Homeschool Curriculum: Finding Your Family’s Groove

My husband made the comment that the nuts and bolts of events/ministry didn’t remotely excite him.  I knew that, of course, because he is a visionary- a leader in every great sense of the word.  I had to smile when I thought, once again, how different we are.  For me, if the territory is even just a little bit familiar, the nuts and bolts of the scape might as well be guacamole and chips!  Just let me dig in.  I have found these last five years of having school at home certainly gives me a platform to plan the dickens out of my days, weeks and months.

I basically begin thinking about the next school year before the current school year ends- how I could do it better, what materials might be more interesting, what order of things may work smoother, what books might bear more light on a particular subject, and how I can be sweeter while I instruct and entertain.  I listen to my friends in order to hear what they loved, what they found at the home school book fair, which I have yet to attend, what books they read, and what activities were their favorites.  My best advice is to choose your curriculum and be content.  You will always be intrigued by what everyone is doing but you have be confident in what you have chosen and go for it!

Whether you home school or not, just being an intentional mother causes you to plan incessantly.  For me, when the July page is right side up on the wall, I am ready to put all the stuff floating around in my head in one place.  Each year, a friend and I fly the coop, spend a few days in pajamas and plan. Everything.  The whole year.  So here is where my five short years of experience has gotten me. A year’s nuts and bolts.  My guac and chips.   Let the fun begin. 

Bible- We use the Building on the Rock curriculum from Summit Ministries.  I am doing it at my own pace.  We have also used the Catherine Vos’ The Child’s Story Bible and the Jesus Storybook Bible for extra reading.  (I am finding you aren’t a real-live home schooler if you don’t read the Catherine Vos Bible—“copy work” would fall into this category as well.)  We do memorize Scripture.  It’s a no brainer for these little minds which are sponges right now.  We recite these during “line time” {which is explained later}.  I have found that if you don’t have a time of day set aside for practice, it doesn’t happen.

Phonics- Spell to Write and Read and the Wise Guide for Spelling by Wanda Sanseri.  I love the black and white simplicity of this curriculum and all the levels it teaches.  It covers spelling rules, handwriting and basic reading skills.  And no, you don’t need to attend a 3 day seminar to learn to teach it.  So far, five years….one curriculum.

Copywork/Writing- Again, home schooling peer pressure caused this to be added into our week.  I get why children need to practice handwriting but why all this copy work?   I decided if my kids were going to be writing something, it was going to be worth while.  My friends found some beautiful resources by Queens Homeschooling* at the book fair one year which combines beautiful artwork with thought provoking questions or lovely sayings that will benefit the reader/writer.  If your child has a good handle on well written sentences, punctuation and spacing, I would think you are finished with copy work.

Grammar- I took my time on this one. In the earliest years, Kindergarten and First grade, I basically counted on the amount of good literature we read to give them a good start on grammar.  Well written books give your children the sounds of good grammar.  If you have read to them enough, they just learn to recognize a well structured sentence, correct verb tenses etc.   The first thing I used with Julia was Emma Serl’s Primary Language Lessons.  It was independent work for her to when I would work with Brighton.  For the last two years, we have used Shurley English and I think it’s great.  It encompasses everything a good grammar curriculum should and it is super easy to follow.  Be sure to order the Practice Sentence booklet along with the workbook.  You will be glad you did.

History- For the first two years I used a little booklet called “Turning back the pages of time: An American history library book list” by Kathy Keller.  This woman is my hero.  She has categorized wonderful picture and chapter books from the early Explorers through World War II for ALL ages.  We have discovered many, now favorite, books by learning history through great literature.  This was hands down  my favorite way to do history.  The booklet looks pitiful but it’s chock full of GREAT books!  As I moved to other parts of the world, for one year I used Truth Quest which is another curriculum that uses books from the library to walk through history.  It is worth looking into.  Since then I have used Veritas Press which also uses a good deal of literature.  My daughter is in a live class online and my son does a Self-Paced course they offer.  We have loved both.

Math- Saxon.  It just works for us.

Literature/Reading-  In the earlier years, my favorite book list has come from Dakota Press’ Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory.  The lists and reading plan in the back is well worth the used price of the book on Amazon.  We also use the weekly poems in the back.  I love this resource- not the cover but all the pages in between!  It is full of great activities.  I am passionate about reading {most home school moms are} and I wholeheartedly agree with Ann VosKamp’s statement that a curious mother and a library card can offer a child a stellar education.  I have gathered book lists from all over the web, from trusted friends, from schools in town, from my own research and from my children’s own interests.  I have an exhaustive list here from picture books, to readers, to historical books, to chapter books.

