Before we moved to NorCal I took a good survey of the local private schools. I found two that I deemed worthy of even a glance, which upon further inspection, I narrowed down to one. It’s a cute school – tiny, African-centered, intensive, basically everything I’d want in a school. Of course, in the end we decided to continue homeschooling, as I just couldn’t get passed the lack of Christian curriculum. But after speaking with the director and going over the paperwork, I noticed they had the student sign a contract…Brilliance!

Their contract simply stated that education was important and serious business and that the student was required to contribute their best at all times. It really inspired me, though. As I give The Kidd more freedom and responsibility over his own work this year, I wanted him to know that this is still serious business and that education is the foundation to his future. We talked about contracts – what they are and why we use them – and then I showed him examples like our lease and my phone contract.

He was very open to signing a contract and when I pulled it out he decided that this was something that needed to be done “over coffee”. This kid, I tell you! So I made him some hot chocolate, made myself some tea, and we split a piece of peach cobbler while discussing the contract and then signing it. We were just missing business suits and portfolios. I think we’ll make this a yearly thing. After it was signed I made a copy, and we put the original in my teachers binder and the copy in his.

We’re still in the first week of lessons, but it’s gone well. Today during our reading lesson while he was whining about having to do it all over again (sloppy, illegible work) I had to remind him of the contract. He perked right up, said “oh yeah”, and that was that.

Seriously? I would have done this YEARS ago!

Here’s our contract. Feel free to take a look at it, copy it and tailor it to your own homeschool.

Homeschool Contract

You ever totally second guess yourself about your curriculum choices?…Don’t lie!

I do it all the time. But in the end, I love Heart of Dakota. How do you not love pre-planned lessons that tell you exactly what to do, great books, and an all around fabulous company? I have nothing but fabulous things to say about HOD.

“Well then why are you leaving?”

Good question. Let me first answer it by saying that this is not a permanent dismissal of the curriculum. With future children I would happily return to the lower guides. I love the simple, affordable, fun, rich start that HOD gave us to homeschooling.

“So then why are you leaving?”

You keep asking that. The truth is, I am finally admitting that HOD has done all that it can do for my child at this point. He will be in 4th grade soon. HOD, as great as it is, does exactly what every other homeschool curriculum does. It gives a rich, sweeping history of the United States, our founding fathers, our nations contributors, etc. It tells us of the geography and contributions of other countries, our history with them, famous world leaders and inventors….

And as great as this may sound to you, as in depth as it may seem, just like other curriculum – both homeschool and institutional – HOD does not tell my child that he comes from kings. HOD does not tell my child that his people did more than just find a new way to pick cotton and demanded civil rights. HOD does not tell my child that people who looked like him discovered and named the stars, that the Jesus that he loves so much, looked much like he did as a young boy, or that Africa is grossly misrepresented in size on most maps.

These things are of great importance to us. I hate that the focus of Black History in all curriculum is ‘you were slaves, now you’re free, yay MLK!’ If my child only learns the negative, how can I expect him to have a positive view of himself, his potential, and his people? I can only hope that one day there will be a rich, core curriculum geared toward our children. There are some out there that are trying, but so far I have seen nothing that has made me want to jump up and down for, but some are off to a good start.

Until then I will continue piecing together what I can. Writing things down in hopes of having some sort of future guidelines. There are some great books out there. I’ve got some great outlines going for next year. And my big hope is that I can instill in my child a sense of pride in himself and his people that I am sure he will need in the years to come.