{Note from Amy: Today’s guest poster is Kim from Not Consumed (talk about awesome blog name!) This is a great, practical post on what to do if you didn’t finish your curriculum this year. Enjoy!}
Have you ever gotten to the end of a “school year” and found that you haven’t finished the book? The older my kids get, the more common this becomes. The year comes to an end and the curriculum falls short of completion.
So what do you do with curriculum that simply doesn’t get finished? Depending on the subject and your purpose, there are a few different options.
Finish it
The beauty of homeschooling is that we don’t have set start and end dates for our year. So what if your 1st grader is still working on that math book a few weeks into 2nd grade? We have the freedom to be flexible and should use it to our advantage.
Do every other lesson
If you simply can’t bear the thought of not finishing something, try completing every other lesson until the book is complete. This will not provide complete mastery of the final topics, but it should give a decent survey.
Put it in a fun box for the summer
If you don’t school year round, you could put the curriculum in a summer fun box for the summer. For example, we studied the human body this year, but still had some topics that I didn’t get to. So, I placed some books, project instructions, and a model of the body in a box. My children LOVE being able to “play” with the summer fun box. And I love that it helps to fill in some of the topics that I missed.
Another thing we do during the summer is to declare each day of the week with a theme. I am notoriously bad about finishing art, so we have art day every Tuesday. I pull out the book and try to do as many lessons as we can on that day.
Tear it up
If the unfinished item is a workbook, I love to tear out the final pages and then throw them into the car for unexpected doctor’s trips. Or you could throw them into workboxes sporadically throughout the next school year. They will likely serve as great review.
Forget it
Not that we are trying to emulate the school system, but they RARELY finish the textbook. There is a good chance that it won’t be the end of the world if you don’t either. Don’t let someone else’s idea of complete define your child’s education. If you feel like you have covered the topic well enough…so be it. I did this with math this year. My second grader was simply bored with the repetitiveness at the end of the curriculum. Rather than have her finish it out just to have every lesson complete, I simply ended it. The 3rd grade curriculum will begin with a review again anyway!
The bottom line—>don’t let the curriculum or workbook run your life. Take advantage of the control and freedom that you have and make the decision that works well for your family!
What do you do with that unfinished curriculum? We’d love to hear your ideas.
Kim is just a girl, crazy about Jesus. She’s an avid homeschooling mom of 4 sweet blessings. Kim’s heart longs to encourage and equip women to walk victoriously through the fire. She offers practical parenting tips, homeschool secrets, and comfort for the soul at Not Consumed.
Jill says
Sometimes I take an unfinished workbook and rip out the unused pages and comb bind them into a smaller booklet and then use with the next child. By rebinding the pages, the younger child feels like they are getting something fresh and it helps me keep that child’s work separate from what the older sib had done (I usually just toss the used pages). I could even combine a variety of subjects and bind them up into a summer bridge/review book.
Ginger says
We school year round and one year blends into another, so we just finish the book. Our years don’t end nice and neat with everything tied up at once. We may be in the middle of a math book when we finish all the history books. No big deal.
Kathleen K says
We ALWAYS finish the math curriculum. It actually defines our year, telling us when it is over. Then when we start up again, I give the boys the test (without reviewing material), if they get 95% or better, we skip those lessons. Usually end up skipping the first 20 or so lessons.
As for textbook type stuff, I tell them to just read the material. Not answer questions or take the test. Just read it carefully, paying attention. Obviously, this works for the older kids better than little ones.
Semone says
Thanks so much!! I really needed this post today.
Suanna says
Sometimes we don’t finish the curriculum, but if its a book to read we read it together or I hand it to the child who needs to read it and tell them to read it. All my kids like to read so this works well for us. Sometimes we might save something to do during our break or save it for another year. It depends how important it is. Skipping some lessons or doing every other problem are options as well. We even do this during the school year, especially when there is already mastery of the idea. I try to make sure we cover all topic in Math. This year my son hadn’t quite finished learning cursive. I told him to do one or two lessons a day and have me correct them before he did the next one. Now he knows them all and we will just have a cursive review day when we start again to make sure he remembers them well.
Stacie says
This is a great post! We just completed our 1st homeschool year (pre-K, 1st, and 3rd grades) and we didn’t complete every textbook. We’ve decided to go ahead and continue with school in the summer on a lighter schedule. So we’re working through the rest of our books 2-3 days per week.
Elizabeth says
I love the ideas!
Tanya says
And here I thought that over the years I would get better at actually finishing the curriculum.. lol.. But it’ll probably play out the same way as you.. Great post, we left our few sheets of unfinished work for laid back summer days.
Crystal in Lynden says
Have a give a way contest for unwanted curriculum.
Helen says
About a year and a half ago I started a Homeschool Resource Library. I beg for unused curriculum so that other families can use it. The library has been a blessing for many.