Why, one might ask would I change curriculums after so many years of loyalty to the other? Well, I have three reasons.
- The other curriculum publisher began to promote an "expert" mentality, i.e. you need an "expert" or "master teacher" to show you how to use their materials. Of course, for a small fee, this master teacher will take you by the hand and show you what to do. I began homeschooling in the 90s when the homeschooling market wasn't flooded with products. We had very few choices, so most of us, picked what we thought was the best and just started. We made mistakes, had successes and learned how to teach our children as we felt best. I believe that the best thing about homeschooling is that we shed the need for "experts" and seek God's help to teach our children.
- Another reason I chose Tapestry of Grace is that it is finished for all four years of High School. I had to use a lot of texts for High School with my older daughters but wanted to use unit studies all the way through. With TOG, I can do this without having to reinvent the wheel.
- I believe that the author of TOG believes fully in our ability to take the curriculum she has written and make it fit our unique talents, abilities and family situations. She offers many helful additions so that we can adapt easily.
I considered several other options before choosing TOG. I bought another popular curriculum used and attempted to use it for a while, but ended up changing. They have a lot of books, but little or no activity and seemed disjointed.
Hopefully I will be posting about our progress as we go along. My children are excited and so am I. I think this is a great fit for us.
2 comments:
Yikes. I can see that a homeschool curriculum might want the extra money that offering their expert services might generate, but I would think that would be a tough sell among a lot of existing homeschoolers.
I could see offering these services to new families unsure of what it is all about but gee whiz. What is homeschooling supposed to be about? If I thought it needed to be done by experts, I would have listened to the NEA and left them in school.
I am the expert in my child. That is good enough for me right now.
You would think that most homeschool mom's would see through it and trust their instincts, but I found that not to be the case. I try to encourage other mom's to just jump in there and do it. They'll find their rhythm and be just fine! :-)
I'm glad that you see that you are the expert. No one knows a child like their parents.
Post a Comment