Homeschooling Is Preparedness! And Cheap Audiobooks (some under $1)

Wow, what a year and a summer it’s been!  Are you apprehensive about sending your children back to school wearing masks?  Have you considered homeschooling, but you’re – if you’re very honest – kinda scared?  Is there even an apprehension that you may even screw something up so badly that your child’s education will be skewed for life?

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Homeschooling as Preparedness

Have you ever considered that schooling your kids CAN BE a part of preparedness?  Last year, I wrote about the fact that there may come a time when you may HAVE TO homeschool your kids.  I’m sure that almost no one believed me!  I have to kind of chuckle sitting here now.  I was……well…..kinda right.

But the truth of the matter is we are “sitting” here now and many people have had to do a version of homeschooling earlier this year, and now, some people are considering homeschooling.

But why should you listen to me?  Well, I’ve been homeschooling for more than 14 years, and I’ve graduated two children.  I’ve got three more children still in school.  I’m not perfect, but I’ve been at this a LONG time and tried all different kinds of curricula from boxed to DIY to combining multiple curricula together.  I’ve also been writing and homeschooling as a part of preparedness and discussing cheap schooling supplies for a long time.

I have a revelation.  Homeschooling is actually VERY simple though not always easy.  But anyone can do it!

The hardest part of homeschooling can be just being with your kids, but even then, you CAN do that!  And, it honestly does get easier over time.  I’m to the point that I hand my kids their assignment sheets (which I create an entire semester in an evening) once a week, and then give me their assignments at the end of the week.  I do have to grade their work, but I’m fairly hands-off other than that.

Homeschooling Options

So in writing this article, I was trying to figure out the way that I could most simplify this for you.

I want you to ask yourself these questions, and choose the one that fits you best.

1.)  Do you need someone else to plan the curriculum AND do the teaching?

2.)  Want to do the actual teaching yourself, but you need someone to plan it for you?

3.)  Do you want to create something for your kids yourself so you can play to their interests?

4.)  Or does this fit you?  You want your kids to learn, but you don’t want them to feel like their actually doing school.

Which number fits you?  #1?

If #1 fits you best, you have a lot of options.  I mostly know if Christian curricula, so that’s going to be mostly my focus.  If you want someone to do the actual teaching, you have several awesome options.

ABeka

ABeka has a video curriculum for grades 1-12.  They have an option where they will even grade it for you and keep your transcripts.  This is a Christian based curriculum with Bible stories in grade school and Bible as one of the subjects in high school.  It is rigorous – so do be aware.  We used the online class portal with one of our children three years ago.  As the parent, we tracked their video watching and had to check to see which videos this child watched (or skipped as was the case sometimes) and which assignments they still needed to submit.

Pluses – It’s all done for you.  It’s very comprehensive.  The videos are first class – and every class is on video.  It’s like your child is a member of the classroom, so in many ways, they will feel like they are at school.  It’s immersive in that way.

Minuses – if you can call this a minus – it’s very rigorous.  I had a child (in 8th grade) who was struggling terribly with grammar.  I took him back to do some remedial grammar, but because Abeka is rigorous, I took him all the way back to A Beka’s second-grade grammar and spelling.  It really started at the beginning.  Another minus is the cost.  Because it’s almost like your child is attending a classroom with a teacher and fellow students, it is more expensive.  Costs range between $110 and $140/month for 10 months or one single payment of $959 for grades 1-6 or $1219 for grades 7-12.

Monarch

Monarch homeschooling is through Alpha Omega press.  It’s a completely online homeschooling option that allows you to use it for up to three kids and you get access to up to 50 courses.  Each student takes five different core courses including Bible, History and Geography, Language Arts, Math, and Science.  The student reads (or watches) all the lessons online and does the work that goes along with it.  They also take tests and quizzes online.  The grading is done automatically.  This is really a great “Hands-Off” option if you work from home, but want to homeschool.

We’ve used the DVD curriculum version of this about four years ago.  So we’re fairly familiar with it.

Pluses – You can do up to 3 children for $70/month or just one child for $40/month.  It’s so very hands-off for people who need someone else to teach their children or for a mom or dad who works from home but doesn’t want to send their child to school.

Minuses – If you’re child is really at different grade levels in different subjects, it’s hard to figure out which grade to put them in.  It’s not all a video, but there are some videos.  Many of the lessons, however, are mostly read.  If you have a child who does better as an audio or visual learner, this may not be the curriculum for you.

Which number fits you?  #2? 

Do you really want to teach your children yourself, but you need someone to tell you what to do?  There are several options, but I want to give you a word of encouragement.  You are the teacher.  When you read through the curriculum, if you see something you don’t want to do, you don’t have to do everything that the curriculum tells you to.  You can choose what you want your children to do and what is too much for them.  No matter what curriculum you use, you can still tailor it to them!

ABeka Book Curriculum

This is different from the video school curriculum.  It’s still rigorous – you use the same books for your classes, but you teach them and direct their education.  You will grade their work and help them as they work through their classes.  We used this curriculum for K4 and K5, and honestly loved it!

My Father’s World

Ever heard of the Charlotte Mason approach to schooling?  My Father’s World is a Bible-based curriculum that employs the Charlotte Mason approach.  History is studied in chronological order.  Great books are read.  Notebooking and narration are employed techniques of learning.  We’ve never used My Father’s World, but I have to admit, it intrigues me.

