Well, errrr….

You know what I mean. 

Over the years, I have tried many different programs, publishers and styles, always searching for the perfect combination for each child.

After much trial and error, I realized that the easiest and most effective choice in our home is the unit study.  My kids are all 3 to 4.5 years apart-big enough gaps to necessitate separate lessons for all.

The only problem I have had with the unit study approach is getting it all done!  If we concentrate on the three Rs first, we sometimes either rush through the unit study or worse, skip it for the day.   If we do the unit study work first, we get so involved we skimp on the basics-the stuff that really can’t be neglected.

With T4L, we have the best of both worlds.  I have solid proof that the all-important basics are being covered in a time frame that means the unit study work can be truly enjoyed.  I don’t have to halt those bunny-trails when the opportunities arise!

The ‘perfect’ combination in our home is T4L and Five In A Row, along with the occasional theme unit.  

I have tried several different homeschool programs, I even tried public school.

This school year specifically, I was using Sonlight. I have recently discovered something about myself and that is that I don’t adapt things very well unless I am very sure and very familiar with it. So, for example, when doing the Sonlight Language Arts lessons, I read the directions and if it is not clear or I have questions, or the kids don’t understand, I am lost. I don’t know another way to explain it or help the kids see it from another angle.

As far as the other subjects, I cannot explain how frustrating it was. My plan was to teach my kids as a group. I wanted to have some time set aside for my youngest, who is a first grader(phonics, language arts).Then I realized the the older son should be doing more if he was going to be prepared to do Sonlight high school. So, then the plan was to do some reading outloud as a group, doing things one on one w/ my youngest daughter and also w/ my oldest son. The middle 3 were all very similar and I kept them in a group.

It seemed like a good idea, but it was such a headache. Each one in that group of 3 could be taught the same thing, but worked at a different pace! And my older son wasn’t ready to take off and do more on his own and my first grader wasn’t getting any time w/ me because I was too frazzled. I wasn’t able to personalize each child’s education the way I wanted to.

 When I started T4L, I started those 3 off at about the same place, but they are so different now! My 8 year old daughter is in 3rd grade math and 3rd grade Language arts. My 10 year old son does a fluency lesson from 2nd grade(he is dyslexic) and just started working on 4th grade Language arts and math. He will have to go back and work on multiplication/division facts, but he is doing well. My other student, the neighbor’s grandson is 11 and he is doing 2 lessons of 2nd grade language arts(fluency, comprehension, some phonics) and one lesson of 3rd grade LA. He is working on 2nd grade math.

I am going to wrap it up for now since I have gone on so long, but I would be happy to answer any specific questions or go into more detail if needed. Just ask!

Hi, I’m Lisa! 

My husband, Tim and I have been married for 21 years and have five children.  We currently homeschool four of them.   They are 17g(next week), 13b, 10b, 6b and 2b years old.  

We are closing in on the end of our 10th year of homeschooling. The years have flown by!   It has been hard, easy, scary, fun, challenging, but always….real.

We chose to home educate mainly for Biblical reasons in the beginning.  Being Christians, we wanted to add Godly principles to our children’s education.

After a short while, we realized we were also dealing with dyslexia and dysgraphia in our oldest child.  So, our story and our reasoning changed a bit-still Christian, but more. 

Now our homeschool also covers a language/developmentally delayed fantasy/sci-fi fan , one “easy breezy” artistic child, a very bright, possibly ADHD computer freak and the baby-our medical miracle heart baby!  Whew….

Our 6 year old is currently using T4L and is doing great!  We hope to add our 1o year old soon and then our 13 year old will squeak in before he gets too old.  Oh, how I wish I had T4L back in 1998….

That’s our story.  I hope to get to know you all and chat about all those things that make us who we are; so different and yet, so very similar…

My name is Jennifer and I homeschool my 4 kids ages 7-12, and the neighbor’s grandson who is 11. I suffered depression after the birth of my 4th child in 5 years and have recently been diagnosed with ADD. I also just found out that I have sleep apnea, which means I stop breathing during sleep, which doesn’t allow me to get deep, refreshing sleep.

My second son has Learning Disabilities, ADD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, some muscle and coordination delays and Sensory Processing Dysfunction. My youngest daughter has ADHD and is going to be tested for dyslexia.

I thought maybe the kids would be better off in public school, but it was not meant to be.  

At the beginning of this school year, I was very excited to be using Sonlight Curriculum,”one room schoolhouse” style. I felt confident about the neighbor’s grandson joining us.(What’s one more?)And because my own son had LD, I wasn’t worried when his mom told me he’d been tested and had no LD, dyslexia,etc, but was 2 years behind.

As I would soon learn, being “behind” and having LD are two totally different animals! My son cannot read or write well, but has normal comprehension ability. This little boy can read and write better than my son, but doesn’t understand things easily. So they have have distinct and OPPOSITE needs. Not to mention the needs of my other 3 kids!!

I started searching out a solution to the madness and found t4l. We have one computer and each child takes their turn while I observe. Some days a child will wake up before everyone else and start without me. It does help us get everyone in earlier, but I don’t allow that everyday, as they don’t always get as much out of it when I am not there.

What is kind of funny is that with the kids being so close in age and ability, I hear some of the lessons 3(and sometimes 4!) times!!

They still read from their Sonlight readers. One day I hope to be able to add in more of Sonlight History and Geography.

Sorry it turned out so long. I look forward to getting acquainted with everyone!

Barns & Noble has a program that We participated in a couple weeks ago.  The children understood that it was more about ‘community service’ thank about making money and we also thought that we would include T4L in the project.  It was a pretty good experience for the kids and I think that by incorporating T4L they were able to see the link between their school work and life in just one more way.

I want so much for my children.  Having T4L curriculum has been a huge success in our house.  My boys reference T4L on so many occasions that I could not even begin to count and I am thinking of starting a note book so that I can see in print the overwhelming excitment in not only school work but what they are learning.

Just this morning Quentin was doing measurements and I heard him say “Ahh, so that is how those work”. When I looked over there was a photo of a scale on the screen and he was putting even weights on each side so that it would zero out.  The experiences that each boy gets even after the lessons end is wonderful.  Zachary had trouble with calenders this morning and was getting so frustrated.  I had him go back through his lesson and he got it the next time; just one more benifit to T4L online curriculum.

Our wrapping went well.  I would have liked it to go better but it was fine and we had a really good time.

Thanks guys!  We did look good!