Familial Curriculum Making and a Home Reading Program

Abstract

Home, community, and school experiences shape children’s lives. In this paper I focus on the experiences of Matson, a young boy who was identified as a struggling reader in Grade 1, as well as the experiences of his mother and teachers who live alongside him. I inquire specifically into his family’s curriculum making around home reading. This narrative inquiry is situated in a Deweyan perspective on education and in the curriculum studies literature, particularly within the concepts of lived curriculum and curriculum making. The four commonplaces of curriculum help me explore the making of curriculum in school and at home. While researching, my back and forth travel between school and home allowed me to notice and explore tensions. This multiperspectival approach also presents a shift from the teacher-centered perspective on children’s education and curriculum making in school. This study shows how curriculum making in school and at home involves ongoing processes of assessment making and identity making, and illustrates how curriculum making shapes, and is shaped by, these factors. The relationship I developed with Matson’s mother allowed me to know more about Matson’s experiences. This perspective revealed secret stories and counterstories.