Before I dive in, I want to respond to some of the comments that were on facebook when I announced I was going to make a big announcement. For those of you who didn’t see them, I was posting pictures of a book. And for a lot of you, this will be more than you imagined. 🙂
1. I had intended to only announce what I had been working on when I announced I had an announcement. The beginnings are ready, but the rest are in the works. So a warning to those SOOOOO excited about this, you may have to be a little patient for what you want.
2. I’m not going to sell out of books. I am publishing them for free through Amazon.com’s Create Space. You will be buying them from Amazon. They won’t run out. They also get most of the money from the sales and set the base price of the book. Which leads me to…
3. I’m not going to “make a fortune.” I will get a royalty from each book. Some proceeds will go to scholarships. I’m committed to EP being free. If you need these books because you don’t have internet at home or one computer and ten kids and can’t afford the books, there’s a book request form.
4. This isn’t turning into a business. I had no business plan of starting to sell books. This had never been my intention! (story below) This is still a ministry. Please don’t assume I’m making all this money and don’t need donations. Donations cover all my costs and are an encouragement to me.
Okay, ready???
In August I got to spend some extra time in fasting and in focused prayer and Bible study. This is one of the things that came out of that time. The Lord gave me a new direction for EP, and it’s offline. EP online isn’t going anywhere! No one start to sweat! I have five kids using it and another future EP user.
The first part of going offline is creating readers. That’s what you’ve been seeing pictures of on facebook. The readers are the reading curriculum in 100% offline form. Most of the reading curriculum is made up of public domain books. They can be republished. The books contain the 180 days of assignments and right there with each assignment is the reading for that day. (No more “Stop in the middle of page…”)
For vocabulary, where there was a matching game online, I made a matching activity in the book. Where there was a multiple choice game, I put in a multiple choice activity. I put in the directions to write your answers on a separate paper. No need to write on a few pages of huge book. (This brings up that I’ve asked a family that makes a lot of puzzle books through Amazon’s Create Space and who gives EP free access to their test-making website to make a workbook that would have all of those activities in it for those who want to have their kids write directly on the page.)
Later in the book when they do the same thing for review, I tell them they can either do the vocabulary review game online or go to Day ___ to review their words and send them to the matching activity or whatever. They would be using the Review Games page on the site if they did that. This way I keep it offline, but you still can do some of the more fun things online if you choose.
And yes, there are answers. All of the answers to those activities and all of the answers to the reading comprehension questions are in the back of the book listed by day number.
You will find changes to the reading courses in the readers. Sometimes there was a lesson or activity instead of a reading. I decided to replace all of those with offline lessons and activities. There are actually very few lessons, like rhyming and rhythm in poetry or antonyms and synonyms in vocabulary. Those were replaced in the books with similar things; I put in little lessons and activities, so your child’s not missing out on any learning by using the readers.
Some changes in the readers (as opposed to the online reading curriculum) come from the fact that not every reading is from the public domain, and I can’t publish them. New readings were chosen as replacements. I tried to keep things as similar to the online course as I could since you might be pairing this book with the online language arts course of the same level. Please don’t think you are missing anything important by using the books; you can think of it as getting bonus materials. 🙂
The store is mostly things “coming” but the EP First Reader is ready for sale. I will do a separate post on Monday specifically about the EP First Reader.
If you are wanting more offline materials, read on, but first I want to tell you what I don’t think it’s going to involve. I have no intention at this point of doing all the courses completely offline. EP was created as an online curriculum and every day there are online activities that can’t be reproduced. Reading lends itself to book format and I thought it was probably the most time consuming thing done on the computer, so this will ease the computer time for families. [outdated: Also, I could never make a book of all the printables from the courses because I don’t own them. They aren’t mine to sell or even to give away. That’s why I have to point you to their sites instead of just giving you all the worksheets all together for a course. ] (NOTE: We have been making our own printables so that we can make workbooks of all the worksheets in the courses.)
There is another part to going offline that’s not ready, but I’m ready to announce that I’m working on it. I put this info on our new store page as well. Introducing…
The Genesis Curriculum
Coming 2015
This is a 100% offline curriculum covering science, social studies, language arts, Bible and foreign language (with learning Hebrew). All lessons are based off of the book of Genesis.
This is intended to be used as a “one-room schoolhouse” approach with everyone gathering around and learning together with mom (or other homeschool teacher) guiding the completely prepared lesson. This will be accompanied by one workbook for each child that will have all of their work for the year. There’s no daily busywork, but there are grammar, vocabulary, and spelling activities as well as science and social studies assessments that will be completed in their workbook.
