Our Style

 Since I will be writing about homeschooling quite a bit, I thought it might be a good idea to give a little background about our homeschool style and what we have done in our homeschool over the years.

R is 10 now, almost 11. We have homeschooled since the very beginning. She has never been in public school, and I don't regret a moment of it!

Some people might say the "messiness" of our lives extends into our homeschool. I am very much an eclectic homeschooler, and lean more towards unschooling. Those boxed all-in-one curriculums have just never been a good fit for us.

I have a background in education. My college degree was elementary education. When R came along, I was working part-time as a receptionist at a doctor's office, and I had been doing a lot of subbing in the school systems. I knew what the public schools were like, and as R grew, I didn't feel like public school would be a good fit for her.

Here's the funny thing, for a lot of years, I said I would NEVER homeschool. I have learned I shouldn't say I will NEVER do something. Those seem to be the things I end up doing! HA! God definitely has a sense of humor. 

Since I had accumulated many, many resources for teaching kindergarten through first grade, I made my own curriculum for the first several years of school. We supplemented with some workbooks to extend practice on some things, but we didn't use any formal curriculum until third grade.

My favorite things to use for school are thematic units. I love to take a topic, or a book, and create learning experiences around it. The student is much more engaged when they get to learn about something they love! We did units on apples, strawberries, ballet, working dogs, and so much more!

We use a little more curriculum now, but we are still pretty eclectic. For math, we love Teaching Textbooks and Life of Fred books. We have used some curriculum from Answers in Genesis for Bible and science. 

If you are just starting to homeschool, you have to find what works for you and your kiddos. It isn't easy, but it is so worth it! Be prepared to start a curriculum and not finish it! We have done that many times. Thankfully, most homeschool books can be resold. 

Are you a homeschooler? Do you use a curriculum, or are you eclectic like us?