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.
I am interested in homeschooling my 11year old. But I do want to do it from and African centered perspective. I have found Kamali Academy but that’s about it. What routes are you now taking? Being my first year I really want to learn as much as I can about what is out there.
Welcome Christy! Being interested is always the best start! After some thought I will be piecing together my own bits of curriculum here and there, using lots of common homeschool resources that are already out there, but also trying to keep it simple. As always, my first mission is to have the Lord guide us, so most things will still be Christian based, but I swing them to work in our favor as well. Look for my post coming on Wednesday about our curriculum choices for the upcoming year.
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Check out the curriculum that I authored–it teaches African-American history as an integrated part of all of American history, and it presents history from a Christian worldview. Whatever is your selection, best wishes to you.
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I am writing under my husband’s account (I doubt he will be bothered). I absolutely agree with you and it is a discussion that my husband and I have had many times. We decided last minute to enroll our eldest into Kindergarten has we are awaiting the arrival of our third child (in less than two years lol). She attends a private Christian school which is nice. However, she never brings home pictures that represents her. I have only see maybe two blacks on any of the school assignments she has brought home. An Afro-centric based curriculum is more what we are geared towards for our children.
Question: Do you homeschool year around? Why or why not?