Ever Changing

December 2021: 

With my oldest four kids we were able to stay with the same curriculum from the start to finish. However, with us having five kids with special needs that we are still schooling, what works one year might not work the next. Sometimes it can be a challenge to know what to do so they continue to learn and grow. We are currently in our second year using Abeka and it is by far my favorite to teach. I love everything about it. We do the dvds as well as all the work that comes with it. 

However, they are more advanced than some and while it is great to be able to learn so much, it also means that some of our kids struggle sooner than they would have if it was easier. With that in mind a couple years ago we tried an "easier" curriculum and we were very disappointed and went back to Abeka. As I watch our kids doing their work and watching the videos, I notice that for some, this will be their last time using Abeka. As much as I love it, for some of our kids, they are starting to get lost, the work has gone beyond what they are able to do. A few years ago I would have argued that there is nothing that we can not do without a lot of work, and while I do still think that hard work makes progress, I also understand that instead of continuing on trying to teach someone something for years and years and year we should find the things that they are good at and focus on helping those get better instead trying to get them to continue in work that is too challenging. 

I think as years go on, we will have to just do a reevaluation to see where we are, where we are going, and what we need to do to get there. It certainly keeps me on my toes researching to see which will best suit their needs and the needs of our family. 

For now, they are learning, and doing well with Abeka and we are loving seeing them discover and grow.

 February Update:

Since I started writing this in December, we have continued on in our Abeka books and videos and are now on lesson 102 in Abeka. There are 170 lessons total. We took off time for Christmas and in January we took off time when we all came down with covid. Then one of our kids had surgery, so we took a break for that. However, since we did not take off time for Thanksgiving or New Years, or other holidays, we are still on schedule. 

While we all love the Abeka curriculum and videos and having the teacher and students to learn with we have decided to change curriculum. If all of our kids were keeping up then we would have happily stayed with Abeka, however, as the year progresses our kids are having trouble keeping up. We will finish this school year with Abeka, but this is our last year. We have learned SO much and I will be forever thankful and grateful for the videos and the Abeka program. I will miss having the help of the teacher in the Abeka videos but the best part about homeschooling is that when you see a need you can always change things when you need to. 

We have ordered our new curriculum for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year and are excited with all that this coming year will bring. I can hardly wait to share all that they are learning. 

Most of our books have already come in, but we have several more on the way. We are packing them up for now so nothing is damaged and everything is in a box labeled for easy access when we move. 

We finally got good enough weather to go out to the park. The kids had a great time playing on the playground and then rolling down the hill and running back up. Here are some pictures of our recent outing.