Daily lessons include reading a portion of Genesis, practicing a weekly memory verse, doing a dictation for handwriting if desired, writing spelling words from one of the day’s verses, learning a vocabulary word from the day’s Scripture, learning a Hebrew word or practicing verses in Hebrew, covering a science and then social studies topic inspired by the reading from Genesis, a discussion question and finally writing.
[My intention is to make this 180 days; we’ll see. I think there will be additional years of this created. I’m doing these lessons now with kids ages 6-12.] (Note: There are four years of this curriculum, which puts history and science offline.)
Congratulations…. Thank You… and God Bless… Can’t wait to get one for our family and wish you all the best – Way to GOOOOOOOO~~~~!!!
I don’t know if this would help or not, but there are indy, online publishing places, where you can post writings for free, or charge a minimal cost, that goes to you, not some giant business.
One is called Wattpad, another called Bookrix, storybird, litlift, booksie, writing.com, writerscafe.com, smashwords.com, ect.
This sounds exciting!! I just searched on Amazon.com and was unable to find your book. Is there something special I should be searching for? Can you provide a link to your book? I can’t wait to see it, I have a 2 kiddos doing easy peasy this year (our first with EP). We love it! Thank you for sharing your curriculum with us!
With warm regards, Sara
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The link to buy the book is in the post and in the store. It will be about a week before it gets on the main Amazon site.
God bless your calling and ministry. Thank you for answering God’ s message to you for all of us and our children. May God keep and protect you and your family.
I am so grateful that God led our family to EP and thank you for all of the hard work you have put into it. Many continued blessings for all of your future projects and I look forward to using them.
This is exciting news! It would make the reading so much easier for our family.
I’m also looking forward to the Genesis Curriculum. Having a large family, I do many “one-room schoolhouse” lessons.
Is it possible to make an offline getting ready for the preschoolers? I used to do it with my daughter, however our computer is no more. So, I print the stuff off at work (I’m a working mom to) and she does it. We’re just missing out on the games.
This is REALLY exciting for me! I love this curriculum, but there are days where we have to be “out and about” and having a book to take along would be much more convenient. Can’t wait to see what you have to offer! 🙂
First off, your site has been a lifesaver! My children (8,13,17) and I have been using it for well over a year. I’m so happy and thankful that you have more and more things coming out for high schoolers. The Genesis Curriculum sounds really cool (I’d have to modify it, since most of my kids are older) and I wish your site was around 15 years ago when I started homeschooling, it would have made things a lot easier. I do have a quick question… Are all the books going to be 14.99? Hopefully they will be a little cheaper. Unfortunately, we’re some of your poorer users and 15 bucks is a lot of money for my family. Lots of time I’m scraping money together for ink and paper, lol.
Amazon sets the base price for the books based on number of pages. Remember these are BIG books, with several novels inside of it. It’s a bunch of books in one! I can’t say for sure each price because it will depend on size. I am offering scholarships to those who need the books and don’t have the money. If you think you need the First Reader, you can apply. I am asking for shipping money if you can provide that. And, of course it’s free online now.
Lee,
God bless you, your family and your ministry!
Vanessa
Amazing! I use the online but at times I have needed for one reason or another text books. So this will be of great benifit for my family. Thank you for all the support yall have given my family and I in thos first year with EP and homeschooling! My God bless yall and continue to prosper yall in every way possible. For we serve a mighty wonderful God. Thank you again.
Priscy
home school mom in Tx
what grade levels does this book cover?
Which book?
Congratulations! I wonder if you have ever just stopped and imagined the actual number of children you are reaching with your free online curriculum…..or the parents you have blessed because they so wanted to homeschool and had no idea where to begin and no money to do it! God has truly used you as a blessing to so many families! Thank you so much! Prayers for much success on this printed endeavor you have begun. 🙂
I love this! One of the biggest problems I’ve had with easy peasy is my daughter is adhd and trends to go off on tangents to other games and what not if I’m not micromanaging her. I look forward to seeing this.
One thing that other ADHD kids have done is save the games in a folder on their bookmark bar so when they are done with school at the end of the day they can go back to those games.
We didn’t think we could afford to homeschool our daughter but thanks to you we can and are. We pulled out of public and are soaring high. I have to admit that I’ve been looking at the high school page and I’m lost as a goose but right now we are loving it. Thank you do much for your dedication.