Heart of Dakota

I’ve learned of this curriculum most recently.  I love that it’s built for teaching several close grades at once.  Each level is meant for working with up to three grade levels (for teaching multiple kids at once).  But they give you ways to tailor it for the different levels.  The fundamental basis for this is short lessons and readings based in “living books.”  I know this curriculum only by reputation.

Which number fits you?  #3?

Maybe you want to put things together yourself though.  You want to be interested in what you’re teaching your kids as much as you want it to interest them.  It’s really not that hard to put together your own homeschool curriculum with all the tools that are out there.  I did this for several years – like 8 years for my oldest two.

History

I liked the idea of going through history chronologically.  I found a book that would walk us through a period of history.  That year, we would read books about or from that period of history.  We would do art projects revolving around that period of history.  There were plenty of fun activities we would do like eating food from that period of history or making clothes from that period of history.  We would even try to tie our science into that period of history even if it was just in a small way.

Eventually, I found a series of books that covered history from Creation to the present over four years.  This series was called the Mystery of History. Because there are four of them, we could cycle through history three times (if we chose)  This would allow us to go more in-depth each time through the various eras of history. The four volumes include Creation through Christ,  Early Church through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and the Growth of Nations, Wars of Independence through Modern Times.  My kids liked them so much that they would grab them just to read on their own for FUN.  Yeah, crazy, huh?

Reading

I would skim the Mystery of History book that we were doing that year and look for books that were on my kid’s reading level.  I would pick those books out for their reading (language arts) books.  But here’s the cool thing, find the topics that interest your kids that intersect with that part of history.  Let them read all about it as they study.

Art

The other thing that my kids always got to do was History Pockets.  This is an art book that reinforces their history.  There are several different ones that correspond to each of the Mystery of Histories.  For Creation through Christ we would use A History Pockets called Ancient Civilizations. For Early Church through the Middle Ages, we’d use Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. For Book 3 – Reformation through Renaissance – we’d use Explorers of North America, Life in Plymouth Colony, and Colonial America.  For Wars of Independence through modern Times, we used The American Revolution, Moving West, and The American Civil War.

Science

I would try to use a science curriculum that tied in – even if it only tied in a little way.  There are two different science curricula that we enjoyed using – Answers in Genesis.  Our Weather and Water, Our Universe, and Our Planet Earth.  We also used Apologia Science.  Our favorite courses for elementary education include – Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology, Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Exploring Creation with Botany, Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics (Yes, this was written for elementary school children).  Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics was my kid’s favorite one.  They got to make a working smoke bomb and had a blast setting it off in our driveway.

Math

We loved Math-U-See for Math.  We’ve tried other Math curriculum but always came back to Math-U-See.  This approach has allowed us to have a good deal of flexibility while still covering our bases.

Which number fits you?  #4?

When my kids were younger, we would do school on Monday through Thursday.  On Friday, we would play games related to various subjects.  We would enjoy things like Scrabble, geography games, Yahtzee, kids Trivial Pursuit, and others.  Why?  To give them a fun way to learn.

There is a type of schooling called “unschooling” where learning is done through hands-on activities and games.  Want to teach your kids fractions?  Give them a recipe and show them how to double it and cook with them at the same time.

Language and Vocabulary

Want some fun games to help your kids learn?  To teach or reinforce your kid’s spelling and vocabulary, you can play games like Scrabble, Boggle, Scattergories, Bananagrams, or Quiddler.

Math Games

Looking to help your kids practice basic addition there are other games that you can play like Yahtzee, Math Dice, Head Full of Numbers, Sum Swamp, Proof, and Quixx.

Geography Games and Aides

Want to help your kids with their geography?  There are several really cool games including – Race Across the USA, Continent Race, The Scrambled States of America,  Trekking the National Parks, or one of our favorites – Ticket to Ride.  We also like to listen to CDs with things like States and Capitols and World Geography.

Speech, Communication, and Storytelling

Do you want to teach your kids to learn how to better communicate?  Did you know that there are storytelling games?  Some of them are really cool including Tall Tales, Dixit, Story Slam, and Call to Adventure.

Science Games and Activities

Want to help your kids learn about Science?  There are a lot of different really fun options including Cytosis, The Magic School Bus Science Explosion Board Game, or hands-on science activities like National Geographic Science Experiments and STEM Activities, Science Experiments, and Rock-on Geology Game.

Reading and Listening

Another great way to learn the classics is if you have a Kindle, downloading different books or audiobooks for your children.  One of the tips that I can give you to get deeply discounted audiobooks is if you buy the “Free” Kindle version of a classic like Robinson Crusoe you can often get a deeply discounted audiobook for $4.87!  Other books can work the same way.  Other books may not even require you to “purchase” the free Kindle book.

Some titles include – Pickwick Papers with the audiobook for $1.97.  A Christmas Carol with the audiobook for $.67! Benjamin Button with its audiobook is only $.66!  Swiss Family Robinson with the audiobook for $5.15.  The Wind in the Willows audiobook for $6.36.  FREE Kindle book of The Tales of Peter Rabbit.  You can get The Railway Children’s audiobook for $3.42!  King Solomon’s Mines Audiobook is only $2.95.  The Man Who Knew Too Much’s Audiobook is only $2.99.  Ben Hur – the audiobook for $.99!  The Last Trail audiobook is only $5.99.

What About You?

Did this help you figure out how you can better homeschool your kids if you need to do it?  What further questions do you have about homeschooling – or any of its ins and outs?  Do you actually believe that you’re capable of homeschooling your children?   Please share with us in the comments below so that we can all be better prepared!

Together lets Love, Learn, Practice, and Overcome