I’ve been cringing reading one mom’s posts on my Facebook news feed. Last week the mom and her son spent two hours together completing a grammar worksheet that he then got a 79 on. Her son is in second grade. This week she didn’t even know the meaning of several of the words she was supposed to read to him to practice for his spelling test. Why would one need to know how to spell “argosy” if one is never, ever going to write that word?
I’m sure her son is getting a rigorous education. I hear about rigorous education all the time. I think it must be a buzzword of the moment because everyone is claiming their school, their curriculum, their standards are rigorous. I’d rather have peace and joy in my home than rigor.
I get a lot of questions from people coming out of the school system about where the spelling test are. EP has none. The kids learn the phonics behind spelling, practice some spelling, but mostly they write. That is, of course, the context where spelling is used. But spelling brings me to another point. If your child is really interested in spelling, then by all means give your child a dictionary and quiz her on the spelling of argosy. But if not, why drill and practice things that will be forgotten tomorrow and were never needed in the first place?
That’s all part of the philosophy behind EP. Give them a strong foundation where it matters. Expose them to a variety of subjects. Let them do more where their interests lie.
My one son reads history books for fun. I don’t have to push it on him. I don’t make him memorize. He learns the names and places and dates because it’s interesting to him. That kind of learning sticks. In the subjects he doesn’t care about, I let it be “enough.”
Now a word of caution here. When your kid is excited about chemistry (and who doesn’t like explosions and slime), don’t go crazy and run out and buy a science kit. If your child really cares, they will make it happen on their own, including bugging you until you do get that kit. You don’t have to chase after a child’s whims trying to ignite a passion. When they find what they really like to do, they will just do it. Give your child the gift of time, space, and boredom.
I wrote a companion piece to this on the high school site, called “The Key.” I talk about trading “rigor” for passion and how that has played out for my children so far. And the key? It’s not Easy Peasy. It’s the grace of God. Let Him form your kids into who they were created to be.
Thank you so much!!! This came right on time!!
I’m a sixth grader who adores Easy Peasy. I have a blog called moviepitstop so please take a look at it. Thank you for all the hard work you put into homeschool curriculum.😁
Awesome! Absolutely wholeheartedly agree. We started this curriculum bc my child was in 1st grade in private school that went pretty quickly at Just turning 5 and bored to death. She tested out all 1st grade material and started 2nd grade in January with EP and 3rd grade math since she loves Math and is greatly ahead bc she chooses to be. We love it. Of course she gets the lazy bones day where she doesn’t want to and sometimes we just go to the park and spend a day learning and noticing life around us instead. I’m grateful to God and this program. As a disabled mom to a brilliant child it makes my days easier while still challenging her. God bless and stay great
AMEN…AMEN…AMEN, Lee…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not another word needed – thank you, and God bless…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This very useful information. Thank for share and reminding us put our child’s passion first. Our children love to learn if they are learning about what they love.
Thank you so much for saying this. I totally agree with everything you said. My son love’s EP
I find the curriculum to be fantastic, my 7th grader is doing SO much better now that she doesn’t have to deal with all the distractions of public school. She works at her own pace thru the day and accomplishes all her studies within approximately 6 hours, plus the assignments I give her aside from the curriculum (book reports, art projects, etc.). Also we are so happy to have a Christian based curriculum instead of the satanistic common core we encountered in EVERY public school she attended, not to mention enjoying not having to argue with school officials all the time about the social issues they try to cram down the kids throats (gay marriage and gender identity…..UGGG!!). So I would like to take this opportunity to thank you so very much for making available to us all this wonderful alternative to public school. God bless.
You are dead on about the spelling: “Why drill and practice things that will be forgotten tomorrow and were never needed in the first place?
My middle son is in 1st grade and has had so many spelling words this school year (both of my kids are still in the school system, but I truly want to homeschool and have wanted to do so since my oldest began Kindergarten. He will be in 5th grade this next school year).
Back to the spelling: Spelling does not come quick to him, nor does reading. He gets frustrated and constantly says he “doesn’t know.” He hates to try.
