I was discussing with a friend recently about how I homeschool without curriculum. Up until I purchased that math curriculum a month ago, I have been doing it with NO curriculum whatsoever. A lot of this has been because I haven't felt a need for curriculum up to this point. I know I'm totally outside the mold on this one, but we're doing what we feel our children need. More curriculum is likely in our future, but we're taking that one step at a time.
Anyway, since we were conversing through e-mail I took some time to share how I'm doing it, and I thought I'd share some of those thoughts here. (A lot of this will be from what I typed to my friend.) Maybe this could be helpful to someone who isn't ready for curriculum, is just getting started but doesn't know what curriculum to use, someone who wants to have some ideas outside of their currriculum, or someone like me who doesn't feel a need for curriculum. My kids are 6, 4, and 2; these are some of the things that have been working for us.
Our schedule has changed little over the past two years, but it's also been that long since I shared it. Here it is: Family devotional, learning activities (includes learning to read, math, and any other subjects/activities/ projects we want to do that day), read aloud time. We begin in the morning after everyone is dressed, fed, and finished with chores, and go until we feel done. This is a minimum of two hours with an average of four hours right now. Today was a three hour day.
Here are our 'subjects' and how I approach them:
-Family Devotional. This is something I've found to help smooth the way for good school days. Initially it was just a prayer and song, but it has developed into more. We have a prayer and then read a verse or two from the scriptures and discuss. Then we work on the Articles of Faith; this was totally by the kids' request and at their request we've continued it. Then we sing until we don't want to anymore. It's been a great time to get our focus for the day and invite the Spirit to help us. We often do this before I actually get out of my bed, so there are often morning activities between this and the rest of school time.
-Learning to read. This is something I consider important so it's the first item on our 'learning activities' every day. At first I just sat down with Logan and sounded out words with him until he was showing signs of being done for the day. After a while, we made a goal together that he would read for 30 minutes every day. We do reading programs as much as possible to help with encouragement here. Right now he's doing the Book It program. (You can sign up as a homeschooler online and they'll mail you everything you need for it.) He's at a point now that he's a fluent reader and has his own goal of reading the Book of Mormon so he works on that every day during reading time. Annie became jealous of Logan's reading ability and asked me to teach her a few months ago. So now I sit with her during this time (because Logan doesn't need my help) and help her sound out words. This is an area I don't want a curriculum for. I simply teach them to phonetically read by sitting with them and sounding out words. Funny enough, neither of them learned the alphabet until they were reading first! They didn't have the patience to drill the alphabet, so we just dove in.
:) When I read with them, I use a no pressure approach. We go as slow as they want, and if they are struggling I sound out words while they watch and listen. Logan has an anxiety disorder so he required a lot of this at first. Another way I've found to make it low pressure and fun is to take turns reading. I read a page, you read a page, etc. Or even I read a word, you read a word. Reading in some ways has been a challenge for these two, but I think our low pressure approach has made all the difference. Logan couldn't read two words one year ago, and now he is a steady reader in the scriptures! Annie is almost five, and simply because her desire was never squelched she stuck with it and is almost an independent reader. I'm honestly amazed.
-Learning to write. This is another good example of something I don't feel like I need a curriculum for. I know how to write, so I don't see it as a difficult thing to teach the kids. Current grammer rules may be something to consider later, but I'm not ready for it. We don't do writing every day because I don't feel a need to do so yet. We do make it fun, though. Rather than writing exercises for the purpose of practice, we write with a purpose. They get the practice that way too, but it's more fun. I also keep it low pressure. One thing they do is write pen pal letters to a couple of my siblings. My brother and sister have been great about writing back, so they've been exchanging these for a year and a half. (Anyone else want to pen pal with them? Cami? They'll write back I guarantee it.) They dictate what they want to say for these letters and I write it down. Then I give them the option of tracing over my writing or copying onto a new paper. Initially they always wanted to trace, but that was fine because they were learning how to properly form the letters and it kept the pressure low. Now that they are more confident with writing, more and more they are choosing to write on a new paper. Also, they are starting to write letters without dictating to me first. Some other ways of writing with a purpose are journaling, writing stories together, and having the kids write information on pictures/ projects. I haven't done journaling with my kids, but we frequently use the other methods. Often we combine art with writing.
