What a Homeschooling Mom Learned from the Harvard Business Review

Posted by Jane | 0 comments

At work, we’ve been implementing a new Point of Sale computer system at our five stores. Lately, it seems we’ve been going in circles, revisiting all the decisions we made at the beginning of our project. Project failure, perhaps?

Not at all. Thanks to an article in the Harvard Business Review*, I’m feeling like we’re right where we need to be – a continuous improvement cycle. And that article is totally relevant to my homeschool as well. Traditionally, IT projects take a “cathedral approach.”  They cost a lot of time and money.  And once they are implemented, you do things according to the system. Period.

Sound like any curriculum planning strategies you know?

Here’s the problem. It’s impossible to specify everything you’ll need beforehand. Unanticipated needs always crop up once the school year is underway. And persuading your student to “own” the curriculum after you’ve set it in stone is easier said than done.  In comes the “radically simple” approach to your rescue.

Work as a team. Don’t just set up the assignment (or workboxes) and walk away. A close relationship and iterative discussions about your goals will allow you to find a solution that works for both.

Keep it simple. Organization here is key. The materials and supplies your student will need should be organized and easily accessible. Your expectations should be consistent, even from subject to subject. I love when my 4yo knows exactly what she needs to do for an “assignment” without any instructions. She also knows she can customize things within the expectations – if she decides to use colored markers instead of a pencil and even draw a picture on the sidebar, that’s okay.

Create solutions for potential failures. Have a backup strategy for when things aren’t going well. Stock up educational DVDs for sick days. Schedule reboots (aka recess) to minimize memory leak and brain failure.

Think modularity. Plan your curriculum so if any one subject isn’t working well, the others can go on while you rework that one.

Stage your implementation. Roll out your curriculum changes slowly. Avoid overwhelming the student and give yourself time to work out any technical issues. I may need to rethink my “start the year with a bang” strategy.

Give (some) power to the people. Perhaps this means having two math options for your student to choose from today. Or letting her pick the order in which she does her assignments. Find the balance of child-influenced learning that works for you.

Plan for continuous improvement. Don’t consider it a failure and abandon ship if a curriculum choice is not an immediate hit.  Analyze what the issues are. It may work fine if tweaked for your student, presented at a different time of day, or used in conjunction with other material.

My girl is changing and growing every day. I am constantly revising things, having to revisit her level of ability and her interests. Yesterday she loved all things little creatures. Today she wants to write children’s books. A math curriculum that I raved about yesterday is completely boring her today.  Yesterday I expected her to write her own math answers.  Today I write them for her.

That doesn’t mean we’re failing with this whole curriculum thing.  It means we’re on a continuous improvement cycle!  Flexible, ready for whatever comes our way!

*“Radically Simple IT” by David M. Upton and Bradley R. Staats, HBR March 2008,

When she’s not battling too-sticky play dough and untangling herself from the hot-glue webs surrounding her too-cute felt ladybugs, Jane contemplates how to instill in her four-year-old daughter a heart to change the world for Jesus. Her family has circled the globe and landed in rural Oregon where the grass is green and the sky is blue, though not usually at the same time. Their eclectic homeschool adventures are chronicled at Mozi Esmé.