Without diving into the history of curriculum changes, I'd like to address the common practice of searching for a new curriculum. Humans are cyclical. We have patterns that we follow and often homeschool parents follow the same patterns. When our child struggles to grasp the difficult concepts in algebra and higher-level math, we start searching for something new. Something that will "speak" to our child in a way that he will understand. Unfortunately, such a curriculum rarely exists. Honestly, that type of curriculum isn't really helpful anyway.
Let's imagine for a second that you encountered a magic pill that would make you suddenly understand everything. This magic pill made your life easy. Would you take it? I wouldn't. Because it is in the moments of stretching and hardship that we grow as humans. We learn to deal with difficulty and in the process become better people. It is these times of testing that create honorable men and women. Without difficulty, what's the point? If everything was easy, why bother?
When we spend countless hours and immense amounts of money trying to find the "perfect" curriculum, we are communicating something to our child. We are telling them that education isn't worth the struggle, and shouldn't shape us the way everything else in this world does. The fact of the matter is, we can't eliminate every difficulty from life. Learning perseverance through hard tasks is a skill worth building, and it's worth starting young.
I am not saying that we should force our child to struggle through the most difficult texts and topics without help. I am not advocating for frustrations in our child's life that border on trauma.
We need to acknowledge:
- some things are hard
- sometimes we need to ask for help
- some things are about how we get the answer and not what the answer is
If you are a christian, then you probably agree that:
The Ends Do not Justify the Means
Do we treat our child's study of math as though the ends are all that matter? If your child is struggling in mathematics, then please take that as a good sign. The study of mathematics, especially higher-level math, is shaping your child's brain. Your child is developing into an adult who can persevere and solve hard problems. If your child struggles, please take a step back, analyze, and take your time. It is better for you to spend two years on pre algebra, than to rush through, get bogged down in algebra 2, and quit.
If you find yourself shopping for a new curriculum, first ask yourself: Am I looking for a quick fix to make my child's life easy? If so, then I encourage you to reevaluate your educational goals, communicate with your child, seek help from others who've blazed the trail before you, and take your time.