It’s that time of year again.
The one that kind that secretly causes me a bit of anxiety whenever we walk into a store, and there are all the school supplies, staring us in the face, ready to go. The happy, chemically plastic smells in bright packaging, saddled with the promises of a fresh beginning: It once upon a time, kind of excited me.
Secretly, it still does.
But right now I’m all, too soooooonnnnn! Because we’re so not ready. I don’t know if it’s because we feel so in limbo with where we are, or because we’re still a little burned out from out struggles with this past year.
Cue the woeful tunes of “Sealed with a Kiss“, because you can find me in the fetal position of denial, eating too much dark chocolate, rocking back and forth. Pretending there isn’t a mound of to-dos in front of me. PS please tell me I’m not alone.
We really appreciated your awesome comments in this post a few weeks ago, and we knew we had quite a bit of homework in the curriculum department. It gave us a great start.
As I mentioned in our last post, this will be our third year, and we opted out of Sonlight this time around. It’s been a great curriculum and we now own three separate levels of them, which is a great building block for us from this point onward. We decided from here, it was time to build and piece together based on what we already own, for a great school year for our kids.
I literally sat down, and read each and every comment everyone left… and when there were repetitive comments about one thing, we took notice, and wrote it down. From the master list, we took those curriculum suggestions, and researched based on each child. Deciding what to give a whirl this year was based on strengths, what we need to hone in on, and things that we feel will inspire them… Building on their confidence in a few areas, and challenging them in others. It’s going to be different, for each kiddo.
Box day {or semi-box day, in slow motion, arriving in increments} happened this last week. So when we received a few questions about what we decided to go with this year, we thought we would share it all. This is just what we decided on, based on where we are, and what we hope to accomplish this year.
So without further ado, our schedule for the year, and our homeschool curriculum:
First things first: I feel like I have a ton to do in front of me. It’s that yearly itch that comes with the school room that involves organizing it all, getting it all in front of me, and instigating a system that makes it doable for us, each day. I’m using our planner for this year {get your own free version here} and organizing All. The. Things. It just helps me feel better, and I can keep a tab on our crazy life without feeling like I’m spiraling out of control. With a deeper need for more dark chocolate.
But at a glance, here’s what our daily schedule will look like: {On an ideal, no-holds-barred, no speed bumps, let’s-do-this, conquer-the-world kind of day}…
We all know those don’t always happen. But here’s the plan, Stan.
Our Journals:
We’re big on those writing exercises in our journals, as a great warm up to wake up those brains. So for the younger two {and for our older, on normal, ruled paper} we will be starting off with a writing prompt each morning.
It helps get them into the flow of things, and ready to go. This is sometimes paired with a devotional {we love this book – great little conversational topics for kids} But we go over the basics, here too. Like the month, day of the week, order of the months, etc. It’s just good to have a daily review of the basic stuff they’ll need to function in the real world. Then they can share their little entries if they wish.
Next up, is Math.
We’re sticking with Horizons this year.
Malone is technically in Kindergarten, but we tackled that math last year. So he’s on first grade level with this little program, and he loves it. Basic, full color worksheets that help them grasp concepts. We also ordered the teacher book for the 4th grade, while the other two are pretty self explanatory, as we go along.
Spelling:
We’re using all about spelling for all three kiddos, on their own levels.
We loved that they had an assessment test to give your child before ordering, so that you know which level will work best for them. Levels 1, 2, + 4. It’s not here yet, but we’re waiting with bated breath.
Language Arts:
For the younger two, we’re using Explode the Code {grades K + 2} to focus more on grammar and a few of the rules that come with it. Just a few little exercises to help them start thinking in that direction. And more phonics. We may alternate these for afternoon work, depending on how All about Reading goes. {See more on that, below}.
For Aiden, {grade 4} We’re really honing in on his writing exercises this year, and we found this little program – Spectrum Writing – that we think will really help with all of that. It breaks down the basics of writing, while both reviewing and re-introducing a few good concepts to help build his abilities.
Here’s an example of what the page looks like on the inside… it received some great reviews.
