Have you ever bought a curriculum on a whim? Maybe you purchased something because every other homeschooler you knew was using it and having great success. Or perhaps you thoroughly researched a program and just knew that it was going to be perfect for your family.
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But then what if when you finally got your curriculum ....you hated it?
This just happened to me. Last year my mom picked up a like-new copy of one of the cursive Handwriting Without Tears books. I figured it would be good to use the program since I already had one of the books and could save some money that way. I also had multiple friends who were using it who all loved it.
I went to their website to research it, and everything seemed fine. I had some misgivings when I went to check out but that was due to the price. There were so many different components that you needed to do the program. There was the chalkboard and the wooden letters and Mat Man and it just seemed to go on and on. I wasn't even finished adding everything to my cart and I was already up to $145.
Umm, no. Not for a handwriting program.
(If you are only buying the same things you would buy in a different writing program, the price is very comparable.)
So I just bought the basics. The student book and the teacher manual. I also bought some of their notebooks that have a space for drawing on top and lined paper on the bottom. I was planning on using these for the note-booking activities that are recommended by The Well-Trained Mind.
This year I have been using Homeschool Panda (completely free and totally awesome) to plan our homeschool. (Update-they now charge a small fee to use their service). I was trying to figure out how many weeks each subject was going to take and how many days a week I wanted to do each subject.
In order to do this, I thought it would be a good idea to write the lesson number on each page throughout the book in the way that I wanted to break it down. That way I could just type in the lesson number when I was planning and get an idea of the maximum time it was going to take us.
By the time I had finished, I realized that I really detested the font. I don't have good handwriting and I really want my kids to have beautiful, legible handwriting.
At first, I figured I would just use it for the first year and then switch to something else. But then I found this free copywork printout of over 100 quotes from famous people that was made in the Zaner-Bloser style. The font was beautiful!
I went ahead and ordered the Zaner-Bloser workbook and extra practice book. I LOVE it! The pages are much friendlier and really colorful, and the lower case letters are taught with their equivalent upper case letters.
But now I am not sure what to do with my Handwriting Without Tears program. I cant' send it back because I wrote in it, and everything is already opened.
I think I will be selling them on Ebay.
(UPDATE-So I ended up using this with my almost 5 year old. He has a hard time making his letters than his older brother did at that age. He really wanted a handwriting book so I let him go through it. In Handwriting Without Tears they have boxes around the spaces where the kids make their letters, and the boxes really helped him with size issues. However, I still detest the font so we are sticking with Zaner-Bloser.)
But let's talk about other options. Some companies give you a certain time period to return your unopened items. Other companies have a guarantee that their curriculum will work for you or you can return it within a certain time period. Many companies also have a try before you buy where they offer several lessons or several weeks worth of work so you can get a feel for the curriculum.
If you are worried about a curriculum not working for your kids or if you have had a lot of problems in the past, it might be a good idea to only shop from curriculum companies that offer the type of guarantee that you need.
If you do purchase something and it isn't going to work for you, but the company won't take it back, here are some ideas you can try.
- Sell it on ebay
- Find a homeschooler buy and sell group on Facebook
- List your items in buy/sell Facebook groups that are local
- See if your homeschool co-op has a place to sell curriculum
- Craigslist
- Get a booth at a used curriculum fair
- Save it for a different kid with a different learning style
- Tweak it so that it works for you
- Follow the scope and sequence but come up with your own lessons and activities
- Donate it
I hope this article gave you some good ideas on what to do with curriculum that isn't working out for your family!