The Basic Strategies and Being Brave

In my experience, there are six basic strategies that help me to give my kids a great education on a very reasonable budget:

1. Be Brave
2. Plan Ahead
3. Be Flexible
4. Use What You Have (and What You Can Find Online)
5. Use Your Local Library
6. Put It Together

Since it's the first one, and I'm just getting started with this blog, let's talk about number 1 on that list: Be Brave.

It’s very popular in both healthy eating and frugal living circles these days to advocate buying “ingredients,” rather than packages of food-type products. Personally, I believe the same approach applies to homeschooling.

Think of all those expensive, planned-for-you curricula as boxes of macaroni and cheese. Now, they may be lovely, all-natural, organic macaroni and cheese and might be worth it if your family is really in a rush for dinner now and then. But I’m pretty sure we all know you can make truly great mac ‘n cheese with some simple ingredients. Most of us think it tastes at least as good as the boxed stuff (maybe better), and it costs a fraction of the price.

If, like me, you grew up on the stuff in the blue box, buying ingredients instead of that shiny, familiar package can be very intimidating. Using the box provides consistent, if not exciting, results. And it doesn’t require much from us. We can be pretty sure of getting it right every time of we just follow the directions printed on the back.

I’m sure most of us who are parents understand that our children’s education is something extremely valuable and important. And there is certainly a sense of security in being able to rely on someone else to tell us how to do it correctly. In other words, since most of us probably went to brick-and-mortar schools for our own educations, the idea that education is something defined by an outside authority offers just as much ease and security as that store-bought pasta side dish.

Personally, I think that explains the appeal of the huge variety of all-in-one curriculum packages available to homeschoolers. I’ve certainly felt the pull myself, now and then. It seems so comforting, so easy to let someone else tell me just what my children need to learn, when and how they need to learn it, especially if they are accommodating enough to sell me all the supplies in one, neat box.

I never know whether I feel amused or saddened when I hear of people who don’t seem to know how to do anything without a product to help them.

For example, there was the woman who posted on an online message board in a panic, because she had planned baked potatoes for that night’s dinner, but she was out of aluminum foil. She truly didn’t know that wrapping the potatoes was not a necessary part of the process. I honestly can’t imagine growing all the way into adulthood and not knowing this simple fact. But the thing that bemuses me almost more is the idea that she was so scared to just try baking those potatoes without the foil. She, apparently, didn’t know how to “be brave.”

And just like there are many ways to cook a potato, I don’t believe there is any one “right” way to educate your children. The "best" curricula or educational method or philosophy for your kids is the one that works for you and for them. You have to be comfortable teaching, and they have to be able to learn and, we hope, enjoy the learning.

I believe that designing your own curricula, using materials that won't make you panic or stress about your budget, can make those things happen for your family. And I hope that I can be helpful with advice about how to do it.