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Our 2020-2021 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

In this post, I will be sharing our 2020-2021 homeschool curriculum choices. These are our Group Subjects.  Each child also has their own grade level books they will be using. You can read about that in the links below. This will be our 8th year of homeschooling. That is crazy to say, but very exciting at the same time! I have a 6th Grader, 5th grader, 2nd grader, and Kindergartener.  We do try to do as many subjects together as we can. Because of my children’s ages, I have been breaking them into 2 groups. I have my older kids and my younger kids.

Here are the separate grade-level books I am using with each child:

Kindergarten
2nd Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade

A little bit about our previous year

Last year, we went a little slower in our homeschool. A pregnancy, working on growing our little farm, and a sweet little boy born in April definitely threw our school year for a few twists. Somedays just the kid’s Independent work got done. Along with plenty of life skills and teachable moments. Can’t forget to count those too.

I also realized how precious “mom time” is. Last year was the first year I was teaching 4 kids at one time. 4K was mostly a test run (books and play and the occasional worksheet if I could get my little boys attention for a few minutes), but it was still a good look at what this year would be. And the findings were: there is not enough of “me” to go around! I felt like my kids were waiting for me all the time. So, this year my older kids are going to be doing more subjects independently. Of course, I will be there to help but I want to give them the skills to do it on their own.

A few things that I feel like we didn’t do enough of last year were nature walks, field trips, Brave Writer activities, and art projects. It kinda felt like we were running around with our heads cut off most of the time. I hope to jump back into our school year and continue to add in a few more of the things we love.

I hope you enjoy looking into our 2020-2021 homeschool curriculum. 

Remember that most of the time we do not get to everything in the curriculum. Do not think that we get to every one of these things every day. We use the curriculum as a general guideline and adapt to what works for us.  Sometimes we drop a curriculum for a little bit (life got busy, kid wasn’t ready for it at that time, or we just wanted to run down some rabbit trails), and other times we skip parts of it to fit our life. That’s the beauty of homeschooling!

 

 

Group Subjects for the 2020-2021 Homeschool Year

Continuing with My Father’s World Creation to Greeks for my older kids

Last October, we decided to stick with My Father’s World and move on to My Father’s World Creation to Greeks. A pregnancy, farm chores, and a sweet little boy born in April definitely threw our school year for a few twists. We went a little slower and sometimes just the kid’s Independent work got done. After a nice, busy summer break I am ready to jump back in at week 11 and continue learning more about bible times, studying maps, learning greek roots, and celebrating some Jewish feasts. We really have been enjoying it!

We also added Story of the World: Volume 1 Book and Audio Book and some good stories to go along with it. Mara Daughter of the Nile, The Golden Goblet, and Hittite Warrior were a few of the fictional read-alouds recommended by others. They should correspond nicely with the year.

Note: As much as I wanted my younger kids to love this and be apart of our lessons it really is a little over their heads. They listen sometimes, color pictures, and follow along with the science experiments but, it really didn’t engage them. Most of the time they would run off and play together. Which is perfectly fine! So this year, I decided to do something different specifically for my younger kids. They are welcome to listen and participate in Creation to Christ any time they would like. I just think it worked better to do something different with my two age groups. You can see what we chose below (Super Excited about this one).

 

BookShark Science

Creation to Christ includes the  Science in the Beginning Set by Dr. Jay L. Wile as the Science Curriculum for most of the year. We did enjoy this curriculum but there were a few things that I did not like. For one, I am not one to plan ahead and found myself getting flustered because I did not have our supplies ready. Please, learn from my mistake and gather your supplies ahead of time or just buy the science supply kit.  Seriously, just buy the kit! It also took a little more time than I had available which meant that it sometimes got skipped when we were busy. I also wished that it had student sheets to go along with it. We are not tossing this book out completely. In fact, I do plan to continue to look at this book each week when we have time and do the experiments that we can because they were REALLY COOL! This is going to be a supplemental science book for us. We will fit it in when we can.

 

BookShark Science has been a curriculum I have been eyeing up for a few years. I like how it is literature-based, goes over several science topics, and also has hands-on activities. It has a 4-day schedule that works perfectly for our homeschool schedule. The teacher’s manual seems simple to follow. My older kids (5th and 6th grade) will be doing BookShark Science D: Biology, Taxonomy, and Human Anatomy on their own. My younger kids will be doing BookShark Science A: Biology, Botany, and Physics. The supplies are included with these sets! Yay! I am looking forward to an easy to use science curriculum for all of my kids.

