Intellego Unit Studies - Product Review

Unit studies and downloadable curriculum are all over the place these days, but Intellego Unit Studies are not designed like any other product I have seen around the webisphere! Created by a home educator for home educators these PDF formatted units contain interactive internet links for ease of access. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel this publisher has used what is readily available on-line to create customizable, easily adaptable, engaging guides that have something for every type of learner. Other unit guides that I have seen simply have text that is read to or by the child with some worksheets here and there, but these guides include a plethora of internet links that lead the learner to text, video, games, projects and worksheets. The links that are kept up to date using Intellego's database to ensure that the links are current and working.


Each unit has a standard layout which includes clearly outlined objectives, KWL charts, material lists, content specific info and extension activities. Before you begin you are presented with a clearly outlined list of what your child will be learning about during this unit. This can be a great tool to take to the library with you if you would like supplement with living books or plan field trips. The KWL charts are great tools to help organize and focus learning, before starting each unit the child lists the things they already KNOW about a topic, then move on to what they WANT to know and at the end of the unit they recap the things that they have LEARNED. The units include materials lists in two areas, a master list at the beginning of the unit and then a specific list for each chapter and lesson, which is a great way to ensure you haven't missed anything - nothing is worse than getting an experiment underway only to find out that you don't have everything you need!!! The content specific information in each area is broken down into bite-size sections to clearly cover all areas of a topic with an array of multi-media resources.  The key to any great unit study program is the ability to create continuity in cross-curricular skills and Intellego has done so by including extension activities that help solidify the information the learner has gained by showing how it can be used in the real world.


Of course no product is going to be a perfect fit for every family and there were a few drawbacks to this one, which included some dialogue being presented to the teacher and the inconsistency in the resources. For me having the units written to the teacher rather than to the student is a bit of an issue as I have a child who is a very independent learner. Of the three that I reviewed both of the ones that were for grades 6-8 were written this way KM found it a bit difficult, but not impossible, to follow along and this was more of an issue when she got to an external website that was directed to a teacher rather a student. The Health Unit was written directly to the student, but some of the resources were still written directly to the teacher and expected to be used by a class of students rather than a single learner The variance in resources was also a problem when some of the links had higher expectations of prior knowledge in both the middle grades and high school levels.

Overall I am very impressed with the format of these units. As someone who NEVER used a curriculum the way that is was meant to be used, Intellego has cut down my search time and gather a myriad of sources for me all in one clearly laid out unit. I look forward to using more in the future.







~~~Disclaimer: I was given these materials to review, but was not compensated in any other way for this review. I clearly stated to the publisher prior to downloading items that complimentary receipt did not guarantee a favorable review. 

Spring Session Plans ALL SET!

Got every little piece tidied up this afternoon and it is like a weight has lifted from my shoulders. As I have said a bazillion times before, although I am willing to switch things up it is SOOOOO nice to just have things set and ready to go.

After some discussion DN has decided to stay on an every other week schedule, which means he will be here for only two or three days every two weeks and will complete the majority of his work at home. I had to switch things up a bit so that this could work, but I think that it will go well as long as he stays on top of things. KM's schedule will basically remain the same as it has, but we are tweaking a few things here and there to hers as well.

Literature -
City of Embers - DN

Animal Farm - DN

Math - 

Manga Joku - Both

Science - 

Biology Coloring Workbook - KM

Janice VanCleave's Bio Labs - Both
Usborne Science Encyclopedia - DN

Health & Phys. Ed. - 
Bowling - KM

Tennis - Both

Ice Skating- KM
Basketball - DN

Heads Up: Real News About Drugs and Your Body - Both
Mind Over Matter - Both


Social Sciences – U.S. History & Geography - 
A History of US Books 1-2 - K

Liberty Kids - K

Story of the US DVD -  - K

U.S. History – Basic Not Boring - K

Hip Hop History - U.S. - D

Westward, Ha-Ha!, 1800-1850 (America's Funny But True History) - D

The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds: The Donner Party Expedition (My Name is America) - D

The Revolution - D
Journey North - Both
25 Map Crosswords - Both

Elective - Financial Literacy -
Building Your Future - Financial Literacy Curriculum - Both


Foreign Languages - 
Japanese from Zero!  - K

Spanish Grammar Study Cards- D

Spanish Conversation Demystified - D
Spanish (The 100+ Series) - D

Current Events - 
CNN Student News - Both

Weekly Update - Busy Busy

We had a busy one this week! I picked CJ and DN up on Sunday and we went full throttle from the get go! KM and I had started prepping her room for the big remodel to start on Monday and CJ took some time to prep the walls. He got both coats on the green walls completed and KM is super excited to get the purple walls done in a few weeks. Since CJ is only home two days each week he has to work in stages on this project and will be taking a week off in between so that we can do something else.

