When you don't finish your homeschool curriculum...here's what to do! | Homeschool Curriculum

[@wvfarmersdaughter]

As a former school teacher I can say we almost never finished the whole curriculum. Many times things would come up beyond our control. So id say for the most part don't sweat it.

[@mandy-maltz]

Exactly! I never did when I was teaching in the classroom.

[@paigeturner4506]

I'm actually going to HAVE to do some summer school in order to jump ahead on next year's curriculum because.... surprise baby #7 is coming when we normally start school. 😱 so,... first time trying that. But we'll see how it goes! Pray for me.

[@jenniferborka8328]

I noticed my kids needed more than five days on their spelling lists, so we are just going slower and only buying the next book when they are finished with the one we are on! That means that my 4th grader is doing 3rd grade spelling and my 2nd grader is doing 1st grade. But they are doing so much better on their tests so I think it was a good choice! I did the same thing with the 2nd grader for reading! He just finished his 1st grade books this month, but his reading is much improved!

[@annai157]

You'll never regret laying that foundation *well*. Grade levels are an artificial construct. As long as your spending sufficient hours per day, you'll be very grateful for a solid foundation later : )

[@SaraPlainandTall]

That’s what I noticed with mine, so we slowed it down and spend more time on “weekly” spelling lists. I’ve seen such an improvement! I love that homeschooling affords us the opportunity to tailor it to our children. 🥰

[@user-bn7dg2km2d]

We just keep rolling , and use it into the next school year.

[@SymphoniasStories]

I do too, especially for curricula I am subscribed to (even free ones like Khan Academy).

[@OKKristin]

Same here. Sometimes we finish it in the Summer because we don’t do well with really long breaks. I always schedule a little work for Summer.

[@annai157]

Great ideas : ) Other possible options: 1) Just do the reading as a read-aloud, and skip projects, quizzes, tests, etc 2) Finish one subject at a time, and then expand the remaining subjects to take more of the day. Break is "earned" when x-amount is done. 3) we have definitely rolled things over to the next year, or gone thru the summer when appropriate, especially when my daughter was younger. But at this point -she is highly motivated by breaks, and will power thru assigned work to "earn" a break.

[@purvisamria6007]

Another option that I have used when I was scrambling to finish a curriculum is to zip through it, skip the activities etc. That way it is not news to the kid when we continue the topic next year. Especially in math, I skip some “practice” problems

[@amandamendoza4181]

We finished out math for the first part of summer last year. Math builds upon itself and I didn’t want any gaps my kids did it without too much complaining. This year during the summer I’m just having the kids do some reading out of set books. They are on track to finish math. I think they worked a bit harder because they didn’t want it cutting into their summer again.

[@apologiaworld]

Great advice! We have done a little bit of all of it. Stopped at 80%, picked up where we left off, or just read aloud and skipped the projects and extra things. It really depends on the subject. ~Misty

[@mandy-maltz]

That's such a great idea! I may try that with a book that I need to get through this year, just skipping the projects and things.

[@adaml.4938]

My daughter started structure and style with iew in 3rd grade and we were a little more than half way done at the end of the year so we continued with it for 4th. I probably should’ve have waited to start her on it in 4th grade because it seemed advanced. It helped us “finish” the curriculum by spreading it out over two years.

[@amycrouse8518]

I have almost never finished a curriculum book in the entire 16 years I have homeschooled. There are always things that come up, and there isn't always a lot of wiggle room depending on the curriculum. I know public schools never finish their books and I know they don't know all lessons in its entirety. I have had to modify and make accommodations as I have two iep kids. It is definitely very specific to the year and subject. Each circumstance is so different. I now have three adult kids (24, 21, 19). My youngest is 15. My kids turned out alright. 😂 They are smart, inquisitive, and are always eager to learn new things. I can attest to the fact that if you don't finish a book, all is going to be ok. 😊

[@melissapflugradt556]

We're just gonna keep rollin'. Right now she's young enough in this homeschooling journey to where we are doing year-round school. We are doing a break in August for Disney World, but besides that we're gonna go year-round.

[@melissapflugradt556]

Come fall we're gonna be half in 1st grade and probably Language Arts will probably still be Kindergarten level.