 

Around the World With Picture Books from Beautiful Feet for my Younger Learners

Eeek! I am SUPER excited about this one. As I mentioned above, my younger kids did not seem interested in following along with My Father’s World Creation to Christ. It was a little over their heads and they would run off and play instead. And that is totally okay. But I did want to fit in some Geography and reading with them and there is no better way to learn Geography then with picture books! Around the World with Picture Books by Beautiful Feet seems to be a perfect fit for what I am looking for.

Why did I add in a different Geography Program for my younger kids? 

Last year our family did My Father’s World Exploring Countries and Cultures. You can read my honest review of that here. Why did I not do that again?

I wanted a program that would not take a long time to teach. I want to fit in reading time with my younger kids without a lot of activities and student sheets. I am looking for easy here.  I have also read a lot of these children’s books throughout the years and know that they are good ones. This is going to be a special time with my younger kids. Twice a week we are going to sit down and read a good book, do a little activity, and if we have time to explore more then we will. I also have gotten a lot of these books from the library and know that they are quality literature. I am happy to add these to our home book collection.

 

Funny story, as I was taking the picture of all the books above my older kids came up and started picking through them. It didn’t take long before they all had a book and found a cozy spot to read. That makes me happy! My oldest can now tell you the true story of Winnie the Pooh. Mom win!

Read-Aloud Revival Premium

I have been eyeing up Read-Aloud Revival Premium for a few YEARS now. If you do not know about the Read-Aloud Revival you have to check it out. Sarah Mackenzie is a homeschool mom of six who has been spreading the love of reading to children of all ages and giving parents the confidence to do this in their own homes. She is an advocate for reading aloud and has created many wonderful book lists, a successful podcast with some amazing guest speakers, and wants to help you grow as a parent. I have been a fan of hers since my beginning homeschool years and am happy to share her resources with my entire family now.

Why Read-Aloud Revival Premium is a great fit for us

This is a subscription for the whole family. It is a feast of knowledge!  Author/Illustrator access events, WOW (Writers on Writing) Workshops, Family Book Clubs, and lots of Mama resources too. You also get access to everything that was recorded in the past. It truly is a feast.

My oldest son (6th Grade) has ALWAYS aspired to be an author. He is passionate about reading, writing, and being creative. I have struggled to give him the right resources to help him grow and follow his dream of publishing a book. Read aloud revival gives children access to virtually meeting authors and getting a behind the scenes look at the publishing process. I really think this is going to be great for him.

My second child (5th Grade daughter) is an artist if I ever saw one. She loves books too but her strengths are much more artistic. Read-Aloud Revival Premium also meets with illustrators to give drawing instructions. Win, win.

Now my favorite part (selfishly) is that Read-Aloud Revival Premium also has an AMAZING mom section. Sarah shares videos on how to help us busy homeschool moms and she also has a book club for moms, LOVE IT! You even can chat with the entire community. There really is something for everyone.

Brave Writer with IEW

Coming into this new school year, I realized how much I missed Brave Writer. I  love this natural, fun, all-encompassing way of language arts. I missed doing Friday Freewrites, Poetry Tea Times, doing fun writing projects from Jot-it-Down or Partnership Writing, and reading wonderful books with Arrow Book Guides.

Last year we took the plunge and started using IEW products. It is a great program and we only touched the tip of the iceberg with it last year. I was torn all year on how to blend the two programs and trying to figure out a plan to make them both work. (If you use both programs I would love to hear how you do it. Please comment below or send me a message. I can use any tips you got.)

So, my initial plan for this school year is to start out with Brave Writer and then move into IEW lessons in October/November. We need a slow start and want to implement them both. If you have suggestions on how to do this please comment below. Tea Times, Arrow Book Guides, and fun writing projects will still be done as time allows.

I am extremely excited to read The Lemonade War and use the Arrow Guide to go with it. This book is about 2 siblings who decide to both have a lemonade stand and compete with each other. One kid is people smart and the other is math smart. The book is filled with marketing tips and strategies.  Actually, Jacqueline Davies made a whole business book series for kids. As we work to grow our little farm, it has sparked some little entrepreneurs in our house. I think this book series will only help to teach additional skills. We purchased all of the books here.

We also plan to do a few other 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.