While CJ was painting on Monday KM, DN and I got down to work getting lessons done. For part of our history unit on colonial days we made bread and butter - both from scratch - and I didn't even let the kids use the KitchenAid - KM thought this was a bit drastic and DN was shocked that it took us nearly 5 hours to get a loaf of bread. KM brought up the fact that if we had been making it back then it would have taken even longer because the wheat would have had to been ground, the milk gathered and separated from the cows, etc. So even though we were doing it the "old fashioned" way we were still taking advantage of modern conveniences to do so - GREAT POINT!!! We finished prepping and getting ready for the Journey North Mystery Class which will begin next Monday and played Shopping Spree from the What's Your Angle Scholastic Math Games Resource. We also finished up a game of Trivial Pursuit Junior from the night before.

Tuesday the kids got some lessons done in the morning and then we headed to ice skating before we had to bring CJ back to work. I was really glad that we all had a chance to get back on the ice, especially with CJ with us. When we got back KM had just enough time to finish up her poetry for her skype class on Wed, before we had to get her to her friends for youth group. DN and I replaced a blown taillight on my car and had had a follow up conversation in regards to his interest in the armed forces, as he had not read either of the books that he had chosen from the library while he was at home. He disclosed that he feels as though the only reason he had any interest in the military was to impress his brothers and that it really isn't something he is interested in, so we are back at square one with no interest in anything. Not really sure where to go with this beyond keeping up with the core subjects to see if something inspires or intrigues him.

DN worked on some Manga High challenges, while KM finished some history Wednesday morning before her Poetry class and then we headed off to host a teen bowling event. The kids had a great time bowling and though it was a smaller group - 9 kids - it was totally worth it for me to set it up! After dinner I brought DN to swap back and ran some errands while KM finished up her lessons for the day.

KM and I went to see Joyful Noise Thursday. KM really enjoyed it and I was surprised at well it was done. There were a few bits that I just didn't get, but all and all it was worth the matinee. When we came home KM enjoyed her new walls while finishing up some biology.
Friday is going to be a nice quiet down day, exactly what I need to end this whirlwind of a week.

The Well-Educated Mind ~ A Road Map to Learning Enlightenment – Offical UM Review

The Well-Educated Mind ~ A Road Map to Learning Enlightenment – Offical UM Review
Here is my official review of The Well-Educated Mind as posted on the Unplugged Mom site - ENJOY!

For years we have used and loved The Story of the World series andThe Well-Trained Mind was one of the first books on classical education that I read, but it was Laurette's interview with Susan Wise Bauer that led me to my library to reserve a copy of The Well-Educated Mind and I am so very glad that I did.

I have always felt that reading is the key to being educated and loving to learn. I have found that often those who feel they "can't read" or "don't like to read" see themselves as stupid and inferior to others. This is not a new phenomenon and in the first chapter Wise Bauer shares historical points of view that agree with this assumption as well as some interesting points as to how self-educated people through history built their educations by reading.

"Reading alone allows us to reach out beyond the restrictions of time and space, to take part in what Mortimer Adler has called "The Great Conversation" of ideas that began in ancient times and has continued unbroken to the present." p. 16

Within the initial chapter Wise Bauer also goes over a brief outline of the trivium using a fabulous quote from Francis Bacon; "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." to give a great outline to the levels of the classical three part process - "First, taste: Gain basic knowledge of your subject. Second, swallow: Take the knowledge into your own understanding by evaluating it. Is it valid? Is it true? Why? Third, digest: Fold the subject into your own understanding.  Let it change the way you think --- or reject it as unworthy. Taste, swallow, digest: find out the facts, evaluate them, form your own opinion." I have been reading, watching and listening to a great deal about the trivium lately and I have to say that this description is the one that has sealed the deal for me, as it has solidified the ideas of the stages for me and the importance of each step in the process of learning. Wise Bauer also shares some great insight into how our modern society reflects historical periods in a manner that reminds me of ebbs and flows of educational interests.

