As the summer heat increases and the garden starts to grow, it’s time to move on to the next challenge of the year, planning the homeschool year. I feel like our summer break has flown by and we didn’t do any sort of school this summer at all. We didn’t even manage to get any reading done. The farm has kept us busy enough each day. However, at the beginning of the month all that will change. Due to the schedule we would like to keep we will be starting school in about two weeks. That doesn’t give me a whole lot of time to prepare, but after seven years of doing this, I don’t need a ton of time to plan. We also made some changes last year that are going to make this school pretty easy for me to get laid out.

Curriculum Options

Last year, mid-school year, we made a big change to what we were doing. My daughter was fighting me every day on Math and we could not get past it and get all of our other school work done. It really was beginning to throw our entire school year off. Not only for her, but also for my son since we do group subjects, and I was stuck trying to get her to finish her math. I was exhausted, mostly mentally, and I knew we couldn’t keep doing things the same way anymore. So, we made a big change. We switched fully to an online school option. In December of last year, we switched to Acellus Academy and its online homeschool program.

For our family and where we were last year Acellus worked very well for us with one major issue. You can start Acellus at any time during the year, but it will start you back at the beginning of the school year regardless of how far along you are. I didn’t love this, but I also knew it wouldn’t hurt my daughter to go back and get refreshed on some of her math skills. With Acellus my kids were able to do most of their school by themselves and finish within a couple of hours each day. It was significantly less frustrating than what we were doing previously. However, since they had to start over again we did not fully finish the school year, but came close. I haven’t checked because our account is currently paused, but I am assuming Acellus will have us finish up that school year before we move on to the next. This is fine with me and we should be able to get caught up without too much extra time during the school day.

As of right now, I do plan to continue with Acellus for the time being. I have looked into other programs such as Shoreman Math and other online math/science options, but for now, Acellus is what we will use. We were a little disappointed in the writing curriculum last year, so we will be adding IEW back in as a supplement and for a handwriting option, but that’s about it. As always the plan could change at any moment but this is our current plan.

They will also be required to read each day on top of the Acellus reading, and I would love to be able to fit read-aloud back in. That was also something that sort of got dropped last year. With Acellus the kids would get up, eat breakfast, and start school. It ended up taking away from our read-aloud time, but I am going to concentrate on getting that brought back into our day somewhere. Maybe during lunch break, or in the evening but it is something that I believe in and will be getting it going again. I am currently working on my list of books I would like to assign to each kid and add to our read-aloud list. The hardest part is there are so many great books and I can’t choose them all.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes what you picture and how things actually work out are not the same. I have always pictured a relaxed homeschool day where the kids and I hang out and learn together. We have managed to do that pretty well for the most part, but last year did not go that way. When this happens we have to adjust. Acellus has some pros, but it also has cons. Just like anything we do, no one thing is perfect, but more what you make it. Did I feel like a failure? Yes! I still sometimes catch myself comparing our homeschool to what we see online. I wasn’t that homeschool mom who was baking with their kids every day, doing endless science projects, and taking them on a million field trips. I was struggling to make it through the day. So, we let go of what we thought the year was going to look like and moved forward with what needed to happen right then. Guess what? My kids still learned. In fact, they probably learned more since Acellus allowed them to get to all their subjects every day. My daughter still hates math and struggles with it, but she loved her teacher and likes the ability to see exactly what she needs to get done. It worked when I needed something to work. Don’t be afraid to let go of your perfect ideal plans and move forward with what you need. I have high hopes this upcoming school year will be better, as each year I learn more about what they need and what I can give them. Homeschooling is hard, but it’s even harder when your curriculum isn’t working for you. Make the change and choose the pace. It’s worth it.