Sorry it took me awhile to get back and respond. Easier to type on the computer and my family has been hogging it. lol.
My eldest is 16. Started homeschooling her when she was around 1. Not formal book learning, just "life". I think a lot of people forget that we're teaching our kids every day. We're "home schooling" every day. So when she was little, I brought her to the kitchen and let her help me cook/bake. She did chores next to me, etc.
Now I can send her into the kitchen and she'll make dinner. My mom, a few years back, was surprised to know that my daughter (13 at that time) could make a chicken pot pie from scratch (I'm bragging, I know. Can't help it. lol)
For actual book learning, it took me awhile to get the hang of it. I had a friend who used to be a teacher and her daughter (same age as mine) seemed to have a head start. I floundered for awhile, honestly. Eventually, though, I discovered that I could pick and choose from different curriculums and use what worked for us.
So she did a mixture of Abeka, Christian Light, Easy-Peasy (free, online), etc.
Last year we switched her over to a school that's in our district, so I'm not really homeschooling her anymore. It's all online (with the option to go in, if desired). They are a school that believes learning is more than book work, so they fall in line with how we view "school".
Anyway, they pay for her to go to our local community college. So far she's taken a few terms (and excelled!) in Trig, Statistics, World Lit, History, Writing 101, Greek Math, Physics, and Intro to Engineering. She's currently cut back on her load and is just taking Calculus. The plan, Lord willing, is for her to get a (free) associates by the time she graduates HS.
My 14, 11. and 9 year old also currently switched to this online school this last year but before that, they were using Abeka, Growing with Grammar, BJU Press, etc. Switched over because I was starting to get overwhelmed with organizing everyone. And my 14 year old son was needing more accountability. His kryptonite is writing so if I "assigned" him any kind of writing, it never got done. He's more math-minded and used to calculate how many words it would take to write a sentence one way over another, so he could get away with writing as little as possible. Even now, he tends to write his papers as concisely as possible. He hates adding "fluff".
My 7 and 5 year old are learning to read. 7 year old has been a slower learner than her older siblings. She'd rather just play. We're going through the Explode the Code series and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I used the latter to teach all the older kids to read...works pretty well, especially with a reward system--kids get a $Tree Prize every 10 lessons completed, a "medium" prize of their choice (around $10) when they hit lesson 50 and a BIG prize (around $30-50) AND their own Bible, when they finish the last lesson.
She (7 year old) is also doing 2nd grade Abeka math.
My 5 year old is in Abeka grade 1 math (he seems to be math-minded...common theme, here, as their dad used to teach college math). He's also going through Explode the Code and Teach Your Child to Read.
The 7, 5, and 3 year old also do fun, hands-on "lessons". For example, we recently did a "study" on plants. Drew pictures of the different parts. Pulled weeds and studied the roots. Gathered leaves outside to crumble and smear on paper for "chlorophyll art".
We had fun with dinosaurs, "digging" out bones from pre-made kits. And now we're going over the human body and skeleton. There are a lot of interesting games, activities, and projects on pinterest that make it easy to meld together a quick "curriculum", of sorts.
With the littles (7-3), we're going through a series of books called "Draw and Write Through History". I got each kid a cheap sketchbook from Walmart and we practice drawing and then do some of the above mentioned projects (human body is linked to Adam and Eve's creation, etc). Doesn't take much to throw together something they find fun and it's amazing how much they learn from, like, a 5 minute lesson.
I've always been a fairly...lazy...home schooler. I used to let the kid sleep as long as they wanted, sorta meander over breakfast, and we would get to actual book learning around 11. Now I tend to wake them up a
bit earlier but we still take our time eating, dressing, etc
In the past, we used to do math, english, spelling, and Bible on M/W/F and science/history/Bible on Tues/Th. Otherwise, we never got around to the science and history. Now I'll take one day a week for the science/history/extras.
We miss days, as needed. In fact, we have a tradition that a birthday is a "no school" day. If we're sick, we can easily miss a week of sit-down lessons. But, I've noticed those breaks haven't negatively impacted their learning (though long breaks sometimes makes them crabby about getting their nose back to the grindstone). In fact, the brain-breaks seem to give them a chance to process what they've been learning and grow.
Anywho, we usually start these days around 9 or 10 and often finish by 1-ish. If a child is being particularly stubborn about a project or worksheet, it can take longer. There have been times they still have work looming over them when dad gets home, so he gets to help them because by then, I'm DONE.
At the end of this year we'll evaluate if the 14-9 year old will continue the online thing. I like the accountability they have (and that it's free--homeschooling can easily cost us $1500+/year) but the school tries to keep the kids moving, so they're kinda speeding through some things that they'd like to take more time on. Or that they NEED more time to process, but can't, because they gotta get to the next "thing".
There are also things they assign that frustrate me and just seem unnecessary (a 600 word paper on nuclear reactors, for example...if my kid was interested in nuclear reactors that wouldn't be a big deal but when they're not? Ug. I hate forcing them through Every. Single. Step.).
My 11 year old has already asked to "go back to work books, like I used to"...I might take him out and switch back to regular homeschooling. Still praying about it.
Hmmm. I think that's the end of my mini-novel.
Any other questions, feel free to ask.
Long story short, home schooling changes over the years as kids grow. Needs change. Curriculum changes. Just like real life, you gotta constantly roll with it. Some days are great and the kids are fun to teach. Other days they're little monsters and you want to pull your hair out and scream. But it's totally worth it!
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