Our 25-26 Elementary Homeschool Curriculum Choices
A peek at our 25-26 homeschool year selections and what we'll be learning
And just like that, it’s the beginning of August and we’re back to school once again! Ever since beginning our homeschool journey six years ago, I’ve loved the flexibility of our “lose start” to the school year. Always beginning by mid/late July, we gradually ease our way into our curriculum so that once September rolls around and all the neighbor kids are back in public school, we can jump back into a full routine without piling all the curriculum into our day at once.
For the first month back to school, we do Language Arts every day that we’re home and then gradually add in math. We don’t start writing, science, history, or our Morning Basket until September.
This will be my 6th year homeschooling and although it gets easier with time, I’ll be adding in my kindergartner, which makes having 1:1 time to teach three elementary aged children plus entertaining a toddler a full schedule to manage.
In this post, I’ll briefly lay out what my three school-aged children will be using for curriculum in their fourth, second, and kindergarten years. In my next post, I’ll share what we’ll include in our Morning Basket and Bible time. If you have questions about our curriculum choices feel free to leave a comment or send me a message!
Our kindergarten curriculum choices
Language Arts- Because we no longer use a curriculum that bundles all aspects of L.A. into one book like we used to, my kindergarten son will have different curriculums that cover phonics and fluency, spelling and handwriting, writing, and phonemic awareness.
Phonics and Fluency- If you’ve read either of my How to Teach Your Child to Read posts, you might have seen that my absolute favorite curriculum to teach my children how to read is All About Reading. We’ll begin with Level 1 for kindergarten, which lays a great foundation for early phonics skills and fluency through the readers it comes with. (P.S. I found a way to save hundreds of dollars by saving the student workbook pages!)
Spelling and Handwriting- It’s our first year using Spelling You See so we’ll begin with Level A. Similar to teaching phonics skills, it provides a great practice with the letter patterns and formation at this stage.
Writing- Since my son is only a beginner at writing words, we’ll work through the Jot It Down program where the focus is on idea formation as the parent does most of the writing. He’ll have a lot of fun with many of these project-based prompts!
Extra fluency/comprehension practice- I have my school-aged kids read for at least 60 minutes each day so my son will use many of the Easy Reader books from our collection or at the library (such as the I Can Read! or Step Into Reading books), BOB Books, You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You series.
Phonemic Awareness- I bought these very affordable cards from A Teachable Teacher blog when my oldest child first began homeschooling and they’ve been extremely helpful in daily practice of phonemic awareness skills. I keep them on a binder ring in a handy spot to grab and spend a few minutes reviewing before doing the phonics lessons.
Math- I use Math With Confidence as an early start to number sense. He’ll do the kindergarten level as well as daily flash card practice.
Typing- Beginning in kindergarten, I like to expose my kids to typing practice. We’ve used Keyboarding Without Tears but this year we’ll try Typing Club as a daily practice.
History- We began using Beautiful Feet Books Early American History last year and really enjoyed it! It’s a K-3 curriculum so it’s appropriate for all three of my elementary aged kids. It takes about 2 years to complete so we’ll do the second half of it this year. I love how it incorporates great books as the base of learning, most of which we can find at our library.
Science- We got really into backyard birds this spring after putting up a couple of bird feeders right outside our kitchen window so we’ll be doing a Bird Study by The Good and the Beautiful this year! I love gearing our Science and History/Geography studies around topics my kids already have interest in, so learning about birds is something we’re all looking forward to.
Our second-grade curriculum choices
Language Arts
Phonics and Fluency- My son will finish All About Reading Level 2 and begin Level 3 around Christmas. He’s a strong reader so we might move more quickly through these levels this year.
Spelling- We’re trying something new for spelling this year so he’ll do Spelling You See Level C to boost his spelling skills.
Grammar- My older kids weren’t as strong in grammar on the California Achievement Test they took at the end of the school year so we’ll do a daily practice of Language Fundamentals Grade 2 each day to reinforce these skills.
Writing- I’m excited to begin WriteShop Jr. with both my second and fourth graders. Combining writing for a few of my kids and scaffolding according to their ability is always something I try to do when homeschooling several kids at once to save time.
Extra Fluency/Comprehension Practice- Each month (in addition to our monthly reading challenge), my older kids will be assigned one chapter book to read and do a simple book report on. I love this book report idea from Little School of Smiths!