Personally, I feel that much of today’s curriculums are ass backwards. I hate common core (what I’ve experienced as a parent doing core homework w/ my kids).
My hubby was homeschooled and I think it may be why he wants our kids in school … well, that and he also wants the boys (we have 3) exposed to sports.
Pray for me. I really want to homeschool my kids because I am so not a fan of the system. <3
Hi, Jennifer. Does your community have city leagues, or are there travel teams close by? These can be great options for kids to be involved in sports. Does your state have a “Tim Tebow” law? We are home schooling our children, and chose not to put them in public school for sports, even though our 2nd oldest is great at sports. He narrowed his passion down to basketball, and for 2 years did not play any sports, because there was not a team available after 6th grade through the city league. God opened the door for him to play on a travel team that practiced close enough to our home to make it work for us. That was in 8th grade. That spring, our state passed a “Tim Tebow” law allowing home schoolers to try out and participate in public school activities. He made the 9th grade team that fall, and has been his school team’s top scorer ever since. He was the captain of his public school basketball team this year, and will graduate home school in May. I tell you all this to say, God can open the doors for whatever is important for your children to be involved in. 🙂
It’s awesome that you took the time to encourage another mom you didn’t even know! Thank you for using your experience with God to bring others to Him and trust Him. A lot of people would’ve passed up the opportunity, thinking “someone else can tell her”, or “oh well, that’s HER lot.”
I am praying for you and your husband to be one in the decision to educate your children. It’s so hard when you both want different things. I’m praying that God will use this time to bring you both closer to Him and that there will be great peace between the two of you. Thank you for sharing your heart on school. I know that I take homeschooling for granted since that struggle for us was a long time ago, but you’ve reminded me to go and thank God and my husband for allowing me to teach our kids at home.
Thanks Lee! Anyone else go and look up argosy? 😳 Oh well, have a great weekend!
I did. 🙂
Hi i am very happy with what i see on EP, i am starting my son next month on your grade 1 program. I would just likebto know , when a grade is completed, do they get a certificate to show they have completed a grade.
We have no way of knowing what any particular child has done. You can use online templates to create a certificate if you choose.
amen to all of you
Thank you so much! Kathleen
Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7.
Such a needed thing to read today! Thanks so much.
Hi Lee! I want to say Thank you so much for putting EP together, it has totally been a blessing for our family! I just wanted to let you know that my now, 13 year old, autistic, multiple learning disabilities, mild cerebral palsy, in just 2 short years, has excelled from kindergarten/first grade level to now 4th grade level using EASY PEASY! Our 9 year old is also 4th grade level and our now 7 year old is learning to read! You have done an awesome job with this program, so much that I have become an administrator for the SC chat group! Thank you so much! Blessings!
Faye Yarbrough
South Carolina
Thanks for helping out other EP families by helping with that group.
Thanks Lee! We love Easy Peasy!
Hallelujah!
I would be trying to get excessive rigor out of our home too, and instead more laughter; peace and joy!
I love this quote :
” If your child really cares, they will make it happen on their own, including bugging you until you do get that kit. You don’t have to chase after a child’s whims trying to flame a passion. When they find what they really like to do, they will just do it. Give your child the gift of time, space, and boredom.”
loved this quote too! because its so true! Where theres a will theres a way for them!
Thank you so much for the inspiration! Public schools are all about memorizing and testing these days. I think the joy of learning is a far more important idea to instill in them. One that they will use for all their lives. Also critical thinking …not something they seem to teach anymore.
I have just gotten started teaching my child at home …I am very grateful for your website! We are so blessed to have found you. Thank you!
You are such a blessing, Lee!! Thank you so very much for everything you do for homeschoolers!! Thank you for your words. I’m sure many needed to hear them!! I know I sure did!!
