Curriculum Choices 2023-2024

A few days ago, my college age daughter asked, "Aren't you starting school next week?"

After checking the calendar, I replied, "Oh! Yes we are!"

I guess I should get some things finalized!

Last year we were still under construction when school started. As it turns out, I only have video of the room completed and populated with furniture. These are a couple of the photos I took after the carpet was put in. (We started moving furniture later that day!)

Curriculum Choices 2022-2023

Time for my annual post (which lately is my only post!) 

In addition to getting everything ready, we are also getting WHERE ready. We have had construction going on for a few months and will need to work around stored furniture once school starts. Watching every stage of construction happen has been fascinating and educational.

12th Grade

This will be my son's last year homeschooling. He'll graduate in May!

Math: He had a rough time with math last year and we decided to move back a book. He's been working on Saxon Algebra 2 again over the summer and will continue it through the year, then move on to Advanced Math again.

Language Arts: He's going to use the new Structure and Style for Students Year 2 Level C from IEW. For literature studies, we'll be doing some books that will also count for government and history. He'll be studying The Making of America, The 5000 Year Leap, Animal Farm, and Uncle Tom's Cabin (the last two from Progeny Press.)

Government & Economics: Uncle Eric book series: World War I and World War II 

Science: Apologia Physics. We're not thrilled about this course, but it was written by Dr Wile, and we've been using his Berean Builder courses so far. (Berean Builders will have a new Physics course available in 2023.)

Elective: He enjoyed drafting so much last year that he's decided to continue this path of learning at the local Tech college. He'll be there 12 hours a week.

9th Grade

My third child, who is the first to never attend public school, will begin high school this fall!

Math: Saxon Algebra 1, with the Mastering Algebra DVDs from Art Reed.

Language Arts: We considered having her do Structure and Style for Students Year 2 Level C from IEW to finish out that series, but we decided to wait and have her do that in 10th grade because the updated version of the last level of IEW Fix It! Grammar wasn't available when we were planning. So this year she'll do The Good and the Beautiful High School Language Arts 1. I think it will be a nice break, and she'll still use everything she's learned from IEW in her writing.

Government & Economics: Uncle Eric book series - the first three books

Science: Berean Builders Earth Science 

History: Family School: American History

Geography: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts courses cover geography and art, but she wants to do Family School geography with her younger sister and me because she loves the thorough studies and the country reports. 

Art: The Good and the Beautiful and Family School 

Music: Family School

Electives: She's going to study photography using the course I made up a few years ago, and Financial Literacy through Family School.

Foreign Language: The Great Courses and Duolingo. If I am able to save up enough, I'll buy a subscription to Rosetta Stone because I feel it will be a bit stronger than Duolingo.

6th Grade

It's a little strange when the youngest child moves into middle school courses... I'm finding more time for myself to study topics I've wanted to for a while.

Math: Saxon 7/6 and the Mastering Algebra DVDs from Art Reed. I find these DVDs aren't necessary at this age, but she's thrilled to use them and getting into a habit of watching the lesson makes math easier in a few years. She'll also use The Checkbook Project.

Language Arts: Structure and Style for Students Year 1 Level B and Fix It! Grammar level 3. She's part way through Level 7 of All About Spelling and will use Phonetic Zoo next. For literature studies, we'll be using Family School and reading The Merchant of Venice, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, A Little Princess, Emily Dickinson, mythology, and Lehi's Vision.

Science: Family School: chemistry and physics

History: Family School: American History

Art: Family School: Reformation and the Dutch Golden Age

Music: Family School Year 4

Some other random things we'll use: Typesy, Mind Benders and Building Thinking Skills for logic, various P.E. videos and activities.

New and exciting: My younger two have needed a way to help them use their time better. In April 2021, I found an item on Kickstarter called Mover Erase Combo. The Bravestorming company already had the product in place--magnetic tiles and organizers to help you plan (using the Kanban or Scrum project planning methods)--but their original tiles used sticky notes. This updated version uses dry erase tiles. 

Anyway, when I saw it, I knew that it would be perfect for helping kids plan. The campaign said it would be ready by Sept. 2021. Due to global supply chain issues and a last minute change in packaging, we didn't receive them until June 2022. That can be the nature of crowd funded projects.

I redesigned the interchangeable templates so that the smallest tile represents 15 minutes. We are using Staedtler correctable pens, a dry erase that doesn't erase at the slightest touch, to label each tile. The girls can use an Expo ultra fine point dry erase marker to add daily info to the tiles if they like. But the main purpose is that they can visualize their day and move each subject to the "Finished" area as they complete their work. They are excited to try this out and I hope it helps them stay on task.

