Ask the Experts: Making Mid-Year Course Corrections

Attack it Afresh…

For high school, sometimes it has worked to move to a block schedule. One of my sons particularly struggled with British Lit, so he divided all of the work into three days a week. It was more work on those days, but knowing he had a break in between gave him the extra patience to attack it afresh.

My kids also benefited from calling the counselors in high school. The same son hated Spanish. He just really struggled with it.

After speaking with a counselor, he switched to German after one-quarter of Spanish I. He did not love it but was much happier and less stressed studying German. Yes, he finished a bit later that summer, but it didn’t matter with Seton.

I have often put two or more students together in elementary school, especially in subjects like art, music, PE, history, and science. It can be very fun having a sibling to do a “Sink or Float?” science experiment with or draw a map of the original thirteen U.S. colonies together.

One of the best things I have found to do is get help. Teaching Textbooks worked well for my struggling math students, and finding a math class co-op in our homeschooling community helped even more. And don’t forget Dad!

Once, I was having a hard time teaching a math lesson about regrouping. My husband got out the primary-colored counting bears and gave a lesson that involved a battle. In this scenario, one side must “fall back” or regroup and go over to the one’s place to “reinforce“ the army there. Would I have presented it like that? No. Did it work? Yes, it did.

Kristen Brown, Virginia

Come Up With a New Plan…

While homeschooling my brood of eight, we occasionally had to do mid-year course corrections. Often, arithmetic required a new plan, a major review, or a do-over.

The first and, I dare say, most important step in course correcting is to free yourself (and your student) of guilt and anxiety. Mistakes happen, and sometimes extra attention is required.

Homeschoolers do not need to adhere to a public school calendar. Therein lies the real beauty and blessing of educating your children. You are free to meet their individual needs.

With one of my students, I chose a new plan in the form of a different textbook. I try to keep the curriculum the same, but occasionally, a student is better served by a different method. In this case, I got a new textbook, and we restarted the subject.

Several times, we did a major review of the material. When a son struggled halfway through algebra, we started at the beginning of the same text. This allowed me to identify his weak spots and reteach that material. It also helped him recognize the concepts he did understand, which increased his confidence.

There can be necessary do-overs. For one student, it meant redoing the entire course the next year. For another, it meant ordering a second copy of the textbook and having the struggling student retake the course along with a sibling.

Mid-year course corrections, while not fun, are entirely doable. And they can be a lesson in resilience, creativity, and resolve.

Tara Brelinsky, North Carolina

Make Changes as Needed…

After the busy seasons of Advent and Christmas, it’s a good time to assess how things are going in our homeschools. Is the current curriculum working for you and your children? Should there be any changes? Evaluate the activities that your children are involved in each week.

Should you cut back? Review the goals that you set at the beginning of the year. Are those goals realistic? Do you need to adjust them? I don’t like to change curriculums and jump to something different whenever I see a child struggling with the concepts in the lessons.

It might be that I need to spend more time with that child or hire a tutor to get them over the hump. Another possibility is that I need to work with that child using the best learning style for them.

The pace you are working at may be too fast or not fast enough. One of the great benefits of homeschooling is that we can make changes as needed, and mid-year is a great time to make those adjustments.

Vicky Coughlin, California