Switching Homeschool Science Mid-Year: How to Start Fresh in January

Yes, you can switch homeschool science in the middle of the year, and January is a good time to do it. The safest way is to test one small piece first, a single free week over the break, before you buy anything bigger.

I taught for twelve years, and changing course in the middle of a year is nothing to be scared of. It goes best when the change is small and planned, so this is the path I’d hand a friend.

Is it the curriculum, or is it just a hard season?

Ask this first, because a new book won’t fix a tired December. A few honest questions help sort it out:

• Is your child pushing back on this one subject, or on everything?
• Does it take more prep time than you actually have?
• Does it fit how your kids learn? A five-year-old learns a plant best with her hands and her nose, not from a worksheet.
• Does it fit what your family believes? The test I use on every line of my own curriculum is this one: does it credit the plant, or does it credit the One who made the plant?

If the answers point at the curriculum, it’s fine to change. If they point at the season, a lighter week or two may be all you need. Either way, a little nature study gets everyone looking at something real again.

Why is January an easy time to start something new?

Lots of families already take a break around Christmas, so there’s a clean stopping point built in. You aren’t dropping a program halfway through a unit. You’re starting the new year with a new week.

Eden’s Table is easy to start on any Monday because each week stands on one plant. Week 1 doesn’t depend on anything that came before it, and it doesn’t need a garden: Friday’s garden activity works with a windowsill plant.

Do I have to switch everything, or can I just add nature study?

You can do either one. Use Eden’s Table as your science and nature study, or keep what’s working this year and add it alongside.

One plant a week brings a lot with it. The Week at a Glance page shows which day carries Bible, science, language arts, math, art, history, geography, Latin, health and character, so you can see right away where it overlaps with what you already teach and where it fills a gap.

What’s a low-risk way to try it?

Take it in three steps, and stop at any of them.

1. Over the break: one free week. Download Week 1 for Sprouts (lavender) or Seedlings (elderberry), print it, and teach it the first week back. It’s five full lessons and it costs nothing.
2. January into March: nine weeks for $39. If the first week goes well, the Starter Unit is weeks 1 to 9 as an instant download, for Sprouts or Seedlings. Starting the first week of January, nine weeks takes you into March. In Sprouts the first unit runs six weeks and closes, and weeks 7 to 9 open the second, so you finish something whole. The PDFs are yours to keep and reprint for your household.
3. When you know: the printed year. All 36 weeks in three books is $249 plus $12 shipping, printed to order and at your door in about two to three weeks. Order it while you’re still in the Starter Unit and you pick up at Week 10 in the printed books.

Two things to know. The download isn’t refundable once the files are downloaded, which is why the free week comes first. And the printed set can be cancelled for a full refund in the 48 hours after you order, before printing starts.

Paying with an ESA or scholarship? Eden’s Table is an approved or registered vendor in seven programs, and the ESA page shows how buying works in each state.

Where should my kids start if they’re older?

Children in K-2 start with Sprouts. Children in grades 3-5 who are new to herbs start with Sprouts too, because Sprouts and Seedlings teach different plants and the Sprouts plants are the ones Seedlings builds on. If your 3-5 kids already know the basics, go straight to Seedlings. Kids in both? Teach Sprouts to everyone together, then Seedlings the next year.

Starting an older child in Sprouts in January isn’t a lost year, either. Older kids simply go further in each week and move faster, so a year of Sprouts often takes an older child a good deal less than a year. The grade pages walk through it: first grade, third grade, fourth grade.

What should I avoid when switching mid-year?

• Don’t buy three programs at once. Try one, for one week.
• Don’t try to catch up by doubling lessons. Start at Week 1 and let each week be a week.
• Don’t toss the work your kids did this fall. Keep it with this year’s records.
• Don’t decide before you’ve seen the whole year. The scope and sequence lists every plant and unit for both years.

This year I’m teaching both Sprouts and Seedlings at home, and the free week is where I’d tell any mom to begin. Get Week 1 here, print it over the break, and see how your kids take to it.