How it's Going (Curriculum Choices 2021-2022)

I thought I'd do a little update on how we like the new things we're trying out this year.

11th Grade   

Language Arts: 

Curriculum Choices 2021-2022

I have had most of our school stuff ready for a couple of months, but while going over the last things I need to be ready to begin our school year, I decided to get this post done.

Planning high school is more stressful than the younger grades, but it's fun to see what my kids want to learn about. The biggest difference this year is that I'm only planning for three kids. Our oldest graduated in May and is planning her own path for college! Which reminds me I really need to post about the end of our previous school year.

A lot of our books are not pictured, and I did link some things. IEW and spelling links are affiliate links. 

Other things that my kids do are piano, P.E. (various activities, exercise videos, free play, archery), and XtraMath for the younger children.

11th Grade

My son has two years of high school left and we're planning courses to fill in the credits he needs and adding interests for electives. He's trying a new science program this year and I hope it works out. This is his 9th year homeschooling.

Curriculum Choices 2020-2021

I never did this post for last year. Oops. I like looking back to see what we did.

I thought we had everything figured out a month ago. Then we talked about it and decided to change some things. As usual, something will not be ready in time for us to start school. Maybe next year we won't be using something that is brand new and we won't have that issue!

12th Grade

Can you believe my oldest is entering her last year of high school and homeschool? It's crazy! She just took the ACT and did great! She wants to improve her science score though, so we are switching up our science plans this year so she can study chemistry and physics.

Preparing for the 2018-2019 School Year!

We like to do a special Family Home Evening lesson before the first day of school. It's a great one to remind children the importance of learning as well as some good character traits. See the lesson we use at this website - We Can Learn at School. That lesson also contains my favorite goal sheet, which we have the children do during the FHE lesson or on the first day of school. Also, we always do Father's blessings (And a teacher blessing!) the night before school starts.

History, Geography:

As you know, we have used Family School every year since we started homeschooling. It is written so all the children can learn together, but they complete work on their own level for every lesson too. Originally there were going to be six complete years of six topics. A while ago they decided to change that. That threw a wrench in our school plans, but I accepted it and began planning. We have been promised that the sixth year of history and geography available to use this school year. Which I am desperately hoping is true, because completing those two topics in the curriculum we started is logical. Why start all over with something else?

Curriculum Choices 2017-2018

The countdown is on... and I feel a bit stressed! Usually I figure out what we'll need before May, when we're finishing up with school. Then I purchase books and collect items before summer, or in early summer. This year I told myself that I was crazy to start so early and I needed to chill a little. So I did some figuring and a little purchasing in June, then decided I'd enjoy my summer and finish getting ready in August. Well August is here and I have forgotten my groove. Moral of the story... a) don't leave things half finished! b) you're really not crazy!

Curriculum Choices 2016 - 2017

Oh my, we start school in one week!  Today I was going through everything to make sure we're ready.  This is such a stressful week for me.  We're still waiting for one last set to arrive and I don't know if it will get here in time!  I've had a good time planning this summer though, and I have some new things we're trying.

History, Literature, Science, Geography, Music, Art

The Family School Year 4

Our Favorite Curriculum

Who else is crazy like me and has school ready to go?  I've had curriculum ready for a while now and am just waiting for a few supplies that we'll need here and there.

Some of our favorite curricula that we continue using each year are:

NotebookingPages.com Review

I am so glad we were given a Lifetime Membership to review from NotebookingPages.com.  It has turned out to be the best homeschooling tool I didn't know I needed!

How we do Fix It! Grammar (with videos)

This post is not sponsored, I purchased this grammar curriculum myself and we are sharing these videos today because we love doing grammar this way and hope it helps someone else.

When we started homeschooling we used another grammar curriculum that was worksheet style.  After doing that for a year my kids still needed help remembering what basic parts of speech were.

"Wait, what is a noun?"

I heard that often enough to drive me crazy.

Homeschool Copywork Review

Copywork is something that every child needs but many adults do not understand why.  It is not always easy to find good, ready to print copywork, so I was glad to have the opportunity to review the Lifetime Membership from Homeschool Copywork.

What is Homeschool Copywork?

Homeschool Copywork is a website that contains many downloadable e-books.  It's so easy to use these because they are formatted nicely and ready to print!  The packets cover a wide range of ages, from preschool to high school, and a variety of topics.   We found copywork for authors, composers, poets, the human body, birds, scriptures, holidays, past presidents, and plenty more.  You can join with a free account and access a small amount of what the website has to offer if you'd like to see what the copywork packets are like.

