Every summer I spend days researching, watching YouTube reviews, and chatting with friends about homeschool curriculum choices— because there are so many options and I want to make sure the our curriculum choices still align with the needs of each of my kids.
This year, we’re keeping a few of the same choices but also changing some up as well. It’s our 7th year homeschooling and this year my kids will be in 5th grade, 3rd grade, 1st grade, plus I have a preschooler and baby who are just along for the ride.
I’ll break this post down by specific grade level because not all of my kids do the same curriculum, and then share our typical school schedule. I’ve learned to not hold too tightly to a curriculum if it’s no longer working and to pivot quickly onto something else— which has been freeing to realize this and always beneficial to our enjoyment of homeschooling.
1st Grade Curriculum Choices
Language Arts- Because we don’t use a curriculum that bundles all aspects of L.A. into one book, my first grade 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. This year, we’ll begin finishing up Level 1, which lays a great foundation for early phonics skills and fluency through the readers it comes with and then beginning Level 2 around Christmas. (P.S. I found a way to save hundreds of dollars by saving the student workbook pages in plastic sleeves!).
Spelling and Handwriting- Last year, we began using Spelling You See Level A so we’re just about done with that and then we’ll move onto Level B. Similar to teaching phonics skills, it provides a great practice with the letter patterns and formation at this stage and also works on handwriting.
Writing- I didn’t do a whole lot of writing practice last year with my son so this year he’ll sit in the lessons with my older kids as we do Write Start Jr. Book D. It’s recommended for ages 8-11 so I’m planning on doing some the writing for him as he dictates his ideas. Writing at this age is really just for fun rather than learning the different styles and modes— so this year will be a gentle start and the following years I’ll teach more of the mechanics and formal parts of writing.
Extra fluency/comprehension practice- I have my school-aged kids read for 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- We’re using Simply Good and Beautiful Math 1 this year. I’ve done this one with all of my kids in 1st grade and really like the format of it. My son also will do a stack of addition flash cards each day to practice his fact fluency.
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’re involved in two homeschool co-ops so most of our science learning comes from classes my kids take there. This year, we’re doing a Geology study so my kids will be learning about types of rocks and rock cycles, minerals, earth layers, and earthquakes/volcanoes and doing a written research report too. He’ll also take Anatomy STEM with our other co-op this year which will be a really fun and hands-on way of learning about the body. Science is always more fun doing it with more kids which is why we prioritize these co-ops as part of our homeschool year!
3rd Grade Curriculum Choices
Language Arts- I’ve always done All About Reading with my kids in the primary grades to establish a solid phonics foundation, but my son flew through Level 2 last year and even tested out of Level 3 in the placement test afterwards, so I felt as if he needed less phonics instruction and more fluency, grammar, and spelling instruction. We might start Level 4 of All About Reading later this year if I feel as if it’s needed, but for now we’re doing Learning Language Arts Through Literature (the yellow book) as his core L.A. curriculum.
I spent a lot of time researching L.A. curriculums for my older kids this summer and landed on this one because of how much good literature it incorporates into the lessons. Each week focuses on an excerpt from a classic book or poem. We use that passage to practice spelling words, grammar skills, and comprehension. In addition, there’s a Literature Link that is assigned every few weeks.
One of our favorite parts of homeschool is doing shared reading of good literature together, so my son and I will read books such as The White Stallion, Madeline, Meet George Washington, and The Courage of Sarah Nobel together and we’ll practice written responses, oral comprehension, vocab words, and fluency.
Spelling- I wanted to include an additional spelling component to his L.A. curriculum because we started Spelling You See last year and really enjoyed it. He’ll finish Level C this year and move onto Level D afterwards. I like this curriculum because it teaches kids to write spelling words in context, rather than just memorizing a list of words and then quizzed on them at the end of the week.
Writing- I had all intentions of beginning WriteShop Jr. last school year but with being pregnant and not feeling as well, we neglected to do a formal writing program…so I’m excited to get this stated this year! All three of my elementary aged kids will do writing together in the afternoons. Our L.A. curriculum does include some writing, but this program will teach them more directly the different modes of writing and the writing process. We’ll use Book D from WriteShop Jr.
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- When my son was in 1st grade, I felt that Simply Good and Beautiful Level 1 became too easy, so we switched to Beast Academy by the Art of Problem Solving 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. Although it’s fairly independent with video lessons, I’ll be there to assist as needed.
