So, how is that I'm comfortable? How do I know that my kids are learning in our very relaxed environment?

Well, it takes time. I cannot evaluate each day, nor even each week. I've found that it takes about a month for information that went in to come back out. I would imagine that during that time, the child is digesting the information, comparing it to other information previously gathered, and testing that information against various theories.

About one month after reading a book on spiders, Rachel might see one outside, study it for a few minutes, then come to me and spend 10 minutes telling me everything she knows about spiders. Telling me those things is also known as narration. She will, in fact, often tell me things I didn't know about spiders. If ask where she heard something, she can tell me which book it was in.

It also takes about a month to see advances in language arts learning, particularly reading and spelling. The improvements made on a daily basis are so small that I don't notice them. But if I look back over time, I see vast improvement.

Vocabulary development also takes time. After hearing words used correctly (again and again) children will adopt those words as their own. (So watch out! ;) )

I evaluate math learning less by looking at work books and more by looking at reasoning and estimating skills. For example today, Rebecca said, "I've done two rows of four math problems. That means I've done eight problems." That statement told me more about her mathematical thinking than anything in that workbook.

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but I have times of doubt.

I look at my girls. They are happy. They are comfortable. They are learning.

But it's happening in such a relaxed way that I don't always see it in progress. Sometimes, I only see the results much later.

I read homeschooling books, message boards and yahoo groups and I see all these other homeschool moms that are SO organized and structured. I think I should be.

I could be; I'm very good at organizing. Friends call ME when they need help organizing their homes or finances.

I see these schedules. For instance: My First Grader is doing XYZ for science & history, ABC for math, QRS for language arts, This for music, That for Bible.

We have no schedule. We do have curriculum, but we do not use it in the manner in which it was designed and we do not require any of it be completed. I have yet to feel the need for any language arts program (reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary). No music program. No Bible curriculum.

We do have math workbooks.

So how are they learning? How do I know it's okay? How do I know it's enough?

I'll answer that question next time. :)

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Rachel is exploring new areas of interest. She took a break from gymnastics and is taking both ice skating lessons and a ballet class. I'm hoping that she'll return to gymnastics; she is very skilled, but, of course, it's up to her. I'm planning to enroll her in the summer session, which is a short one. If she really doesn't like it, it's a short commitment. But if she's ready to go back, she'll probably be on the team, starting in fall.

Rachel also developed an interest in participating in a Spelling Bee. I have not yet located one for her to participate in, but I did download a First Grade study list of 313 words. As an unschooler, I still have moments where I wonder if I'm doing the ever-elusive "enough." Much to my relief, she can already spell about 75% of the words on that list. She is studying the rest. Those that she knows, she knows just from reading good (and bad LOL) literature.

Rebecca is just about to finish the first of the Horizons K Math book. Two books cover the whole school year. She is also expressing some interest in learning to read - mostly because she's feels left out when everyone else has their nose in a book. She does not know all the lowercase letters, so it's time to begin working on those. I think I'll just make up cardstock cards with both the uppercase & lowercase on one side and the just lowercase on the other. So, one side would have " Aa " for her to study, and the other side would have just " a " for her to test her knowledge. Then, she can self-tutor.

The girls also have their own gardens to plant this spring. We are continuing with a shared annual flower bed in one corner of the front yard. But each girl also has her own long narrow (so they can reach without stepping in) garden near the family garden. They want to plant flowers and some carrots to feed to our neighbor's horses. Mean-old-mom never lets them take our organic carrots for the horses. LOL.

Randy is working on plans to build a tree house out back for them. It would be in the trees just behind the garden and would give the girls another place to play when I am gardening.

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So with this extremely relaxed method of educating my children, how do I hold myself accountable?

I sat down, reviewed my goals for the children, and made myself a mental checklist. Each day, I want the children to:

1. do gross motor work (physical activity)

2. do fine motor work (handwriting or embroidery or beads)

3. be read to

4. look at/read books independently

5. do some sort of consumer or household math

6. do some sort of critical thinking or strategizing (not necessarily daily)

7. do something creative (usually involving crayons, markers, tape, staples, paper and glue)

8. listen to music

9. cover some form of science (playing with bugs counts)

10. cover some form of social studies

Of course, many of these overlap. Applying this checklist to the sample day posted as "So what do the children and I do all day?" we find that all the areas were covered.  They often dance to music (physical activity), and making their magazines required writing and drawing (fine motor work) and was also a creative endeavor. The math game required strategizing. Plus, Rachel and I did a lot of math at the fabric store. And even more over dinner table when we talked about her entrepreneurial project. Dh had her use felt to sew a case for his safety glasses - at one end it flips over to close the case. She is now making 6 or 8 that he is selling to his co-workers for $2 each (for 12c worth of felt each). We talked a lot about business record-keeping, advertising (business name and product name), the concept of 'added value,' and giving back to the community from your profits.

Plus science and social studies/history come up. Our Spiritual beliefs also come up regularly, and we have a great story bible that they love for me to read, plus easier bibles to look at/read independently. To me that's adequate education for this stage of life.

More recently, I picked back up with Sonlight Core K and Science K. We are NOT following the IG (instructor's guide). I made a single sheet listing every book. For those in which only certain pages are read, I listed those page numbers. When it's time to read to the girls, I strategically choose from what we 'still need to do.' I've also left space to add in the titles of all the other books we read or listen to on tape/CD.

Finally, I've added back in a requirement to complete one math lesson each day. I did NOT make this requirement because I think they need more math. I made this a requirement because I found that they need a bit more structure in their day. As a matter of fact, we do some pretty complicated (for their ages) math verbally as things come up. Rachel has mastered money and nearly mastered time. Rebecca is working on money, and can add, subtract and multiply (with manipulatives). The children also get some great math concepts from watching Cyberchase (on PBS). To my amazement, they not only understand it, but retain it and apply it.

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