How do you know if a certain curriculum subject isn’t working for your child versus a child complaining and whining? I expect a certain amount of pushback especially for certain unfavorable subjects, but am having a hard time (in our first year of home schooling) figuring out if something is just not a good fit.
@rachyaimee a little more information would help. First what subject(s) are you referring to? What is it your child does not like? Is it the time spent, the subject matter, the difficulty level, the style that the information is presented in, or maybe the independence level involved? Do they like the rest of the curriculum? Do they like anything about subject in question?
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Being in year one, there is a little more pushback…getting use to how things run, expectations, etc… Was yoyr child previously in the school system? If so, they are use to being fed information. Theres not to much individualuzed thinking going on. If you are expecting thinking…push back will happen. If your child has not been previously schooled and you are getting a fair amount of push back…reassess expectations and whats being done. Your child may be bored. Education at home should be a bit fun and while they still may not always want to do the work…there should be aspects they enjoy.
If you have a teenager…its the age. State your expectation amd stick to it. Do not make them spend 6hrs doing work though.
Also, ask your child if its working…ask them if they rather read books all day or do worksheets or computer work or hands on. They are allowed an opinion.
My husband and I just had this discussion regarding my son and math. He doesn’t enjoy his math curriculum, but he has no problem doing the work and scores well on the tests. He is also able to apply the concepts to his every day life. We are choosing to continue with the curriculum rather than find something my son may enjoy more. There are many reasons for this but what really pushed the decision is that we don’t want to shuffle around to several different curriculum options and possibly cause confusion and major gaps to find out that he just doesn’t like math! He doesn’t have to love every subject, he just has to learn them. What he has demonstrated is that he is learning but not enjoying and that is ok. So my advice would be that if your child is not retaining the information or is unable to apply it to real life situations then perhaps a curriculum change is necessary. Good luck!
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Thank you ladies for the feedback!
My kids are ages 9, 7 and 4. So two of them have been in school before this and yes i expected some adjustments from those two. (My preschooler is not an issue) Our curriculum is a mix from diff companies, and it’s pushback from just about every subject, so after reading this I think it may be a lot of them not used to doing things on their own and fighting that, as well as me not making it fun enough! IT feels like I’m fighting the whole morning to just get it done instead of enjoying the process and showing them fun ways to learn and explore diff subjects.
This home schooling stuff is hard! If it were easy everyone would be doin it though right? 
thanks again!
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