Tips for Outside the Box Learning Series: Outside the Box and Outside the Classroom

As a homeschooling mom veteran, I thought back on my first years of homeschooling and it seemed like everyone had something to say. It didn’t matter if the person had been homeschooling for years, or never homeschooled. Those comments and opinions all had one thing in common, they each had an assumption of what homeschooling should look like.

What I discovered is that doing what works for your family is more important than doing what someone else thinks is perfect. I started out using a Box curriculum and for a few years it was a great fit, until it wasn’t.

So, my Tip is this: If the classroom isn’t working, then think outside the box.

If the classroom isn’t working, then think outside the box.

What does it mean? Box curriculum is just like a classroom. It is a lot like doing school at home, and less like homeschooling. It isn’t enough to take your child out of the room with 20 or 30 other kids and expect the same things to are used there to work at home. Those things: worksheets, set assignments, speed of progression, all look great, and are completely necessary in a classroom. But in a homeschool, they can kill the joy in learning.

Think outside the Box, find ways to bring in the things your child loves, or to simply chase down some rabbit holes, just for the joy of learning.

But I need to know we are learning!

Classrooms and Box curriculum have another thing in common, besides worksheets and timelines. They go over the same info in greater detail, 3-4 times over the course of 13 yrs. Yep, that’s right, unless they miss it all 4x, it’s really hard to get behind.

What it really comes down to is this: don’t let the Box kill the joy of homeschooling.

Most curriculums come with a spot to take notes, use this spot to think about what the curricullum was trying to teach, and do you think you learned it, even if you went off script? if not what did you learn? Can you think of a funner way to learn the intended concept?

I’ll be giving more specific examples during the next nine days. Today, I just wanted to open your mind to the idea that classroom and the box don’t have ALL the answers.

Outside the Box Planning Printable

Just in case you’re not using a curricullum, you’re taking the plunge and writing your own, or somewhere in between, here is an easy planning printable to jot down your notes and keep it all together.