Curriculum Cage

*This poem was written by a home school mom & may help bring you back to sanity if you've found that you're a slave to your curriculum! :)

'Twas 10 minutes to midnight 

and all through the house 
not a creature was stirring 
except for me and my mouse.

The curriculum websites 
were all bookmarked and filed, 
while I had visions of great books 
to my ceiling being piled. 

And me with my finger poised to click on the "buy", 
a little voice in my head said "Show some restraint - oh, please try!"
"Go away," I said. "I don't want a fight. I'll get all free shipping if I purchase tonight!"

"It's not fair" I cried out, "they all look so good." 
but the voice in my head said, "What if you could? 
Do you think your children would know what to do? 
They don't need more books, they just need more of you!"

I pondered on this - what was that voice trying to say? 
Did it not realize what a deal I could get on e-bay? 
I thought and pondered and wondered some more, 
then slowly my eyes drifted to the books on the floor.

3 writing, 3 phonics, 4 grammar and more, 
all sitting there unused except to prop open the door. 
I remember the hours spent scouring the sites 
and the money I spent would give Bill Gates a fright.

"Come away from the computer." My children would request. 
"I can't," I would say, "until I've found you the best." 
"But we don't want something different or new, 
we want you to teach us like you always used to."

I remember those days when we had just started out. 
"I will teach them myself!" I'd announced with a shout. 
And teach them I did with good books I'd picked 
and they learned and we laughed and it all somehow clicked.

So there I sat in the dark about to purchase some more. 
My children as usual would find it a boor. 
"No more," I said suddenly clicking the x on the page.
"I'll no longer be a prisoner in this curriculum cage."

We already have plenty and we have quite enough, 
we don't need all the new flashy hyped up school stuff. 
We'll get back to basics and learning when ready. 
We'll stop switching our methods and stay calm and steady.

I'll use what I have and I'll create or borrow the rest, 
after all it's always been I who know my children the best. 
I know what they like and I know what they need. 
I'll not be tempted again by curriculum greed.

I'll teach them to honor the One from above. 
I'll teach them to laugh and to live and to love. 
Then I'll teach them the things that will make their minds grow 
and the things out of books that all kids ought to know.

I'll teach them that learning goes on everyday 
but not just in books but in how they live and they play. 
If when they are grown they remember one thing I've said, 
I want them to hear "Knowledge is power." from the voice in their heads.