My Math Curriculum and I were close. I thought all was well. Visions of dancing with it during the middle school years filled my mind. Sure, as in all relationships we occasionally argued, but who doesn’t? I saw the future and clung steadily to it’s equations, graphs and numbers.
The breakup happened suddenly and without provocation. I picked it up, felt the crinkle of pages and heard a quiet voice say, “It’s over.” Disbelief coursed through me. Truth took my breath away. No amount of cutting and pasting pages together would reunite our mathematical hearts. It. Was. Over. Final. Kaput.
How could I tell my friends? It was the topic of my every mathematical discussion. I had lifted it to the highest pinnacle of educational value. It covered everything. It’s path would ensure success. The breakup left me mathless. A new path would have to be forged.
Heed my warning. Your math curriculum could also break up with you. There were warning signs. However, I allowed my blind devotion to push them far away.
7 Warning Signs your math curriculum is going to break up with you.
- You refer to it as your curriculum. Danger. Teaching is not about you, it’s about your child.
- You cling to it based upon hope of what it will offer. If it is not currently inspiring, you need to reevaluate. Your child deserves better.
- You use extreme precision to calculate how many pages must be completed each day in order to be done by a specific date. Recalculations constantly occur. In fact, pages are rapidly completed in fear of not reaching a self-imposed deadline. Warning-the curriculum controls you. Unfortunately, it not only controls you, but your child. Not good.
- You don’t evaluate difficulties in implementation. You dismiss them as something of normal occurrence. Beware. Not all tears and exploits of frustration are a result of resistance to learning. Homeschooling is not merely about facts and figures, it is about the heart of a child.
- You put it on a pedestal. You think all learning derives from its tomes of knowledge. You have the intelligence to find a way to inspire your child. You have the freedom to make it happen. You are smarter than you give yourself credit.
- You actually want to break up first. You really do. But, upon calculating the cost of purchase, printing and manipulatives you can’t see over the horizon to new ideas. Financial commitments have overridden learning achievements. Choose to look up. See beyond the dollar signs. Just because it doesn’t work for one child doesn’t mean all is lost. It might be the answer and key to unlocking great potential for another student.
- You fell into the “everyone else is doing it” trap. Regroup. You probably chose to homeschool because everyone was NOT doing it. You wanted a new fresh unique path for your child. Embrace your child. Love them as the unique individuals God created them to be. Love will teach more than a curriculum ever could.
If you have experienced a breakup then you are also left to pick up the mathematical pieces. What should you do? Jumping from one curriculum to another will achieve only more heartbreak. It’s time to trust yourself. Trust your child. Listen.
Major mathematical changes have occurred in our homeschool as a result of the breakup. I’m now using a living map (not a curriculum) to pave our way into the future. Our map has a destination, but routes change based upon road conditions. Our map will be drastically different from yours. It should be. It must be. Homeschooling allows you to teach to the heart, not create widgets of informational containers.
As a result of our post breakup lifestyle I’m now in the process of scavenging for math resources. I’m collecting a few of them on a Pinterest board to share with you in case you want to tag along. The next stop on our mathematical trip will be to enter the realm of prime numbers and fractions. Not all stops will be documented, nor will we linger for long online. A real world calls our name. Living math beckons.
Follow Contently Humble’s board Mathematical Journey on Pinterest.