Free Curriculum

A lot of people think curriculum has to be store bought to work. That's just not true. There are many things that you have in your home and at your disposal that work great for lessons.

This week my kids looked for shapes around the house. They sorted, counted and made pictures with coins. They helped me bake and cook. All of these things taught them valuable lessons in math, science, and thinking skills. They learned a lot for FREE. Every week, we do things like this. We can look in the backyard to study wildlife: plants, trees and bugs. We can play with LEGOs to work on math, thinking skills and lessons in just about everything. In fact, LEGOs make excellent manipulatives. No, they are not free, but if you have them laying around the house, you may as well use them. B1 has used them to make board games and to improve architecture skills. He has learned how to balance objects and all about gravity. LEGO even has lesson plans available online for teachers.

The internet is a great place to find FREE materials. Type just about anything into Google and you will find a lesson on it. www.nasa.gov has an entire section on lesson plans for science. Not just space, but on electricity and plant life. Many websites you might not expect to have lessons, do. And there are many more specifically designed for teaching. www.superteacherworksheets.com and www.abcteach.com have 100s of FREE printable worksheets.

Then there are places in your community. Libraries have books on almost every subject. There are math books and science books, grammar and history, and of course reading. Many libraries have classes available to the community. Libraries often have educational videos and other recordings as well. Some stores have community teaching events. Home Depot offers Saturday teaching workshops for kids. Krispy Kreme allows you to view the donut making process. Many farms, factories and businesses are available for field trips where you can learn how to do just about anything.

Teaching moments are everywhere in life. There are lessons to be learned everywhere. Cooking and cleaning are excellent for teaching. And of course, PLAYING. Kids learn countless lessons just by playing. So before you decide to go out and buy all your curriculum and before you decide you can't afford to teach your kids at home, look into some of these resources and see just how affordable it can really be. Of course, the stuff that costs can be good too.

Lack of Family Support - Homeschooling

One of the hardest things we face with our homeschooling is a lack of support from our families. My family is big on education. My mother has a doctorate in Education. School is very important for them. It is very important for me too. I want my kids to have a great education. My mother says she isn't worried about my ability to teach, it's the socialization. Of course, she does check on how they're doing in school regularly. I have tried to inform her that my children receive adequate socialization. We are involved in scouts and attend Church and Church related activities regularly. We are involved with a co-op and "socialize" with more than 100 kids there. Not sure what more she thinks we need.

Then there's my sisters. One has been against homeschooling from the start with no real reason. My other sister decided just recently that she is now against homeschooling. Her arguments are not as well constructed. Her most recent being that my children will not know how to sit in a classroom. Even my children laughed at that one. They sit in classrooms, just not for 8 hours a day.

My in-laws have always been against homeschooling as well. They do not argue with us. They merely ignore the subject. They have said, "We made our mistakes, you are entitled to make yours." Understanding my mother-in-law, that comment actually doesn't bother me.

So, what do you do if you have no support from family members? When my family calls and offers up the latest argument, I just inform them the kids are doing well and move on. I try not to let them bother me. Of course it does some, just not as much as it used to. We have found our support elsewhere. As I said, we belong to a co-op with about 50 families. We have made many friends through it and use them for our primary support. There are several who home school at our Church as well. My other support is online. There are a lot of support groups online for us. My favorite is THL, otherwise known as The Homeschool Lounge. It is an excellent place to find support and information on all homeschooling matters.

My advice to those who, like me, lack family support is to find that support elsewhere. If you look around, you will likely find others who share your desire to educate your children at home. You can look for groups or individuals locally or you can look online at the many groups available. Just don't let your family make the decision for you. Your children are your responsibility. As a word of caution though, your spouse's opinion is important and don't lump it into the same category with the rest of your family.

Curriculum

Every home school seems to use a different curriculum. There are so many types to choose from. You can choose a textbook type curriculum or a child directed curriculum. There are countless types that fit between these two categories. I use a few different types. I have some workbooks for math, grammar and spelling. I have an all-inclusive curriculum for everything else. This one curriculum, My Father's World, allows me to school all of my kids at the same time. All 5 kids listen to the books and lessons we read aloud. All 5 are therefore studying the same thing in history, science, art, music, and Bible. This is one of the most helpful things about our home school curriculum. I am schooling 4 different ages of children and I would have a very difficult time schooling them if I didn't have just such a curriculum. This works well for me, but would it work for everyone? Of course not! Each child is unique in their learning style and each parent is unique in their teaching style. Some need more structure, others need little structure. Some need lectures, some need independent work. Not only are the styles unique for each person involved, but they can change from year to year. I use what I am because it suits us this year. Will I continue doing everything the same next year? Not likely. I will more likely tweak some details of our schooling. I may hear about some awesome curriculum between now and then that I want to try. That's not important. What matters most is that what we use works for our family right now.

When I first began home schooling I was told, "Pick something for this year and commit to it." If it works, that's great. If not, change it the next year. I am into my third year of this and I have not had two years the same yet. I have taught using different curriculum and I have taught different ages of children. If you are new to home schooling, pick something and start in. Don't feel like you'll be stuck with your decision forever. Just start.

School Starts Now

I homeschool my 5 children so we can start school any time we choose. We have had a short break and are now ready to start in earnest. I have organized my material and planned my lessons for the coming week. So, bright and early (okay probably 8:30 or maybe even 9:00) Monday morning, we will begin school. This is my first year to school everyone. B1 is in 4th, B2 is in 1st, G1 and G2 are in K and G3 is pre-k. Wow, does that sound like fun to anyone else? Actually, it isn't that bad. My girls have a fairly light load as much of K is just organized play time. There work can be completed in 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day. B2 requires a little more time. His work will likely not be completed until lunch. B1 however, has a long day. He will work on both group and independent work all morning. After lunch, he will continue with any independent work not completed. The afternoon is also when we have fun school time. That is when we conduct experiments, have math in the kitchen, watch an educational show or play an educational game. Of course, when all of that is finished, even B1 gets to enjoy free time. It is time consuming and a bit of an organizational challenge to school 5 children at home, but it can be done with just a little prep work.