Electives- I have had the privilege of sending my kids to a school, Science Etc., that supplements homeschooling families.  My kids have taken Science, Spanish, Art, Drawing, Writing, and Geography over the years.  I have been grateful for how it has enhanced our education and for the block of time it has given me once a week.  My favorite part of school is the electives.  At least three days a week, my kids grab a snack and we all get on the floor for what we call “Line Time”.  {I wish we had been more creative!}  This is where I get to show them, tell them, read to them all the things I love learning about and wish I knew more about!

Music/Composers- We have covered composers in different ways.  One year we covered one great composer every four weeks by reading an Opal Wheeler children’s chapter book. These books are a must for any family with a love for music.  Other years, I have gathered just a little information about the composer from Pandora or a child’s picture book.  I make an 8 1/2 x 11 paper with the composer’s picture, the birthplace, the period in which he/she composed and the songs we are learning.  We will continue our plan of listening to 3 or so classic pieces by this composer while reading about him/her and all throughout our days.  I also love the resource The Gift of Music by Smith and Carlson which will be put to better use as the kids get older.  I have heard it said, it’s the only book you’ll ever need on the composers once your children are older.

Geography- You’ve got to have a great map~ the bigger the better.  If you can’t hang it, laminate a good one that will slide under a bed or couch but you will want to use it EVERYday.  Geography can be as simple as finding things on the map as we read about them- where things took place in history, journeys different people took, landmarks we come across, birthplaces of composers, artists, poets, heros etc.  Each day my children have an index card or two in their [day of the week] folder.  I have blue putty dots that they use to mark the countries, bodies of water etc. on the map.  We love to look at 24 Hours in Pictures online and identify where the pictures were taken.  A map is a jewel.  And now I know were Myanmar is!

Latin- I cannot speak intelligibly on this.  I have not had the capacity for this so I use a book called English from the Roots Up by Joegil K. Lundquist.  My children cannot translate Homer’s Iliad but they know Latin and Greek roots of words we use everyday.  That’s all I could do and I feel it will benefit them as they read and continue their education.

Habits/Manners/ Life Skills-  Everyday Graces by Karen Santorum and a book called What Every Child Should Know Along the Way by Gail Martin.  It is so critical and helpful to address these issues BEFORE they actually happen.  These books have been platforms for great discussions.

Other things from line time- any flashcards- piano notes, landmarks, states/countries and capitals, spelling rules, Word of the Week to boost our vocabularies, Timeline work {finding things we have studied}, reading from Hymns for the Heart*, reading from Hillyer’s A Child’s History of the World etc.

How I break it all down:  On my planning retreat, I divide my school year into 8- four week sections.  When we did American History, we would study one period of history for four weeks and so goes everything else- art pieces, composers, music etc.  One thing I have really enjoyed is making playlists on iTunes of things like the hymns or classical pieces we are learning, a song that may help us memorize our Scripture, stories about American History (ordered from Jim Hodges), songs that go along with our Bible study, a story or two from the audio Jesus Storybook Bible, a part of the Westminster or Heidelberg catechism, my husband reading the Scripture we are memorizing or anything that goes along with what we are learning.  We listen to this in the car and I make CD’s for the kids to listen to during room time or at bedtime.

Obviously, there isn’t enough time in a day to do all of the subjects listed above EVERY day.  If we even attempted it, you would surely find me curled up in a little ball in the corner of my closet.  These are the things I would like to do in a year but if I have learned anything in five years, it is don’t push myself or the kids too hard.  Pushing equals no fun for anyone.  If it is too much, I need to choose to slate it for next year or the summer or scratch it altogether.  Flexibility is not my strong suit so it is hard for me to give up on even just a small part of a plan, but last year I found out that it can be the wisest choice I make.   I am getting pretty good at scratching PART of the plan.  Just be realistic knowing your own tendencies, patterns and personality.  With every year, your groove will be deeper, smoother.  It’s just got to be YOUR family’s groove.

Great resource for choosing curriculum:  by Cathy Duffy

This is so great…serious food for thought!  Look for another homeschool post each day this week and at the end of this series I will share my story and answer some of the questions I’ve received from you.  If you have any homeschool questions that you’ve been wondering…whether you home school or not, shoot me an email [itsoverflowing {at} gmail {dot} com] and I’ll include my responses to your most asked questions!!!    Thanks again Krista, Not By Might for sharing these awesome resources with us!  XO, Aimee