-Math. I finally purchased a curriculum for math, but the reason it took so long was because I recognized that most curriculums wouldn't suit my kids. They are both flying when it comes to learning the four basic functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), but are closer to grade level when it comes to everything else. I didn't want to waste my money on a curriculum that was mostly addition and subtraction drill work. So before we had a curriculum we just did a little math at their level. Up until a month ago, we averaged doing math once a week. Sounds crazy right? Maybe it was, but I know it was what we needed up until that point. The way we did math was sometimes just to work problems, other times to play math games, or else applying it in real life. Now this is an area that isn't as straight forward as reading and writing, so I did determine I needed a curriculum. Sure Logan was starting to multiply, but there was all that other 'stuff' I knew we were missing and I wasn't sure where it all might fit. I LOVE the curriculum I'm now using because it separates the four functions from geometry, fractions, money, etc. so we can go as fast or as slow as we like in each area. It also gives several ideas for HOW to teach each concept. I love that too because it keeps it fun and real without taxing my creativity. (FYI: It is called Math on the Level.)
However, I think it's a good idea to get a feel for things before purchasing a curriculum. A cheap way to get started with math is to buy some math workbooks (yep I'm anti-workbook, but I'm not everybody) at an office supply store. They are super cheap, and you will have the assurance that you're working through everything for the concerning grade level. (This idea came from another homeschooler who was struggling to find a curriculum their family liked.)
Another way to approach math is to find online some practice standardized tests for a certain grade level, print them out, and use them as a guide for what to teach. That's exactly what I did up until now. That way I had an idea of what concepts I was or wasn't missing and could gauge the kids' progress. As much as possible we apply math to real life and make it fun. I was doing it off the cuff until I knew exactly how I wanted to approach it and was being creative. We played so many games with math concepts; I even incorporated it into coloring pages. We used it in real situations as much as possible. The kids thought it was really fun and requested math time. (Our new curriculum allows/encourages us to use the same approach, except it gives me more ideas and helps me track concepts in a more organized manner.)
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Science/ History/ Social Studies. The way I approach this for now is to pull interesting books from the library. We grab topics that we are interested in and it's pretty random at times. However, I often find us really digging into the same topic over and over. It's great and is the BEST part of our day. This is where we're really learning versus acquiring necessary skills. This is where it is so easy to tie in real life and learn about the world around us. I save it for the end because we enjoy it so much. I include these books during our read aloud time. These books very often inspire projects and we then get hands on.
-Read Aloud Time. I personally think this is one the best things I can do for my children's education. I attribute their love of books and learning to this time. The best part is that it's easy! I just have to read to them! We read anything I consider quality during this time. That might mean stories from the Friend magazine, picture books, Magic Tree House, Little House on the Prairie, books about real animals, people, or places, science books, history books, etc. We get most of these from the library as well. I let the kids pick things they are interested in learning about, and I also browse and choose myself. They learn so much during this read aloud time, and these topics carry over into our family conversations naturally. If I ever have a day that I've started school rather late, we don't have a lot of time, or I'm just not in the mood for school (I admit it), this is the one thing I will still do with the kids. I focus on gaining real knowledge more than skills acquisition, so this part is huge for us.
-Self Directed Activities. This is anything from board games to art projects to science kits. I have all of our learning materials, art supplies, educational toys/games, puzzles, manipulatives, and 'special' books in one closet. Just opening this closet gives me ideas for learning activities, and most of it the kids can do independently. If I'm going to do one of these activities with them, we'll do it before read aloud time. If it's going to be an independent activity I let them do it during Alex's naptime/ my quiet break which is officially NOT school time. This closet is off limits without permission and that serves to make it appealing. I very often let the kids have access to choose anything they want (besides paint) to do from it during quiet time.
-Library Trips. I plan our trips to the library when we have a couple of hours to spend there, usually once every few weeks. This way we have plenty of time to browse and preview books. The selections we bring home are much better when we have lots of time to make them. New interests are sparked, and old ones remembered/ rekindled this way as well. Once we've chosen our books, we have our read aloud time
in the library. Once we're home, the kids spend the rest of the afternoon perusing our newly borrowed books. The library trip/ home perusal time replaces our normal school routine on these days.
Have I mentioned lately how much I love homeschool? Maybe this post illustrates why a little bit. Before my kids were old enough to have school time, I dreaded the thought of lesson plans, drill work, and spending all my time keeping the kids 'on task', but I knew we were going to homeschool and that's the only way I knew to do it. I'm so glad I learned there was another way! I absolutely don't have to mirror what goes on in the public school for my kids to 'keep up' or better yet 'excel'. In fact, I'm convinced that following a 'canned' curriculum would be the miserable opposite for our family. They are both 'keeping up' and 'excelling' with
out lesson plans, drill work, and being forced to stay 'on task'. I'm putting my energy into enjoying it with them rather than forcing them all day. Yeah!
