Homeschool Curriculum

We are in our second year of homeschooling and in that short time we have found homeschool curriculums we love! When I was researching all about homeschool, which curriculum to choose was overwhelming. There are hundreds of choices and a curriculum is not a one size fits all, but I am going to share with you what is working for our family at the time.

I will start out by saying we mix and match curriculums to best suit our needs, and I encourage you to do the same. There are of course options to use one company for your entire curriculum, although not many families I know go that route. The beauty of homeschool is getting to do what works best for your child! My children are currently in 5th and 1st grades.

Language Arts

We use The Good and the Beautiful for language arts for both kids. Firstly, this is a Christian based program, so if you want a secular curriculum this is not for you.

The beauty of this program is the open and go style. It is also more advanced than public school standards so I feel good knowing they are getting a great education. TGATB language arts includes literature, grammar, phonics, spelling, geography, art appreciation, vocabulary and writing all in one. I have experienced both the younger and older levels and have been impressed by all of them. They update their levels frequently to give the best education.

Math

Each child uses a different math homeschool curriculum. My 5th grader uses Horizons and my 1st grader use The Good and the Beautiful. For next year I am planning to switch him and they will both be doing Horizons Math. TGATB math is wonderful for a child who likes or needs manipulatives. My son would prefer to do the math in his head as opposed to counting out manipulatives. If you have a visual or hands on learning they will excel with TGATB math. Horizons math is thorough and we have been very pleased with it.

History

History is where we have struggled a bit. My oldest loves history, it’s her favorite. Last year we used The Good and the Beautiful and it was a little dry. We switched to Beautiful Feet this year. Beautiful Feet is a Charlotte Mason inspired style. It has wonderful literature and can be taught family style, as can TGATB history. Family style means the parent reads the lesson or book to all the children and they have an individual assignment that is at their grade level. We do enjoy this but the age gap is a little too much now that my daughter is older and is advanced in history.

Next year we plan to do separate history curriculums. Also for younger ages history isn’t necessary. Just look up things they are interested in or read age appropriate books about historical events.

Handwriting

For handwriting they both use The Good and the Beautiful. I like that in the upper levels they teach cursive. My 1st grader also has a separate blank handwriting book he used to practice more handwriting or write stories or daily affirmations in.

Science

We use The Good and the Beautiful for science. Their science is taught in units. For example, we are currently doing the Mammals science unit. We typically do 2 units a year. We are exciting to start the Weather unit soon. Science is again taught family style. We do the lesson and projects together and they each have a grade level assignment. We can’t say enough good things about their science units!

Electives

For my oldest, she does typing and takes piano. We also have the Art and Crafts book from The Good and the Beautiful. Art is done a couple times a week often just using YouTube videos.

We are excited to begin our first classes with Outschool. My youngest is going to take a Dinosaur class and my daughter is going to do a beginner chess class.

There you have it, our homeschool curriculum for the 2020-2021 school year and our planned changes for next year. Homeschool has been such a blessing to us and I hope to share our journey into homeschooling soon. If you have homeschool on your heart I urge you to give it a try! As always let me know if you have any questions!