Homeschooling Detour

Sometimes homeschooling is a delicate balance of Mom’s energy, the kids’ energy, and all the other things we have going on. It’s not unusual for us to take an abrupt, unscheduled detour along this educational journey of ours!

As many of you know, we are studying the Middle Ages this semester. But, with everything else we had going on we stepped away from history for a couple of weeks. (We had a Memorial Service for our beloved 91 year old Gr. Uncle; grandparent who wound up staying with us for two lovely weeks; plus our a busy sports/activities schedule that has kept us hopping the past few weeks.) Before jumping back in to our studies of the Middle Ages, I decided I really wanted to take a detour.

There really isn’t any graceful way to transition from Middle Ages to twentieth century civics and government, is there?!!  But that’s what we’re going to do. We’re hitting the historical pause button and will polish up on some basics about the US government (three branches of government) and also will touch on how our state government works. I wanted to touch on some basic things like what kind of taxes our state has, how much we pay (for things like sales tax), and why that’s beneficial to us and our community.

I know talking with my homeschooling friends that I’m not alone in doing this. Sometimes we detour to take advantage of travel/field trip opportunities. Sometimes we take detours to delve further into a topic we touched upon in a book we have read or a video we’ve seen. And sometimes, like now, there’s no actual reason for the detour except that it’s something I’ve been wanting to touch upon, we’ve been interrupted anyway, and it feels like the right time!  That’s okay too!

Do you ever do this or do you stick pretty strictly to a set curriculum?  Drop us a note here or at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! I’d love to hear your approach to this homeschool journey!