2019-2020 Homeschool Curriculum Choices (5th, 4th, 1st, and 4K)

January 10, 2020 admin Comments 0 Comment

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I would like to share with you our 2019-2020 Homeschool Curriculum Choices. Better late than never, right? This is our 7th year of homeschooling. We took our time exploring the World with My Father’s World Exploring Countries and Cultures (you can read my review here) and started our new adventure in Mid-October. Our 2018-2019 School Year was fun but I am ready to jump back into some history.

This year, we are making 2 BIG changes. Mostly for my older elementary kids (5th and 4th Grade). Yikes, it feels weird to say that. My two older kids are ready for more formal learning in writing and need more math practice. Everyone can participate in our Bible Reading, Science, and the History Lesson. After that, I am going to be separate my kids into two groups. I have my bigger kids (ages 11 and 9) and littles (6 and 4). I feel that this is naturally happening during our school day and will go with it. The little ones can play together while I complete school with the older ones.

See our 2020-2021 Curriculum Choices here.

Our 2019-2020 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

So here it is, what we are using for the 2019-2020 School Year. I have a 5th Grader, 4th grader, 1st grader, and 4Ker.

Group Subjects

My Father’s World Creation to Greeks

After traveling the world together with MFW ECC last year, we decided to stick with My Father’s World and move on to Creation to Greeks. I am SO excited to start this! We briefly learned about mummies and ancient history when my oldest son was in Kindergarten. I can’t wait to dive in and explore these topics again and dig much deeper into it. Together as a family, we will be doing My Father’s World Creation to Greeks. We are going to be learning Greek Roots, having Jewish feasts, and studying the bible. We also have Story of the World: Volume 1 Book and Audio Book, which should correspond nicely with the year.

Science in the Beginning

In the past, My Father’s World Science choices haven’t resonated with me, but this book looks amazing. Science in the Beginning Set by Dr. Jay L. Wile is the Science Curriculum for most of the year. I like how the lessons are short, concise, and will pertain to what we are learning about in the Bible/History.

Institute of Excellence in Writing

This is one of our big curriculum changes. Now that I officially have a 5th grader, I felt like it was time to do a more formal writing program. My son already has a passion for writing, and when I say this, I mean it! He has wanted to be an author since he was 5 years old. Every year, he tells me that he wants to publish a book. Me on the other hand, I have no idea how to make his dreams come true and I am not confident about teaching writing myself. One thing I do know, my son needs help organizing his thoughts in his writing. He has so many ideas!

Over the summer, I purchased this Deluxe Combo Teacher/Student Writing Package, Level A (2nd Edition) and started the Teaching Writing Structure and Style videos. This is a 12 disk series for instructors that teaches ALL the components of writing the IEW way. I was impressed with the videos and have been learning a lot myself.

From there, you can purchase the Student Writing Intensive, which is a 5 DVD course for the student and includes a binder and all the student worksheet. The disks do all the parent work for you and it follows the same structure as Teaching Writing in Structure and Style. Or you can purchase the Themed Based Writing Lessons. which follows the same IEW structure but includes topics and passages from topics you may be studying or interested in. I plan to focus on the Student Writing Intensive and next year do one of the Themed-Based Writing Lessons.

I think this program is exactly what we need this year. It starts with outlining, a process I have not taught my kids yet. The next few sections will teach writing from notes, retelling stories, and summarizing a reference.

{Update: It looks as though IEW is becoming more digital. Many of their DVD products are discontinued and are being turning into a “forever streaming” option. I encourage you to check out their official website for more information.}

Fix It! Grammar

We also switched to Fix It! Grammar Student Book 1: The Nose Tree (Grades 3-12) while we were at it. I have heard wonderful things about Fix it! Grammar from other homeschoolers. We have successfully started implementing this program and I am really happy with it. It’s easy to follow and to the point. I like the daily rhythm of it. Day 1 we talk about the new correction and I give them a notecard explaining it and they can refer back to this card later (great for independent learning). Day 2-4 they correct the passage, and day 5 they copy the corrected passage into their notebooks. By the end of the year, they will have copied the entire story into their notebooks. Every day the kids also have to find and write down the definition of a bolded word from their passage. This is a skill my children never really worked on and I am excited for them to practice this skill. We are really happy with this program thus far.