Reading:
For the younger two {grades K + 2} they’re actually 18 months apart, so we’re seeing a little of their abilities in different areas, beginning to overlap. We struggled a bit with the older on phonics last year, so we’re starting them both on level 1: Malone at the beginning, Emerson midway/to the end – mainly to build confidence before we move on to level 2. We think it will help with the areas we’re struggling, and we’re finding that just like walking, talking and all things developmental, kids grasp different things at different levels.
For our oldest {Grade 4} We’re choosing some favorite classics for him to get into. Sometimes he will read aloud to us, others we will let him go to it. He is at that age where he really enjoys diving into a great book. So we’re slowly but surely choosing a few of our faves to start him out with, and supplementing as we go, thoughout the year. Between Amazon Prime, Sonlight and our own personal library, we’ve got it covered. And it’s my very favorite part.
History:
With all of your awesome recommendations, we decided to go with My Father’s World US History this year for all three kiddos.
We also plan to supplement for our oldest with books like this, The Children’s Encyclopedia of American History,
And this little score I found at a used bookstore that I can’t wait to get my hands on. I’m thinking we can adjust it to his level… I guess we’ll see.
Science:
We’ve signed them up for a local class at the wildlife center here in our town. And after that is over, we will be exploring some subjects on our own with these books, our science kits, field trips, and anything else we can think of that interests them.
After lunch, they have a break and then a little bit of independent afternoon work that we have them cover.
For afternoon work:
We love Handwriting without Tears. They’re wrapping these up, and then will move on to the next, when they finish these.
And we alternate between a lot of workbooks, just to keep things simple and their minds fresh, depending on which subject we want them to tackle.
We also plan to do a read aloud at night, from a chapter book together as a family.
That, along with their activities they’ll be into this fall, and that about covers our curriculum this year. Shew!
It’s time to organize, divide and conquer, and figure it aaaaalllllllll out.
Have you decided on your curriculum yet? When do you guys plan to start?
Mama has her work cut out for her. Mama needs a pep rally. ;} Cheers to diving in!
Have an inspired day!
Pssst:
Don’t miss our live Q+A tonight the {27th} at 8:00 CST… we’d love to see you there!
If you’d like to follow along, just download the periscope app, and it will alert you if you follow… or look on your computer screen-you can find us by searching @handmade_home, and it automatically links through our twitter when we go live, too. You can go ahead and email us some questions (we have a few waiting in the wings) or ask them right then and there. We look forward to seeing you there!
Elizabeth Byler Younts says
Way to go, Ashley. Choosing curriculum is not for the faint of heart. I’m in the final planning stages of my HS this year. I have a 3D grader and a K4 tot. Looking forward to hearing how your year goes!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Thanks, Elizabeth! This may be as far as we get – I can’t bring myself to start organizing yet! Too soon. Too soooooooonnnnnnnnn…
Anna says
I love that you’re sharing how you guys break it all down. It just makes great sense that way and I feel like it’s doable with multiple children. Great choices!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Thanks, Anna!
rachel says
We had used Sonlight for our first 3 years of homeschooling and finally felt brave enough last year to go out on my own. I found some stuff I loved and some stuff I needed to improve on. I do love Horizon math but for my 6th grader this year I decided to try teaching textbooks. We found alot of great resources at the Turtle shell in Prattville.
Im excited to add more this year but feel like Im alittle behind in the game.
ashley @ the handmade home says
Hey Rachel! That sounds awesome! What do you mean by a little behind in the game? with putting it all together? I was just curious – from one former sonlighter to another ;}
rachel says
yes, I meant behind the game in planning.( I feel the boys are ahead in school.) Sonlight made it so easy with everything pre planned so if I need to have the boys work independent they could just look in the IG and go ahead with what they needed to do that day or if I was out of town they knew what was required to be completed. I did not follow it to a tee but felt like it was definitely a great guide. Im still trying to decide what to do for history and social studies. If you ever want to meet up with a local( homeschool) mom for a chat or play date with the kiddos drop me an email.
Gevay says
Great choices! I hope it all works. I had a tough year with my 7 year old last year! Here’s hoping we both have a spectacular year!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Us too, Gevay! You’re not alone! Hang in there, friend!
Britt says
Such a great post! I love to see the curriculum that people use and how they fit each need. You seem to be prepared and organized (no surprise) for a great year. I am a huge fan of Usborne Books for homeschooling. I’m glad to see the science books being used. The classic stories would be a great addition to your language arts and reading subjects. And I’m sure you are familiar with the great math and history helpers! Thanks for sharing your plan for the kiddos!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Thanks Britt!
