Our Sixth Grade Curriculum Choices

I am excited to share with you today the very best and only correct sixth grade curriculum! Just kidding! I firmly believe that there are many great programs. There are many factors that go into choosing the best curriculum for your child. However, I always like to share what we are using in case it helps someone find a program that works well for their family.

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My daughter is eleven and getting ready to start her sixth-grade year. When we sat down and discussed her goals for the year, she wanted to work on improving her running, her music skills, start her own weaving business, and read through the entire Old Testament. As I sat down to plan her curriculum, I wanted to find ways to incorporate both the academic goals that I had for her as well as her own goals and interests.

Glossary Sample

For language arts, we are using a combination of four programs. This might sound a bit overwhelming but they each cover a different area and generally only require a few minutes each day per program. First, we are continuing to use All About Spelling. It is one of my favorite programs ever because it was such a game changer for our family. This program helped both of my older children to finally understand spelling and translate what they were learning in spelling to their everyday writing. Last spring, my daughter had the opportunity to try out Fix It! Grammar from IEW and we felt like it was a really good fit. The short lessons were effective without being overwhelming and so we are going to continue to use that program for Grammar. For literature we are going to use Analyzing, Understanding, and Exploring Literature from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Finally, we are going to start working our way through Sharon Watson’s writing program Jump In. My son started this program last spring and we really liked it. She has various plans to cover this material in anywhere from one to three years. I plan on using the two-year track with my daughter.

For the last two years my daughter has used Math For A Living Education. She has really enjoyed the program and it worked well for her. I thought about switching her to something that she could use all through middle school (level six is the highest in this program), but since she liked it and wanted to continue, we decided to go ahead and finish out the program before switching to something new next year. I love that it is a very open and go program that includes lots of real-life application to help them understand why they need the math and when they will use it in real life.

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For science, we are finishing up a science program that we started but did not finish last year: Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics. We love the Apologia series but got behind due to the hurricane and switched our science focus to match what was happening in our lives. We are excited to dive back into this program and finish it out. We enjoy all of the hands-on projects and the creation-based approach to science.

We will be studying North Carolina History as a family. We love history and have spent a good deal of time volunteering at our local historic site, so the children are very excited about this year’s history line-up. I will be using a variety of books, our North Carolina Junior Historians program, the North Carolina Historic Sites, and a variety of other resources to take them through North Carolina’s history. We will also use State History from a Christian Perspective to get us started and get a good overview of North Carolina.

For art, she will work on lessons from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels. She does not see herself as much of an artist, but has found that she can follow along with Nana’s simple and clear instructions to create adorable pictures. I think that the program helps her gain confidence in her art abilities and takes her outside of her ‘box’ and lets her try new things. For music, she takes violin lessons from Practice Monkeys. We love this gentle and convenient approach to music lessons. She is progressing through the levels of the program quickly and enjoys practicing each day. She is also hoping to add piano lessons through the same program in January. I love that she can manage this new passion and is being responsible in practicing and ‘going to’ her online lessons without a lot of reminding. We are also going to incorporate some music appreciation materials during our morning time and evening education.

In addition to these programs, she will be doing Bible study each day and our morning time which will include read alouds, music appreciation, missionary studies, and more. Of course, there will also be lots of free play, field trips, and hands on adventures to keep the real-life learning going. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing more about what we are using for our morning time as well as the programs I am using for my eighth grader. If you have younger children you may want to check out Our Kindergarten Curriculum.

What are your favorite middle grades resources?

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W is for Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows

I tried to choose just one but, there were several W books that just had to be mentioned. The Winnie the Pooh cartoons bring back fond memories of my own childhood; when I would go to my aunt’s house (we did not have satellite television at my home growing up) it was one of my very favorite television shows. Even though I did not read the books until I was an adult reading with my children. I just loved Pooh Bear and reading the books aloud to my children has been such a great experience. The characters are so much fun but also quietly teach such wonderful life lessons of love, friendship, loyalty, and selflessness. If you want to know more about how the stories got started you might also want to check out Finding Winnie, or if you want a family movie night A bear named Winnie.

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Wind in the Willows is another classic book that I had never read until I read it aloud to my children. It is a fun story that had them asking for more each time I read a few chapters. The stories of Rat and Mole will warm your heart and make you laugh and no one can forget the irascible Mr. Toad. I will note that as this book is a British book so there is a use of a word that we consider inappropriate in this house unless it is actually referring to the animal (a**). Depending on your children you can explain that it was considered acceptable there or you can skip it or mark it out as you see fit. Author Kenneth Grahame does a great job with descriptive language that paints a picture of the story in your mind.

