I’ve been thinking a lot over the past year about the concept of unschooling.

I know that unschooling means different things to different people.  To me it simply means self-directed education.

Even though I am quick to link myself to the unit study approach, I believe I’m an unschooler at heart.  I try my best to supply the resources for my children, but I give them a choice in the matter.

This is why we do not always have a unit study going.  Sometimes we’re busy learning about Stan Lee or Japanese anime’, or graphic arts. 

Time 4 Learning has beome a great tool in our unschooling toolbox.  It’s so easy to use and it’s so fun!

Wednesday I had my 3rd grader and 4th grader work from their Sonlight language arts and then do the other subjects on t4l. The newly revamped Sonlight LA program focuses on being a good writer. My special needs son prefers t4l learning LA because he doesn’t have to come up w/ the answer on his own, he gets to choose the answer. And he doesn’t have to write! He feels the same way about math!

I would like to have them do some Sonlight LA more regularly, but I love though that if things get hectic, I can depend again on t4l LA.

Also, I signed up for a free month of Pokemon learning league for my neighbor’s grandson(age 11, almost 12). My kids never watched the show, but this kid loves it. Everyday I let him do one lesson of t4l and then the other subjects on the Pokemon site. Anything to help the medicine go down, I say. He has some learning differences, too. I just love hearing the Pokemon characters teach what he has already been taught on t4l w/ a “Pokemon” spin to it. I hope it really reinforces the lessons for him.

My daughter who is a first grader is doing awesome. I tended to let her just listen in to lessons as she wanted to, many times skipping activities I had planned just for her. Sometimes she would just play in her room or maybe watch a movie or play on the computer while I tended to the other kids. Now she gets on t4l and does the most lessons and the most subjects of all my kids!  We were all telling my husband Wednesday night what a hard worker she is. I am so glad; and she is very proud of herself.

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…