Spin the Wheel: Unschool to a BOUGHT CURRICULUM?!?!?!?!?

OK. So when I returned to blogging, and realized that last year's blog was about my journey from a traditional homeschool regimen to happily unschooling, I felt a little sheepish returning to the blog this year and having to admit that I bought a curriculum.

Let me begin by saying that I completely believe in unschooling. My boys learned so much last year that I would not have thought to teach them in a more conventional setting. And they didn't just learn the fluffy stuff. They know all about dinosaurs- continents, time periods, species, what is and was is not a true dinosaur. They have computer and library research skills that some college kids would be envious of. My (at the time) 5 year old son was very motivated to learn to read (yes, unschooled kids will still want to learn reading, writing, and 'rithmatic). And both boys were more complete people knowing that their daily schedule was going to be determined by them.

But last summer when it was time to start planning for the school year, we were facing a different situation. Our house was on the market, and my husband was looking for a new career path. We weren't sure what the next year was going to bring, but we did know that it was going to be different. We were considering moving to a different state with much more strict homeschool laws, and I was searching for a solution that would make it easier to homeschool in the new state, and yet stick to our more relaxed homeschool philosophy.

So in my research I came across Oak Meadow. It is Waldorf based, and wants to teach the whole child. There is a rhythm to the day, and they have their curriculum, but stresses that you should follow your child's lead on things like reading and math levels. Or maybe that is what I got out of their philosophy......

Anyway, we didn't change states (partially because I felt that the homeschool laws were too unbearable), but I decided to go ahead with using the Oak Meadow curriculum. We were still moving, and had an unpredictable year ahead. I was fitting in a bit of free lance graphic design stuff into my life as a homeschooling mom, and thought that having a curriculum to guide me through the homeschool year would take some of the stress off me. So I bought the 1st and 3rd grade curriculum books. Used. Thank goodness for Amazon and eBay.

So we have modified Oak Meadow for our uses. We don't follow their rhythms exactly. For example, though they recommend doing math 3 or so days a week, we usually do it everyday because the timing of the math lessons makes the learning time needed different for each boy. For example, this week my 3rd grader is starting multiplication with carrying, and my 1st grader is doing odd and even numbers. My older son needs all 5 school days to practice and learn this task, while my 1st grader had odds and even mastered before we were to work on it this week. So I printed out a few odd and even "mazes" and he is happy. I enjoy the Oak Meadow Social Studies and Science. And the Language Arts is the perfect fit for my family.

So far I am very happy with the Oak Meadow curriculum. I plan on buying it again next year. But you know, I still have 6 months to figure it out.