Finally, I need to mention the Who Was Series (Among our Favorite Series). These short biographies are a great way for young readers to get more information on a variety of important people including historical figures, scientists, authors, and even a few famous athletes.

Have you read any of these W books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter W.

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Our Kindergarten Curriculum

One of the most popular homeschooling questions I receive is, “What is the best curriculum for….?” I will be the first to tell you that there is no one right answer to that question. There are many factors that go into choosing the best curriculum for your child. However, I always like to share what we are using in case it helps someone find a program that works well for their family.

My son turned five in April and is beginning his kindergarten year this fall. Earlier this summer, when I was working on goals with my older two children, he wanted to set his own goals. I suggested learning to read or to write his name. He, however, had other ideas. He let me know that he wanted to learn to cook pancakes and fish, climb trees, and more about Jesus. While I don’t think this is all we will learn in kindergarten, I did think they were worthy goals and a great insight into the mind of a five-year-old boy. I’ll leave the tree climbing lessons to his siblings but I do plan to teach him to cook pancakes and fish (though not together) and I am always happy to teach my children more about Jesus.

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All About Reading's new color edition review

In addition to his goals, I have planned out some fun curriculum for us to use to cover additional academic subjects. We do believe in a relaxed approach to kindergarten and what I have planned should take us about an hour a day not counting field trips, nature walks, and his fifteen-minute violin lesson. Since he is not yet showing any interest and has been resistant to learning letters and reading, we will be waiting to start formal phonics until at least January. I will re-evaluate his readiness in January and possibly start All About Reading or work some more in The Learning Dynamics Reading Program. I am also going to have him continue to use his Starfall subscription a couple times a week to continue his exposure to letters and phonics.

I will be using Five in A Row as our primary curriculum with him this year. This program is a great way to encourage an enjoyment of good children’s books and incorporate other areas of learning. Using this program, we will read the book of the week five times (once each school day) and complete various activities coordinating with the book. Five in a Row includes activities for social studies, math, language arts, art, and science. Each week I will choose from the variety of activities to engage and challenge him.

While Five in a Row includes some math, it is not a sequential math program. I believe that math in the early years should mostly be hands on and as real life as possible, but I like to have slightly more structured program. Therefore, I am using a Calendar Math set and the Building a Foundation with Kindergarten Math course from Schoolhouse Teachers to create a math program for him. He loves doing math and is looking forward to getting started. He has really enjoyed using the Pattern Block Pack from The Crafty Classroom so I will also use those a couple times a week for independent work.

For science, we will be doing a mostly nature focused science study in addition to some of the science activities in Five in a Row. I am going to use a primary journal so that he can draw pictures of what we find in nature and then dictate a sentence about it for me to write at the bottom. We will use our Peterson’s field guides and other resources to learn more about the things he finds. I am also planning to get him caterpillars in the spring so that he can learn about the life cycle of the butterfly.

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We will be studying North Carolina History as a family. At the kindergarten level this will mostly be listening to me read aloud, having family discussions, lots of field trips, and some fun coloring pages. We also already to historical interpreting as a family, so he has lots of exposure to history and has developed a love for the revolutionary era. I believe that this will be a great introduction to the study of history for him.

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For art, he will continue to work on lessons from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels. He has been doing the preschool lessons, but as he gets more comfortable I will have him do some of the regular lessons that are a little more challenging. He enjoys these lessons with ‘Nana’ so much and just last week as we were coloring a picture he told me that my picture was “almost as good as Nana’s.” For music, he takes violin lessons from Practice Monkeys. We love this gentle and convenient approach to music lessons and looks forward to them each day.

In addition to these programs, he will be joining us for Bible study each day and our morning time which will include read alouds, music appreciation, missionary studies, and more. Of course, there will also be lots of free play, field trips, and hands on adventures to keep the real life learning going. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing more about what we are using for our morning time as well as the programs I am using for my older children.

What are your favorite kindergarten resources?

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V is for a Variety of Children’s Books

When I first started trying to think of books with “V” I was really struggling, but then I found four different ones in our collection that I felt were worth sharing. I decided to share all four of them so that you have a variety of “V” books to choose from this week.

v is for pinterst

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The first two books, staples in our children’s collection, are by Eric Carle. The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Quiet Cricket are wonderful children’s books that we have enjoyed reading many times over the years. The pictures are adorable and descriptions are fantastic. You can almost hear the insects with the descriptions in The Very Quiet Cricket as the sounds are described using terms such as, ” hummed a bumblebee” and “screeched a cicada.” It would be a great book to add to a study of insects. I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar so much that I plan to do a week long unit study on the book with my kindergartner this year. We can eat some of the yummy food that it talks about, get caterpillars to watch as they go through metamorphosis and turn into butterflies, and learn the days of the week.

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Velveteen Rabbit is one of those classic children’s stories that I think every child should hear at least once. While it has some really sad parts, it is a wonderful fairy tale about the power of love. If you are not familiar with this title, it is the story of a well loved stuffed rabbit that had to be thrown out after the child who loved him had been very sick. The magic of that love allowed him to become a real rabbit.

Victoria House is one that I had not read until recently. I found it in the clearance section on a recent bookstore visit and picked it up for $1. Written by Janice Shefelman, it is the story of a beautiful old house that had been abandoned and was going to be torn down. Fortunately, an architect saw it and fell in love with the home. They had the house moved into the city, moved into it, and turned it into a happy home once more. It was a cute story with lovely illustrations. I also felt that it was a great reminder of the value of older things in today’s ‘throw away’ culture.

Have you read any of these V books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter V.

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U is for the Under the Sea

When my five year-old son was about two he received a copy of the Usborne Lift and Look book, Under the Sea. He absolutely loved it and would have me read it over and over. On each page, you lift various flaps trying to find a small fish aptly called, “little fish.” He would lift the flaps and get quite excited and clap each time he found little fish. He had me read it and ‘read’ it himself over and over again until it fell apart. Thankfully, Usborne has a discount replacement system and I was able to get a new one that he continued reading. We are now enjoying sharing this book with his little brother who is 16 months old.

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Under the Sea is a fun book that is great for the toddler and preschool years, especially if you have a little one that loves fish and sea life. It encourages their observational skills, helps with fine motor (opening the flaps), and is enjoyable to read together. It is also a great book for young children to ‘read’ independently because they can enjoy looking at the pictures and finding little fish under the flaps even without being able to actually read the words.

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Have you read Under the Sea or any of the Usborne Lift the Flap books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter U.

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Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

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Learning Dynamics Reading Program (Review)

I recently had the opportunity to review the Learning Dynamics Reading Program by Learning Dynamics with my five-year-old son. His birthday was in the spring so he just turned five and will be considered a kindergartner in our homeschool for the 2019-2020 school year. He had no prior reading instruction and was very excited to try and learn to read.

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The program arrived in mail all nicely packaged in a cute storage box that makes it easy to keep together. The package is a really nice perk because it is easy for parts and pieces to go missing in our house. The kit included a lesson manual, a CD with songs to go with the lessons, a student workbook, flashcards, and character letter reward punch-outs for each letter. It also had over 50 full-color books for beginning readers.

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The program is designed with short lessons to match the typically short attention spans of young readers. The program is designed for students ages 4-7 that are learning to read. It can also be used to teach older students who are struggling to learn but may feel a bit ‘childish’ even though it could be effective.

20190515_170224 — Even baby brother wanted to help with the unboxing!

When the program arrived, my son was very excited to try it so we got started right away. It was very ‘open and go’ and only took me a couple of minutes to know what to do and get him started. The lessons are short and only took about 10 minutes to complete. This works well with the typically short attention span of young students.

IMG_20190516_121211_396 — Student Workbook Page, Character card, and Teachers Manual

First, you introduce the letter that the student is learning in that lesson and the sound, then you read a short story about the character that goes along with that letter. Next, the student listens to the song for the letter and then completes a short worksheet about the letter in which they circle the pictures that start with the letter and put an “X “over the ones that do not. The student can also trace and practice writing the letter on that page. Then the student listens to the song once more while pointing to the pictures that match the items in the song. Finally, you review the letter name and sound.

Once the student has mastered the first five letters, the program introduces blending so that students can begin to make words. After lesson nine, the student is introduced to the first book. My son’s favorite part was the character that went with each letter. For example, H was for Henrietta Horse who wore a happy hat. He would have me show him the punch-out of Henrietta and read her story several times.

If a child is ready to learn to read, this program could move them very quickly through learning letters, blending sounds, and into reading. There is no busy work or monotonous repetition and so it is easy for them to stay engaged in each lesson. However, if your child is not yet developmentally ready to read this program may move too fast for them and not be enough practice to allow for mastery. In the case of my son, he enjoyed the program but could not remember the various letters and sounds from lesson to lesson which made it hard for him to progress forward. I plan to put the program away for a few months, then reevaluate his readiness in January and possibly try the program again. The age at which a child is ready to read varies greatly from child to child and could significantly affect how well your child would progress using this program.

If you have a child that is ready to learn to read or struggling with their reading and you want a short and simple approach to teaching them, Learning Dynamics Reading Program might just be the program for you. It is low teacher prep, easy to understand, and engaging for students. In addition, I am pleased to offer my readers 10% off of your purchase of this program when you click on this link and use the code: SCHOOLINSWAG . I encourage you to click on the Crew Reviews graphic below to check out the experiences that other crew members had with this program.