He’ll also do daily math fact practice too using addition and multiplication flashcards.
Typing- Thank you for all your recommendations on typing programs! I sifted through about half a dozen of them and finally landed on Good and Beautiful Typing. We did a 10-day trial of their new online typing program and both of my older kids loved it, which is a pleasant surprise since they’ve normally very much disliked any other typing program we’ve done!
Handwriting- I really like The Good and the Beautiful’s handwriting books so my son will do Level 3 Introduction to Cursive this year.
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- As mentioned above, we’ll do our Geology study with one of our homeschool co-ops and my son will also have a class on Animals at our other co-op. I didn’t want to do a separate science curriculum at home this fall since we’re transitioning to life with a new baby, so we’ll add more to our spring schedule if needed.
5th Grade Curriculum Choices
My daughter will be participating in a Homeschool Enrichment program two days a week (in addition to the main co-op our family participates in one day a week) which will mean she has independent studies in the morning and then electives in the afternoon. We’ve been praying about changing things up for her for a while, and this new opportunity sounds like a perfect mix of independence and creative electives such as nature, art, cooking classes, business and entrepreneurship, athletics, and the chance to learn with other kids.
Language Arts- She completed All About Reading Level 4 last year and has a solid phonics foundations, so we’re doing Learning Language Arts Through Literature (the purple book) for her core curriculum. I’m excited for her to read great novels such as Farmer Boy, Trumpet of the Swam, Number the Stars, and Caddie Woodlawn— which I’m planning on assigning as an independent study and do regular check-ins with her on vocab and comprehension. I’m also having her create a book report on each of these books as I think written narration is so important for comprehension.
Spelling- I didn’t love the spelling component of her L.A. curriculum so we’re continuing Spelling You See Level D from last year, which we both really like.
Writing- As mentioned with my third-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. She’ll also take a Creative Writing class at one of our co-ops this year which I’m really excited about!
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 switched from Beast Academy back to Simply Good and Beautiful 4 last school year so she’ll finish that curriculum and then we’ll decide if we want to continue with TGTB or move onto something new. I’ve switched her math curriculum a lot over the years to adjust to her learning style so I’m still trying to solidify which one works best!
Typing- As mentioned above, she’ll also do Good and Beautiful Typing. We purchased a refurbished Chromebook laptop last year and it’s been a very affordable way of including online learning into our homeschool year, where each of my kids can use a laptop for various parts of their learning.
Handwriting- I really like The Good and the Beautiful’s handwriting books so my daughter will do Level 5 Focus on Cursive this year.
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- As mentioned above, my daughter will do our Geology study with our co-op as well as many hands-on learning opportunities through the electives in the Homeschool Enrichment program she’ll be in two days a week.
Our Daily Homeschool Schedule
With five kids at home most days and three of them doing formal lessons with me, I knew we needed to have a pretty set rhythm to get everything in but not feel so stressed and overwhelmed since I also have to juggle the feeding and napping schedule of a baby!
Here’s how we structure our days during the school year typically 4 days a week + 1 morning at our co-op…
7:30 am- Wake-up, breakfast, chores for everyone
8:30 am- Begin schoolwork- We begin with Math, I’ll work 1:1 with my 1st grader while checking in on my 3rd grader and my 5th grader does most of hers independently…I'll check over it when she’s done. My husband usually takes the 4-year old for a walk which is a huge help!
Then we move onto L.A. lessons where I work 1:1 with each child as they rotate through their independent items or play with the baby or 4-year old.
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). Sometimes we head out for a walk around the block if we need a little more of a break before getting back to lessons.
10:30 am- Continue with lessons, usually finishing up L.A. with everyone as well as their independent activities
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
1:00 pm- Writing lesson with the 3 kids followed by our History Lesson before beginning nap and quiet time
2:00 pm- Begin afternoon quiet time, a very needed part of the day for everyone when we spend most of our days together! If the baby’s nap schedule coordinates and allows me to have kid-free time, I sit and write, check emails, or do something relaxing.
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!
I’m so curious, I see you use learning language arts through literature for older grades, what made you choose all about reading for the younger grades instead? I’ve been considering their first grade blue unit for my son, but I don’t currently have any friends that use it.