Why I hate (most) Workbooks...

Let me start off by saying... I am not judging!! Yes, I hate workbooks. Some people love them. You go. I'm speaking strictly from personal experience, and a little from conversations with other homeschool mommas who use them and then wish they didn't!

Being in our 6th year of home learning, my girlfriends can attest to the fact that I've tried just about everything, in the curriculum department. And if I haven't, then you can bet I've at least researched it to death! Well, we still haven't managed to squeeze in Latin or renaissance art, but that's probably because those areas just don't appeal to me, so I've yet to dump them on my kids!! ;)

Anyway, back to workbooks. Here's what it boils down to, and I've finally put my finger on it after a great conversation this afternoon with the mama friends at the roller rink :) Workbooks give me tunnel vision. They are someone else's (or more accurately, committee's) opinion of exactly who, what, when, where, why, and how my kids should be learning. They limit us to filling in the blanks and memorizing rules, while reinforcing to my kids that the true value in learning is completing page numbers on paper they will eventually throw away. Workbooks just don't seem to use application as a means of learning. There is no actual 'doing' of the subject, only memorizing in order to 'do' later. Busy work. The beauty of homeschooling, is in letting my kids learn at their own pace. The trouble, for me, with workbooks, is that I get too caught up in finishing them! I get it in my head that this is what they are 'supposed' to do, so if they work too slowly, or the flip side, too quickly, I get all discombobulated! Our schooling becomes totally inside the box, rather than allowing myself to teach them according to their own, individual abilities, and assessing their progress based on progress rather than page numbers. :)

So, just how did I break away (almost) completely from the workbook regime?? It's simple. I stopped buying them. Really, that was a big step. Also, I had to stop and think about what I really wanted for each of my kids. The boys had areas of their schooling that they totally excelled in....and others that I found greatly lacking. By most public school teacher's standards, this would be exactly where we'd insert a new workbook and double the page numbers, because, obviously there were gaps, so it was time to fill those babies in!! But, being the rebel that I am, I did the opposite... got rid of those stinky workbooks and found materials that were strictly fundamental application. And guess what. These materials don't come from committees, they come from *homeschoolers*! God bless the publisher that stands behind the little guy!! I looked for books that had the students *write*, not just fill in the blanks teaching the rules of writing (Writing Strands). I found awesome spelling curriculum (Sequential Spelling) from a friend, that has lists of words by word families, rather than 'grade level', and teaches the kids to spell by immersion and familiarity rather than strictly by random memorization. And, even though most math really does need a workbook to be effectively learned, we listened to all of our friends rave about Teaching Textbooks, and decided to give this cd rom curriculum a try. LOVE it. No busy work, allows mental math (which my son loves!), and the super nice guy who 'teaches' the lessons, walks students through each problem of the lesson one by one if need be! NO BUSY WORK, all application! And, lastly, my final decision in eliminating the textbook travesty in our house...no grammar. Before you fall out of your seat, hear me out. At the suggestion of an awesome speaker/writer at the amazing CHEA conference this year... "don't teach grammar every single year...it doesn't change from one year to the next, so why not let them learn as they go, then save formal lessons for middle school??". Made a whole lot of sense to me. So, in lieu of grammar we're doing (alot) of real writing and reading, as well as daily oral language, instead. Oh, and the kids still love Madlibs, so they do know what nouns (and the other important things ;) are. :)

So, my rant is almost complete, but let me first share with you, sweet friends, my hypocrisy. This is where the 'almost' comes in my title. I haven't given up workbooks completely, because I've found a few that I deem valuable. For one, the "Daily Oral Language" workbooks we use. Two sentences a day filled with misspellings and incorrect or incomplete punctuation and grammar. Student rewrites and fixes the sentences. The end. I can't tell you enough what these little exercises have done for my fifth grader!! And, even though it is a workbook, he is not memorizing the rules, he is applying the rules. Genius. Also, I love the cool American History workbook I found at the teacher supply store last year. It was actually in the 'reading comprehension' section, because it's supposed to be a language arts book, but it's filled with stories that walk the student through American history, then ask a few questions about the essay. Short, sweet, and dual purpose. Even better. So, if you love workbooks, and they are working perfectly for your family, by all means, use them... buy them in bulk, take them on vacation, set a place for them at your dinner table. This is the beauty of home learning...we have the liberty to meet each of our child's needs wherever and however that may look! And I didn't even learn that in a workbook... ;)