This was perfect timing. Like the Lord has spoken himself to my heart. “The key is not Easy Peasy, its the Grace of God! Theres not a day I don’t question if we are doing enough, yet there is a peace that comes over me from the Lord that says put your faith in ME, not the curriculum or any curriculum for that matter. What does it matter if I give my children the most “rigorous” curriculum and thy don’t love or want to serve the Lord with all their heart soul mind and strength??!!! I have 7 kiddies, oldest age 9, youngest barely 17 months and our family is still growing :-). I truly believe God directed me to this website/curriculum and it has been such a blessing to our family. Thank you Mrs. Lee for letting Him use you. God Bless
Just like you Kim, I question myself if I’m doing enough, but then a peace from the Lord comes over. Homeschooling my boys (now 14 and 9) did not come from a trend, a supporting group or even my church (I learned we are the only ones, we have a lot of public school teachers at church, my sister is a school principal and we leave in front of an elementary school ). I am actually overseas and English is our second language and people still can’t believe I’m homeschooling them in English! Some say Easy Peasy is too complicated LOL, I am convinced it came from heaven because my husband was skeptical at first and we were broke, let me tell you: God had provided every single item (from pencils and paper to laptops and wifi!!!) Three years ago, when I was praying about it, I met a women at the church parking lot and she told me she was homeschooling but they were moving to the states and God told her to hand over everyithing to me, NOBODY, even my husband knew about that except God!!!!! It was awesome. God is GOOD!!! God bless everyone!
WOW!! Thank you for your reply, it was very encouraging! I am in the same situation, however we live in the states and my husband side of the family are either teachers, retired teachers, principal or work in administration of public schools. And, OH!! We live behind the elementary school we took our oldest two out of once we started to homeschool. So when its time to get together for family functions I kind of cringe but have to be in prayer the entire time because depending on the comments made or questions asked I have to ask the Lord for the grace to respond in a way that would be pleasing to him and not to be so quick to take offense. Some just don’t know or understand why we would want to make this decision since we come from a family of educators. All I can say is that I didn’t think I would ever be homeschooling either, but God has a plan and I want to trust in HIS plan for our family. He is a PROVIDER and will always take care of HIS children. Thank you again for the reply!
Thank you, I needed this..
What a comfort I found in your last few sentences.. thanks for the reminder 🙂
Few weeks ago my 2.5yo girl showed interest in ABC so I thot of starting to introduce her through EP curriculum.
It’s been 2weeks now and I realized she doesnt get the letters, she just happily doing “repeat after me” and of coz the coloring, the craft, and singing n time to play with my gadget (we are quite a strict parents for gadget).
I was about to give up and was thinking to restart again next few more months.. but then your note reminded me, it’s not about following everything in the curriculum, but it’s about spending precious time with my girl and to see her grow 🙂
Thanks and God bless!!
I love this! Thank you.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
“Give them a strong foundation where it matters. Expose them to a variety of subjects. Let them do more where their interests lie.”
My daughter reads History and Almanacs for fun because she enjoys them. My son doesn’t, so I don’t hassle him to study it. He likes to build, so we focus on engineering and computer coding with him. Another reason we love EP.
Keep up the hard work. We appreciate you!
I could not agree more. My eldest son also reads history books for fun and makes and dry clay history objects. Writing and spelling is not his strenght but en likes making up stories and writing them down and I never critisize the writing I just take it as an indication where we can do some reviewing of specific words during the week. My kids love learning and reading and have an exceptional general knowledge. What more could a mother want, after the school system also broke their spirit for learning. We have to build our children up, not break them.
Thank you for this. We started Easy Peasy late in the school year due to circumstances we couldn’t control. I love it and my kids are absolutely head over heels for it. This is our first year homeschooling with our 9 yr old, 8 yr old, 7 yr old, and now starting Getting Ready is our 3 yr old. We came out of the public school system, from a “rigorous ” school. I know that I am still coming out of that mentality, and have driven my kids crazy lately looking at other curriculum because I wasn’t sure I was doing enough. The kids told me to stop , they are happy with school and didn’t want to change. God gave me peace about it in a way only He can and now we’re good. I needed this post. They are happy, I am happy, they are learning and I am learning. The only thing I did was order our Genesis Curriculum for when we finish these grades. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. You’ve made this transition easy and more rewarding than I could’ve hoped. God bless you Ms. Giles.
