We have been working on stepping out of the box and going with a more "out of the box" approach to education. That "out of the box" would be unschooling. Now this doesn't mean you let your kids run wild, it just means you take your every day and every thing as a learning experience. You put lots of things in front of you child to spur learning, you set an example and keep learning your self, you find mentors for your children to talk to, and so on.
If you child wants to do any subject on their own, then go at it full force. My eldest wanted to learn Algebra, so we signed her up for an online math program that she chose, and that was Aleks, though we are done with that now. Now we have other curriculum that we have used during our more structured past, and that is Math U See, and my girls still ask to do it. You get that, they ASK to do it. They want to do it, at their own pace. No yelling at them or forcing them which becomes a major fight. This concept is good right now as the hubby is still weary of full unschooling and prefers math to be rigorous and scheduled.
I won't tell him yet, we haven't been scheduling math the past few weeks :) and everything is going fine.
We do a lot of reading, some fluff but a lot of living/classical books.
So any who! Here are some links. First unschooling, then parent resources, and then curriculum.
Right now, I am reading and listening to everything I can get my hands on from The Thomas Jefferson Education (see badge below, click-able) so I can learn and implement and be an example to my children. Its really important to be a proper mentor and role model. I chose to read and learn on my own and my children pick up on that.
The link in this review is old and I am contacting them to update it so it won't bring you back to this site so bookmark me so you can find me again! Here you will find links to my favorite homeschooling sites, resources, and curriculum. There are more but I have not had time to add them yet. These are things we have used or are using and recommend, if your into that kinda thing.
Parent or Teacher info, forums, ect.:
The Homeschool Legal Defense Association
The Home Buyers Co-op
The Homeschool Lounge
The Homeschool Freebie Wholesome Childhood
PaperbackSwap.com is an excellent place to get used books. I use this all the time to build our library. If you use one of their other sites you can move credits over to the book side. This is how I get rid of lots of DVD's and get more books.
Curriculum:
Rainbow Resource they have a lot at discounted prices, I try to buy through them now to save money.
Memoria Press Kiki loves her Robin Hood Lit. Study. Dede is studying Logic.
Notgrass We really like their history books, we are reading them and using the Ancient History as a guide right now. Its not classical but we like it any ways. Its easy to follow.
Notgrass We really like their history books, we are reading them and using the Ancient History as a guide right now. Its not classical but we like it any ways. Its easy to follow.
Apologia Science We are all for Creation Science
Math Mammoth
is a favorite of Dede, she likes the easiness of printable work sheets
to work on things she wants to learn. Its simple, no distracting
cartoons, printable, and easy on the budget.
Super Charged Science Fun experiments, real learning
The Happy Scientist Cool videos, good for low budgets.
ALEKS This is the math the girls have chosen to use, they love it.
Sonlight lots to choose from, payment plans for budgets
My Father's World
Pimsleur Method but we downloaded ours from Audible.com
Olivita Oink Nice beginner Spanish
Math U See I really liked this, the girls liked it for a few years but got bored doing it over and over each year.
Some other things:
Super Charged Science Fun experiments, real learning
The Happy Scientist Cool videos, good for low budgets.ALEKS This is the math the girls have chosen to use, they love it.
Sonlight lots to choose from, payment plans for budgets
My Father's World
Pimsleur Method but we downloaded ours from Audible.com
Olivita Oink Nice beginner Spanish
Math U See I really liked this, the girls liked it for a few years but got bored doing it over and over each year.
Some other things:
