Homeschool Curriculum Revealed

It's that time again! Time for me to share everything we are doing this year in our homeschool! Hope this helps you to get an understanding of why we picked what we use and how I intend to use it.

*Don't miss the video that walks you through in detail all of our homeschool curricula for this year. You can watch the video HERE or at the bottom of this post.

Our 2017-2018 Curriculum Choices

Well, it finally happened...I have a high schooler. Since Grant is entering high school, we have a very different mix to our homeschool this year. I'll explain more below, but let me give you an overview of our school dynamics for the year. This year I'll have a 9th grader, 8th grader, 3rd grader, kindergartener, and a preschooler. All five of my kids will be involved in our homeschool. {Last year, we started my daughter earlier than we normally do with kindergarten. We decided to just make this year her official kindergarten year just to be consistent with starting our kids at 6.}

I'm so excited to show you all that we are using!

Everyone Together

So, this year is totally different than I've ever done. We kind of hit a weird spot where everyone is at varying levels of things. Grant will be working independently with a high school curriculum, I wanted Blake to be challenged with some things just for him, and the littler kids will be working together where possible.

Mornings:

Last year, I wrote my reveal post, and then we had our lives turned upside down with the passing of my father-in-law. So, our mornings really never did get established. This year, I'm determined to incorporate some of Pam Barnhill's fun tips from her Your Morning Basket. We'll be doing Bible, read-aloud, and memory work together at this time. I'll try to fit in some of our history reading for the littles during this time, too. We'll see how it goes. {I did a fun podcast with Pam HERE.}

*You can get a free printable for creating routines in my book, Sanity Savers for Moms. Click HERE for more details.

Bible:

• Apologia's Who Am I?: We finally finished the first book in Apologia's four-part series on What We Believe. We started last year with their Who Is God?. We have been using these books as part of our evening devotions. We've enjoyed discussing various things that pop up as we read through them. They are some of my favorite books for teaching a Christian worldview.
• Discipleship Essentials: My husband has been taking our older boys and two other boys through this discipleship book. It's been an amazing book to go through. We highly recommend it for adults and older kids.
• The Unshakable Truth: We had the wonderful opportunity to meet Josh & Sean McDowell this summer at family camp. We picked up their Unshakable Truth book & DVD. We've started going through the DVD and study guide with the kids at night.

History, Read-Alouds, & Independent Reading:

As I mentioned we have a unique year this year. With the gap in ages, my older two boys will be doing their own independent work together and then I'll be doing some combination work with the younger kids. So, I'll just break that down under their grade level this year...

9th Grade

Bible, History, & Language Arts: This year Grant is veering off from what the rest of us are doing for history and doing My Father's World Ancient History & Literature. Wait until you see all the amazing books he'll be reading this year. It's crazy! The Odyssey, The Iliad, Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Cat of Bubastes to name a few. I think I read those in college. I have the audio for The Cat of Bubastes. (I'll be referring to My Father's World as MFW.)

Writing: We love IEW in this house. You'll see we use it for a lot of subjects. Grant will be doing IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course Level B at home. We aren't going to have a writing class at co-op this year, so we'll be doing our writing together at home under the tutelage of Mr. Andrew Pudewa (well, we'll be watching him on DVD). I'm really excited about this course. It comes highly recommended. Oh, and Grant is going to be slowly going through IEW's A Guide to Writing Your Novel. He's been working on a novel, so he's really excited about this. (IEW is the Institute for Excellence in Writing.)

Grammar & Penmanship: This year my son will be using IEW's Fix It Grammar again. It's a grammar program focused on learning to edit. It also has an element of copy work, so he will focus on good penmanship. I bought the multi-level Fix It!, so I just print what I need for each child each year. (We may not go as hard with this program this year since he is already doing other components of languages arts.)

Spelling & Vocabulary: Grant will continue IEW's Phonetic Zoo Level C. What I love is that he can do his spelling independently using headphones to listen to his spelling test. We're also going to be doing a little extra vocabulary this year using Wordly Wise 3000.

Math: We love Math U See! Grant is starting Algebra 2 this year.

Science: Grant will be doing Apologia Chemistry. He works independently through this science book and notebook. He will do the experiments and dissecting in our co-op class.

8th Grade

Bible, History, & Language Arts: We are totally breaking from our norm and doing Notgrass History for Blake this year. Grant will actually be using their Exploring World History book as part of My Father's World curriculum. However, Blake will be going through their From Adam to Us book. I'm excited to try it out. I've heard such wonderful things about it. {I chose to not start back at year one in the MFW cycle since I want Wade and the girls to start that year together the following school year...in case anyone was wondering.}

There are reading recommendations with this, so we'll be checking out books from the library: The Golden Goblet, The Fables of Aesop, The Bronze Bow, Single Shard, Otto of the Silver Hand, The King's Fifth, Madeleine Takes Command, The Switherby Pilgrims, The Chestry Oak, and Children of the Storm.

