Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2015-2016

I finally was able to write down our homeschool curriculum for the 2015-2016 year! These posts always take a while but I love talking about curriculum!

With a new baby and a 3 year old, I knew I had to be careful with the curriculum I picked out. As much as I love Charlotte Mason I couldn’t pick out a curriculum that was super teacher intensive. We have a good balance…I don’t have the books we are reading together on this list. Currently we are reading through a Little House on the Prairie book. It’s the children’s favorite time of day!

Sixth Grade

Mosiah really enjoys reading, history, and science. Language Arts, like grammar and writing are not his favorite. Sound like a boy? 🙂  I let him help pick out his curriculum this year, and we both are happy with what he is doing!

History – Uncle Sam and You from Notgrass Publishers. So thankful for Notgrass history! It’s been the perfect fit for Mosiah. A good mixture of reading and writing. He does not like the vocabulary, but it’s good for him. 😉

Science – Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology by Apologia, plus we are using the human body sticker book from Usborne. We have started using more Usborne books in our school and love them!

Math – We are using Teaching Textbooks again this year. I’ve been so thankful for it. Math is not his strong subject and after trying several different curriculums, he seems to be learning the best with TT.

Grammar – Growing With Grammar is a new curriculum for us this year. I heard some blogging friends talking about this curriculum, but honestly the website really turned me off. I couldn’t get past the outdated look to get a good feel for what the curriculum had to offer. I’m so glad I found a copy at a used book sale. It’s been the perfect fit for us. It does not need much teacher involvement, unless the student has a question.

Writing – Winning With Writing, which is a writing program from the same company as the grammar. So far it’s going great! Very clear instructions, and just the right amount of writing for a boy.

(The 4th grade Bob Jones reading book is not his, I grabbed the wrong one to include in the picture!)

Spelling – We are using Spelling You See, a first for us but so far I like it. The stories are very interesting, so Mosiah likes that!

Handwriting – Italics handwriting book.

Music – Mosiah takes cello lessons and is just finishing up Suzuki book 1. We also are doing piano lessons with a free online piano teacher.  Hoffman Academy has been an amazing find! I can play the piano, but I just don’t have the mental brainpower left to teach and we don’t have money in the budget for more lessons.

Art – We are doing more art appreciation this year than hands on. With a husband that is a graphic designer (who always draws really well), you would think we would have some amazing art lessons. Sean is just so busy, but he helps when he can. We are using some picture study portfolios from Simply Charlotte Mason, plus the Usborne book of Famous Paintings.

4th Grade

Israel is an interesting child to teach. He gets through school so quickly but a lot of times when I check it, he really did a good job! Not always 🙂 but often. He keeps me on my toes, staying on top of his work. He still isn’t strong in smoothly going from one subject to another, so I have to make sure his schoolwork keeps going. He loves his history this year!

History – We are using Beautiful Feet Early American History for the first time this year! It’s going really, really good. I was nervous to try it, but so far he reads the book to himself, I ask the questions and oversee the assignments that he has to do. Love it!

Science – He is doing Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day by Apologia. We also use the Notebook and I found the box of experiments at a used book sale!

Math – Teaching Textbooks!

Spelling – Spelling You See, American Spirit book E. I was grateful that we chatted with them at our homeschool convention and they figured out which book the boys needed to be in.

Grammar – He is also using Growing with Grammar.

Reading – We loosely use Bob Jones reading. Israel really likes the stories, and I found the work text for $1 at a used sale! I don’t even use the teachers guide with it, it’s more of a filler to keep him busy. 🙂 He reads a lot and I prefer them to read more living books.

Handwriting – we are trying the Italics handwriting book. Honestly…his handwriting is probably what I stress the most about. Any suggestions? 🙂

Art – Israel loves to draw, he is always creating a battle scene, cannons firing, or recently, baseball pictures. I got him a doodling book from Usborne to use as well. We do art appreciation as a family with the Simply Charlotte Mason pictures, plus the Usborne book of Famous Paintings.

2nd Grade

Carrianna has settled into a really good routine with school. She loves handwriting and math! Reading is starting to become a favorite subject as well, but she still gets easily frustrated if she can’t figure a word out.

Math – We use Horizons 2nd grade math and love it. She has used Horizons since Kindergarten and really enjoys the layout of it.

History – We are doing the Beautiful Feet Early American History Primary set with her. She seems to like it, and the books included are excellent.

Handwriting – She uses A Reason For Handwriting.

Spelling – A Reason For Spelling (though I keep thinking about switching her to Spelling You See, or just making more time in my day to use the All About Spelling program).

Reading – We are in the All About Reading level 2 book. So wonderful, I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am for this program. It takes all the stress off of me as a teacher. I just sit down, open up the book and teach. No prep work the night before!

Science – We still have not added in science yet, but I’m planning on using the introductory science online course through Science Shepherd. I’ve never used it before, but it looks like a great resource!

Art – Carrianna loves to draw and color! I often walk in the room and find her at the table with a coloring book and coloring pencils or crayons out. She has been coloring the Usborne Flowers to Color book. The nice thing about that book is it includes a picture of the each page already colored, so she tries to copy that.

The Vintage Fashion Coloring Book is one I got for both of us to do together. It’s going to be so much fun! The Usborne Drawing, Doodling, and Coloring fashion is another great book. I like that you can easily make outfits modest by just doodling on a higher neckline, or coloring something in. 🙂

It’s so much fun having girls!

Music – Carrianna takes violin lessons and is almost done with Suzuki book 1. She also is doing the private piano lessons online.

Whew! I think this post is long enough. 🙂 I’ll share what we are doing for Kindergarten and PK in a different post.

I’d love to hear what you are using in your homeschool this year! Did you find any new treasures?