Brave Writer

We are not walking away from Brave Writing, we can’t. We love it too much! Tea Times, Arrow Book Guides, and fun writing projects will still be done as time allows. This year we plan to study poetry with the Love That Dog Arrow Guide, dive into some Shakespeare, and write a Mail Order Catalog for Ancient times with Partnership Writing. We also plan to do a few read-a-loud books and follow the Arrow Guides for a monthly writing lesson. A few of the titles we hope to get to are: The Green Ember (I have always wanted to read this one aloud), Cricket in Times Square, Shadow Spinner, and Because of Win Dixie.

If you are looking to create a language-rich environment in your home, you have to check out Brave Writer! Julie Bogart has an AMAZING Podcast and many Youtube videos to get you motivated and started in this new way of language learning. She will help you drop the mom guilt and start having fun with Poetry Tea Times, Friday Freewrites, and movie nights. There are even “party school” ideas after you finish the book. This is how I would have wanted to learn writing/language/literature.

Saxon Math

Math…. how you continue to haunt me, year after year. This is our second big change!

As much as we love Math-U-See, I knew that our family needed more math. And I needed more direction in teaching it.

Why Saxon? I think my son, in particular, benefits from a spiral math approach. He needs to be reminded of the previous skills frequently, even once he has mastered them. I also need more guidance as a math instructor. The math fact sheets need to be ready to go for me (no copying like Singapore) and I need to be told to review things. Me doing it on my own hasn’t been working. This busy farm mom of 4 can’t pull fun math activities out on a whim. I am just too busy for that!

After 7 years of homeschooling, I have also learned that memorization in those early years goes a long way. It is so much easier for them to learn things. My older children are lacking in math fact memorization and although we work on it, it isn’t as easy for them. I like how Saxon Math 1 starts math fact memorization right away and gives me a schedule and printed sheets to do it. This will help me significantly as an instructor. (Update: My 1st grader has successfully transition to Saxon Math 1 and has already memorized her doubles math facts with ease. It is very rewarding for me to see this in the first few weeks.)

I hope to continue using Math-U-See with my older kids and add Saxon Math 5/4 as extra practice.

Hymn of the Month

I am so happy that we found Happy Hymnody Hymn of the Month. What a blessing this has been! If you have considered doing a hymn study in your home, look no further. April has done all the work for you! And it’s free! Every month, she creates a video of her family or friends singing the hymn, and they have an additional youtube playlist that shows you other versions of the hymn. She also writes a brief history of the hymn and then you can download the hymn sheet music (words only or music and words) and a copy worksheet to have them practice writing the hymn. There is also a beautiful monthly schedule that you can put up so that you don’t forget the hymns you have learned and can see what is coming up in the next months.

Nature Study

We will be continuing with Exploring Nature with Children by Raising Little Shoots. I love how open and go this curriculum is! And most of all, I love that you can miss a week or two (or like us, the first few months) and not feel guilty. I started strong last year, so I am hoping to jump in where we left off last year.

Kiwi Company For ALL!!!

My oldest son started to receive Tinker Crates last year and I was extremely impressed with them! So impressed, I decided to get each child a box of their own this year. These subscription boxes are a great way to add some hands-on STEM learning, practice following instructions, and have something special for themselves. Each box is at their level and interest. My 11-year-old is continuing with Tinker Crate (9-16), my artistic daughter is doing the Doodle Crate (9-16), and my younger two are doing the Kiwi Crate (5-8) and Koala Crate (2-4) boxes. Box day is always an exciting event at our house!

I have to say, Koala Crate is my favorite! I love the cute projects, the fun conversations, and the early learning that is happening! They also have Panda Crates (0-24 months), Atlas Crates (6-11), Maker Crates (14-104), and Eureka Crates (14-104).

You can read My Honest Review of 4 Different Kiwi Co. Subscription Boxes here —>> Here<<—-

Gameschooling

We are GAME LOVERS in this household! In our minds, there is no better way to learn than by playing games. They teach counting, trivia, patterns, reading the opponent, following instructions, how to be a good loser, and much more. Every year we like to add a few new ones to keep things exciting. This year we added Imhotep, Agricola, Egyptians, Wildcraft, Dixit, Clumsy Thief Junior, Clumsy Thief Candy Shop, Tiny Polka Dot, and Sequence Letters.

Grade 5 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Math

Last school year, we kicked Singapore Math to the curb and gave Math-U-See a shot. Math was no longer a fight, my son enjoyed the video lessons, and he mastered multiplication. I liked the no-nonsense approach and student videos. We really did like the curriculum, but I saw him struggling to remember things he learned a few weeks before. I was afraid this would happen. I knew in my heart that he needed a spiral math curriculum. As much as we love Math-U-See, I knew that our family needed more math. And I needed more direction in teaching it.

