Going Back To Favorite Curriculum

How Is Our Homeschool Year Going?

I love to find ways to save money and be frugal with what I have. I try to use wisely. Maybe I am not always the best at doing this, but I do make an effort. Usually, it works. For instance, watching the grocery sale ads and planning my shopping trips and menus accordingly. Turning out the lights when leaving a room is another way I try to save money. But this time my money saving scheme for homeschool curriculum did not work. I had read of a solution to history and science that sounded wonderful. But for my family and me it did not work.  This idea suggested providing reading material on the coffee table or other prominent areas of the house.  The family who suggested this had children who would pick up the books and read them on their own without any structured guidelines.  In other words, they would read it for the enjoyment of reading.

For pleasure reading, we tend to choose fiction.  Or picture books.  Even poetry.  Not nonfiction, encyclopedia books.  My kids picked up two books from the coffee table twice and the books have never been touched since.

As I deep cleaned the house during Thanksgiving break, I mentally assessed how our school year was going.  I was forced to admit, as I dusted the science and history books, with a shake of my head and a chuckle, that our curriculum did not seem to be working.

And as I tackled the organization of the utility room later that day, I considered our Language Arts and Math.  While arranging the canning jars, I was pleased to admit the children were learning lots in those areas.  They were stretched.  But then I sighed because I had to admit they were learning a lot at the expense of a ton of preparation on my part.  I paused for a second in my vigorous pre-Thanksgiving sweeping and mopping as I remembered that I had been concerned that I might not be able to stay ahead of them in laying out the lessons and preparing.  And now I had to admit that I was falling behind.  And I admitted that I was mentally tired of trying to keep up with the planning and preparing.

What to do?

Our kids enjoyed ACE Curriculum in the past.  However, for me the grass had always seemed greener on the OTHER side and the lure of "less expense" and more reading had drawn me away from the curriculum, but now I see that more structure, for us - for our family, does equal more reading.

When I asked the kids about returning to the ACE curriculum, they smiled.  BIG smiles.  And I thanked the Lord...  Some decisions are hard to make, but this one was easy.

Fast Forward to the First Day of Using ACE Again:

Each pace begins with a character quality and definition. Each day the kids have a Bible verse  for each subject to read and memorize that goes along with the character quality.  By the end of the three week division of work, called a PACE, the student is to have the Bible verse memorized.  We are excited to return to this structured, organized way of memorizing scripture and learning about character.  Following a plan gets it done!  

Which reminds me of FLYLADY!  But that is for another post!

Final Thoughts

When we bowed our heads at the Thanksgiving table, I counted another blessing.  I knew exactly what we would be doing in our homeschool.  It was all planned!

 Want to know more about ACE homeschooling?  Check out this video from Andrea Mills.