Homeschool Year 7

I can not believe that we are going into our seventh year of homeschooling! It has been great some years and a disaster others, and that is ok.

This year is a big year for us. The twins are doing their first year of high school, and my 6-year-old will be doing his first year of structured kindergarten (we have dabbled a lot). My 3-year-old is not in a place where he is ready to learn, but I have picked up some flashcards to help with his language skills. He has a huge speech delay with no diagnosis and a HUGE personality. 

It’s been a couple of years since I have done a curriculum drop. So I thought it would be fun to update you on what we are teaching this year and why.

English

This has always been a hard subject for me to teach because I have neurodivergent kids and English is where they struggle. I am down to homeschooling four kids this year. The twins are starting high school, so we are focusing the majority of our effort on getting them “caught up” in writing. I put that in parentheses because who is to really say where kids need to be at a certain age? They all learn differently, and that is the beauty of homeschool. That being said, my daughter is severely dyslexic, so she struggles with spelling and reading comprehension. Where my son’s autism makes him very literal. So that is challenging to teach him writing.

My 6-year-old son was not interested in learning to read this year. He asked me to do two math curricula, and I obliged. Being in kindergarten, I knew intense school wasn’t necessary. He is a whiz and math and really enjoyed his year. Recently, he came to me very frustrated about not being able to look up the names of the bugs he caught because he couldn’t read. Unschooling for the win on that one! I didn’t force him and he is ready to learn on his own.

This year for English, we decided to use The Good and The Beautiful. I like the way she lays things out and covers a little of everything. Plus, this has been a busy year for my business, making open and go curriculum a dream.

Literature/Spelling

As I said, all the kids struggle with English or language to some extent. So this year, I am adding a little extra reinforcement that will feel fun or like they are learning something else besides more English. 

The twins are going to be taking Prairie & Pine Curriculum’s Exploring The American Food System. It is a highschool-level book set that follows Joel Salatin’s Book, Folks, This Ain’t Normal. It is going to be a perfect addition to my high school science curriculum. They have other book sets that follow 1984, Into The Wild, and I am Malala. We can’t wait to try more!My kindergartner is going to use Reading Eggs with the workbook to enhance his spelling and reading skills. He likes to get a little bit of tablet time and this is a great way for me to hand it over guilt-free. 

Math

The twins are really good at math, but we hit a wall last year in Algebra. So many people struggle here. So after several months of everyone upset, we set math aside for the year. 

With all my travels to homeschool conventions, I found Denison Algebra. I love the way he makes note taking part of the lesson. This drives me crazy with my kids. They never write anything they need down and are then frustrated when they don’t have what they need. So I’m so excited to try this one with them when I love math!

My little guy will be using The Good and the Beautiful Math. He likes how interactive it is!

History

All three of the older kids were doing The Good and The Beautiful Government this year, but we didn’t finish. So we are going to wrap that up while I finish my new book, Homestead History. You can click here to join the waitlist or learn more. 

The government course has a great chapter book that all the kids gather around for me to read, and I love spending that time with them. 

Science

All of the kids will be using my Homestead Science this year. My 6-year-old has done it twice at this point. But with the expansion pack coming out this year, I can really reinforce his learning. The twins have dabbled with reading the textbook a few times to complete a project around the homestead. So now this year, they are going to take the whole course so that they are ready for the advanced classes I will be writing this year. 

Extras

Every year, I let them choose an extra or elective. I am usually pretty open to them choosing whatever they want as long as it is somewhat educational. So my daughter chose an introductory French to see if it’s something she even likes or can handle. I actually chose my son’s for him, but I knew he would love it. I found a geography curriculum where you do your own research and fill in the blanks for all the states and all the countries. I am kind of excited to learn with him!

More Thoughts

I am now going to share some other fun curriculum that we found floating around that we plan to use as we finish other things. Those include Beyond Personal Finance and Edible Knowledge. I will probably start some preschool with my three-year-old as he shows interest. One that I loved for my six-year-old was Gentle & Classical Preschool.

I would love to hear what everyone else is using and why!