A Homeschool Swap-a-roo! | Changing Up Our Homeschool Curriculum Mid-Year

I’ve been saying it for years… to myself, to my homeschooling sisters-in-law, to my husband.

“I think I’d like to try a different homeschool curriculum with the three younger boys. Something a bit more freeing with less bookwork so there’s more time to get outside and explore or go on field trips with friends, but something that fits my homeschool values.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE the curriculum I’ve pieced together that we’ve been using for the last 6+ years. It’s fabulous and high quality. And while the boys have done really well with it, my only beef is that it fills our schedules and doesn’t leave room for random things, such as additional fun activities, last-minute field trips, or extra life skills I want the boys to focus on from time to time. I suppose I feel like I need to stay “on track” with it, and if we veer off path, we’ll get behind. Now, I know there’s a whole mindset behind this, but remember, I am a bit Type A, so this can be a struggle for me. I do well with routines, knowing what’s expected of me, and high-standards, and our current homeschool curriculum provides all of that for me.

Only I have this sense that something is missing. There’s too much structure, and I’m a bird in a cage longing to spread my wings.

Well, folks. I’ve finally done it. I’ve finally made the switch to a completely different homeschool curriculum, and so far so good — for both me and the boys.

Judah is still doing the majority of his high school homeschool classes through Compass Classroom this year. He’s loving it. It’s rigorous enough for him. It covers all the things he needs as a high schooler. Many of his classes are online, but I’m still involved enough to make me feel good about it. It’s good. He’s good.

The younger three kiddos (grades 3, 5, 7) and I have made the switch to unit studies put together through Campfire Curriculum, and we’re loving them.

Now a little back story here. When I first started homeschooling, I taught Judah with unit studies, and we both loved it. Now, if you’re not familiar with unit studies, they’re topic specific studies and all the primary classes, such as history, geography, science, language arts, spelling, etc., are covered. The only thing you have to add in is math.

Anyway, we tried their Noel unit study over Christmas break just to give it a try, and I loved it so much, I’ve decided to stick with it for the remainder of the school year and see how it goes.

We’re currently working on the Zoology unit as our first official unit because it teaches how to be a good notetaker — an important skill in life — and from there, we have plenty to explore.

We’re pausing this week to do their Valentine’s mini-unit before heading back to Zoology. Next, I’m thinking we’ll do the Square Foot Gardening unit, which will probably be interrupted by the Easter unit. I’m also planning to do their Natural Medicine unit before the year is out as well, and we’ll probably have time for one more before summer break, so I think I’ll let the boys choose what they’d like to study.

These unit studies are taught from a Christian perspective, are literature-based and fit within the Charlotte Mason model I love so much, and they’re enjoyable, fun, and really educational.

We only do three lessons a week, so we typically complete an entire 12-lesson unit each month. Monday is my big Herbal Academy work day, so the boys do independent work only that day. On Friday, we don’t do a group lesson. Instead, we either go on a field trip, or we work on our Fine Arts subjects, such as our composer, folksongs, hymns, Plutarch, and Shakespeare studies.

As I mentioned, so far I’m really happy with how it’s all turning out, so I thought I’d share in case you’ve been feeling the need for a homeschool swap-a-roo, too!

Love and light,
Meagan