I signed up as a homeschooler* for Big History Project and I've been working my way through the teaching lessons and planning. For those not familiar with it, Big History Project is a big picture online curriculum that integrates science, history, reading, writing and critical thinking. It can count as a high school English, Science or World History credit depending on how you set up. There are multiple lesson plans already available for different age ranges and abilities. Best yet, it is FREE! Bill Gates was excited to support this open source curriculum.after watching David Christian's Ted Talk The History of the World in 18 Minutes. *click on sign up as a teacher and in the school name drop-down menu "homeschool" is at the bottom of the list. 

I plan to use it for the full year as a spine and integrate as much as possible into it. I will have an 11 year old (6th grade) and a 12 year old (7th grade). I combine quite a bit, but for some things I need to separate them. I'll be working with them on writing essays, time management and study skills. I plan to enroll them in a charter school next year so I want them to be prepared for testing and timed lessons. 




Here's what all I'll be using in addition to Big History Project. I will be posting my tentative schedule once I've nailed it down a little more. 

Sample Unit 1 Lesson Plan (Google Doc)
It's really a list of the pre-made BHP lesson plan so I can check off as we go along with the schedule, subject breakdown and timeline, along with a list of resources. We tend to go off on rabbit trails and supplement a lot, so I like to have a lot of resources on hand. 

If you want to make it easy on yourself or skip signing up online, there is the DK Big History book that covers every Threshold, every topic that the online component uses in one book. It is written for middle school students. You can use it as a spine for history and science or as is. Of course DK means all of the pages are full of colorful images. It is a huge, heavy book that is available in hardcover only. I would prefer it on the Kindle only because I have two kids and buying two (three if you count me) copies gets bulky and expensive.

For Elementary Students I recommend A Really Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson  

Science 

• Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide - My kids really like this book. I like it because it covers all of the key science principles they will need to know to move onto high school science. 
• Labs from various resources
• MEL Chemistry: I've been saving these up for fun demos.  
• Reading
• Omnivore's Dilemma Young Readers Edition 
• The Way We Work
• StarTalk Young Readers Edition by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Daily Reading Discussions

• What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Munroe, Randall
• The Kids' Book of Questions by Stock Ph.D., Gregory

Philosophy

• The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy: The Search for Socrates
• Great Courses Plus: Science Fiction as Philosophy - selected lectures

• The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott - I happen to love this series specifically for Big History because it brings together characters from mythology and history while working in multiple time periods. It is also a long series that could last the whole year. It's fun to read on the Kindle because we can look up all of the references as we go along. 

Penmanship: Master Writer: Science and Philosopher topics
Math: Lials Basic College Math (11yo) and Lials PreAlgebra (12yo)
Logic: BHP Claims testing, Media Literacy, YouTube playlist
Spelling: MegaWords
Vocabulary: Big History Project has built-in vocabulary. 
Media List: My Media List on Google Docs includes all of the related books, movies, documentaries, lectures, and podcasts I found. The list is too long to list here.

Rethinking School by Susan Wise Bauer

I have a quote in the book as one of the parents. It was a pleasant surprise to get a message from the author saying she's using a post I made in her new book. It was a thought experiment about if you had unlimited funds and resources, what would your homeschool look like? How far outside of the K-12 box would you go?

Here is my response

I would fill the day with fun and interesting lessons in the early years and apprenticeships when they are older. Art classes, dance lessons, music lessons, martial arts, read alouds, writing about what interests them. As they get older and interests start to get more evolved, apprenticeships and mentorships could take over. Developing skills that could be useful in life and jobs.

Think Star Trek, where people could pursue interests simply because they believed it would better society and themselves. Not to check boxes for a degree for a job that doesn't even exist yet.  Chapter 16: Solving for X

Two admissions.
1) my nerd flag was flying high that day.
2) if asked today I might come up with something completely different.
This thought experiment is not one and done. It constantly evolves; especially when thinking about would work best for your very different children.

This isn't quite as outside of the box as I would like to go, but I do believe it would be a way to discover a child's strengths and build on them.

I'll admit I've been a little jealous when I  hear of a child who has a singular interest. A child who has always known what they want to be when they grow up. For the majority of kids (heck even a lot of adults) it is difficult and unfair to try to pin down who or what they will be when they grow up. Trying many different things allows for growth and opens them up for opportunities to succeed and fail. Failure is just as important as success, in fact it's more important because it provides an opportunity to learn and grow from mistakes.

Once I find a strength or interest, I figure out ways to develop it. For example, if I have a kid who is more STEM-oriented, then I would find opportunities that are within their realm of strengths. Reading and writing can all relate back to those strengths and interests. STEM students reading non-fiction all day is nothing to sneeze at. Writing lab reports and papers on sea tortoise migration is a completely valid way to integrate interests and subject matter.

Kids who excel at working with their hands can learn basic carpentry and plumbing or use Snap-On Circuits to learn electrical engineering. A child who can cut and measure wood to make a bench is learning math. Have you watched an episode of Master Chef Junior? I would have never thought a 9-year old could make some of those dishes on their own. It just proves that kids will teach themselves when it's something that is important to them. Your job is to provide the opportunity and a safe environment for that pursuit of interests to happen.

Now it's your turn to ask yourself what your child's education would look like if you had unlimited funds and could go as far outside the K-12 box as you want. Does it look like that now? What little changes could you make so it becomes more like your vision?