Easy Peasy Homeschool Review: Is It Right For Your Child?
Picking a homeschool curriculum can be tough. Let's take a look at our Easy Peasy homeschool review to see if it's a good fit.
When it comes to your child’s education, it’s nice to have choices. With the state of the country’s public education system, parents are finally speaking up and demanding more say and choices. Because of this, homeschooling is becoming more popular as many families are opting to remove their children from the public education system. It’s one reason we created our Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling. One thing with homeschooling, if that is the chosen path, is that there are so many options and curriculums that finding one that fits can be a chore. It’s one thing that can make parents wonder how to start homeschooling. This is why we are going to take a look at an Easy Peasy homeschool review and see if the fit is right.
Easy Peasy Homeschool Program
First off, for this Easy Peasy Homeschool review, know that this is an all-in-one, free online homeschool curriculum. They cater to all grades, pre-K through high school, and it was the creation of Lee Giles, a homeschooling mom herself. To make things a bit easier to navigate, Giles has created two websites – the first covers grades pre-K through 8 and the second is directed specifically at high school students.
Easy Peasy Homeschool Review- Pre-K Through 8th Grade
As its name advertises, Easy Peasy Homeschool is just that. Easy to use, easy to follow. It’s just one thing that made this Easy Peasy Homeschool review so easy – the simplicity and organization. The work students encounter at each grade level is presented through printable lesson plans. Clear, concise daily instructions are given to parents so they can properly navigate their children’s learning.
The Easy Peasy Homeschool review shows us that it uses two homeschool methods in its approach to teaching – the Traditional Homeschool and the Charlotte Mason methods. The mix of these two methods is an attractive one as the Charlotte Mason method employs picture studies, real books, copy work, and even narration techniques. Combine this with the traditional methods that use activity sheets as well as other online courses and you have a nice mix that should keep students engaged.
The daily Easy Peasy Homeschool review lesson plans are presented online. The lesson plans include links to the daily lesson material to include instructions on how to complete the lesson and where one would go to do this. Much of the linked material is found on other websites though there are lessons linked right to the Easy Peasy website.
Although you can access all of Easy Peasy’s material without registering, it is recommended that you do register your child. When you register into the My EP system, it is free of cost, though the website does give you an option to toss them a few bucks if you are so inclined. The My EP system allows parents to set up learning subjects for their children and it also keeps track of where their child is at in all lessons they are taking.
For preschool and kindergarten kids, their first two levels of learning are complete readiness courses. The links will take parents to all areas where you can teach reading, math, and language arts. The key here for preschoolers and kindergarteners is preparing them to read and write.
After the child passes the kindergarten level, parents have the option of selecting a grade-level program that is similar in that it includes reading, math, and language arts. They can choose this, or they can select each course individually. Parents will have this same ability of choice as kids move higher in grade levels.
Breaking down the Easy Peasy Homeschool courses for review, the language arts include spelling, grammar, and composition at each grade level. Reading, which will also include vocabulary, is taught in separate courses. Easy Peasy does use real books for this teaching and the books they require can be found for free online.
Our Easy Peasy Homeschool review turned up that math is one area where some navigating may be needed. In grades 1 through 5, a large variety of activities and websites are used. Along with interactive activities such as math drills and various games, Easy Peasy Homeschool also has created four math books that parents have access to and can print for free. When students hit grades 5 through 8, they will see math in three courses – Math 5/6, Math 6/7, and pre-algebra.
As Easy Peasy is an all-in-one homeschool, they also offer students history, science, music, art, and Bible courses as well. These are presented in four-year cycles, and it allows for all children if you are homeschooling more than one at a time, to work in the same subject areas each year. Of course, if you wish, these subjects can be tackled in separate activities based on grade level.
The Easy Peasy Homeschool review also shows that this program offers electives. These are broken down into computer, thinking, and language. In the computer section, they teach the basics of computer operations and how to navigate some popular computer programs. The Thinking section is basically linked to logic games. And Language is introductory to Spanish for kids in grades six and seven. For eighth-graders it becomes Spanish 1.
Easy Peasy Homeschool Review For Older Students
The Easy Peasy Homeschool review shows that the layout for high school students is essentially the same as for the younger students. If parents are concerned their high school-aged child won’t get enough credits, they can rest assured that Easy Peasy offers enough courses to cover six credits per year for the entire four years of high school.
Easy Peasy Homeschool has all the required core subjects – science, history, math, language arts, and Bible. They offer five science lab courses, and their math goes up to calculus if students are so motivated. There are also electives for students that include computer science, economics, and foreign language.
Easy Peasy Homeschool – Pros
As far as pros and cons are concerned our Easy Peasy Homeschool review turned up some of both. The ease is one key attraction for those leaning toward EP. They do their own lesson planning, taking that burden off the shoulders of parents. If a child has the aptitude to work independently, they can do so. Another pro is that Easy Peasy can offer a great selection of subjects for every grade level. Of course, one of the biggest pros is that it is free.
Easy Peasy Homeschool – Cons
It is hard to find a con when it comes to Easy Peasy Homeschool. One parent said it was hard to hold their child accountable when they were using an online version of certain courses.
The Cost
This is the beauty of Easy Peasy, it is virtually cost-free. The curriculum and access to it do not cost a thing. What may cost you comes down to how much printing you want to do. For most of the courses, you have the ability to print the included activity sheets for free. You can do this as you go along from lesson to lesson, or you can print them all at once from their free file.
Now, if you don’t wish to do any of the printing on your own, maybe you don’t own a printer and don’t wish to invest in one, you can instead invest in a printed book that has all the activity sheets in it. Easy Peasy offers their entire math, reading, and language arts courses in book form (as offline courses) for a low fee.
EASY PEASY – IS IT ENOUGH?
The bottom line with Easy Peasy Homeschool is that it is enough for students. They offer plenty of subjects, resources to teach these subjects, and lesson plans to keep the day-to-day teaching in order. The two methods used, traditional and Charlotte Mason, work hand in hand and offer students enough choices to keep them engaged and on the path of learning.