In Chapter 2 the theme moves on to the skill of reading, as Wise Bauer distinguishes between the gathering of data and the act of reading - "When you gather data, you become informed. When youread,  you develop wisdom - or, in Mortimer Adler's words, "become enlightened."p. 24 She then continues on to explain how different outlets of media allow us to gather data in different ways for different purposes and though this is ideal in some situations, it is detrimental to others. Wise Bauer also presents some great tools to determine if the reader should work on some remedial skills - reading fluency, speed and vocabulary - before moving on to the great works she has outlined in the book. These are the skills that make people feel inferior and intimidated by reading. Her examples and methods for this are clearly laid out and she suggestes resources that could help as well.

After reading this chapter, the multitude of aha moments rang through my head for the remainder of the day. This is what I have been trying to get across to my daughter for years. This is what they are forgetting in many schools. The mass information being pumped in by edutainment resources are not allowing children to make connections on their own or form their own opinions due to the overwhelming amount of details that are shoveled in through multiple senses. When you read a story you put the pieces together using prior information in your brain, you create the visuals in your mind and it is developed slowly with your own understanding as the base. When you watch a newscast, sit through a multimedia presentation or watch a documentary, you are passively fed the information with the bias of the presenter rather than your own mindset. Even when given both sides or an unbiased opinion, it is still not your own visions created within your head, it is those that are chosen by someone else. This makes it harder for your brain to categorize the new input and therefore it will often be lost as quickly as it came in.

As I read through Chapter 3 I had a very difficult time following because Wise Bauer was describing the very actions I was doing - note taking, summarizing and quoting as I went along. It is a rather bizarre thing to be reading directions for something that I have always just naturally done - imagine picking up a book that describes how to walk, explaining each muscle movement in detail. I realize that not everyone does this sort of journaling, but was glad to see that she pointed out the transition of society through the years to have taken something that was traditionally an external note taking to the current intrinsic usage - "Present-day use of the word journal tends to imply that you're creating a subjective, intensively inward-focused collection of thoughts and musings...But the journal of self-education has a more outward focus."p. 35 This should be the self-educated persons production of rhetoric, she states - "the journal is the place where the reader takes external information and records it (through the use of quotes, as in the commonplace book); appropriates it through a summary, written in the reader's own words; and then evaluates it through reflection and personal thought." p. 36 Wise Bauer then goes on to give a description of how to effectively take notes and suggests using the next chapter to try it out.

Chapter 4 is more than adequately titled - "Starting to Read: Final Preparations" as this is where Wise Bauer covers the general principles for reading, analyzing and evaluating literature - both fiction and non-fiction. She covers this with great tips and suggestions such as not to choose "scholarly editions, packed with critical footnotes that stop you dead every time you hit a little super script number."p.42, while giving explicit instruction on how to tackle each stage. The grammar steps she describes hold true for all genre and level, but she gives a brief description of the general steps for logic in this area as she covers them indepth for the specific categories in Part 2 of the book. For the rhetoric stage she recommends that you find a partner to tackle the great works with as this will help with accountability as well as fully engaging in the art of rhetoric which she aptly describes as "clear, persuasive communication, and persuasion always involves two people." p.46

In Part II of the book each chapter covers a genre giving history or insight about the area and then a path to understanding each including pointers, tips and questions specific to that area. Lists of titles include suggested versions and brief description, along with explanations as to why Wise Bauer choose the titles. She expresses clearly "The purpose of answering questions isn't to provide the "right answer" as you would in a fill-in-the-blank test. You answer them as part of your effort to think about books." p. 48 She also clearly states the emphasis on chronological is an important key to understanding the great works - "Writers build on the work of those who have gone before them, and chronological reading provides you with a continous story." p.50

Susan Wise Bauer has managed to create a relaxed conversation between writer and reader that is informative in a way that I have not found in other self-education books. She reiterates time and time again that if you have confidence in yourself and are steadfast in your ambitions you can become classical educated regardless of your previous schooling, education, or interest in learning. Throughout each chapter she slips in more explanations of the trivium stages in a way that is seamless and easily comprehended, even for those who have no experience with the concepts. This book would be a great addition to anyone's library and would be my top pick for teens, young adults and really anyone who feels they need to take charge of their education.

What I am Reading - November - GCKMom

Be sure to check out - The Core – The Perfect Name For This Incredible Book – Official Review

A new MUST read for EVERYONE!!!

Changing things up ---

We are a few weeks into our fall session, so it is that time to change things up.

KM is having some issues with Biology Demystified - she likes the program but feels she doesn't have a strong enough base to follow the higher level text, so we are stepping back and regrouping. She really likes the Virtual Web Labs and The Biology Coloring Book so I think we will stick with just those for now and see what happens. The Life Science (100+ Series) was also a flop, she didn't like the lack of instruction and the repetitive nature of the diagrams.

