I'd like to ask all the veterans out there -
How did you choose your curriculum? Did you use several different things rolled into one? For example, did you use K12 for a baseline of what your children should be aiming to know by a certain time and then let them follow their passion with everything else? What about foreign languages?
My children have been at a Montessori school for the past couple of years which has been wonderful! They're all 2-3 grade levels above the "norm." They're happy and have friends, and I work there so I still get to be involved in their day-to-day experiences. But we don't know what will become of the school for next year and public school is not an option for us, for several reasons.
So I turn to you all, my DISboards compatriots to give me all your best advice and warnings, what you would do differently and obstacles you've faced and how you dealt with them.
Thanks!!
And to all the graduates - Congratulations!!
We're unschoolers here - we follow our girls passions for all areas. We aim to be radical unschoolers - unschooling all aspects of life, but have to admit we're not quite there yet.
Our oldest would be going into grade 1 in the fall but is so far above where everyone else is in some areas (on par in others) that it wouldn't be worth it for her or us.
I have our local school boards guideline that teachers follow - I use it as a guideline. If I don't see the girls actively pursuing an area of interest, then I take a peek and see what other kids their age might be interested in (or at least what they're learning) and I offer it.
As for foreign languages we're purchasing Rosetta stone this year for Spanish, we'd considered French since I could pick it back up quickly and Dh could learn, but our girls are much more interested in Spanish. We're going to all learn as a family so we can begin nightly 'Spanish only' time while we're all home. Once we're comfortable with Spanish we'll move on to French. We have many people around us who speak French so they'll have a lot more opportunity to use it.
For us the biggest thing is having support we have many other families following the same style as us in our area. It helps to relax when we see the 16 year old succeeding as well as the 10, 7, 5, 3 year olds in the group.
We don't force school time, but we have many resources around the house and when I see interest in something that we have a workbook (or other resource) for, I pull it out and show them what to do. Some resources we use regularly: youtube, netflix, library, picture encyclopaedia, solar system, world map, globe, dirt & seeds, bulletin board pictures pertinent to seasons, weather, nature in our area. Board games are great for so many different skills - we tend to 'push' the girls to play games beyond the recommended ages and find that the 3 yr old is typically at the 6 yr old level for games and the 5 yr old is at the 8-10 age range - the only thing holding her back is her inability to read independently yet.
The biggest challenge for me is figuring out ways to follow each girl's interest at the same time rather than forcing them all to do one thing. Of course my girls are small so their level of independence is rather small right now. So both big girls are in art and sports ball at the same time. My Oldest is in theatre and my middle in dance - same location different times. FOr summer camps we're also doubling up quite a bit. I personally find it easier to haul everyone out just once a day rather than 2 or 3. But in a couple years I won't need to haul everyone with me. Right now our oldest has the strongest desire to follow her own interest whereas the middle girl will follow along most times. But right now our youngest is fascinated with Benjamin Franklin and being a journalist so as long as we create ways for her to follow those interests, she's happy and will follow her sister for pretty much everything else.
I guess to sum up - the most important aspect is to know your kids. Mine don't sit still and find book work tedious at the best of times. They also like to find things out for themselves so if I tell them something, they still have to do it. As such we work WITH that rather than against it.
I enjoy learning, but have never had a desire to teach anyone. I realize that I can't wing it with this child and need to create basic lesson plans for him. When he's in the mood to learn from me, he blows through my planned tasks in about 15 minutes. I need to step up my game. The Lego eggs activity looks perfect for him. Thanks again!
Thanks so much, Missy! This was very helpful and I could definitely see us going one year! Hope you won't mind hearing from me in a year or two to pick your brain on this a bit more! 
We are in BC -neighbours.....
than our oldest will graduate. Can't believe we started this road and gotten this far. It has been a fun and intersting road.
