5 Solutions for a Bad Curriculum Problem

What’s a homeschooling mom to do when you’ve got a curriculum problem?

If you are like me, you are a homeschooling mom who is working hard to ensure you are providing your kids with the best possible homeschool curriculum and materials. I’m sure you are doing your research, talking to friends, reading expert advice, perusing the aisles at conventions and reading blog reviews. Doing all you can within your power to be sure that when you make the decision to spend your limited budget on a homeschooling item that it’s going to be the one that will work. What will be even better is if that material solves an existing problem.

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But what are you supposed to do when that highly recommended curriculum, and expensive to boot, turns out to be a dud?  What happens when it doesn’t work for your child? What should you do when it’s not returnable, and you discover that it’s just not going to work? Or, what do you do when you have nothing left in the budget to replace it with?

These are all questions that homeschooling moms find themselves asking. So, what’s a mom to do?

How to Solve Your Curriculum Problem

▬ Ditch It!

I promise, it’s quite alright to ditch a curriculum, you can usually re-sell it for a used product price. (Be sure to check copyright on each individual product to see if you can sell.) Then use that money to purchase another lower priced curriculum.

▬ Save it for another child. 
What doesn’t work for one child, might be the perfect material for another.

▬ Swap with a Friend. 
Your best homeschooling friend, might just be ready to ditch her own curriculum and is thinking what you have might be the best solution. Ask around at co-ops and field trips to see if anyone has what you’re looking for, or needs what you have.

▬ Shelf it for now. 
There are plenty of free curriculum or resource materials for homeschoolers online. Then you can try it again next year (depending on the kind of curriculum). Perhaps your child isn’t ready for the content of the curriculum, but by next year they might be. 

▬ Use It! 
I don’t mean use it as written. Try using the materials but in a different way.

• Let the content be your guide as you teach, but don’t require the children to utilize the secondary resources, like workbooks, and tests. 
• Instead turn it into a unit study, finding companion materials for the content online. Such as timelines, flashcards, notebooking pages, etc. 
• Allow it to be your guide while you utilize online resources for lapbooks.

Be smart, be creative, and think outside the homeschool curriculum box. You are, after all, a resourceful homeschooling mama.

Whatever you decide, know these two things: First, you know your children better than anyone else, if your heart is telling you that a curriculum isn’t educating your children, trust yourself to make the right decision. And second, it’s perfectly alright to change curriculum mid-year.

You are, after all, in charge of your homeschooling schedule, your lesson plans, and you get to decide how that looks.

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