We also decided to stop using English Grammar 101 online. She found that she was not retaining the information. When it came to each individual lesson she was doing really well - mostly 20/20 and at the least 16/20 - but when she got to the review she couldn't get better than 28/40. This was more than a bit concerning to me.

All of these issues are leading me to question my negative feelings toward rote memorization. I have always been so against it, but it seems her retention of the information in the manner we have been going is far from adequate - in the more complex areas. I am wondering if I have been expecting too little of her. I have also been reading The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education - and will be reviewing soon - which really focuses on rote memorization skills to give a base of knowledge to draw from. If this book continues to make as much sense throughout as it has in the first few chapters, I will be changing things up even more. Be sure to check back for that full review in a few weeks!

You Tube Monday - Project Based Learning: Explained.

Fall Session Began

We started our fall session this week and things have been smoothly sailing along. KM really seems to like the choices that we made this time around and she is feeling confident that she is doing just the right amount. In another attempt to build some time management responsibilities, I have tweaked her assignments a bit for Biology and U.S. History so that she is given the assignment a week before it is due. She can either complete parts of it over the course of the week or she can do it all on the day it is due, that is up to her. I have struggled with feeling like a nag in the past when she has assignments are that are due and she doesn't touch them, but I am trying really hard to let this go and not mention it to her. So far I have only had one slip up, this afternoon, when she asked if she was done with everything and I simply said "if you aren't going to work on your other assignments, then yup that is all." This wasn't so bad, but I really want to just let it go. There is no need for me to say anything, it won't effect me if she doesn't get it done on time. She will have the natural consequences of having to do it all that day - simple as that.

Wish us luck on my control issues and her procrastination issues!!!

4th Annual NOT Back to school Day

I tried and tried again to plan a Not Back to School Celebration for our local home ed community, but the weather would just not cooperate! So KM and I decided to go back to our roots and do what we usually do for NOT back to school - breakfast, library and whatever we please!

After the third round of buses rolled by the house this morning, I decided to wake up K, so we could head out to breakfast with CJ. While we waited for our food we played hockey with the twisted straw wrappers and the plastic ad holder.

 Then we headed to the library and and came out with a bagful of books!

 KM spent some time chatting and playing on line with some friends and then

 we decided to bust out the hair dye!!!

While it processed we watched Cyberbully - a MUST see for all teens and parents - on the new monitor! 

It is rather difficult to get the colors to show while it is still damp, I will have to try for a better shot. There are two shades of green - a torquois and a GREEN and purple which is more easily seen! 

What did you do on your NOT back to school day?

Summer/Fall Book Break

We will be on our 3 week book break from now til the last week in September. In case you are new here, our 10 week on 2-3 week off schedule allows us breaks at key times in the year - like our birthday month - when we don't have any lesson plans or book work, so that we can take full advantage of the season! We take one now because the schools are back in session and our birthdays are this month, one in Dec to get through the Holidays, one in March to get our yard ready and take advantage of field trips etc that start up again when everyone is ready to burst from cabin fever, and then one in June to be able to enjoy our local museums, libraries etc. before school kids are back out for the summer. Generally we have activities and projects planned, but KM just wants to do NOTHING and it will be interesting to see how long that lasts. It might be quiet here for a bit, but on the other hand this nothing time, might give me some time to write, so it might not!

Trying some new things

We generally begin our "learning year" over the summer and I tweak and twist things around until I get it just right. This summer I found two things that needed a bit of adjusting.

The first was our posters - they were taking up far too much wall space and making my living room look like a "classroom" I love them because they are great quick reference tools if they are out and visible, but really i don't like the feel it gives my living room! So I finally thought of a solution - we have a stairwell that goes down into the garage that had three very large, vary blank walls -

 This is the perfect solution because really I would not be able to put the 6 foot C-SPAN presidential poster anywhere else, the posters are easily accessible AND I DON'T have to look at them 

We downgraded our cable to bare minimum as we discovered that we can stream 90% of what we watch and save over $120 a month! Since we stream a lot of our ed things I decided to take a monitor that we no longer use - since we all have laptops - and make it much more useful - 

Are you trying anything new out this time of year? I would love to hear about it. 

What I am Reading - August - GCKMom

I have been laughing HYSTERICALLY through the funniest home ed books I have ever read!

