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Elizabeth
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Real Learning
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Here's the scenario:
You have five children: three elementary school aged, a preschooler and a baby. Dh is underemployed and has been out of work recently. You are under a lot of outside pressure to put the kids in school/daycare and get a job. You are determined to continue to keep them at home. You need to design a curriculum that is both affordable and do-able--you're pretty overwhelmed right now with the other aspects of your life. Plus, you're still pretty new to homeschooling. Between the inlaws who want you to work and your parents who don't htink you should homeschool, you need to be doing something with a high level of accountability. It's a tall order I know. Can you help design this nearly free, highly mom-friendly, successful curriculum?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Lissa
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YES YES YES! Oh I have so many thoughts & will dive in as soon as I can. Back later--
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Lissa
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Erin
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Yes!!!
The MAJORITY of my books (thousands) come from book sales and op-shops. I don't use any text except maths so therefore everything is designed/created from our living books 
I lend to my friends all the time and they are generous in lending back (this way we own a few Bethlehem books and borrow many more Bethlehem  )
In fact the only books that I will buy are Catholic books as they are rare to pick up second hand, Vision books, Marigold Hunt etc.
Don't forget the library if your friend is lucky enough to have a good one. (we don't  ) Mmm now 'my thoughts' are flowing. 
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Katie
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I know that there will be better ideas for Real Learning on a budget, but I wanted to share what I did for math and language when I was on a very limited (i.e. non-existent) budget for a K'er and 1st-grader. For both these subjects, I planned out what I wanted to cover for the year, and wrote out a checklist. For math that might be numbers to 100, patterning, addition, subtraction, beginning telling time, recognizing money etc. etc. Then I got online and printed free worksheets to cover the subjects. I used those plastic book binding thingies (what are they called  ) so that I could easily add sheets or change the order. Some sheets I just hand wrote and the children loved those the best. This system allowed me to be flexible and change according to the chilren's needs. Math manipulatives were a set of cuisinaire rods my friend gave me and anything else we had around the house.
For LA I did something similar. I had the checklist front and center for myself and for dh to see where we were. Many things didn't generate a worksheet (learning to read, for example), so I kept a simple letter recognition and reading log.
As far as other subjects, I really feel that you could homeschool using only the internet. By choosing the year's subjects carefully, I think that you could easily use the library and the Rabbit Trails forum and learn a fantastic amount. Elaborate notebooks aren't necessary; a simple binder to keep the work in is enough. Once that binder is full of maps, narrations, coloring sheets and drawings, it will be a treasure (good for showing off to the in-laws!!). A book log of books read and read aloud is also great for the nay-sayers. Choosing subjects the children can cover together would make life easier. The family could cover Romans, France, Insects, the Rainforest, Castles, and a myriad other subjects using the plans here.
Finally, ask for paper and markers and craft supplies and BOOKS for Christmas and birthday presents. That really helps the budget.
I feel unworthy posting, knowing that others have so much more experience! We'll be praying.
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Mother of 5 in South America. No 6 due in April.
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JSchaaf
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Once I figured out my plans, I would contact The Book Samaritan for assistance in getting materials.
Jennifer
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Kathryn UK
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You can find a complete free  maths curriculum developed by the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching for elementary ages (known as "primary" in the UK) here. I haven't used it myself but have heard good things about it. You can download entire workbooks, lesson plans and extra worksheets. To translate UK school years into American grades subtract one (so Year 1 = Kindergarten, Year 2 = Grade 1 and so on).
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Kathryn
Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
The Bookworm
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lapazfarm
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Don't forget about sites like Enchanted Learning. Tons of free stuff there, and if you get a membership (lo cost), even more stuff.
kidipedehas tons of history for kids.
for science:
I Know that
Reekos Mad scientist Lab
The atoms family
nature study:
Jim Arnosky
Backyard Nature
eNaturalist
For language arts:
paragraph builder
Lots of grammar sites
And so many more free, wonderful resources. I could go on all day, but you get the picture. I think you could do an entire school curriculum on the internet if you wanted to.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Genevieve
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Speaking of free. Check out Old Fashioned Education. There is a free K-12 curriculum. I wouldn't have seperate grades for everyone but living books can appeal to children all ages, right? 
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Genevieve
The Good Within
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Kathryn UK
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Kathryn UK wrote:
| You can download entire workbooks, lesson plans and extra worksheets. |
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It looks as though some of the workbooks are now password protected  . I wonder if they would be prepared to give the password to homeschoolers?
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Kathryn
Dh Michael, Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06) (11/07)
The Bookworm
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Natalia
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Does she have internet access? To me that is an essential tool. There is so much free units and printable worksheets. And the internet also provides access to this forum :-)
The other essential tool is a library card and knowledge of interlibrary loan. There is a lot you can do with a booklist and a library card.
Another thing is good to saving money is combine as much subjects as you can so that you don't have to buy multiple books. Also maybe, when possible, choose curriculum that is non consumable.
For the toddlers and preschoolers I have found some good advice at Paula's archive Paula's
There is a book Homeschooling on a Shoestring that might have some ideas. Maybe she can get it at her library.
