Independent Learning

My older two children, ages 9 and 11, have become very independent learners this year.  I currently spend five days every two weeks in the hospital with my 5 year old who has Leukemia. Therefore, I am simply not there everyday for school. Since we wanted to continuing homeschooling I had to find some new ways to teach.

All of the kids, even the five year old, have email accounts. When I'm in the hospital I send the kids emails with lists of things to do. The lists are organized by subject with one or two things to do for each subject.

History - My son is very visual, so I found several youtube videos on Ancient Greece (which is what we are currently studying for history). I email the kids the links and they watch the videos. When I am home we read and do activities connected with the history.

Language - We have Rosetta Stone, so they learn language very independently. In addition, they watch movies and read books in the foreign language they are learning. Sometimes I have them copy sentences from the books in the foreign language.

Math - I usually have my son work in a workbook or play an iPad math app game while I'm gone. When I am here we do one chapter per day in the Life of Fred series. My daughter does Math-U-See and is currently reviewing previous lessons. I have her do the lessons completely on her own.

Reading - They each have a shelf on the bookshelf which contains books I think would be good for them to read. When I am gone (and when I'm here) they select books from the shelf and read for 1/2 hour each day. They like this because they are in control of what they are reading.

Science - I found some wonderful free Human Body science videos. My kids have been watching them while I'm gone. Last year I had them doing the Discover and Do Science video-experiment series. Although I was there, they rarely needed me for science.

Science/Engineering - They have been using the free computer program Scratch to create programs. I have them watch a tutorial movie then open the tool and create something on their own.


Writing - There are several different types of writing assignments my children work on while I'm away.
- Last week I had my daughter start a blog. She likes to write about her sewing projects. If you check it out please leave her a comment. That would provide her so much encouragement.
- They write about topics related to our history studies.
- They write letters to friends.
- All of my kids have email accounts, and frequently exchange emails with family. They also exchange email with each other.
- Sometimes I will ask them to write fictional stories. I usually give time a title such as "The time I built my first roller coaster" and see what they come up with.

Music - They independently practice the piano each day.


Although this was a forced change, it is working well. Ironically, this school year is going better than any before.