What is Freeschooling
I’m so glad you asked. Freeschooling is a term I utilize to discuss a method of providing your children with a quality education, at home , for a low cost. I try to provide resources that you may utilize for free whenever possible.
“I thought Freeschooling was an Unschooling term?”
Excellent point! Some people do use the term Freeschooling as a stand in for the Unschooling movement. This is not how I will be using that term however.
“Why are you qualified to talk about Homeschooling in general, and Freeschooling specifically?”
I am currently in my eleventh year of homeschooling. Like most homeschooling families, we are a one income household. This takes some careful money management on our part. When we started out, we had to watch every penny closely. This, in turn , proved to be a valuable exercise in seeking out quality materials for low cost. Educational excellence is important to me. I never wanted to sacrifice the quality of my children’s education in order to homeschool inexpensively. However, there were many textbooks, curriculums, and other educational materials that were simply beyond our reach economically speaking.
Let my years research and trial and error, be to your benefit! Let’s talk about Freeschooling!
Freeschooling the Charlotte Mason Way
I love the Charlotte Mason educational system / philosophy. In general, Ambleside Online has a wealth of knowledge on the CM principles in general, as well as free lesson plans, and links to free books. This is an excellent place to start.
Some other resources I would like to mention are Bible Gateway for your daily Bible lessons. You can read or listen to the audio of many different Bible translations for free.
For History, I would like to suggest “ Our Island Story”, which is available on Librivox.org as a free audiobook. For the free text version, there is a downloadable option on manybooks.net . It’s also available to purchase on the Kindle store for the reasonable price of $6.99. And on Amazon Prime it’s $12.50 as a paperback.
(I’m not sponsored by or an affiliate of any of these places, I am simply providing you with options.)
Taking this example, there are many free or cheap Charlotte Mason approved history books. Some other books that I recommend are “This Country of Ours”, “Trial and Triumph”.
For Charlotte Mason based American history, the blog “Under the Home” has a free third grade American History study that utilizes Charlotte Mason principles. There are pictures and biography summaries online. This is not exactly a living book, but it meets our Freeschooling category. There are 32 lessons. If this interests you, I encourage you to check it out.
Freeschooling Science / Nature Study
Get outside! Get outside and observe the wonderful creation that surrounds you. Bring your paper and colored pencils. This is free.
Also, I encourage you to utilize whatever field guides that you have available to you. Whether you own a handful, or have access to them through your local library or online. Search our field guides on rocks, birds, animals. These are truly the only “texts” you need. I encourage you to find field guides that are as specific to your local area as possible, as this will provide you with ample opportunities to teach your children about the animals and plants they encounter each day.
Your local conservation website or magazine is a great place to start.
Free -schooling 