I also found this site that might have some ideas. I haven't looked carefully though.
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JennGM
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These are wonderful resources, but going back to Elizabeth's original post, I feel that some elements are missing. The mother is BUSY with younger ones, new to HSing and needs a high level of accountability. To me, so much of these links requires a degree of familiarity of what each level or child needs. Does she have time to read and to plan and research that much? Does she know the learning styles of the child yet, how the day will flow? Some of these examples sound more eclectic (which I don't mind), but less useful for someone who needs some parameters from the beginning.
Are there plans out there, in black and white, that have checkpoints that someone else could say, "Yes, I see that you've covered x, y and z in math, a, b, c in reading, etc."? Plans with suggested book lists and activities? Would Michele and Kathryn's plans be a good jumping point?
Perhaps a further question to Elizabeth: this degree of accountability...what is that person's priorities? Is he/she think that Math is most important? Language? Grammar? Science? Classical education? Does this person need to see standarized tests, workbooks? Or will Nature Study notebooks and narrations and copywork be enough to show the accomplishments?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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lapazfarm
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Jenn, you make good points. I agree that this type of cobbling together of curriculum for multiple ages would be very difficult taking into account time and energy and newness to homeschooling.
Now that I think about it harder, something like FIAR might be more the ticket. It isn't too expensive, most books are available at the library, and works for multiple age levels.
The accountability issue is the only question, though. Does FIAR have some sort of scope and sequence checklist on their support site or anything like that?
Add to that the math site Kathryn mentioned, and copywork from CHC's handwriting series, and you've got a pretty good program.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Natalia
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JennGM wrote:
Are there plans out there, in black and white, that have checkpoints that someone else could say, "Yes, I see that you've covered x, y and z in math, a, b, c in reading, etc."? Plans with suggested book lists and activities? Would Michele and Kathryn's plans be a good jumping point? |
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What about the Core Knowledge Series? They are available at most libraries and I have seen them frequently at stores like Half Price Books.
Natalia
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Willa
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Natalia wrote:
What about the Core Knowledge Series? They are available at most libraries and I have seen them frequently at stores like Half Price Books.
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This is what I used when we were in San Francisco with Aidan in the hospital -- we had relocated very quickly and I didn't have any of my stuff.
It worked well for me. There are units and free resources for CK here here including some worksheets for accountability. They also have a "resources to build on" booklist which could be used for library trips.
There is also the Ambleside Lesson Plan for Displaced Families You could substitute or add stories from saints lives and catechism to the religion part of it.
If I didn't have any of my stuff now I would follow the
4reallearning book list, go to the library for the books, and supplement with a math workbook and perhaps a language arts and spelling book from CHC if I was getting a lot of pressure to do "schooly" stuff.
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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TracyQ
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Ugh! I apparently edited my first post off completely! Ugh! That's a lot of work to do over, but it's worth it.  What I said was:
The first thing I thought of was the Core Knowledge series too. It is a guide, that would hold her more accountable (if by accountability you mean she has more of a structured guide for lessons).
I would use that, PLUS the Core Knowledge Lesson Plans that are free here: Core Knowledge Free Lesson Plans
For Catholic Faith study, she could use many of the plans written by many here on many sites, and/or Cay's new wonderful Catholic Mosaic book.
I would add living books from the library to the Core Knowledge series, and use the book lists for read alouds with all of the kids from Elizabeth's reading list, or other reading lists many have written.
For history, she could add some historical fiction/biographies/living books from Reading Your Way Through History:
Reading Your Way Through History and also from A Book in Time: A Book In Time
She could add some science books too from the library if she wanted to make science more of a living approach.
Notebooking, though can be time consuming is a great way to learn without much money, but like someone said, just putting their learning and lists of what they're doing into notebooks is great!
If she wanted to do more of a unit study approach, History Links are a great Catholic unit study program. They are a bit more structured, in that you have them written out as a guide already, and you can learn all together, yet, there are different suggestions for different ages listed in the guides, including ideas for toddlers that go with the study! I think that's great! And they're Catholic! Here is that link: History Links Each History Links is pretty inexpensive.
I'm going to continue to think. I wish I had more information as some have asked for such as learning/teaching style and philosophy of this family, along with children's ages. When you say, elementary aged kids, that could mean a 1st and 2nd grader, or 4th and 6th grader, and for me, that makes a big difference what to suggest. But these are my thoughts off the top of my head.
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Bookswithtea
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Since this mom is overwhelmed and new to homeschooling, I am concerned that chasing down a lot of internet links is going to be overwhelming to her.
After reading all the great ideas here, I think I would take the suggestions that seemed to me to be the most workable for my friend and I would print out the actual instructions for each subject, along with the worksheets, and maybe do some of the legwork for her if possible. I'd probably make some suggestions like, "only plan a 4 day schoolweek. You don't need to do history and science formally more than two days a week each, or maybe history one week, science the next." And if I were able, I might see what I have on my shelves in the way of math workbooks or other consumeables that I am not using and give them to her if I thought it would make it easier for her. I have found that in mentoring newer homeschoolers what they most need is someone to tell that that the chaos of homeschooling on most days is normal, that they are doing better than they think, and that the laundry can wait.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Katie
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For some reason I've been thinking about this all night! I had a few additional thoughts:
Firstly, what kind of accountability is your friend looking for? IF she is looking for outside accountability, several states offer optional umbrella school schemes, many of which provide money for materials, too. Depending on the state and program in question you have more or less flexibility and accountability. I did this one year in Alaska and it was absolutely fine, though I was blessed with a very pro-homeschool "counselor".
