While looking for a low key, but effective, spelling approach for my twins’ K/1st grade levels, I came up with the following strategy, based loosely on the method that AVKO uses in their Sequential Spelling program for 2nd grade and up. At the moment, my plans are to move into Sequential Spelling sometime next year, but this strategy is bridging the gap until they are ready for that program. This is an easy hack, fun to implement, and it is absolutely free!

What I like about the Sequential Spelling approach is that it minimizes the study-test-forget cycle by introducing words that share similar patterns, making it simple to understand how they are spelled. The patterns also help reinforce reading strategies. At this skill level, it is easy to come up with suitable word lists that suit your child’s needs! The approach that I have modified takes only 5 or 10 minutes a day, and is currently one of my kids’ favorite learning activities. They call it “The Guessing Words Game”.

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Good News

I’ve gotten the Lunablog Mosaic Yahoo Group set up and ready for new members! This group will be a place where anyone who wants to discuss the free Mosaic homeschool curriculum can sign up and join in.

You should also feel free to discuss any other resources that you are finding to be helpful. Anything learning related is on-topic and fair game, as far as I am concerned. I’m giving the Mosaic curriculum away, so I’m not worried about trying to make a living here at the expense of the other fine curricula out there! - The main concern I have is that everyone finds something that helps them meet their needs, whatever the source may be.

I’m especially looking forward to getting some input on the best direction to take part two of the program. Be sure to sign up if you want to share your thoughts on that, or if you just want to hang back and see what happens! The more the merrier, and all that! (No pressure, though - you can always unsubscribe if it gets boring, with no hard feelings :-))

Click to join LunablogMosaic

Photo Credit: literature mosaic by Christa Richert

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Here are three forms I’ve designed that you may find helpful in your record-keeping efforts. They can be used to help you track your children’s learning activities, as well as your own! You can click the link under each preview image, and then save the downloads to your computer. Feel free to print as many copies as you need.

Check back periodically, as I plan to continue adding forms. If there are any forms or templates that you would particularly like to see, just let me know!

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My customary Friday post is a little late this week - I succumbed to an unfortunate respiratory virus a couple of days ago, and yet somehow decided it would be a good idea to drive to the coast with my family yesterday. Now that I’m sitting by the ocean, and feeling much better today, it turned out to be a great decision. But yesterday was a little touch and go . . .

I’m preparing to start work on part 2 of the Mosaic free lesson plans in March, and I wanted to give everyone a heads-up that (when I’m back in town and healthy again!) I’ll be opening a Yahoo email group for the purpose of discussing the curriculum and my plans for continuing the series. I’d like to get as much discussion and feedback as possible from anyone who might be interested in using any or all of the materials, so that I can tailor the ideas that I have to the needs of the users and potential users. You could consider it a user’s group, as well as an informal “advisory board”. Some of the issues I’d like to discuss include:

• setting up the progression of the series, year by year.
• evaluating the resources to include, including whether to aim towards more resources that are available for free or low cost.
• evaluating the balance of hands on activities to reading
• discussing the format of the lessons

Of course, the group would also be a great place for users and potential users to discuss how they use the curriculum, as well as other curricula and resources, in their families.

If you are interested in participating or just curious to lurk and hear what others have to say, send me an email. I’ll send you an invitation when I get the group up and running.

Photo Credit: “Funky Girl 2″ by Jef Bettens

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Well, we had a strange website outage this morning which has doubtless prevented many of you from being able to download the files you’ve been looking for. Really, it was for the best, however, because several errors were found (already!) by sharp-eyed readers who downloaded the Story of the World version of the curriculum. I’ve spent the downtime updating the files, and you should now be able to download an up-to-date version of all files!

So far, response has been great, with about 110 total downloads of the files in the first couple of days, plus 55 downloads of the timeline guide. Given that nobody has been able to get on the website today, that’s pretty good, I think!

Thanks so much to those who have forwarded information about the lesson plans on their email lists, forums, and blogs, and also to those helpful souls who emailed me to let me know about errors and snafus.

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As promised, the first installment of my free curriculum is ready! (Did you think I wouldn’t make it by New Years? I was starting to wonder, myself, lol.)

The Mosaic Introduction to World History, Part 1: Myths, Maps, and Marvels coordinates many popular history books and resources, as well as adding in plans for reading great literature, poetry memorization, map work, timelines, and more.

