I made the decision to begin homeschooling a week before the first day of the school year. (Mind you, my husband had decided during the previous school year, but I really like to mull things over when it is a life changing decision.) That left very little time to figure out what, when, and how to do everything. As I began my research online, I was quickly overwhelmed. The vast amount of information out there was daunting. Abeka, Classical Conversations, the Charlotte Mason approach, homeschool groups & co-ops… there was so much information that simply choosing where to start and what to teach felt like one of the most difficult choices I had ever made. A lot of it looked exciting and promising. I narrowed down a couple of methods and a few curriculum brands, and then came the cost realization. I was shocked! I had asked a local church about their group, which used a curriculum I found quite impressive. The price, however, threw me for a loop. I never imagined the cost of homeschooling my children could be comparative to college tuition. That is exactly the opportunity cost that came to my mind when I heard it. There had to be a better way.
As I weighed this over in my mind, I reflected on a time long, long ago when all children were educated in their own home for the most part. Why was I allowing doubt to steal my peace? I was after all college educated. Surely I was capable of teaching my own child what I had learned in junior high. I just needed to come up with some lesson plans, and I needed to do it quickly. That’s when I found it. A complete, free, online, christian homeschool curriculum called Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool. It had 180 lesson plans for preschool through high school for all the core subjects as well as specials and electives. It seemed like everything I needed and all for FREE.
My family has used Easy Peasy Homeschool for three years now, and we love it. The site was updated this last year with a new, easy way to access and track lessons for both the parents and kids; although you can still access everything the same as before, which I like to do on occasion if I want to see another program year or course description. Another thing I like about this curriculum is that you find so many free resources out there, and you can use those to supplement when wanted. You have the freedom to add, subtract, or alter the plans in whatever way you wish to suit your family’s needs and preferences. It is a wonderful foundation.
I personally am a saver, not a spender. I really hate debt, so the last thing I want to do is send my children off to college on student loans. I save money whenever I can so that I can put away money for their college educations as well as for our own retirement. Having this totally free resource has been an enormous blessing in our lives. I am extremely grateful for the ministry this homeschooling mother has provided with her website. For those of you who can afford it, she does accept donations. I’d say it’s a worthy cause for what you get, as she does a wonderful job keeping her site updated and speedily repairing any link issues that arise.
What began as a sort of nerve wracking decision, quickly turned into my new favorite part of each day since – when I come together with my children as we all continue learning and growing in a fun, easy way. Teaching our children doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to be hard. Easy Peasy offers everything you need free of cost and it is truly easy peasy! We’re thriving with it, and you can too!
This school year, we sold our house and started full time RVing. It was a cinch to turn our homeschooling into roadschooling with Easy Peasy. Now in addition to our online lessons, we enjoy actually showing them places and things about which they’ve learned. It’s a fantastic experience. Keep a lookout for us and maybe we’ll see y’all down the road!