[@amlb7512]

We are on year one of homeschooling but my first 2 children(4 in total). My first child has done prek-5th grade in public school and she has neverrrr finished any public school curriculum. They bring home all their text books at the end of each year, and they are always just halfway done. Not even 75% done lol. So I’m trying to remind my of that and give myself grace in not finishing to the last page. Even though my brain wants to.

[@kristenbarkey5540]

On boy this is a problem for me every year ...I'm a box checker and I struggle ..

[@amycrouse8518]

Meeee too! I struggle too. I have had to really force myself to be flexible. After 16 years, it is still hard.

[@blueskys97]

My son is currently taking a college level Calculus class and is currently about 40% through since he’s going at a slower pace with it. He’s going to work on it through summer because it’s math and taking the longer break wouldn’t work. Spanish 2 we have stepped away from the curriculum for the year but he’s working on worksheets to finish out the class. Most of his other classes will be finished up completely in 3-7 weeks.

[@janachavez5396]

Thank you so much! I am new at homeschooling and need all the help I can get!

[@mandy-maltz]

❤️❤️❤️

[@anaf.848]

Since this is only our second year homeschooling, I've done a bit of trial and error switching between a few phonics and math curriculums. I'm glad I did this because now I know we're using the curriculum that fits the best for our family, but now we're definitely not going to finish them this year. I'm trying to decide whether to teach all the way through June or just pick them up next year. It's a hard choice because I like the idea of starting fresh next year from the beginning, but I also don't want to burn my daughter and me out this year. Hmmm.....

[@amycrouse8518]

From my experience (and I've been doing this 16 years... take the much needed break. You will regret it come time for the new school year to start. You will love the fresh new curriculum, but you and your daughter will both be burned out. You are learning the ropes and figuring out what works right now. Giving yourself that grace and permission to take the break will be well worth it.

[@genabrady1348]

My oldest got so far behind in his Algebra 1 course, that he needs to continue doing math everyday even through breaks to get his math credits completed by graduation. He really dragged his feet and I was trying to give him independence. Now he gets to pay for that mistake for the next year and a half. My youngest started a new LA course last month, she will get about halfway through it this year and pick it up again next year. My middle is going to be right at the 75% mark in LA by the end of this year. I'm calling it good enough for him.

[@mandy-maltz]

I totally get that. ❤️

[@bethyjg87]

We have been taking math slow with my daughter as well. I have been doing extra work with her outside the books l to help her with areas she struggles with. So far she takes after me and is not a numbers/math person. I plan on working with her a little here and there till we start the next school year.

[@aliciasmith4421]

Honestly, I just bought the Notgrass history. I was really nervous about the pacing bc I looked like lot of stuff and parts compared to our last year's curriculum. Going to start with their 1-year pacing but might make an alternate schedule in case we need to slow it down for retention.

[@mandy-maltz]

Remember that not all the activities are required. Make it work for YOU.

[@aliciasmith4421]

@mandy-maltz my issue is the kiddo I have doing this loves all the activities and doing as much as possible. I definitely will be working around my own needs as well.

[@amyparedes5033]

@@mandy-maltzEvery time I’ve looked at Notgrass, I’ve felt overwhelmed by how much there is. I didn’t know the activities/workbook were for picking and choosing. Is it that way for the middle and high school levels?

[@mandy-maltz]

@@amyparedes5033 remember, it's your homeschool and you can do it the way YOU choose. The middle grade textbooks I think say that it's totally optional, but even if it didn't, EVERYTHING you do is optional with your books. You don't ever "have to" do an activity. ☺

[@budgetmom]

Would you do this be math where you find a spot to stop and pick back up or move on to the next book.. middle and high school I would think finish math book .. so not missing out

[@amyparedes5033]

Thank you for mentioning that you more than likely are not going to finish both volumes of Notgrass in one year and that you’ll do vo. 2 the following year. Every time I’ve looked at Notgrass, it has overwhelmed me with the amount of reading needed every week in order to go through 2 volumes in 1 year. It seems like it should be split into 2 years in order to be more realistic with the amount of time needed just to complete the work for 1 volume. Can I ask, what your typical weekly schedule looks like for your middle schooler with Notgrass?