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Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2019/2020

"What curriculum are you using?"

This is one of the most common questions asked of home school moms. I thought I'd beat you all to the punch this year and post it after our first couple weeks of school, before everyone else starts. But, before I do, I'd like to give any newcomers an idea of who I'm talking about. So, meet my kids =)

Rachel is our oldest. She is 9 and will be in 4th/5th grade. She is obsessed with the weather and currently wants to work in some field of science when she graduates. She's 9. That will most likely change at least 12 times before graduation =)

Jeremiah just turned 7. He's our math wiz. He loves numbers and critical thinking. He also loves to read...mainly about superheros =) He can't sit still very long. He literally climbs the walls at home and is currently obsessed with parkour. =)

Katie is 4 and will be doing Pre K this year. We started with her last year, but she showed no interest in the lessons for the first half of the year. So I released her back into the wild. This year we will be focusing on phonics and saving the rest for later.

And Josiah is 2 1/2 and will be learning the basics. Colors, numbers, letter sounds, shapes, etc. He will mostly be playing his way through the school year =)

None of my kids are working exactly at their level for all their subjects. We are all over the place. That's one of the things I love about homeschooling. You can read more about that here. Now that you have met my kiddos, let's get into why you are here. Our curriculum for this coming school year.

*Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support =)*

Morning Basket

We start our day with Morning Basket. Morning Basket is as simple as books you want to read, put into a basket (or in my case, a pile) and read together as a family. I typically start on our pile while the kids are eating breakfast. It is a very Charlotte Mason idea and a lot of families love that it starts your day off in a more gentle way. For kids who are slow to wake up (a.k.a Rachel) it can be a great way to ease into the school day without immediately being bombarded with papers or questions.

This year our morning basket/pile includes (but is not limited to):

We end our Morning Basket with our reading from More Than Words, by Rebecca Spooner, and then move right into our Bible study after the reading. Some days there are activity pages from this curriculum that we do. On days without activities, we will move into the other things we use for Bible.

 

BIBLE

For Bible, we do a few different things. This year we are using More Than Words as I mentioned above, Unseen: The Armor of God for Kids (Priscilla Shirer is my FAVORITE), and a few different Bible story books (I'll list them below). We are also working on memory work. I write down the verses and facts I want the kids to memorize on index cards and keep them in a box. We work on these throughout the week.

 

Language Arts

Language Arts is my favorite! I LOVE language and would buy ALL of the curriculum if I could.

My 4 year old is starting with Foundations Phonics (from Master Books). I also use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. And we are using this and this (Usborne links) to supplement as well.

My 7 year old is going into grade 2. This year he is using Language Lessons for a Living Education 2 which I LOVE, as well as the vocabulary cards from The Good & the Beautiful. We are also using Spelling Book: Words Most Needed Plus Phonics by Dr. Fry and he will be doing a TON of reading.

My 9 year old daughter is using LLFLE 3 and 4.

We didn't quite finish her book from last year so we will do the last few lessons there, then move on to level 4. She is also using Vocabulary cards from The Good & the Beautiful, a few lessons from The Good & the Beautiful (just a few things here and there that I have picked out), the Illustrated Grammar and Punctuation from Usborne Books, the Creative writing Journals from Usborne Books, as well as a TON of reading and memory work. She will also be doing an online children's book club this year that she is really excited about!

The full list:

 

Math

For math this year we are using three different programs.

1. Math Lessons for a Living Education from Master Books. This program is very Charlotte Mason, living book style and similar to Life of Fred in that it uses stories and real life application with the number problems and math concepts. It's been fantastic for my daughter who loves language but hates math. I'm a BIG fan.

2. Teaching Textbooks. I'm currently using level 4 for Rachel, but will be adding Jeremiah as well. He took the placement tests this week and passed both the 3rd and 4th grade tests (which means he would be ready to START the 4th level). So I may have them do this together.

3. 10 Days to Multiplication Mastery by Usborne Books & More. (Disclaimer: I am a consultant, and this is a link to my personal page) We are using this once or twice a week to help commit multiplication facts to memory in a fun way.

We are also adding in some word problems from a book I just found at Half Price Books (pretty much my favorite store) that the kids are flipping out over (any other Minecrafters out there?). You can check that out here.

 

History

This year, we are doing history all together rather than breaking it up into different grades. I'm using America's Story 1 (from Masterbooks) with all three older kids. It is written with grades 3-6 in mind, but so far Jeremiah (grade 2) and Katie (PreK) have been doing well. I read the lessons out loud to all of them at once, then we do our activity pages. There are some things that I don't make the younger children do. For example, this week they were required to write a short report on an Indian tribes we had learned about. Rachel wrote her report, I had Jeremiah dictate his, and I just had Katie answer a few simple questions about what the story taught us.

This is a win for me for many reasons. First, it saves me a ton of time! Doing 2-3 individual curriculum is not fun. Second, it gets us all talking about what we are learning. Doing this family style is a great way for my kids to interact and engage with one another. And, having Rachel explain some of the things we talk about to the younger kid ensures me that she has a firm grasp on the material herself.

This year, we will also be focusing on Patriotism. We will be going in-depth on things like our flag, our national anthem, the pledge of allegiance, the difference between Veteran's day and Memorial day, etc. We will also be creating a Patriot Wall in our school room where we will learn about the many members of our family who have served our country. I'm REALLY excited about this =) I am creating my own curriculum for this study and will list some of the resources below.

 

Science

Science this year is going to be a little different for us. We typically follow a curriculum that covers many different topics throughout the year. Not this time.

My daughter is OBSESSED with the weather. She has an ongoing fear of storms and is constantly asking me to check the forecast for her. Any sound outside makes her think of thunder and freak out a little. Cars backfiring, neighbors moving their garbage cans, etc. These last few weeks have been super fun with all of the leftover fireworks from the 4th going off in our neighborhood. Uhg.

While at Half Price Books one day, I came across a book about the weather and bought it for her. She was FAR more excited about it than I thought she would be! She thanked me again and again and had pretty much memorized the facts in the book on the second day of ownership. I also noticed that her fears had resided a bit after reading the book. She was able to look outside at the clouds, feel the direction of the wind, and know for herself what the day would be like.

When I became a consultant for Usborne Books and More, one of the first things I did was buy her books about the weather. It calmed her quite a bit. It got me thinking, and I've decided to spend this next year focusing on the weather and climate. If knowledge about the weather will help her with her fears, I'll spend a whole stinking year on the topic!

These are some of the resources we will be using:

 

Record Keeping

(Our Homeschool Portfolio)

Stay tuned for a future post on this topic! =)

 

That's pretty much it for the basics of our school year. We will be adding in field trips and unit studies, as well as a ton of reading and visits to our library. We are also hoping to start piano lessons this year. Yay!

What are you using for curriculum this year?

Homeschool Tips

#1 

Create a routine rather than a schedule. Don't stress about when things happen.

 

#2

Plan your day around YOU. Don't try to do things like other moms, or the way a public school would. Work this into your life, not the other way around.

 

#3

Have FUN! You can learn a lot from being outside, cooking with your kids, or making a messy art project. Books are amazing, but they can be boring for young kids sometimes. Try to liven things up as much as possible. 

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