Memoria Press Third Grade Literature Guide Set: A Review

What do you do when your child has finished their homeschool reading curriculum, but you feel like reading instruction is not complete?  I know what I did, I jumped at the chance to review the Third Grade Literature Guide Set from Memoria Press!  My daughter had set a goal to finish the final level of her reading curriculum before she turned 8.  She did it, but wanted to do more, and I wanted to ensure comprehension and basic literature study skills.  This set came at a perfect time for us!

SchoolhouseTeachers.com Review

I was offered an opportunity to review the Yearly Membership on the website SchoolhouseTeachers.com with my children.  I have often felt like we need a little more variety in our curriculum; sometimes our main choices feel a little...repetitive.  It seems this will be a great way to put a little oomph back into our learning!


The Yearly Membership has a lot to offer.  Looking over the website, I felt lost because of all the choices!  So I tried to control my excitement and read over the New Members Hub, which is suggested as the best place to start.  It really helps explain what the site has to offer and how to find what you need.  I discovered many courses available for all of my children, plus other exciting things which I'll explain in a bit.  From the New Members Hub I was able to make a list of what to start right away, and what we may want to use in the next couple of months.

Cytology crafts

We finished our introduction to cytology last week.  Instead of a regular lesson on our science day, we had a cell-abration!  We have been learning about organelles and their functions as well as the differences between plant and animal cells.  Cell division was a difficult topic with big words for some of them, but I've been surprised at how much information they retained.  Learning about prokaryotic cells was exciting and has helped reinforce some good habits.  We also talked about many scientists who influenced our knowledge today, and how we are thankful for their work.

2015-2016 Curriculum

I am excited for school to start in a few weeks!  We're sticking with some familiar books and trying some new things.  Planning over the summer is so much fun.

Piano: Hoffman Academy.  I wanted to start my 2nd grader on this, but decided to let the older kids do it too.  They haven't taken lessons for a couple of years and have forgotten some things.  They LOVE lessons with Mr. Hoffman!  My oldest says remembering note names is much easier than it was when using just books.  I think the older two will advance faster than there are lessons available, but hopefully they'll be able to jump back into traditional lessons and books then.

History, Geography, Science, Literature, Art, Music:

The Family School Year 3

I don't have the books & cards yet.  They've been delayed, but at least I have access to the online version.  We are not using the workbooks/worksheets, after two years of what felt like planning double each week we will just print what we want.  We purchased our own binders and are waiting on the binder inserts and tabs from the school.  We still love the curriculum and are as excited as ever to get started. 

 

For Year 3 Literature we're studying 

Beatrix Potter

Heidi

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

As You Like It

Year 1 Celebration of Learning

This morning, as I was lying in bed wishing the kids would sleep in longer than they do, I thought about what I could do today to get ready for the upcoming school year.  I realized I had never posted about what we did to end the last school year!

When we were at the charter school, they held a Celebration of Learning twice a year.  The children planned this event and got to show their families what they had learned about.  My kids enjoyed them, so when we received The Family School curriculum, I was excited to see these celebrations were part of their suggestions!    I wanted to make our first year of homeschooling memorable, so we tried to include most of what was suggested. 

When we finished a book in our literature study, we had a celebration.  For Little House in the Big Woods, we played games, made shot pouches, and made snow candy.

When we finished The Comedy of Errors, we went to see the play.  We were lucky that our local Polar Star group was doing it the day after we finished reading!

2014-2015 Curriculum

I have had next year all planned out since early May.  This part is fun for me!  Here we go...

History, Geography, Science, Literature, Art, Music:  

The Family School

We'll be using Year 2 this year (the books aren't out yet so Year 1 is pictured).  We loved this last year.  I love how this curriculum is written, it's so easy to adapt to my children or to our day.  The kids learned a lot and as soon as Year 1 was finished they were begging me to start Year 2.  We're excited to try the redesigned workbooks and the new online version.  I love that I can teach all the kids from one curriculum (that saves SO much money!) and that my 2 year old participates regularly.  I had to start printing "academic concepts and coloring", her words, for each lesson so she had something to do too, and she was memorizing our flash cards!  The Literature portion adds to the Language Arts curriculum that we use.

6th grade

Math:  Saxon 7/6.  She started this a couple months before last year ended so we'll keep on going.
Spelling:  Words Their Way.  We decided we do not like Spelling Power, unless the child has a strong background in another spelling program or a good understanding of spelling rules before starting it.  My older two were used to WTW from their charter school, so I studied how to implement it and we've been trying hard to use the public school version at home.  We don't like the workbook format of the homeschool version, but this format leaves a lot of room for creativity.
Penmanship:  Zaner Bloser 6.  Hopefully the last year she'll need to practice penmanship!
Grammar:  Growing With Grammar 6.  We like how this is laid out and it has been working well for us.
Writing:  Writing With Skill 1.  We dropped Winning With Writing this year in favor of Peace Hill Press writing curriculum.  We sped this child through Writing With Skill 3 and 4 the last half of 5th grade, and feel this will be just right for her.   I'm still trying to figure out how we'll work in The Creative Writer 1.  She loves writing and I hope this will give her a good set of skills as she develops her talent.
Logic:  Mind Benders 4 and 5.  She really likes these.