Thank you so much for this post. I just started homeschooling my 11 and 13 year old this year. I have been overwhelmed with the thought of, “Are they learning enough?” When I hear other homeschool moms talking, I am constantly wondering, “Crap! Am I suppose to teach them THAT too??” But your post perfectly explains what my heart feels. THANK YOU!
Easy Peasy is perfect!, We love your curriculum! I have tried the “tough” learning curriculums and spent days screaming, crying, and as my dad would say, wailing and gnashing of teeth. EP has taken all of that away and when we go places my kids will blow my mind with how much they know! We went to a Viking exhibit yesterday at the museum and my 11 year old wowed the staff with how much she knew going in! They loved her and got us more involved than I think is normal. She was just so fascinated by what was there in the history lesson and I let her run with it. I can’t thank everyone involved here enough! You have done such a great thing here and we appreciate it so much!
Happy learning is effective learning. 🙂
Thank you for your ministry! Your curriculum has provided a huge relief to me and a turning point in my kids’ desire to learn. May God bless all you do!
I’m so happy to hear that.
U R Awesome!!…..I Love this!!!!…..All 3 of my grls will be doing easy peasy THANK UFOR WHAT U DO AND WHO U ARE!!!!! Blessings!!! 💋
Agreed! Both kids are starting next month!
Thanks! I really need this support and encouragement. Often times I feel that I am failing my children because I don’t always have a perfect curriculum every day. I admit that I have been conditioned to the strict school schedule as I was an educator for most of my life. I often feel like I am not being thorough enough and am anxious about their CAT testing that is coming up. I just want them to do well and be prepared and often fear that I am not enough for them.
EP kids have a good record of improved scores, but really, what does the score matter? Make your goal learning, not meeting some outside standard of achievement.
Amen to this!
Amen! Thank u for writing this. I see this is part 2….sry I missed part 1.
You are just wonderful. Thanks for what you do.
Sent from my iPhone
Part 1 It was awhile ago. We just point it out to people often because it’s a question often asked.
Amen! Worded perfectly, Lee! You, the support staff and EP community are such a Godsend. We love it!
Due to the amazing support community, I’ve learned so much about homeschooling and how to formulate an approach for my family. EP is perfect. God is truly amazing. Can’t imagine doing this homeschool journey without EP.
Thank you!
Where is ‘It is enough, part 1’?
https://allinonehomeschool.com/2013/02/05/is-it-enough/
Thank you!
I wholeheartedly love this and believe it. I have chased down my kids as soon as they mentioned something they were interested in and it failed. Give them time and space….love it!
Thanks for the reminder.
Nicely put.
I am so grateful for EP. thank you
I absolutely believe this. Thank you for sharing! And thank you for this amazing resource you’ve created for all of us!
This is amazing thanks
AMEN!!
i have peace just reading this
Amen, this post was just what I needed to remind myself why we started this homeschool journey to begin with!
Hi, I am a sixth grader and I have learned a lot from your curriculum it is awesome!!!!! Keep up the good work. It has helped me so much and gotten me so far. Thank You so much!!!!
This will be my second year using easy peasy and your post is absolutely true. But another thing that helps our family with spelling is correcting spelling errors in papers. If my daughter continuously misspells a word that she should know, I will have her practice that word as if she was going to have a spelling test. Things like, writing the word 10 times, rainbow writing, using it in a sentence, writing the word but capitalizing all the vowels, etc. Spelling is a subject in Texas that is required but we do not accomplish this by taking regular tests.
“Give your child the gift of time, space, and boredom” I love it!
I do my schooling on here, and my family and I are very grateful for the homeschooling! It’s very helpful in my life and the lessons are very good! Thank you to the makers of this homeschooling site!
