My 7yo and 5yo are working through a nature study book, slowly but surely. It's published by a Mennonite company called Rod and Staff. Now, Rod and Staff is reputable, and their products are included in the syllabi of equally reputable producers of boxed curriculum (Memoria Press, for example). Despite this - I find myself pulled up short multiple times by what seem to be glaring errors, or at the very least omissions, in the text. Here's an example:
"Most countries in the world have four seasons."
(A true or false question, which is meant to be answered as true, I assume, although there is no clear answer to this, which is its own problem.)
Now, DO most countries in the world have four seasons? That's a good question. (The World Atlas tells me that there are 195 countries in the world.) Four-season countries generally exist within the northern and southern temperate zones, and wet/dry season countries within the tropical and arctic zones, but there are exceptions. Has Rod and Staff counted the countries falling into those categories and tallied up that a substantial majority (hence: 'most') of them have four distinct seasons? (I could not find anything online that showed me a list of countries existing in entirely temperate zones but that doesn't mean a list doesn't exist somewhere.) What about countries such as Russia, for example? Russia has southern areas that would certainly experience four seasons, but also far arctic reaches where there are only really two seasons - one of light and one of dark. Does Russia count as one of those 'most' countries? No matter what the answer is supposed to be, it isn't found in the actual chapter on seasons, either, so a student would be unable to answer the question!
How about this example:
"Weeds are harmful."
Harmful to what (or whom) exactly? This is terribly vague and also uncompromising at the same time! The milkweed isn't damaging to the dozens of insects it hosts, although humans can't eat it...
Believe it or not, I would still recommend this nature study program, even with its errors and omissions and general confusions, although with one very specific caveat. That is...to Use The Curriculum As Inspiration, Not Law.
I struggle to think of a more generally damaging word in the English language than 'perfect'. What is perfect? Who is perfect? None of us, certainly, and nothing that comes from us either - no word, no thought, no idea, no invention, nothing. Nothing that has its start in human hearts or through human design has any claim to the word, frankly.
And I think we all know this, deep inside ourselves, on some obscure un-thought-of level. When we say the evening was perfect, that the beloved is 'perfect for us', that the sunset was perfection - we have an unspoken agreement that we mean not perfect, but amazing, wonderful, awe-inspiring, unreachable, glorious. Not perfect, though, which is a realm set aside for only the divine.
Despite this knowledge, we really do seem to expect perfection from the education we provide for our children. And this expectation can only lead to disappointment. Patterns of Nature isn't perfect, and I recognize this, which is why Patterns of Nature isn't law in my house. It's an inspirational curriculum. If some part of it doesn't suit us, or I disagree with it, or even if I just think it is suspect or irrelevant or boring or whatever, I am the teacher, and I can choose to gloss over that section or to explore it deeper and use it as a jumping off point for our own discussions.
I used to be concerned with finding the perfect curriculum, years ago, and I think others must struggle with that as well because I see a lot of social media posting from homeschooling parents asking for advice on curriculum. Often they aren't concerned with cost, or with faith/secular issues, they just want a 'great' curriculum for their children. I know, and you know, that the curriculum they choose will fail them in some way. It will contain errors, it will be too hard, it will not be rigorous enough, it will ask for too much writing, it will use examples that everyone finds dull...there will be something.
So, (you think, feeling that deep irritation you feel when someone presents a problem and no viable solution), am I am suggesting that you just use anything at all to teach you child? Why, not at ALL. That is not at all what I'm saying! What I am saying is that there will be issues with every curriculum you have available to you, and that it might reduce a lot of heartache to simply ask yourself, when you come across a problem, 'Self - can I live with this problem?'
And your answer may change through the years, as well. At the moment we use a handwriting curriculum that is not fantastic. The cursive is slightly different than what I learned, and so I often struggle to teach it because I'm always 'making mistakes'. The texts are long and not interesting to my 9yo, and sometimes the copywork is on one page and then the space to copy is ON THE OTHER SIDE of the page, if you can believe it. Man. These are not small problems! But. The curriculum has things going for it. For one, I own it. That's no small potatoes around here. I don't need to research it or find a distributor or find money to buy it. Also - the topic of the texts is nice. It's about birds. The 9yo may not find birds riveting but at least neither of us finds it crude or offensive. At this point, I'm willing to use this curriculum because it doesn't offend me, and it is paid for. It's Good. Enough.
Perhaps it is best you hear it now, if you are early on in your homeschool journey. You are not the perfect teacher, and your child is not the perfect student. You will not teach with a perfect curriculum and you will not cover everything you ever wanted them to learn or be exposed to. You will miss books. You will not do all the interesting crafts or trips or experiences you dream of. You will make mistakes, and they will makes mistakes, and some of the mistakes you will learn from and some you will make best friends with and just keep repeating over and over again. It is quite possible that, no matter how wonderful you believe your curriculum or method is, your child will 'graduate' not knowing a preface from a suffix, will detest graphing, will not be able to draw a recognizable figure, will be unable to play any sport well, will prefer television to books, and will tell you, to your face, that they think homeschool was 'a bad idea'.
By all means, search out the good curriculum, and reach for the ideals, and strive towards the finish line, but do so recognizing that in this, as in all areas of life, you will never fully accomplish your goal - there is no end to learning as there is no end to parenting, and no end to marriage, and no end to spiritual growth - except a final end. And in recognizing that no one curriculum will fulfill everything for you, and that you may very well find aspects of many curriculum to be valuable and wish you could 'piece together' what you like from each (you can, by the way), hopefully this feels like freedom to you. It IS freedom! Because it is true. If what you have is okay, even if it isn't perfect, then let yourself have the freedom to embrace it, to adjust it, to make it yours - faults and all.
No comments:
Post a Comment