Drum roll please…Announcing our homeschool curriculum choices for this school year. Yeah, I know it’s pretty exciting right! I love reading what other homeschool families are using. It helps me to get ideas for upcoming years. Choosing curriculum is something that I don’t take lightly. This year I procrastinated a bit longer than usual though.
Cause you know me! I’m a curriculum hop, skip and jumper! We tend to be very eclectic and are an ever changing homeschool. Seriously, I don’t know if we just get bored or want to keep every year shiny and new. Don’t judge. Ha! We really like change and adapt well to it.
Our Homeschool Daily Routine
Our routine has pretty much looked the same since the beginning, but this year it is going to look slightly different. We wake up, brush teeth, make beds, and get dressed (some days). Then we head down for breakfast.
After breakfast, we start with praise and worship, prayer and devotional time, singing, poetry, gym class etc. (morning basket). We then head to the dining room table and do read aloud time, while they work on easy stuff like coloring or handwriting for my youngest and copy work for the other two.
After that, the two oldest start with independent work (spelling, math & reading) and me and the littlest lady work together. We then have lunch while watching something educational on YouTube or Netflix.
After lunch is alone time which consists of reading alone or coloring or playing with legos for my youngest. After alone time is over they do computer work which is usually some extra math or typing. We usually start at 9:30 and are completely done by 1 pm. The rest of the day is free playtime.
OK…So without further ado…
Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 1st Grade
Yes. Gulp. My baby is in first grade! I can hardly believe it myself. This mama is having a hard time letting go of her little ones and letting them grow up. Ugh! So hard!
History & Read Alouds: Sonlight Core A – Into to the World Cultures
Readers: Sonlight Grade 1 Readers
Everything below is on a loop schedule doing 1-2 a day
Reading: The Reading Game and The Reading Lesson
Phonics: Explode the Code 1 and 2
Spelling: Spelling You See Level A – Listen and Write
Math: CTC Math
Science: Exploring Nature with Children and Mystery Science
Bible: Apologia – Who is God? What We Believe Series Volume 1 and Answers in Genesis – Answers for Kids Bible Curriculum
Habit Training: Laying Down the Rails for Children: A Habit Training Companion
Art: 1st Grade DVD Art Curriculum from Home Art Studio
Special Interest: Piano, Choir and gymnastics
Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 3rd Grade
History and Read Alouds: Sonlight Core D Intro to American History
Readers: Sonlight Core D Readers
Language Arts: Bravewriter – The Arrow
Everything below is on a loop schedule doing 2-3 a day
Spelling: Spelling You See D – Americana
Math: CTC Math
Science: Apologia – Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, Exploring Nature with Children and Mystery Science
Bible: Apologia – Who is God? What We Believe Series Volume 1 and Answers in Genesis – Answers for Kids Bible Curriculum
Habit Training: Laying Down the Rails for Children: A Habit Training Companion
Art: 3rd Grade DVD Art Curriculum from Home Art Studio
Special Interest: Piano, Choir and gymnastics
Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 5th Grade
History and Read Alouds: Sonlight Core D Intro to American History
Readers: Sonlight Core D Readers
Language Arts: Bravewriter – The Arrow
Everything below is on a loop schedule doing 2-3 a day
Math: CTC Math
Science: Apologia – Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, Exploring Nature with Children and Mystery Science
Bible: Apologia – Who is God? What We Believe Series Volume 1, Answers in Genesis – Answers for Kids Bible Curriculum and S.O.A.P Bible Study Group
Habit Training: Laying Down the Rails for Children: A Habit Training Companion
Art: 5th Grade DVD Art Curriculum from Home Art Studio
Special Interest: Guitar, Choir and Gymnastics
That’s what our plans are as of right now for this school year, but it never fails within a month or so I will change something. We shall see.
What is your most favorite curriculum that you have ever used? I would have to say Sonlight!
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Forest Rose is a God Loving, Blessed Wife, & Mama to 3 girls. She’s passionate about lifting moms out of the trenches that are discouraged, overwhelmed, or feeling alone or isolated. Her hope is to point them to Christ and equip them to rise up with a newfound hope and joy within, that He alone can provide. Besides blogging, she also loves to create printables!
Hi Forest Rose!! I love this list. I have a question. We Use Spelling You See too, and I don’t know how it’s independent? The instructions say read it and point and chunk it together? Also, tell me more about this Laying Down the Rail? It looks awesome. There are so many more things than what you linked to. Do you just use the companion book?
Hi Erin! How are you girl? We use Spelling you See without following the rules lol. My daughter just reads it on her own and does the copywork. We also started using Mobymax (free online tool) for spelling xtra. Laying Down the Rails is fabulous. Yes, I only have the companion book, but I have the other books on my list to buy for this year. We usually work on 1 habit until it is mastered and then move on to the next. I didn’t do them in order, I hopped around to what we needed to tackle at that time and revisit if I see them slipping lol. Thanks for popping in! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you!!!! How are you doing? Are you going to the next 2:1? I need to book the hotel still. Can’t wait. Washington DC field trip! 🙂 So, out of curiosity. Do they chunk the words in the spelling book on their own? Are they learning to spell well? If you ever come to Northern KY, let me know! We can get you into the Creation Museum! Can you give me examples of some of the habits you have worked on. And I am so so sorry for all the questions. Our writing program (Writing Strands) is a stress of our week. I need to change. I looked up your Brave Writer, but still don’t really understand it. Have you always used it? Like it? How does it work? I will have one in 3rd and one in 5th next year. 🙂
Good! I’m not sure yet if we will be going this year to 2:1. I know I would love to. It was fantastic last year. For Spelling You See, We do not do the chunking part. Yeah, they are learning to spell well mostly with the MobyMax program. But just using it for copywork has been great. Laying Down the Rails, There are sooo many lol. I will send you a list of the habits that it covers tomorrow. No problem at all! I love questions. This was our first year of using Bravewriter. It is amazing, we didn’t get to it as much as I wanted to this year, but we really love it. Very simple and laid back approach, which is what I’m all about lol. I’ll send you more details about that as well.
Thank you!!!!!! I really appreciate it. Hope you guys come to DC!
I love to hear more about how you do the two Sonlight cores and how you combine them? I have a K and 2nd grader and we are doing two cores.
We start our day with morning basket all together then I work with my little one in her core while I send the older two to do independent work upstairs (CTC Math, Readers etc.) It doesn’t take long to get through all the read alouds and activities with her. Then when I am finished with her core I set her up with her independent activities while working through the other core with the older two. It really works out great. This is my first year doing two cores. It was hard at first, but I’ve learned to give myself grace and not worry about getting through it all. I hope that helps. You can contact me through Twitter or any other social if you have any more questions. Blessings!
We are very eclecctic as well. Although, I’m very excited about using Brave Writer this year.
We tend to change curriculum often too. I find that each year we start with a completely different set of books from the previous year (unless it was something my boys just LOVED). I tend to add and tweak as we head through the year too.