a new approach for next year

Well, I've done a LOT of thinking and praying, and feel confident with this decision I think. We are indeed continuing to homeschool, but our homeschool will look much different from how it has ever looked before in our home. We had plans to use Sonlight for our curriculum this year (in fact I have all the stuff for core K, science K, LA K, and LA 1) but as I started preparing all my instructor guides for this I felt like it was just wrong for us at this time. At least, wrong in a FORMAL sense. So, I'm mixing it up a lot. Yes we are going to use Sonlight for core and some science, however we are doing it much differently than anyone would have seen. We are going to fall more toward the category of unschoolers for a while. Melissa's reading is just starting to take off, and Lydia's starting to get there as well, so we will have them do Explode The Code workbooks at their pace along with having a TON of readers handy for them. For math I'm planning on just going with the flow and letting them do Miquon at their own pace, we'll work together one on one as they are interested but I'm not going to stress over it. We're going to get involved in a garden, and study the night sky. We'll read the books in core K casually, as the kids are interested in them.

Now here's the thing. I really REALLY dislike the term "unschoolers". To me, it implies that I'm not teaching my kids anything and that I'm not allowing them to learn and develop skills they have and want to learn and develop. In my opinion, a MUCH better term would be "lifeschoolers". We are using our everyday life to learn and grow, and taking opportunities to learn in ways that many other kids wouldn't get to because they are at school. The kids will have a couple of workbooks that I'd like them to use, but I'm not going to force the matter. If they don't want to do a page of Explode The Code one day, that's fine. I know that eventually they will decide to do a dozen or more pages because they think its fun at that particular moment. Same with Miquon math and Handwriting Without Tears, if they want to do it then they can but if not then no biggie.

Talk about the total polar opposite of OHVA and the k12 curriculum............. lol And yes, I still plan on us doing art projects and such, just that I plan to let THEM choose what and when on stuff. Hopefully this doesn't completely backfire. And if they want to do a lapbook or two (we've done some in the past) then I'll go through the work so they can do it as long as there is a lapbook unit available free at homeschool share. I refuse to pay for materials so they can do a lapbook.