When Curriculum Looks Different
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People often ask what we use for curriculum.
The short answer? We use anything which will help our children learn what it is they are trying to learn. And, if it involves real life, even better.
Sometimes our curriculum looks traditional, like a math textbook.
Other times our curriculum is a stack of Living Books.
A few months ago, my middle schooler initiated a flower bed renovation project. She wanted a flower garden to call her own, a place she could eventually grow cut flowers. A few visits to the clearance section of the local garden shop and she had rescued several very nice—but wilting—flowers (aka curriculum). With a little research in a field guide and a how-to online tutorial (more curriculum), the plants were thriving.
Today we added a few more resources to the curriculum—a collection of solar garden lights. Before placing them in the bed, we experimented with them in a dark room. So fun! The littlest learners were enthralled!
“Flashlights without batteries!” one shouted.
Curriculum incorporates all that a learner uses to learn the content of a specific subject. Though we are often tempted to stay within the means of what we know or have experienced as curriculum, in real-life the definition of curriculum broadens to include any materials used to foster a student’s understanding.
The possibilities are endless.
Consider broadening your sense of what curriculum includes. Maybe it’s
- Front porch wonders
- Stickers, a Scrabble board, and some acorns
- An ant farm
- An Olympic runner and her friend
- DYI projects and a grandfather
- 4-H studies
- Field trips
- A stack of Living Books
- Owl pellets and a Magiscope
