What does it take for you to realize you have lost your way?
On my journey to create educational material that my kids and others so desperately need, I managed to lose sight of my why. I started with financial literacy, then African American history, and then ELA, but when I looked up, I realized I was no longer creating the curriculum needed for my kids today! Yes, everything I am creating I will use but I must regain my focus.
A little over three years ago, I started my homeschool journey for the second time, and I was so disappointed in the lack of diversity in the pages of the curriculum we were using. Living in Japan, we were used to being the minority. America is diverse and allows us to see the beautiful, different shades of God, yet when I opened the curriculum, I realized only one race could really relate; only one type of child could feel good about seeing themselves.
I was also disappointed that I could not find good curricula for things like financial literacy and African American history. It is undisputed that the current history curriculum does a horrible job of representing African American history from the Black perspective, and high school is too late to start learning a basic financial foundation.
Instead of waiting another 100 years for someone else to finally create what our children need, I took it upon myself to take my degree in history and my educational experience to pave the way. I did not necessarily want to at first. I started out wanting “them” to do it, but God had other plans.
Over the years, I have tried desperately to find curricula for my son that would work for us, something that is helpful, easy to use, and reflective of all the beautiful people that make America, America. It has been a struggle. I end up bailing on curricula that cost hundreds of dollars and tweaking things to work for us. So, I have decided to do something I should have done a long time ago—Pivot.
This fall, my son is headed into the sixth grade, and he is all over the place in his testing levels, so I am creating his entire curriculum for his sixth-grade year, except for math. Math is working for him, and I am not a fan of fixing things that are not broken. I will share math curriculum textbooks that we use here because I like them that much; just be mindful that the grade levels have been known to be a bit off. I am excited to bring the ELA teachers I am working with for Inspirus into the fold.
Not only will I create the full curriculum for sixth grade, but I will put back on my kindergarten teacher hat to create a pre-k/kindergarten curriculum for my littles. This will be done with the help of another great teacher. I spent years teaching kindergarten at an international school in Japan. During that time, I was responsible for creating daily lesson plans as well as overseeing an afterschool curriculum for first through third grades. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get back to the basics and create a year of learning my kids can learn from and enjoy.
Over the next few months, I will take you on the journey of creating a full curriculum. You will learn what it looks like for us, what we consider, how we plan timelines, and create space for flexibility. Over the next few months, I will learn how to use a new platform, and you may even catch me teaching on video. Who knows… maybe you will get a few freebies and products out of the deal!?
The beauty of homeschooling is that I can meet my kids where they are and help them to where they need to be. I do not need to teach 30 kids at once. I can focus on the three human beings that God has trusted me with to help them be everything He created them to be. I am so grateful I have this opportunity to pivot.