"Okay Kids, Time for Bedlam!" is a labor of love. It is the lighter side of life, told byDebbie Harbeson, an average mom who rather unknowingly lobbed herself into the often loopy world of homeschooling.This is what happens to you, when you purposely allow your children to skip school to learn at home... and it's a riot! The whole endeavor, needless to say, has been a learning experience for everyone. And hopefully, a story you all can enjoy from the safety of your own home.

Some of my favorite quotes include :

• "We all watched as a couple of eyeballs rolled past her feet and settled under the porch bench."
• "Yesterday four textbooks made a perfect support for our bike ramps."
• "Melissa sat the cheetah on the cabinet, he dialed the number and the cheetah's belly began to ring."
• The ENTIRE content of Chapter Fifteen - Mother Nature!!!

These are all the things home ed mom's don't want you to find out really go on! Best part Debbie Harbeson has made the entire content of the book downloadable and FREE!!! Take a peek you won't regret it! 

You Tube Monday - Tim Hawkins - Homeschool Comedy & Homeschool Blues Song

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing some of my favorite xtra normal and you tube videos on "homeschooling". This guy is really funny! One more to go next week!

Step away from the curriculum – an alternative view to what curriculum choices can mean

Step away from the curriculum – an alternative view to what curriculum choices can mean

What I am Reading - June - GCK Mom

I am rereading this one - helps get me inspired for new ideas for next year! 

What I am Reading - May - GCK Mom

This is a new thing I was thinking of doing. Each month we will take the time to share the book we are reading at that time. Sometimes there might be a review, others it will just be what we are reading right then! 

 I downloaded this to my kindle and have been delving into it whenever I get a chance. So far it is very well written and I am thoroughly enjoying it! If you have kids who are being home educated or even if your kids are still in school this is a great insight and understanding of teenagers!

Looking Ahead to High School - Part 4

If you missed 1, 2, or 3 be sure to check them out!


For History next year we are going with a series by one of our favorite storytellers, Joy Hakim! We completely enjoyed the Story of Science and after all the rave reviews for A History of US we are really looking forward to it. After much discussion we have decided to take two years to do US History, so we are hoping to get through books 1-4 next year and 5-10 the following year. 


In addition to reading these as a spine she will be supplementing with the following resources - 

• America the Story of the US History Channel Series
• U.S. History: Inventive Exercises to Sharpen Skills and Raise Achievement
• U.S. Government, Economics, and Citizenship : Inventive Exercises to Sharpen Skills and Raise Achievement 
• Freedom a Story of US PBS free resources
• For the People (Learn American Government) - Standard Deviants DVD Series
• C-Span Free U.S. President's Poster and other C-SPAN classroom resources
• Hip-Hop U.S. History: The New and Innovative Approach to Learning American History (Flocabulary Study Guides)
  

If you know of any additional resources that might of interest - PLEASE let us know!

Additional Commenter Recommendations -

• Lies My Teacher Told Me

Looking Ahead to High School - Part 3

If you missed 1 or 2 be sure to check them out!


So we had no problem deciding on what KM will be using for her core text for Biology next year - Biology Demystified - she is very excited in trying this series out so that she can direct her learning fully on her own with these self-teaching guides. However we are working out the logistics of it being considered "high school" level if we leave out dissection labs. KM wants nothing to do with dissections, either in real life or virtual dissections with computer animated animals. She doesn't want to watch videos on it or anything. I completely understand and respect her position on it, so we are looking into other ways to get the concepts and ideas that dissections are suppose to be getting across. 

Here is a rather interesting essay/article that we read on the whys of dissection.

I am trying to compile a list of alternative resources and some that I found so far are -

• Dissection Alternatives
• Biology Coloring Book
• Teach Kind

If you have any to add please feel free to add them to the list or email! 

Looking ahead to High School - Part 2

If you missed part 1 be sure to check it out HERE.

As I continue to think about and discuss with KM what the upcoming years will look like, the biggest thing that she would like to avoid is redundancy. Her biggest pet peeve is repetition and I can totally understand why she would feel that way. If you have already learned something - truly learned it - why on earth would you want to keep going over it again and again and again. I know that there are times when you might forget something and need a refresher to get your brain on track again, but if you actually know it then you don't need to relearn it, you just need to brush up on it.