This Beta version will be a great way to test out people’s responses, to determine what you all want, what your unmet needs are, and what you would like to see in a curriculum. Feel free to download it, poke around, and let me know what you think! I want to expend my energy in a way that will be useful to others, so it will really help me if you can give me any feedback or ideas about the program. Even if you’d like to see me go in a totally different direction, I’d like to hear about your ideas!

I just wanted to take another minute to thanks you so much for reading over the past 6 months! I’ve had so much fun here, and feel like I am just barely getting started. I have lots of ideas to flesh out over the next year, and I’m excited to get to share my thoughts and resources with all of you.

Happy New Year!

Click here to visit the Free Curriculum page, and download your very own copy of Myths, Maps, and Marvels.

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Well, I completed my beta version of the Mosaic Introduction to Timelines this evening! You can download your free copy of this 26 page eBook here.

This is one unit from the Free Curriculum Project that I’m working on, and I thought I’d go ahead and give you an early sneak peak! (The rest of the first year program will be available on January 1st!)

The Introduction to Timelines has lots of discussion and “how to” sections, plus 3 complete projects for introducing timelines to young children in ways that will be meaningful to them. The projects include all templates and figures needed for the special activities. There are also instructions for making your own Time Scroll.

Do check it out, and let me know what you think!

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UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your great suggestions!!! I didn’t actually get any entries until after I already released the curriculum under the name of Mosaic on January 1, so I did a random drawing of all entries from email and the comments. Celia, from the comments below, was the winner of the soap. (Celia, I’ve emailed you to get your address. Let me know, and I’ll get it right out to you!) Thanks everyone, for participating!

The post announcing that I will be giving away free lesson plans for homeschoolers has generated more interest that I ever expected! Though several of my other articles have been fairly well received, this one has been by far the most popular that I’ve done, to date. I’ve been getting a ton of traffic via StumbleUpon the past few days, which is utterly new for me, and very gratifying. (So thank you very much to everyone who stumbled this website this week!!!)

Since it seems like there is more than sufficient interest out there, I thought I’d be a little audacious, and ask you for a favor. I’m trying to come up with a name for the series of lesson plans. The particular year that I’m getting ready to release is themed “Myths, Maps, and Marvels”, but I’m referring to the overall series name. The particular “brand” of homeschool resources, if you will.

I put brand in quotes, because in a way it seems a little silly for a line of free products to have a brand name. But what the hay, it seems like people really dig brands, plus that way people will know what to call it when they tell their friends about the helpful free lesson plans they just found online!

I have a few possibilities I’ve been tossing around, but it occurred to me that some of you might have some even better ideas. Inspiration can be a little random at times, and it just might strike you before it strikes me.

So, here’s your big chance! If you have any ideas or suggestions, you can leave them in the comments below, or email them directly to me at april@lunablog.net .

If I use one of your suggestions, I’ll send you 5 bars of my very own homemade soap! (Blogging and writing lesson plans aren’t my only hobbies, you know.)

If the winning name is submitted by more than one person, the first to submit the name wins. And if I end up not using any of your ideas (I can be fickle like that, though it pains me to admit it), I’ll have a drawing from among all the entrants to select the winner. Needless to say, if only one person submits an idea, that person will win automatically! If nobody participates, well, I guess I’m keeping the soap and you have only yourself to blame, lol.

These terms mean you might win, even if you don’t think your idea is very good, or if you have no idea what I’d be looking for in a name.

So go ahead and start brainstorming! Think about what kind of curriculum you’d feel good using. What do you have to lose?!

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Well, things are moving right along with the free curriculum project! This seems like great time to share what I’m up to right now, and to give a couple more details about what the lesson plans will include:

I’ve finished updating and revising two versions of the curriculum that incorporate Story of the World and A Little History of the World, respectively. They also schedule the use of many other books of history, literature, and poetry, and they even recommend an (entirely optional, of course) book containing key stories from most of the world’s major religions. The main poetry book is used for memory work, and many of the literature selections reinforce topics that are covered in the history components.

I’ve further edited each of those main versions into versions that incorporate prehistory/evolution units, and those that omit the prehistory units. (Some people say you can’t please everyone, and that is certainly true. Golly, though, I do want to try to please as many as possible!)

Speaking of pleasing everyone, I have plans to divide all the main versions into individual unit studies, so that you folks can pick and choose which topics you want to use, if you don’t want to do the whole year’s curriculum day by day. We’ll see if I can get the units done by the end of the year, but I’ll at least have the main curriculum ready to go!

Right now I’m working on designing an introduction to timelines to go along with the other lesson plans. I’m planning to include several activities to introduce timelines to youngsters in ways that they can understand (hopefully!). I know some of these activities have been quite helpful for my children so far.

