Quality or Quantity??

I had a discussion today with a fellow homeschooling mom- what is better? Quantity or quality?

Is it better to get through your curriculum just to get it done by the end of the year and not put much time or thought into it? Or is it better to slow down, really learn things, and maybe not get done by the end of the year? Or is there a happy balance between the two??

I am a "slow down and let's really learn things" kind of person.  This is why it takes me all day to get through with school. :)  I don't want to go through material just to have my kids not understand it. If I am going to teach something, I want to make it meaningful and I want them to understand.

For example, if anybody reads my blog, you know that I always do some extra research everyday for science class. Yes, I could just read our two pages in our book and do the three questions and call it good, but honestly, I don't think that is good enough. (It may be for some and that is fine.) But I know my kids are capable of taking things to a deeper level, so I do.  And they seem to remember things a lot better!

 For example, last night "The Amazing Race" contestants were in Malaysia Borneo and I said to the girls, "We studied Borneo! Remember the monkeys with the big noses??" They remembered! Today when we were doing science, I flipped back to the pages on Borneo and saw the other animals we had studied that day.  There was one animal that Courtney still talks about all the time- the mudskipper!

I also take time for Bible class.  Today we started a new unit on the book of Acts and how Jesus gave his disciples (or are they apostles?) the commission to spread the gospel to every corner of the earth.  Because I was unsure of the difference between "disciple" and "apostle", I looked it up and taught it to the girls.  Hopefully they know now! We also were talking about the Sadducees today and how they were part of the Sanhedrin. A couple of weeks ago, we made a chart on the Pharisees, so today, we made a chart about the Sadducees.  We learned the difference of these two groups and the role they played in society during Jesus' time.  We also talked about how these two groups could not get along.  But because I was going over this background information today, we didn't even get to the story! Would it be better to skip all this background information and just read the story? Or is this important??  (Honestly, most of our Bible stories don't need all this background information, so today was an exception!)

I also take time during our Read-Alouds. Yes, I could just read everything straight through and not stop to make sure the kids are comprehending or even listening, but then what happens if you don't understand something on page 14 and by page 20, you are really lost?  I know some education experts say to keep reading no matter what, I don't agree with that statement! I would rather stop every so often and explain words, plot, etc. than have to re-explain 5-10 pages at a time! Yes, this takes longer, but does it help any? I would say so. And yes, there are some books that I can read straight through because I know the kids get it, but others are really "thick" that even I had a hard time understanding the first time I read them!

So because of all the "extra" stuff we learned today, we didn't get to math.  Is that ok or is it detrimental to my kids that we were focusing on Bible and science today and didn't get to math? I think it is just fine.  Yes, we will be doing one more extra math lesson this summer, but we may be able to catch up by doing five math lessons next week.  I would like 4th grade math done before next fall, I think we will be able to get Courtney's 2nd grade math done too.  Can we do school in the summer? Yes. Is it ok not to finish our curriculum by the end of May? Yes. Do I want to rush my kids through without really understanding? No. Would I rather slow down and make sure they understand? Yes! But is there a point when I could slow down too much and not get things done? absolutely! Do I have a goal to get curriculum done? Yes!  Will it all work out in the end? Yes!!

The goal is a happy medium, I want to keep moving forward in our curriculum, but not so fast and no so slow. :)

(Speaking of school, I need to go type out an English test for Megan!)