Not quite organized just yet, but I’ll be working on it soon :/ We love Usborne books, have a ton of them and will definitely be supplementing with those as well for our reading! It’s my favorite part! ;}
Britt says
It would be mine too. Definitely my favorite activity with my boys. 🙂 Today is Read Where You Are day by the way! Snap a pic of reading with the kids, share and use the hashtag #ReadWhereYouAre! 🙂
Melissa says
Oh ! Thanks so much for sharing this. You will love love love all about reading…I have homeschooled for 10 years and this by far is the best reading program out there!!!I just found out about it in February and orderEd it as fast as I could. We too do explode the code! Abeka math until 3rd grade…then teaching textbooks…have you heard of it? Miracle math program for sure!!!!! I just ordered our stuff…get so excited when it comes in! Will try to keep that excitement all year when things get hairy 🙁 . We will be soaking in the heat and swimming and sleeping late for now though….why does Summer fly by? Thanks again….love your blog and ig…Melissa
ashley @ the handmade home says
Awesome! Those choices sound great. I will definitely keep them on hand for the future – I have found that I do enjoy piecing it together so far. haha – Yes, I’m trying to make myself get excited I’m just not there yet! :/
Danielle says
Ashley, we are just staring with Horizons math- did you feel you needed the teacher handbook for grades 1-3? Thanks for your help!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Hey Danielle! I have to say, the student workbooks are pretty self explanatory. You will have to review concepts with them and go over certain things like counting by 5’s, 10’s, etc. All in the name of being thorough, the teacher workbooks come with really big lessons attached to them and we found it to be TOO thorough, if that makes sense. This probably sounds bad, but they were grasping the concepts just fine, so we were all aintnobodygottimeforthat. We started out with teacher workbooks, but since the student versions were explain-as-we-go with the layouts, we ditched them. The lessons are very much build-as-you-go, and the review is also thorough. So it all depends on your style; on the kiddo’s learning style and your math abilities. We were fine, however… aside from googling a few terms we’d forgotten ;} Our kids picked it up with ease – our Kindergartener this year, started level K last year, and now he’s on first grade math – and the program is age appropriate but now he’s ahead because it was pretty great with the layouts and the ease of use. We’re picking up the handbook this year for grade 4 because I’m terrible at math and want to be thorough – but we will only use it as a reference for tough spots. I hope that helps!
Darnetha | ChippaSunshine says
Thank you for posting your curriculum! I don’t homeschool but I’ve been looking into reading programs and tutors for my son. The All About Reading program sounds fantastic and a great way for me to boost his confidence in reading at home.
Joy says
Great selections! Just found Spectrum Phonics for my Kindergartner so I’m happy to see you’re using one of their language arts books as well and had a lot of great feedback about Spectrum.
Joy says
Forgot to add: we’re starting in six days. I’m having baby #6 in Sept so I want to get a month under our belt before we take a little “maternity break” when little sister joins us. I am glad to see I’m not the only one in a fetal position, hoarding all the chocolate!!! Just ordered my last curriculum books on Amazon today (good golly I love Amazon Prime!).
Lorraine R. says
It looks like you are well on your way to a successful school year!! It was always so exciting when the curriculum started pouring in!! Box day was a delight!! Now with a 10th, 9th and 6th grader, it’s not quite as exciting (lol). We use a bit of Sonlight, Horizons Math and have pieced in a few other things to cover the other subjects here and there. Are there any homeschooling groups or co-ops there in Montgomery?
sara neufeld says
love hearing about your choices! This will be our first year homeschooling after years of doing university model school. picking out curriculum is NO.JOKE. holy cow, it has taken me allllll summer. There are so many great choices! anyhow, i’ve ordered and now waiting for everything to arrive…it’s coming in stages. then organizing and prep! wowzers! we are excited though!
Mary Ann says
Do you have any suggestions for a simple Bible curriculum? I’m trying to find one that I can use for my 3 kids (4th, 2nd, K) and not have to buy different levels! Thanks!
Aja says
What are you using for reading, the name was not available or a link.