Today I am going to post several of our favorite free and not-free resources for homeschool.
But first this: we took today off. Not only are we on day 3 of nothing-is-really-different-except-mom-figured-out-that-she-has-31-extra-hours-in-the-week-now-that-everything-is-cancelled, we are on day 3 of Pops and Miss Bunny gone to Phoenix on a business trip, and we are on day 3 of utter panic…free time makes me panic. It also snowed 6 inches today, which means that I cannot run the tile saw outside, which means this is day 3 of the downstairs bathroom remaining half tiled when it was supposed to be tiled already. All of this is mentally challenging to a person who experiences the world at 2x speed. Everything else generally moves soooooo slowly for me. These three days are like living 10 lives in a day. So today we cleaned a LOT! I scrubbed cabinets and made kids fold piles of laundry. A lot has piled up since September since I put on a pretty significant show in December, and all of that show “stuff” had to be stored in my living room and basement, and then Christmas, and then I got the Coronavirus…I mean…that stranger-than-strange-cold-flu-thing-that-gave-me-asthma-and-is-still-hanging-on-over-2-months-later-but-coronavirus-wasn’t-here-yet-when-I-got-it. I am now a conspiracy theorist who is pretty convinced that Covid-19 has been here since January. 31-extra-hours-in-a-week kind of thoughts here.
So my poor children slaved away helping me today, and we engaged in the educational activity of figuring out how to slack off while mom isn’t looking, and then appearing to be busy when she looks again. Lots of critical thinking and quick mental reflexes needed there. I’d say it was a very productive homeschool day with zero books involved.
And we sent the baby ducks to swim in the bath tub today! Animals are our happy place. Hold it, I take that back. Animals are my, and Miss Magpie’s, and Little Lion’s, and Miss Bunny’s, and St. George’s happy place. They are a necessary part of Popi’s environment, and he has become accustomed to duck poop in the bath tub, mystery substances on the floor that we have not yet spied, and a faint smell of farm inside the house. A strong smell of farm. It depends on how many animals are currently feeding our souls inside the house.
Aren’t they adorable, though? They are the cutest qackie quackers in the universe!
The kids also got to have their piano lesson. Our piano teacher is a tough girl type who is like, “6 inches of snow? Am I supposed to be intimidated by that? Let me know when it’s actually a challenge to get to your house.” She is incredible.
And our sweet neighbor brought the kids slushee supplies! Perfection!
Cute little rebels!
I just sent them outside to sled for a bit before dinner and to get the wiggles worked out. That means that I have about 30 minutes before they all come yelling back in because someone smashed into a tree, or they are being chased by wild turkey, or they are hungry, or someone didn’t wear shoes or gloves or pants or clothes out to sled, and now they are cold.
So welcome to homeschool life. 99% of the time we are all business, offering books and reading and math problems to get done. 1% of the time we scrub the house instead.
So, the way we do homeschool is by cutting to the chase. There are literally thousands of amazing programs out there. We choose Abeka and Rod and Staff as our core curriculum, but we don’t spent time doing much more than math and language arts until high school. What this means is that science and history, while offered in the forms of science and history books, are not hammered and quizzed. I don’t see the point. A child will hardly remember such things if not interested in the subject, and a child will naturally pursue such things if he is interested. I have been right about this. I would rather focus my efforts on math for the development of abstract thought and critical thinking, and language arts for the development of communication and ability to engage in social environments across the spectrum. If you can think critically, abstractly, and communicate well, your academic training has been successful. Here are some of our favorite homeschool links:
Free:
All subjects
Splashlearn – Not normally free, but it’s free now because of Covid-19! Nice!
Bible
Biblegateway – we listen to the audio versions while eating breakfast, generally, and then discuss the readings.
Best worksheets for elementary Bible I’ve found – Super simple and helps them listen to the scripture readings. Pre-school – grade 6
Old Testament
New Testament
Math
Khan Academy
Language Arts
Ambleside – lots of good links and references for each grade level
Project Gutenberg
“Librivox
Anything by Burgess – also available to read on Project Gutenberg grades k-3 like this best
Duolingo
History
This Country of Ours
Ancient history
History resources
Science
Khan Academy
The Science Channel
Not so free:
All Subjects: The Critical Thinking Company I LOVE THIS COMPANY!!!!! There are downloadable e-books, books to order, all kinds of things to buy for the mental enrichment of your kid-o. And charters should be fine paying for anything from this site.
SplashMath
History:
The Story of The World – charters should pay for this (audio and paper book versions available)
What, that’s it? Yep, that’s it. I am a VERY strong believer in not overloading my kids with academics. They read a LOT voluntarily, learn about science and history as interested, and play, work their firewood business, breed ducks, do chores, help me manage our vacation rentals, go riding with their cowboy granddaddy, go on hikes, take music lessons, take dance classes, help train our dogs, work their egg business, help remodel our house, help build the majestic tree house, and so on. They don’t need book work when they have real life to teach them.
And my darlings have come back in and are screaming about who gets to spit toothpaste into the sink first. As Popi always says, raising kids is like having drunk, high, homeless people living with you.
Of course you may sleep with your dog and your duckies in the front doorway! It’s what all normal people do!
Look, even people who have been in the homeschool world for 38 years, either as a homeschooler or as a homeschooling parent, have “those days.” But we have baby ducks that give us so much joy, we have fun snow to distract us from the fact that our dance recital may not happen after all of our very hard work, and we have 4 healthy kids who are incredible people. Even though once in a while they yell about spitting toothpaste. And my house is scrubbed. Kind of.
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