I’m thinking that if I can make good progress with this timeline unit I might just release it early, as a sneak peak, while I finish up editing the rest of the curriculum. If it works out that I can do it, I’ll definitely let you know!

Oh, and I have a special favor I wanted to ask of you. I’m going to put info about that in a separate post.

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EDIT: THANKS StumbleUponers and everyone else who has visited this post! The curriculum launched on January 1, and is available by clicking below:

Lunablog.net Free Homeschool Curriculum Page

Enjoy! –April

Coming soon!

I’m very pleased to announce that revisions are almost complete on the first of my FREE homeschool instructor’s guides. In fact, the beta version of the first year-long program will be available for download right here on New Year’s Day!

Different strokes for different folks

For a long time, I’ve admired Sonlight, History Odyssey, Winter Promise, and other literature rich “Living Book” approaches to learning history, geography, literature, culture, religion, and values. At the same time, I have also recognized that:

• Different families have different needs.
• Different children have different abilities and needs, too.
• New homeschoolers often desire helpful guides, so that they don’t feel like they need to come up with resources, schedules, and ideas on their own.
• Experienced homeschoolers often enjoy having guides as well, to help them stay motivated, accountable, or inspired.

While many homeschoolers feel the need for guidance and ideas in planning their homeschooling activities, different families need different kinds of guidance:

• Some homeschoolers want a day by day schedule that specifies exactly what can be done each day for an entire year.
• Others prefer to piece together unit studies on topics of particular interest, spending as much time on each as desired.
• Still others want a more unschooling approach, with no schedule involved at all, but they do find it helpful to have access to simple lists that point them towards useful books, websites, and resources.

I also know, from personal experience, that it can be difficult to know what approach or format will work the best with your family at any given time. Purchasing curricula can be costly at the best of times, but when you are the proud owner of a curriculum that is unsuitable for your family, rectifying the situation can cause your homeschooling costs to go through the roof.

I’ve been blessed to benefit greatly from homeschooling throughout my life. In fact, I doubt I would even be the person I am today without it. Homeshcooling, while not the ideal option for every family, is certainly a great path for many.

For that reason, it is quite disheartening for me to hear from people who would like to homeschool, but think they can’t afford it, or don’t know how to go about it. Even worse to hear of those who have taken the leap, but have not been able to find an approach to homeschooling that works for their family, and are too discouraged to keep trying costly new ideas.

What people like this need are support and options.

I want to do my part to provide at least a bit of that support and a few of those options, and crazily enough, I feel called to do this without charging for it. I’m not perfect, my methods aren’t perfect, and this won’t be the answer for everyone. Still, it seems like the right path for me to take.

So, beginning on New Year’s Day 2008, I’ll make available the first year of lesson plans.

What exactly is this first homeschool curriculum?

Well, the program is entitled “Myths, Maps, and Marvels”, and it is organized around an Ancient History theme. The full program is currently about 150 pages, and it will be available in several versions and formats to suit various homeschooling styles and preferences. The beauty of the internet is that I can create multiple versions and many options without all the overhead of traditional publishing!

• The initial format, similar to the programs mentioned above, will organize various history, literature, poetry, and geography books and resources into a day by day schedule of activities. Many of the books scheduled can be found used or in libraries. The others should be readily available at sites like Amazon.com.
• Quickly following will be formats optimized for unit studies and also unschooling
• There will be plenty of hands on activities, for those who learn best kinesthetically.
• This level will utilize Usborne’s Encyclopedia of World History.
• You will be able to choose either a version that uses Story of the World: Ancient Times or one that uses Gombrich’s A Little History of the World.
• You will be able to choose a version that covers pre-history and evolution, or you can opt for a version that omits those topics.

My goal here is to come up with guides and schedules that are helpful to as many people as possible, without imposing my personal beliefs on anyone. I am just barely humble enough to recognize that I don’t have everything in the world figured out yet, so I am excited to have the ability to provide options that suit a wide range of beliefs, lifestyles, and learning styles.

I’ve been working on this for hundreds of hours over the past 18 months, and I have finally beaten my perfectionism back sufficiently to declare it good enough to go! I have faith that you all will let me know if have suggestions or feedback about the direction I’ve taken!

If response is positive, and there are folks who feel that the materials are helpful in some way, I’ll continue to compile, refine, and release more resources like this!

I’ll be posting more thoughts and information throughout December, as we work up to the Big Release. Stay tuned, and feel free to pass this info along to anyone who might benefit from it!

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