Did you know that sometimes it's okay to just start over, to make a u-turn? We are having to do just that with my oldest son's math curriculum.

He has been using Saxon Algebra 1/2 since September. A few of my friends are big fans of Saxon, so I figured it must be good. They raved about it, and about the D.I.V.E. CD-roms that can be purchased to supplement the curriculum. (These CD-roms feature a tutor explaining how to work particular problems, using the computer screen as a whiteboard of sorts.)

To make a long story short, Saxon and Joel just didn't mesh. I was confused, thinking, "This is supposed to be like pre-algebra, right? It's not even Saxon's Algebra 1, so what's the problem?" And without a teacher's guide, I felt even more at a loss.

Then, one day a couple of weeks ago, the heavens parted, the sun came out, and I realized something. It was my lightbulb moment. What if the problem was with Saxon, and not my son? What if the problem was with neither, but was simply that it just didn't fit him? No curriculum is one size fits all. As a wise person once said, "Make sure the book fits the child; don't make the child fit the book."

Boy, I tell you, I felt like Leif Ericsson, setting out on uncharted waters. To give up Saxon?! Isn't that sacrilegious? To shelve it and turn to something else...is that really okay? Oh, you bet your life -- it's more than okay. It's telling my son, "You are so important to me that I'm going to find a math curriculum that will make you shine."

What I chose was Lifepacs Algebra 1, which to me is brilliant. The package arrived today from Christianbook.com and when I opened it and flipped through the workbooks, it was definitely an "Ahhh!" moment for me. The curriculum starts with very elementary review and gradually adds in algebraic principles. I think my son will feel much less pressure with this. Better still, he will like the fact that this is the set Alpha Omega has designated for 9th grade, just where he's at. If I'd gotten him a set that was for say, 8th grade, I would have been in the dog house for quite some time.

So, as you can see, we have jumped the Saxon ship and pulled ourselves up into the Lifepacs lifeboat just as we're about to begin our 2nd semester. Saxon's a good curriculum, it just wasn't good for us. I couldn't teach from it, especially since I couldn't remember (or never learned) many of the principles my son was struggling through.

If one of your children has hit a rough spot in one of their subjects, try to keep an open mind. Maybe it's not your child; maybe it's the book.