One of my favorite homeschooling magazines is Home Education Magazine. It was the first home schooling magazine I ever read and what started me on my journey to learn more about, and eventually to embrace, homeschooling. Sometimes, though, when reading about homeschooling you get the one-sided picture – how wonderful it all is! How natural! How much your child will love to learn! All of which is true – some of the time. And then there are the other times . . .

Karen Vogel wrote an article on “Mom-Friendly Curriculum” for the May-June 2009 edition of the magazine. This is the time of year when homeschoolers are selecting their curriculum for next year if they haven’t already done so. There is always the search for the perfect curriculum – the idea being that if the curriculum is just right, your child will automatically start loving math and spelling. I love this paragraph she wrote:

Listen closely – It doesn’t really matter which curriculum, or math series, or grammar instructions you use. Yes, you should take into account your kids’ temperament and ease with topic – up to a point. Beyond that, they really just have to suck it up and do the work. After a certain point, there are no shortcuts. Believe me, they have to learn to add, subtract, multiply, divide, even if they never like it.

Yup. Even in homeschooling, sometimes you just have to suck it up. (And that goes for the moms, too!)