Curriculum Exposés was inspired by the experience of going over a new math book with my husband and coming to the realization that this book was so flawed that I could not use it in my homeschool.
This is not the first time that I’ve considered chucking a popular curriculum out the window (literally, the window was open) and, though I hope that it will be a rare occurrence, I know that it’s likely to happen again. So I thought---not enough people are willing to step forward and say, “Hey, this math book? It’s a bad math book.”
I haven’t written anything particularly controversial lately. Let me take a crack at it.
Let me tell you what I have in mind for Curriculum Exposés so we are on the same page.
I’ll pick up this and then drop it like a hot potato because of its rather obtrusive worldview,…
…postpone that because it’s a little too difficult for my child,…
…pass on this other thing because it overlaps too much with what we’ve already studied,…
…and give up on this truly awesome thing because it’s not something I can make work in my situation.
There are lots of things out there, good things that work for other homeschool families, that are just not a good fit for our particular situation.
And that’s great!
It’s wonderful that we’re not all forced to used the same things even if they don’t fit us---this is part of what homeschooling is about.
But every once in a while I’ll settle on something that seems like it’s just right, only to get it in my hands and discover that there’s something wrong with it. I don’t mean a poor fit, I mean really wrong, whether it be due to factual inaccuracies, unsound methodology, or something that just won’t work in the real world.
This is not a rant on Common Core or a complaint about a particular publisher’s worldview or whatever.
It’s not a whine because I couldn’t figure out how to teach something or it wouldn’t teach itself.
It’s a real look at the some of the real problems with current popular resources that are being used by both homeschoolers and brick-and-mortar schools.
It’s reporting, not scandalmongering.
And it’s a “heads-up” so you can learn what to watch out for while selecting things for your own homeschool.
Coming soon: Curriculum Exposé #1…or Why I’m Looking for a New Math Program
Have you run into any real curriculum duds? I mean things that make you doubt the future of education.
Tell me about it.