If you have any questions about high school there is a facebook group that can help you with everything you may need. https://www.facebook.com/groups/366407976793654/
YAY!!! I am so excited about this! We live out in the boonies and fast internet through Dish network is just too expensive for us. We have free, but very s-l-o-w dialup internet. My kids only get to use EP when they are at their grandmother’s house once a week. This will be such a big help to us! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
You are so very amazing. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart! All you’ve done and continue to do blesses so many lives. God bless you!
I love this for so many reasons! First, I think CreateSpace (the self publishing division of Amazon) is a fantastic tool available to get print into the hands of others. I’ve helped my mother write, edit and publish a vision therapy book through CreateSpace – it’s not a crazy seller, but it helps children who reverse their letters. I love that you’re using the royalties to provide copies to those in need, but just so you know – I have nothing against you using your earnings to support your family or get a birthday present for your children. My husband has agreed that after we get our tax refund, we’re sending a donation as a thank you for the incredible value in EP!
Second, I have friends who simply have more kids than computer. I mentioned this curriculum, and they loved the idea, but one friend has 7 kids and the other 9… and one computer. Having the reading materials in print would help them!
Third, I have yet ANOTHER friend whose child suffers from chronic Lyme disease and her eyes simply cannot handle the strain of looking at a screen. They would have liked to use your curriculum, but her eyes simply can’t take it. Some friends also worry about screen time harming their childrens ability to process paper print – this will be good for them.
Fourth, there are weeks when it seems like all we do is go to doctor appointments, specialist appointments… you get the idea. With the print books, we can bring them along and get the reading portion of the day done while we wait. (We have a standard Kindle, but I’m having trouble getting the Gutenburg texts to download. User error, no doubt.)
Lee, you are doing a great service to all homeschoolers who are financially struggling, disorganized, busy… and the ones who are rich, have it together, and have plenty of time, simply because this is a quality curriculum. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I agree with all of this – a blessing on so many levels!
God bless you & congratulations. We may very we’ll take advantage of this option so that all our kids can get through earlier in the day by not waiting around so much.i
I want one!!! Ur homeschool information is doing wonders. Thank u!
I love your website and the books sound awesome too! Thank you for creating a free homeschool environment that is, well, free! I will make sure my mom knows about these books! Thanks! 😀
You are amazing, thank you for sharing EP 🙂
Amazing job! Thank you for being a big blessing to my family. Prayers to you and yours for expanding EP
So thankful for your calling and gift! EP has revolutionized our 7 year old homeschool! The only thing we did differently is purchase hard copies of the reading books this year. This change will make next year that much more Easy Peasy!
Hi! Just wanted to say Thank You!! It is so awesome to have this free curriculum that you offer!! You have been such a blessing to me and my family!! It’s also great to know that God is continuing to give you more to share!! Thank you for yielding to His will and blessing others in the process!!
is this the first grade level or the gr2 level?
This is basically the Reading 1 course which is the reading and vocabulary lessons from level one, or grade one.
I didn’t think I could afford to homeschool my kids, and I certainly had no idea how to make lesson plans. Thanks to your site, my kids are thriving. I can’t wait to see what’s in store. May God bless you seven times the blessings you give to others.
I LOVE EP!!!….without it, homeschooling 2 sets of twins and working ft wouldve been a disaster. Any changes Im sure will be great and sooo happy for growth. EP is a blessing on top of blessings. Thank you for making homeschooling a delight for people such as I. Thank u, thank u, thank u………..EP ROCKS!
This will be amazing! We can’t wait. Thank you so much!
Lee,
Thank you for the books! With only one computer this makes it easier for my children work offline for the reading part. The time you’ve spent building, organizing, and sharing the curriculum is a wonderful blessing.
Praise The Lord, this is wonderful!! Keep up the good work!! Thank you so much for blessing my family with all your prayer and fasting. I’m a first time homeschooling mom and my kids love the site. We have two homeschooling right now with one computer so having the book would be a great thing as well. God is good and is moving through you. Be blessed!!
I have 3 children and 3 computers, the problem seems to be the internet speed. We do not have the option for high speed, out in the country. So, it would be a blessing to be able to sit down with two of them and teach them together and not have to wait on the page you download a game or a book that is online. God bless you and your family.
How do I go about asking for assistance for a free copy of the book in a real financial bind.
On the allinonehomeschool.com site you can click on the store tab and scroll down to Book Request
Please help i’m looking to find a free placement test to find out where i should start my kids!
I want to be sure they start at the level the need. I don’t want them to miss anything or get behind.
You can find links to our placement guides on our How to Use page.
https://allinonehomeschool.com/how-to-use-this-curriculum/