Will I Ruin Them For Life?

I'm finally finishing up my series of posts on Homeschooling with this question:

Will I mess them up for life?

What if I don't pick the right math curriculum and they don't learn it the right way?  What if I teach history in the wrong order?  What's the best program to teach them handwriting?  What if they don't write their lowercase "d" correctly?

I actually used to wonder if they would be tested one day on how they wrote their letters.  I thought if they didn't start in the correct spot, even though it ended up looking just like a the letter should that I'd be in trouble.  Yeah, no one's testing them on how they hold their pencil or whether the "d" starts at the top to form the line first or at the middle to start the circle first.

What about writing essays, stories, etc?  And will they really be ready for college?  There are many things to teach and many more questions about this or that curriculum or method.

What I've deduced is that in subjects like history and science their is no right or wrong order.  Up to the ninth grade (when transcripts are required) you can teach those subjects in whatever order you'd like.  How do I know this?  We have a humongous homeschool convention in town every year.  I don't know exactly how many science and history vendors there are, but there are a bunch.  And not one of them teaches their curriculum is in the same order.  Some teach American History then World History.  Others start with Ancient History.  There's no best way because unlike math and reading which build on each other year after year, history and science really can be less of a check off list (and I say this as a mom who loves to check off lists in order!)

Now if you want to feel more secure with what your state guidelines are, you can always go to your county's website and find out the public school standards and teach by those.

As far as stressing out over the best math, after you've consulted several friends and actually looked at what they use, pick one.  If you don't like it at the end of the year, try something else. I had a friend once who spent a whole bunch of money on a math program.  She hated it and ended up feeling like her year was a complete failure because she actually ended up avoiding math.  If you get to that point and it's only halfway through the year, who cares how much it cost change it then.

I will say, however, be careful not to make math that big of a deal. It's just math.  Whatever program you pick will probably be fine if you just stick it out.  Flip-flopping too often can be more of a problem than the actual math curriculum itself.

What it all boils down to is this...education is important but it's not the end of all things.  Love for God and others is.  Character, work ethic, wisdom versus book knowledge, self-control, responsibility, these are important.  Jesus doesn't mention education or wealth as something to strive for.

The problem is trying to keep up with this family or that family.  I recommended these before but want to recommend them again :

They're on sale right now 30% off!

The key to education is not the books or curriculum. It's encouraging a love for learning and consistently working through the subjects day after day.

YOU CAN DO IT!