 

We will be continuing on with some of OUR FAVORITES

 

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

This summer I asked my kids, “Hey, what kind of school stuff do you want to do this summer?” My 10-year-old son replied, “I want to do nature study!” Oh my gosh you guys, it was that kind of pay-day moment I always want to have. The moment when you know that the road you are traveling down is working, even when some days you question if you are doing the right thing.   It was music to my ears!

I completely understood where he was coming from too. He wanted to do something slow, quiet, and relaxing. He wanted to connect with nature on a personal level. Me too buddy!

So, we will not be following a specific nature study curriculum. Instead, we will be trying to do 1 nature study a week. After 8 years of homeschooling, I have a nice library to choose from. Some of our favorites include  Exploring Nature with Children, Reader’s Digest North American Wildlife, Fun with Nature: Take-Along Guide, and NaturExplorers.

Would you like to include Nature Study in your homeschool? Read my 12 Tips for Nature Study Success here.

Kiwi Co Subscription Boxes!!!

We signed up for another year of these fun boxes. We honestly LOVE them! They are MY FAVORITE subscription box we have tried so far. One tiny switch that we are making is that my 7-year-old daughter will be changing from a Kiwi Crate to an Atlas Crate because she wanted to have more art projects. The bonus for us is that it will go great with Around the World with Picture Books from Beautiful Feet.

These subscription boxes are a great way to add some hands-on 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 10-year-old daughter is doing the Doodle Crate (9-16), my 7-year-old daughter is doing Atlas Crate (6-11), and my kindergartener is going to do  Koala Crate (2-4). We may move him over to a Kiwi Crate mid-year which is no problem with Kiwi Co. You are in charge of what boxes you are receiving and when they ship.

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), Kiwi Crates (5-8), Maker Crates (14-104), and Eureka Crates (14-104).

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

30% off with code LEARN30

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:

For Sale – For Sale is a fast-paced, fun bidding game about buying and selling real estate. It isn’t about how much you buy the property for but about how much you sell it for. Players first bid for several buildings then, after all the buildings have been bought, sell the buildings for the greatest profit possible. It is easy to learn and easy to play. Each game takes about 15 minutes. Every game is different.

Tally Ho! – Our son picked this one out and it turned out to be a blast. In a nutshell, one player takes the role of the hunters and the lumberjacks; the other takes the role of the foxes and bears. Both players hunt each other! Tiles are put down at random and each player flips over one piece at a time. You need to roll with the punches and try to entrap your opponent. It is really fun and easy for children of all ages. Our 7 year old quickly figured the game out. It is already a hit at our house. This is a reactionary strategy game where your move is based on the move of others. Pieces are revealed at random and you need to roll with the punches and entrap your opponent.

Azul Summer Pavilion – We played the original Azul with a friend a few months back and loved it. This game is a tile-placement game where you want to collect sets and create certain patterns to get points. It doesn’t sound very exciting but it is A LOT OF FUN when you are playing it. We enjoyed that it makes you think differently than most other games out there. Reviewers said that Azul Summer Pavilion was better than the original so we decided to give it a shot. We have not played this one yet but will when we have a little more time.

Discoveries: The Journey of Lewis & Clark – Can you go wrong with a dice game that lets you travel across the wild US with Lewis & Clark? I think not! This is a dice rolling strategy game. We have not played this one yet but it looks like a lot of fun and the reviews were great. Looking forward to trying this one out too.

Local Field Trips

I think we take this for granted but there are SO many cool places waiting to be discovered in our area. We hope to learn more about our state this year and go to some new parks.

Final Thoughts

Our 8th year of homeschooling is sure to be fun. I hope you enjoyed this quick look at our 2020-2021 Homeschool Curriculum. I feel blessed to be able to spend another year learning with my children. It brings me so much joy to see their individual personalities coming out as they grow. May we continue to learn, grow, and love each other. Happy Homeschooling Friends!

If I could chat hours about anything it would be homeschooling curriculum and books. Seriously! I would love to hear what are you using this 2020-2021 homeschool year? Have you used any of the stuff we are doing this year?

Here are the separate grade-level books I am using with each child:

Kindergarten
2nd Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade

Want to see what we used last year? Here you can see what we used for our 2019-2020 Homeschool Year (with a 5th, 4th, 1st, and 4K). Happy Homeschooling Friends!

We LOVE Reading Eggs & Math Seeds in this house!