4th grade

Math:  Saxon 5/4.  He started this about a month before last year ended, so we'll keep working!  I really love Saxon.  This boy has a hard time doing the lessons on his own though, so we need to figure out a way to have me spend more time with him on math.
Spelling:  Words Their Way.  Same reasons as above. A public school teacher put all the word sorts into lists on Spelling City, so they can practice with that website.  Hooray!
Penmanship:  Zaner Bloser 4, and Joy of Handwriting Manuscript.  He needs some practice with both cursive and manuscript so we do both.
Grammar:  Growing With Grammar 4
Writing:  Writing With Ease 3
Logic:  Mind Benders 3 and 4.  He finally decided to try Mind Benders 3 and loves it, so he'll be doing this regularly now.

1st grade

Math:  Saxon 1.  She's almost halfway through this book already, so we'll be starting 2 in a few months.  Last week she came to me and said "I know what 12 + 12 is" and proceeded to describe how she found the answer.  I was amazed, we've never done math problems like that but we have learned indirectly how to count tens and ones.  She took it a step further and did this on her own.
Spelling:  All About Spelling 1.  We started this last year, then I decided to hold off until 1st grade.  She did wonderful with it (and still begs to do it), but she was progressing quickly.  I wanted her to be far ahead with reading before we do more spelling.
Penmanship:  Zaner Bloser 1, to practice penmanship, and Fundanoodle Cursive.  She wanted to learn cursive last year so we did Joy of Handwriting Cursive and it went so well.  We're going to go back and put more emphasis on letter formation in manuscript using Fundanoodle products (see more below).
Reading:  All About Reading 2.  She absolutely loves this curriculum.  We started with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading last year and that turned into a chore.  She hated it, there wasn't enough reinforcement to what she was learning, and it really was boring.  I don't regret switching to AAR at all.  We'll be starting 3 sometime in the winter if she keeps moving this fast!
Writing:  Writing With Ease 1. 

Penmanship

I was having a hard time deciding what to do this year.  E (1st grade) knows cursive but the Zaner Bloser beginning cursive was above her level of reading.  I kept searching for just the right curriculum but didn't really like anything.  One day I came across Fundanoodle on 2 or 3 different websites.  I thought I better check it out and discovered it was just what I needed.  Some of the words are still a little above her reading level, but it is going to be a much better workbook for her.

For reviewing manuscript, and as N starts to learn letters, we will use the I Can Build sets.  I was surprised when these came.  The magnet boards are large and the letter building magnets are durable.  I was expecting something like strip magnets or business cards, but no, these are thick!  They require some finger muscles to get them off the board, perfect for strengthening hands and fingers!  We already practice forming letters on a chalkboard, so these will be one more way to do that.

The Muscle Mover cards are a huge hit.  I like that Fundanoodle has put an effort into getting kids to move and strengthen different muscles used in writing.  We're saving the workbooks from the I Can Build sets for N to use in a couple of years.  I am thrilled with these products!

Preschool

No traditional preschool here, but she will be 3 by the time school starts again and she needs more to do during school time.  I plan on pulling out all the Letter of the Week things I used for E and giving some to N during school time, when she wants to do something with us.  She's already doing well identifying some letters and numbers so I'll continue to go with the flow.  She'll continue playing with manipulatives and other items the big kids use, and she's getting an I Can Pound set just for her.

Our Curriculum

This post contains affiliate links.

I think we've settled into a comfortable routine!  It was easier to do than I expected.  Now I waver between adding more of what we want to do or just sticking with where we are for now.  I hate to ruin a good thing when we've all been doing so well to start out.

Language Arts and Math are leveled subjects, which means the child learns according to their current understanding and abilities.  Other subjects can be taught to multiple ages.

Latter-day Learning Family School



Our first curriculum choice was what really helped us decide to home school in the first place.  A friend mentioned it to me last year, saying she thought I'd be interested in it.  I'm so glad she did!  This curriculum is designed after the "one room schoolhouse" idea.  Children from 4-14 can be taught these subjects together.  My 5 year old doesn't follow everything we're doing, but she does catch a lot of info, and her participation shows it!  I don't know how well this would work with a 14 year old, but the curriculum writers are adding in instructions for middle school age children.  So far it's working well for us though!