of the path from your current position to the intended destination--a well-educated student who knows and loves the Lord.
Laurie White is an author, teacher, and mom to three kids who were homeschooled k-12. She writes books and other supplemental materials for homeschoolers including her popular and award-winning King Alfred’s English which combines history and English in a highly entertaining format for grades 7 and above. For more info and access to Laurie's free downloads go to www.TheShorterWord.com
When my car’s GPS is on and I take an unexpected turn, I immediately hear the voice saying, “Recalculating, recalculating.” It reminds me of how often life itself requires many minor or major recalculations at times. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey describes how a navigator gets an airplane to its intended destination by constant recalculation. The navigator plots an initial course to fly, say, to New York City. The pilot steers the plane along that trajectory, but always, always, the plane veers off course a bit. The navigator now must plot a new line from the plane’s new position to the destination. The pilot reconfigures the settings and heads along that new line. But the plane veers slightly off course again and the course must be re-plotted. This process continues the entire trip to New York. The plane may never again be flying along the original trajectory, and yet it arrives at its intended destination. Covey says that this is how life operates: correcting and re-plotting our courses is part of the process.
This also is a perfect analogy for homeschooling. What mom isn’t constantly having to reconfigure and re-adjust some part of her plan for the year? The need to recalculate and re-adjust is not some kind of failure on the parent’s part, but rather an inevitable and healthy part of the process. In fact, you should plan specific times to reassess throughout the year, to look at what is and isn’t working, and re-plot your course accordingly. Homeschooling is more a creative endeavor than a mechanical one. As C.S. Lewis says of marriage, “It’s more like a dance than a drill.” How true of all creative ventures! Yet we often beat ourselves up for not figuring things out better from the beginning: “I should have known we couldn’t do dance class on Wednesday afternoons before church;” or “I just wasn’t thinking when I chose that funky, off-beat science curriculum.” Relax and know that experimenting and trying things out (whether they work or not) is a healthy part of any new venture. Each year presents unique situations,different from any you have ever lived before, so if you want freedom and creativity to flourish along with discipline and organization, then embrace “recalculating” as normal and teach that principle to your children.
No matter how much research you do, it happens--you buy what looks like a great curriculum and it totally bombs with your child. I remember when my daughter Hetty was in third or fourth grade, she was not a big fan of math. At the yearly homeschool convention, I happened upon this unique curriculum that was guaranteed to help your child understand math at a deeper level and engage even your most recalcitrant student. I really loved the author’s presentation on using his method, so I plunged in and bought the book and workbook for Hetty. She was excited to try something new. Well, about 3 months into the year, Hetty and I both were completely frustrated and I agreed to switch her to another program. She said she never wanted a “deeper understanding” of math again! That became one of our favorite homeschool jokes--no in-depth understanding of math for us! We were on a tight budget and new math books meant spending more money, but it was worth it to rectify the situation. I know that can be part of the angst of switching mid-stream, but if you can, plan into your budget a certain amount of leeway for changes. Emotionally it is so much healthier to welcome the new insight as a good thing, even if it means some extra expense. Think how fortunate we are to be able to switch curriculum when we see it isn’t right for the student! A classroom teacher would have no such flexibility. She would be forced to continue to struggle with a math text she hates because a teacher just can’t switch a whole classroom of students over to new textbooks. But as homeschoolers, we are blessed with the freedom to tailor the curriculum to the individual needs of each student.
So, as you traverse your homeschooling path, expect to reassess and to find that changes are called for, and not just with curriculum. Schedules may need to be shuffled around and other types of priorities shifted and prayerfully realigned. But you can rest in the knowledge that mishaps, flat tires (like my bad curriculum choice), and unexpected detours are part of the process and are an essential factor in growth of any kind. Be thankful for the flexibility and freedom to do it! Remember that you are like the navigator and that job description entails a constant realigning of the path from your current position to the intended destination--a well-educated student who knows and loves the Lord.
Laurie White is an author, teacher, and mom to three kids who were homeschooled k-12. She writes books and other supplemental materials for homeschoolers including her popular and award-winning King Alfred’s English which combines history and English in a highly entertaining format for grades 7 and above. For more info and access to Laurie's free downloads go to www.TheShorterWord.com