With this in mind I have been looking at a lot of areas in which things might be repeated and one of the most common areas is language arts, grammar to be specific. Now I have mentioned about a bazillion times in past posts that writing is really a difficult area for us, but when it comes to grammar KM has things down pat. She knows parts of speech, can diagram sentences, knows all the mechanics, and can easily edit other people's work - this really blows my mind since she struggles so much getting her own words down, but hey whatever. So I am thinking that since I have a few more books from the Straight Forward Advanced English Series - that I have stockpiled from Paperbackswap! -  that I will have her take the assessment test, if she passes them with an 85% or higher then I am going to give her credit for completing them, just like you would get on college level entrance tests. If she scores below that we will focus on the areas that she had trouble with and she can retest. This seems like the most logical time efficient course of action.

We actually took this route with Geography for next session. I had planned on having her do a Geography workbook over the summer to brush up on it since we haven't been getting into the map skills as much with Volume 3 & 4 of Story of the World as we had with the earlier volumes. I had gotten The Basic Not Boring World Geography - also through Paperbackswap - and when KM took a look through she said quite confidently "I know this stuff" and I replied "OK, show me." She took the final test at the back of the book and scored a 98%. The only thing that she stumbled on was some landform identifications, but really what is the difference between a bay and a gulf? or a strait and a channel? This showed me that there was no need for her to work through another book, when she knows the information.

I think testing out is going to cut down on a large portion of her academics and will allow her to explore more delight driven areas. Only time will tell how this will work out, but I have high hopes!

Looking ahead to High School - Part 1

KM is finishing up the tail end of her 8th grade year and I have been thinking a lot about "high school" lately. So many families are putting such a huge emphasis on buckling down and hitting the books through these years, but I am just feeling that is not the route we want to take.

For those of you who know me, I am a researcher. Put a topic on the horizon and I am going to find out everything there is to know about it. I am going to dissect it and view it from every angle. That is just me and the high school topic is no different. I have spent hours upon hours listening to podcasts and webinars and reading book after book about how to homeschool through high school, but as with everything else in our life there is nothing that feels as though it is just going to FIT for us. I don't want to do "school" just because my daughter is at the age she would be entering "high school."

I want the upcoming years to be filled with the same type of delight driven learning and fun activities that they have been. I want to keep her engaged and interested in the topics that we cover and not just cover things because "that is what you do in high school." I want her to still have time to spend with friends, go to the movies, play piano, draw, play video games, and whatever else she wants to do and still learn in a way that she finds intriguing.

I have heard over and over again about all the things that kids NEED to get into a good college, well I am not 100% sure that she wants to go to college. I am not willing to force her into a box set of guidelines in hopes that she will get to where she needs to be, when she can just be now and we can work on a way to get her into college if that is what she wants to do when the time comes.

Another thing that we have been thinking about when it comes to high school and college is her age. When KM started kindergarten we lived in a district that had a cut-off date of Sept. 30th, but our current district's cut-off is Aug 31st, so according to our district she is ahead a year - in all actuality she is all over the place on several different levels, but I don't need to go into that right now. Anyway, when looking at it this way and taking her personality into account we have seriously been thinking about stretching her high school out over 5 years rather than 4. This would allow her to be an older 18 rather than a much younger 17 if she decides to attend college at that age. It would also allow a much more relaxed timeline and more time for her to discover and work on her own passions or to get a job if she wants without the added pressure of heavy academics.

When I mention to people I am thinking of going this route I am often confronted with some rather odd looks and astonished remarks of "what do you mean IF she goes to college?" So many other families with middle schoolers are buckling down and hitting the books as if that is the only option in life. There are so many career paths that do not begin with college, but begin with learning what you are interested in, what you are passionate about, what brings you happiness. I know far too many twenty-something graduates who are doing NOTHING that has to with what they went to school for. They are so far in debt and have no direction in their life because they were hustled through the system and led down the path without having any idea what THEY actually WANTED. They were just told go to college, get a degree and all will be well, but that is not quite so in our world today. More and more companies would rather employees have life experience than college degrees.

I also know many thirty-something career driven people who HATE their jobs. They have degrees and work in the fields that they went to college for, but they hate it! They go to work because they have become accustom to the life that their path has allowed them to have, but they are miserable. I would really like KM to be happy in whatever it is that she chooses to do. I would much rather that she learn about a wide variety of things as they come up in hopes that something will spark an interest enough that she may want to find a career in it, but I would also like her to know enough about other things that if she finds that she isn't happy in the choice that she made that she can switch things up and try something else.

Maybe I am being naive or too wishful, but I really think this is the route we are going to take - five years of relaxed delight directed academics.

I would love to hear others comments or thought on this, so please feel free to share.