Horrible reasons to switch homeschool curriculum

Horrible reasons to switch homeschool curriculum, we’ve all been there. Let’s talk about it! 

As a homeschooling mom there are so many options out there for how to teach my kids. It’s overwhelming, and every season we wonder if what we’re doing is good enough or if we should go straight back to the drawing board. It’s especially hard right now, because it’s back to school and there are so many targeted ads everywhere I look. I just wanted to find something to help my oldest daughter practice her math fact fluency and now I’m trying to resist all the math curriculum. We’re happy with what we’ve been using, we honestly just need to work on fact fluency. I’m about ready to give in and just let her use a calculator to double check like I do, don’t tell her I said that. 

I normally get the urge to change homeschool curriculum each year when it’s time to go back to school. 

Each winter break when what we’re currently studying seems to start feeling a little stale and boring and our motivation starts to wane. 

Then there’s the deep analysis after you’re done for the school year of whether you really enjoyed the curriculum or if you should try something different. 

There are so many good and valid reasons to change curriculum, but there are quite a few horrible reasons to change homeschool curriculum. Let’s chat about those! 

Your current curriculum isn’t challenging enough 

Why do we want school to be a challenge? It should be more about staying engaged and learning the way your kids learn best. Learning shouldn’t be challenging. Are you concerned  that your kids are getting through their school work too fast? That’s not a problem! Most homeschoolers can get through their entire school day in a couple hours. I know what it’s like to wonder if you’re doing enough, trust me, I’ve been there. I’ve had many sleepless nights wondering if I was teaching my oldest daughter enough when she was younger. If your kids are learning and doing great it’s enough. If you think your kids need a little more of a challenge try moving them up a level, but you probably don’t need to change curriculum. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Your current curriculum isn’t fun enough

I see this question all the time, how do I make school more fun? My kids are bored of school! I know some homeschool families make it seem like homeschool should be this amazing fun experience from the moment your kids wake up until it’s time for bed, but there’s only so much you can do to make algebra fun. Get through the boring stuff and move onto the fun parts of your day. Anything is probably better than that one teacher you had in middle school that made you take notes about taking notes and had the monotone voice that made you want to sleep. Your kids can deal with a little bit of boring school a few days a week, I promise they’ll survive. The really fun curriculum’s typically don’t age well either, that fun program will quickly be too baby-ish for your kiddo, because kids become way too cool for cartoons or hands on experiments with mom before you know it. 

New curriculum FOMO

We’ve all been there, you bought your curriculum, you’re ready to go for the year…and then there’s a brand new shiny curriculum that everyone else is using. You don’t need to buy something new if what works for you is still working! It’s really easy to have curriculum FOMO.  If you really want to try that brand new curriculum, at least find one with a free sample. I definitely try to find curriculum’s with free samples so we can try before we buy. 

The new curriculum is cheaper

I get it, we’re broke as a family of 5 with only one income. We don’t really have a budget for homeschool curriculum, I would love to have a free curriculum work for us, but free curriculum’s are more work for me, and time is something else I’m short on. I don’t have time to curate a curriculum or print off a million things. Your kids education isn’t a place to save a few dollars. Don’t switch just to save money unless you absolutely have to, you can probably cancel Netflix and pay for your kids curriculum. 

These are the big horrible reasons to switch homeschool curriculum. If your kids are happy and learning you probably don’t need to change anything at all, and that’s what’s important.