When we unschooled, my only requirement was that the kids read something, anything (within reason and at their reading level), learn something, anything, and tell me about it. They loved this and my one son, who barely passed each year in public school and who rarely, if ever, passed a standardized test, learned enough in that one year to pass every section of the GED test except for math (ok, we read nothing math-related) and he taught himself how to fix computers, play keyboard, and record music, things he NEVER would've learned in public school. The reason for the unschooling was twofold: first, I was busy gutting and rebuilding several rooms in the sticks and bricks house to prepare it for sale and, second, to 'detox' the kids from public school learning. However, I do still have some nonreaders in the house and I learned they were avoiding key subjects, like math, so I felt the need to add some organized, structured learning.
This year, I tried many approaches and curriculums, experimenting with things to see how they fit our needs. I found many free online websites to print out worksheets from or that have online learning activities, which we use sometimes. I did buy the Life of Fred math series. They loved the elementary books, couldn't wait to do math each day, and couldn't put it down once they did start it. I ended up using math as a rewaard for finishing other work because I found, once they started their math, they didn't get to anything else! My only complaint is that the correct answers aren't really hidden and, even though I covered up the answers, it is easy for them to 'cheat' and I had to watch them more closely. My older boys are now into the high school books, which apparently aren't as interesting or fun and they are harder. My boys struggle with these but I think it's because of their language barriers and not necessarily the math itself and, for obvious reasons, my nonreaders can't use them yet at all until they learn to read well.
I discovered Easy Peasy Free All In One Homeschool and never looked back. At first, I was so frustrated. What should have been one day's worth of work took my cherubs a week or more to do but after a few weeks of trial and error, they finally 'got it' for the most part. They are not good at all at following instructions, so easy peasy wasn't that easy but I still love it as it provides most of what I wanted for us educationally. These days, our homeschooling looks like this:
1. practice math facts on Xtramath.com
2. read a story, answer the questions, & write a 1-paragraph summary from K12 Reader
3. do the day & year work on easy peasy
4. Watch CNN Student News and write summaries and questions
Sounds easy? I think so but some days it takes them all day because they are so distracted, off-task, unmotivated or what-have-you. My 2 nonreaders do the first grade learning with their 2 similar-leveled siblings, who read everything to them, and they also do the Getting Ready phonics levels with me. My 4 oldest started with 5th grade then, once they got the hang of it I added 6th grade so my older 4 actually do 3 sections each day: 5th grade, 6th grade, and year 1. I did this so they could make up for any previously missed learning. I learned that the topics they all cover are the same each day. For example, they all start with reading, altho they read different stories/books, then do math, which they do at their own individual levels mostly from Khan Academy but not exclusively, then some thinking or logic and writing. In the year work, they start with a bible story, they all read the same book or chapter but the older ones read longer sections and have more in-depth questions. Then they do history, again, all the same topic (for example, ancient Rome) just with different resources and quizzes, etc. They finish the day with science or PE, again, the same for all elementary levels just with more details for the older grades. It makes it so easy for me to discuss topics with them or for them to discuss things amongst themselves.
I will miss using Easy Peasy once we launch full-time, which is now delayed because the tow dolly just arrived and is still sitting in the crate outside ... in the freezing cold, in the newly fallen snow, behind the not-quite-completely rebuilt RV. ugh. Looking forward to launching within the next week, though. We MUST if we are to make Florida before homeschool day at Legoland, FL and music camp at Spirit of Suwanee!
Often, we do our learning elsewhere, even at the sticks and bricks house:
 |
| building Home Depot craft |
 |
| taking computer apart |
 |
| Spirit of Suwanee Music Camp |
 |
| exploring nature center ... or, how to put your shirt on correctly! |
This is how it looks in the house:
 |
| Bigs HSing in the dining room |
 |
| Littles HSing in the living room |
 |
| PE - dancing |
 |
| PE - crab walk |
 |
| counting by 10s song on youtube |