I am going to add Saxon Math 5/4 to our daily math schedule.3-4 times a week. He will continue with Math-U-See Delta Level Up Set. He can do Math-U-See independently and is going to be learning his division facts. I think this will be very do-able.

Why Saxon? I think my son, in particular, needs a spiral math approach. He needs to be reminded of the previous skills frequently, even after he has mastered them. I also need help as a math instructor. The math fact sheets need to be ready to go for me (no copying like Singapore) and I need to be told to review things.

Writing

As I mentioned above, my 5th grader has a passion for writing and has dreamed of becoming an author since he was 5 years old. His mind is bursting with story ideas. Me on the other hand, I have no idea how to make his dreams come true and I am not confident about teaching writing myself. One thing I do know, my son needs help organizing his thoughts in his writing.

We switched our writing curriculum over to the Institute of Excellence in Writing. I think this program is exactly what we need. It starts with outlining, a process I have not taught my kids yet. The next few sections will teach writing from notes, retelling stories, and summarizing a reference.

Grammar

For Grammar, my two oldest kids will be doing Fix It! Grammar Student Book 1: The Nose Tree (Grades 3-12). Since we switched our writing curriculum to IEW, I figured we better do grammar too. Plus, I have heard SO many good things about this!

We have successfully started using this program and I am really happy with it so far. It’s easy to follow and to the point. I like the daily rhythm of it. Day 1 we talk about the new correction and I give them a notecard explaining it that they can refer to later (great for independent learning). Day 2-4 they correct the passage, and day 5 they copy the entire passage into their notebooks. By the end of the year, they will have copied the entire story into their notebooks. Every day the kids have to find and write down the definition of a bolded word from their passage. This is a skill my children never really worked on and I am excited for them to practice this skill. We are really happy with this program so far.

Spelling

My son uses by Jack Kris Publishing for spelling. He has been using this for years now and it just works for him. I start the week by having him study his spelling list and then test him when he is ready. The rest of the week he works on fun activities, such as crossword puzzles and word jumbles of his spelling words. On the last day of the week, I give him his test. If he misses any then he will be tested them the following week. We previously used this company’s Grammar and Writing Curriculum but it did not fit our home school style.

Reading

For my independent readers, I like to follow the book recommendations from Drawn Into The Heart Of Reading. This curriculum is sorted by genre. I have my kids read a specific book from that genre each month and then have them write a summary in a notebook. There is a student book that can be purchased that has worksheets that go over character traits, story elements, and reading comprehension too. I do not have my kids do the student book, but the Book Recommendations are fabulous! I also look at Sonlight’s Readers Booklist too for a few titles that the kids might enjoy. Through the years, we have built up a nice little book selection in our basement where the kids can go down and choose a title they are interested in. One Book Set I did pick up this year was The Horrible Histories Collection. This boy loves history and I think this will keep busy for awhile.

Handwriting

My son likes cursive writing. He completed all of the Handwriting Without Tears Books and can write cursive in his everyday handwriting if he chooses to. I do not push it, but I don’t want him to forget this writing skill. I thought this Cursive Writing Practice: Inspiring Quotes looked fun and would be a great cursive review.

Extra Curricula: My son will continue with Piano Lessons at home from Hoffman Academy. This is his 3rd year doing using Hoffman Academy this and I can see great improvements. The video lessons are fun, engaging, and free. All you need is an account. If you buy the premium version of this, your child works through the lessons and it includes printable worksheets and games. Best of all, I don’t have to leave the house and he can work at his own speed. WE LOVE IT!

4th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Math

My daughter LOVES Math-U-See! She started using Math-U-See Beta last year, after a challenging year before that and has started Math-U-See Gamma Level Up Set. She is thriving in the program and is obtaining so much! Dropping Math-U-See would be heartbreaking for her. She writes, “This is fun!” at the bottom of her lessons. I mean, what kid does that for math?

Although she is thriving with Math-U-See, I would still like her to get additional math fact practice and be introduced to more math topics. I am also going to have her do some of Saxon Math 5/4 Homeschool Kit, 3rd Edition with her brother. This new change hasn’t been implemented in our homeschool yet, so I am not sure how it will go. Math-U-See Gamma has been taking her about 10 minutes to complete each day and I think she will be able to handle more math practice.

Spelling

Spelling You See Level C: Wild Tales Student Pack This is her second year with Spelling You See and she loves it! She used to hate the “free day” but now embraces it. She can also do this mostly independently.