If the accountability is for herself and/or dh, then something with boxes to check can be a lifesaver, whether ready made in the curriculum she chooses or compiled by herself (or a friend!). If you are happy with your initial plan, and confident that it will provide a good year academically, then it is nice to be able to "see" the progress as the year unfolds and the winter blahs set in. BTDT!
If the accountability is for the in-laws and parents, then I really think she should choose the path she feels is best, and really try not to tailor her children's education to their expectations. They will either get on board when they see what the children are learning, or they won't. It seems there is very little you can do to change the outcome. Of course their concerns come from love for the family and wanting them to do what is best, so they should be treated with the love, grace and respect they deserve.
Onto curriculum: I agree with Jenn that the kind of seat-of-the-pants cobbling together, flying with others' ideas that many of us do here may not be an option. The ideas here don't have to be used that way, though. They could be taken as is, usaed with books from the library, and much, much learning would ensue. The key would be to plan ahead what she wants to cover for the year, in math, language arts and religion. CHoose age appropriate curriculum accordingly (whether free or purchased). Then pick a couple of science topics, a couple of history topics, and maybe a couple of country studies, and plan on covering them as a family.
I agree that FIAR might be great fit. You can use library books with the advantage that it doen't matter what order you "row". Is this enough "accountability"?
Dinah Zike's Great Science Adventures can be used with several age groups, and would be a fairly inexpensive resource for a science study.
The preschooler might enjoy having some workbooks from the Dollar Tree, or Costco. I also really like the set that Road and Staff puts out. I think that Love to Learn carries them (there are 6).
Now for more caffeine. Obviously I haven't had enough already. 
__________________
Mother of 5 in South America. No 6 due in April.
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Victoria in AZ
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For what it's worth, I am hearing more and more success stories from our little, local Catholic hs group about k12.
http://www.k12.com/
It is free if you are in the program through an on-line "charter" school and would have the accountability the relatives are looking for. Being new to hs, all your planning is done for you and all the books and materials are sent right to your doorstep.
One mom makes it more CM by substituting living books for some of the k12 choices and simply checking off that the subject of the lesson was covered.
My dh won't do it because he does not want the accountability...
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Your sister in Christ,
Victoria in AZ
dh Mike 24 yrs; ds Kyle 18; dd Katie 12; and one funny pug
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Dawnie
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What about The Three R's by Ruth Beechick? Very inexpensive, covers multiple grades (grades K-3), is full of practical suggestions, and the booklets are small and easy to digest. I know she has a
book for teaching 4th-8th grade, too, but I've never read it.
You could use The Three R's to cover the basics in early elementary; lots of living books from the library; simply living your faith as a family (saying the Rosary together, celebrating feast days, reading the Bible), and nature walks would make a great curriculum for preschool and early elementary school for very little cost. This would require some planning by mom, but I can't think of a way to have low-cost homeschooling w/o the time investment in planning on mom's part. Lower cost basically means higher time investment. She wouldn't have to do it all at one time...I've found that dedicating 15-30 minutes a day to a big project will get it done, eventually.
More good free resources: your diocese's religious education library. Church libraries. Homeschool support group libraries. The quality and availability of these vary from place to place, but it would be worth checking out.
If I had a very low budget for homeschooling and lots of little kids and DIDN'T have a good library, then I would spend the bulk of my budget on good literature. The Three R's was one of the first homeschool purchases I made, and it made the whole thing seem very doable to me.
Dawn
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Visit my blog!Water Into Wine:Vino Per Tutto!
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Dawnie
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One more thing I wanted to add...
Something I've learned recently is to stay with what I know. I think it's easier, a better investment of my time and money, and less overwhelming to focus on teaching my children the skills I have already mastered. I'm referring to non-academic subjects. For me, this means focusing on teaching music, since I'm a classically trained singer and can play the piano. I know music, I've already developed those skills, and I have a passion for it. I can more easily discern what kinds of curriculum would be worth my money. Now, I see the value of teaching art and I REALLY want to become proficient in drawing, but I have to spend A LOT more time researching, planning, and becoming proficient in that subject to teach it to my kids.
All moms have some special talent or skill they can share with their children...some are athletes, some are musicians, some are artists, dancers, knitters, seamstresses, gardeners...so I would encourage this mom to think of what her special skills and talents are and think about how she can share those with her kids to cover non-academic subjects. It will save her time and money and it will be easier to plan. What does she already know and love that she can teach her kids?
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Mom to Mary Beth (99), Anna (02), Lucia (04), Clara (06), and Adelaide Victoria (2/28/09)
Visit my blog!Water Into Wine:Vino Per Tutto!
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Real Learning on a Budget