One cool note: Leave it to me to get excited about companies with great organizational skills. I just found the link for the lesson checklist for Notgrass! Yippee!

Writing: As I already mentioned above, Blake will be doing IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course Level B at home with Grant this year. Looking forward to having DVDs to pop in the DVD player. 

Grammar & Penmanship: Blake is going to be doing IEW's Fix It Grammar. The plan is to have him do their Frog Prince book. Grant said it was funny.

Spelling: My 8th grader will also be doing IEW's Phonetic Zoo again this year.

Math: We are trying something new this year in the area of math, and Blake is my guinea pig. We are going to try out Teaching Textbooks this year for Blake. I think it will be a good fit for him. It will give him the accountability for getting work done...and me the assurance that he doesn't have to wait for me to grade his work. He'll be doing Algebra 1.

Science: Blake is taking on Apologia's Biology this year. Once again, I'll be heading up the biology lab at co-op.

Art: Blake is really great at drawing and art. Since we aren't doing art at co-op, he will be doing art online using Sparketh. I got a chance to meet the guys behind Sparketh this past year and just adore them. They have put together an incredible program for kids (and adults) to learn amazing art techniques. They are like a Netflix for art. You pick what you want to use.

3rd Grade

I love 3rd grade! I'm not sure why, but it feels more like "real" school. Ha! My sweet, Wade, will be primarily using My Father's World Adventures in U.S. History. Okay, maybe that's why I love 3rd grade! This is a really great curriculum to use for getting a fun introduction to U.S. history. We'll be using this curriculum for Bible, history, geography, art (see my art video), and read-alouds.

Grammar: Wade will be starting Growing with Grammar this year. I've used it in the past to help my kids get a firm foundation on their grammar essentials before I eventually move them to Fix It! Grammar with IEW.

Writing: Wade is officially starting writing this year. His reading and writing skills skyrocketed at the end of last year and I think he's ready. He'll be starting IEW's All Things Fun & Fascinating (my personal favorite).

Penmanship: Wade will be learning cursive this year using A Reason for Handwriting. I love A Reason for Handwriting. They have the best technique for teaching handwriting -- and they use Scripture.

Read-Aloud: We'll be following along with the schedule of reading for the MFW's Adventures in US History, which includes: The Courage of Sarah Noble, Sarah Whitcher's Story, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Farmer Boy, Mountain Born, and In Grandma's Attic.

Spelling: Wade using Spelling Power with me this year. I don't think he's quite ready for the Phonetic Zoo Level A yet, but we will try it. I really like Spelling Power...but it does require my help daily. The lessons are really quick though.

Math: He's going to keep working on his Math U See Gamma book and will probably move into his Delta book before the end of this school year.

Science: Wade is going to be doing Apologia's Botany this year in co-op. However, all the reading at home will be with him and the girls.

Kindergarten

So, yes, we decided to start Ashlyn in kindergarten this year -- officially. Last year, we'd started her a year earlier than we normally start our kids in kindergarten, and I just decided to hold off one more year. She actually learned SO much last year. I know this year is going to be really fun since she's already starting to read basic words.

Language Arts: We are going to be doing lots of reading. Reading is the best thing for kindergarteners. With that in mind, we are using My Father's World Kindergarten -- & actually getting past week 4...which is where we stopped last year. We bought the readers that went along with the program.

*A few other books that I'll incorporate if she seems to be picking up on things easily:

--Sing, Spell, Read, & Write
--Get Ready for the Code Books A, B, & C {Maybe just A}
--Explode the Code {Don't assume to get to this one}
--Primary Phonics Workbook 1 {May not get to this one either}
--A Reason for Handwriting K:  LOVE this program for penmanship! She'll do a few pages here and there.

I really like the letter stories behind IEW’s Primary Arts of Language (PAL): Reading & Writing. So, I'll incorporate that into what we are doing, too. I'll jump into this program more next year.

Math: We'll be starting Math U See Alpha. Last year I was going to do this program with her and she just wasn't ready.

Science: Ashlyn will be doing some science this year along with Wade, except not at co-op.

History: We are going to be reading with Wade as he does MFW's Adventures (see above). We'll also be doing audiobooks.

Preschool

I'm a firm believer in NO CURRICULUM for preschool! Learning at this age is all about fun! I "sneak" learning into her day. I do have fun workbooks for my little miss to "play" school with. She learned quite a few letters last year. So, we'll be building on that. Plus, I have some great resources like ABC Mouse. My girls take turns playing on that site a few times per week for about 20 minutes. They absolutely love it.

Here it is! The Video Behind the Blog Post!!

Here's the video for you to get a first-hand view of the material. I go into detail about how to use all of the above curriculum -- & why! It's really a MUST SEE!