Start Here

The basic idea here is that there are hundreds of FREE resources available online, so they should be made available to home schooling families for FREE. But most of the resources come as random links, so I'm going to try to mold these random resources into lessons that I am using--and you can use--to teach homeschool for free.

For a little background, on the date this blog started, I had 5 children between 8 months and 8 years old. My children are all gifted, and I have a couple of 2e children (Twice Exceptional--gifted and challenged, like mine are gifted with ADD/Tourettes and gifted with social phobia).

As they become available, I will post lessons, activities, and worksheets (via links to google docs) that you are welcome to download, print, copy, and use at home. I am NOT dumping these into the public domain, however. While you may use any of this for home use, the free use is limited to NON COMMERCIAL use. By using these resources, you agree to that limitation. I also am only providing what you find on this blog. Supplies that you might need to do the activities in the lessons (like pencils, microscopes, magnifying glasses, etc) are up to you.

I am going to post as I go, though, so the resources will be available immediately for use by families who teach at home (whether exclusively or not). I make no promises as to how frequently or quickly the lessons will be done--I do have to continue to home school my own five children as I do this, and I'm a freelance writer on the side as well.

Because this is a blog, things get posted as I finish them and are sorted by posting date. When you use the site, you might have better luck going off the Index instead of just trying to sort through the lessons.

Feel free to contribute by posting your own ideas, links, worksheets, and favorite activities either by putting the links in the comments below each lesson, or by linking to a google doc you have created or discovered that has worked for you. Please don't fill the site with spam or endorsements for your own products and websites. Comments are moderated, and links to commercial products or anything that isn't free (not just for a trial period, but totally free) will not be posted.

Why are the lessons not coded for grade level?

I am posting lessons as I teach them to my own children. Like many home schooling families, we have many students and not enough hours in the day for the teacher (mom, in our case) to sit down with each student and work with them one-on-one in every subject. While Math and Reading (at least K-3) are skills-based, science and humanities don't have to be. We teach these in a group format, rotating the curriculum through the years instead of the students through the curriculum.

Consequently, some material in each lesson won't be suited to your child--too hard, too easy, or just not interesting. Don't try to teach everything. Use this as a resource, not as the final word on your child's education. It is intended to be better than having to search out everything on your own, but not to replace you as the brains behind the operation of YOUR home school.

I would love your feedback--in the comments, so everyone can see it--on anything on the site. What worked for you? What didn't? What else did you add?

Why not Math and Reading?

Because these are not "group lesson" subjects, because there are excellent Reading and Math curricula available to families already, and because those two subjects are best taught by experts in those fields. See the side bar for links to resources that will help you with these two vital subjects.