Math- We switched from The Good and the Beautiful to Beast Academy last school year and loved it! It’s an online math program that focuses on problem solving and critical thinking while boosting mental math skills. I’ve never seen a math program this rigorous, but engaging and fun. He’ll work through Level 2 and although it’s fairly independent, I sit between my kids as they complete their lessons at the same time (using the laptop and iPad) and assist as needed.
He’ll also do daily math fact practice too using flashcards and TGTB’s Musical Multiplication.
Typing- He’ll do one lesson of Typing Club as a daily practice.
History- We’ll continue with our Beautiful Feet Books Early American History curriculum, as mentioned above, doing lessons usually about three afternoons per week plus note booking.
Science- Each morning after our Morning Basket and Bible time, we do our Science lesson. As mentioned above, we’ll do our Bird Study for the first half of the year.
Our fourth-grade curriculum choices
Language Arts
Phonics and Fluency- My daughter is halfway done with All About Reading Level 4. After she finishes, she’ll likely no longer need a phonics curriculum so we’ll transition to another type of L.A. program after that, which is tbd if anyone has good recommendations for older elementary kids!
Spelling- We’re trying something new for spelling this year so she’ll do Spelling You See Level D to boost her spelling skills.
Grammar- She’ll do a daily practice in Language Fundamentals Grade 4 each day to reinforce these skills that aren’t as strong.
Writing- As mentioned with my second-grader’s curriculum, we’ll be doing WriteShop Jr. for our writing instruction this year. I love the idea of teaching different genres of writing while also working on editing and grammar skills.
Extra Fluency/Comprehension Practice- Each month (in addition to our monthly reading challenge), my older kids will be assigned one chapter book to read and do a simple book report on. I love this book report idea from Little School of Smiths!
Math- My daughter will also keep using Beast Academy this school year. I love how switching to an online math curriculum allows me to sit between two of my kids to do math lessons at the same time and provide assistance as needed, as it’s fairly independent.
She’ll also do daily math fact practice too using flashcards and TGTB’s Musical Multiplication.
Typing- She’ll do one lesson of Typing Club as a daily practice.
History- We’ll continue with our Beautiful Feet Books Early American History curriculum, as mentioned above, doing lessons usually about three afternoons per week.
Science- Each morning after our Morning Basket and Bible time, we do our Science lesson. As mentioned above, we’ll do our Bird Study for the first half of the year.
Our Daily Homeschool Schedule
With all four kids at home and three of them doing formal lessons with me, we need to stay focused and into our daily rhythm so we’re on track. Here’s how we structure our days during the school year typically 4 days a week + 1 day at our co-op…
7:30 am- Wake-up, breakfast, chores for everyone
8:30 am- Begin schoolwork- we typically begin with L.A., I’ll work 1:1 with a child while the others do independent work (handwriting, grammar, typing) or silent reading
10:00 am- Morning Basket/Bible and snack time- we meet at the kitchen table for a snack break while we have our Bible time and go over other items from our Morning Basket (I’ll share more on what we’re doing for this later)
10:30 am- Science lesson together
11:00 am- Math (Beast Academy for my older 2, done mostly independently), while I work 1:1 with my kindergartner on his math lesson
11:45 am- The boys tidy up the school and play rooms while my daughter makes lunch for all the kids
12:00 pm- Lunch as a family, the kids like to watch the daily episode of World Watch News
12:30 pm- Playtime or outside time until our afternoon begins
1:30 pm- My toddler naps, we do our History lesson, then my three older kids have their afternoon quiet time
3:30 pm- Quiet time is over, kids have a snack and usually head outside to play with neighbors
If you have questions or other recommendations similar to what we’re using, I’d love to hear about them! Choosing homeschool curriculum is something I always enjoy researching and deciding over the summer, but it can be really overwhelming with all the options out there.
My basic rule of thumb is to try out a curriculum for about half a year and if it’s really not working, I have the freedom to switch it up and don’t have to feel locked into completing it. We’ve switched curriculums a lot and what worked for one child might not work for others, so there’s always room to pivot as needed.
As always, thank you so much for reading and following along with our homeschool journey! If this post was helpful to you, I’d love to hear any thoughts you have through a message or comment below!
Have a wonderful new school year! You are doing a good hard thing and your children are thriving! Homeschooling is so worth it! 🙌
Thanks for sharing Mollie! I love seeing what other homeschoolers are doing and getting ideas from them! Fantastic post!