=) =) =)
Thank you Lee for the encouragement. As a missionary mom outside the US, I struggle so much with “are my children getting enough?” Resources are nil and getting anything to where I am is so expensive. I used Easy Peasy for years and loved it. However, this year I was insecure about it all and experimented with a more rigid curriculum that required lots of quizzes and testing. It has been so destructive to the “joy” of learning and schooling in my children. It has introduced the stress of remembering for the sake of passing and no real desire to learn. I hear the frustration in my children and am so sorry.
After reading your article, I am returning back to Easy Peasy. Your curriculum is incredibly thorough, well rounded with lots of subjects, rigorous and challenging without the rigidity and the stress to perform. I also am making the switch back because I truly believe that what you said regarding trusting in God’s grace for you and your children is where The Lord wants me to be anyways. Its not the boundless opportunities that make my children great, its how they successfully use their God given talents and how I as a parent lovingly and joyfully guide them in their cultivation of them. May God continually bless you and your family. What am amazing answer to prayer this was for me!
I’m so glad you are coming back and trusting. It can be hard to let go of what we’re “supposed” to do. It will be enough for your family.
BRAVO! BRAVO! You are so right!!!
Hello, first of all, I am grateful for the way GOD is using you to help countless Homeschool Parents with their children. Thank you so much for all you do! Do you have a system in place for overcoming any academic hurdles or challenges? I haven’t faced this issue yet, as my little one is only four. However, she has breezed through Pre-K and Kindergarten and is so eager to begin her 1st grade curriculum! She is moving entirely at her own pace. Are there any printable Awards I can give to note her completion of a phase or mark her accomplishments? I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about this but I was recently contacted by someone from the Children’s Ministry of my church asking me to note my child’s accomplishments so she can be acknowledged along with the other school children. I provided a brief summary of her accomplishments. I’ve seen quite a bit online but unsure of the amount of accolades she should be receiving during the course of the school year. So far, she has done well with check marks and smiley faces (and of course, her proud parents’ praise) but I’m sure different methods will be applied, as she grows. I think end of year recognition should suffice. What are your thoughts?
You know your child better than anyone. It sounds like you are already celebrating her in your own way. If she’s happy with what you’re doing, I’d definitely rock along until you see the need for more. Maybe keeping it simple for both of you could be really good?
Thanks for all your help Mrs. Lee! My Mom found your site a bit more than a year ago and it is fun and something that I learn from! I think I’m the only kid in the world who wakes up and asks Mom, “Can I start school? Can I? Can I?” Now in seventh, I started in sixth. How I’m posting? You told me to make a blog here, and I did! Thanks again!
THANK you!@peace & joy vs. rigor. PLEASE! That’s exactly what’s it sounds like: a “buzz” word. Thank you for sharing. So encouraging.
This post and this site are SUCH a joy! I believe in joy vs rigor as well. I absolutely love this system and have no idea how I could use any other curriculum or community. Thank you for your vision and for caring about our children along with your own. You have saved us!
AMEN! I’m reading this WAY after the original post….but couldn’t agree more. I just wish I would have figured this out a year ago. It wasn’t until June when I sat down to figure out what we were going to do this fall, that I said – “screw it”! (My apologies if that offends anyone!) But seriously…I can’t divide fractions and in the 20+ years I’ve been out of school, I can’t recall when I’ve ever needed to divide fractions! And that’s not the only thing! We’re learning about current events, both here in the US and abroad, I allow him to use a calculator for math when he’s hung up on a problem…because you know what? When I’m hung up on a math calculation at the store, I pull out my iPhone and use the calculator. So what?!
This article made me smile so hard!! I agree 100% This is exactly how I want my children to learn. My son is in 5th Grade.. my daughter will be in 9th.
I am not concerned about my son right now..
but homeschooling my daughter in 9th grade, I am very concerned about her being able to attain credits for college… do you know how I can get more information on that? I have not chosen a curriculum yet… I am starting late because of work and indecision.
You should join our high school group and your state to ask about it. You assign credits based on the number of days/hours worked on different subjects. Every state has different requirements.