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T is for the Tuttle Twins and Trixie Belden

I was having a hard time deciding between these two sets of books so I decided to share both of them with you today. While not as common as some of the books I have shared before, I think they would be great additions to your reading list and personal libraries. The Trixie Belden books are a series my mom introduced me to as a child and now, I am excited to be passing them along to my own daughter. The Tuttle Twins are a much newer series that I purchased for my son for Christmas last year.

T is for Tuttle

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The Trixie Belden series was one of my favorites as a child. It was a series by Julie Campbell and Kathryn Kenny about a fun young lady named Trixie Belden who was always solving mysteries. This series written from 1948 to 1986 was full of good wholesome stories that made reading a pleasure. If you have a child that likes a good detective story or dreams of solving mysteries this is a great fit. They are similar to the older Nancy Drew books and a perfect fit for the 8-12 year old crowd.

The Tuttle Twins is a newer series that teaches children the principles of freedom. It is a great way to teach your elementary age children about economics and limited government. These books teach about entrepreneurship, free trade, the Golden Rule, banking and even the dangers of socialism. These books teach complex concepts in ways that make them easier for students to understand and without the liberal bias that is often found in books about these principles.

Instead of being taught in a textbook, these books are written in a story format with beautiful illustrations by Elijah Stanfield. Each book contains a glossary and discussion questions at the end as well information about a book for adults on a similar principle. You can purchase them as a set from the Tuttle Twins website (they are having a 35% off sale right now) and get a free set of PDF workbooks to accompany them. You can also check them out on Amazon if you would rather purchase the books individually. These can be used as a read aloud, independent reading, or with the workbooks as a civics curriculum.

Have you read any of the Trixie Belden or Tuttle Twins books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter T

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S is for the Secret Garden

C.S. Lewis once said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a delightful classic novel that stands up to CS Lewis’s test. It is a pleasant family read aloud (though it has some sad parts) or a great independent read for later elementary school and middle school. If you have a high school student who has not yet read it, I’d even recommend it for them. We personally have the paperback 100th anniversary edition by Harper Collins and my daughter really liked some of the bonus features, but our favorite way to enjoy the story was the radio theater version by Focus on the Family.

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“I like The Secret Garden because of the adventure Mary has and I also like how it tells the story of Mary and Colin and how Mary finds Colin by the crying she hears. I also like the bit of Yorkshire they use in it and how Mary teaches herself how to do things. i.e how to jump rope.” Elizabeth Age 11

The Secret Garden is the story of a young orphan girl named Mary Lennox who goes to live with her uncle in his large home, Misselthwaite Manor, and finds it to be full of secrets. At night, she hears the sound of someone crying. She loves the massive gardens around the estate and eventually discovers a young boy (her cousin) and a secret garden. She helps him to over come some emotional and physical obstacles and changes the their lives and the lives of those around them.

We are going to read this one (or listen as the case may be) again together as a family this summer and use this free book club guide from Sarah Mackenzie over at Read Aloud Revival to discuss the book.

Have you read The Secret Garden? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter S.

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Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

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Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

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R is for Red Rock and Read Aloud Family

R is for Red Rock Mysteries! This fun series is written by Jerry B Jenkins and Chris Fabry. We were first introduced to the series through the online audio dramas but my son is collecting all of the paperback books and highly recommends them.

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The Red Rock Mysteries star a brother and a sister whose father died and later their mother remarried and they moved out to the desert of Colorado where they ride ATVs, have adventures and solve mysteries. Their mother is new to the Christian faith and they struggle with figuring out what they believe and learning to trust in God. It is a fun series that shares important lessons without feeling like a sermon. I would recommend these for ages 8-14. This series could also be used as a family read aloud, but know that there are a few scary parts as the teens run from bad guys and solve mysteries that might bother younger children.

For moms, I highly recommend the Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie. This book was such an inspiration to encourage me to get back into the habit of reading aloud with my children, including audio books into our days, and just encouraging a love for books in our home. The book is part inspirational and part practical suggestions to help you actually put into practice those ideals that you long to see in your home. You can find out more about the Read Aloud Family over at my Read-Aloud Family Book Study posts.

Have you read any of the Red Rock books or Read Aloud Family? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter R.

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Deals and Freebies

Schoolhouse Teachers is also offering a great sale!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Q is for Queen Esther

Q is for Queen Esther! It is not often that I write a post about a book I have not actually read. In fact, I think this may be the very first time. I was having a bit of a difficult time coming up with a book to share for the letter Q and I remembered this great series that we had reviewed last summer, Barbour Publishing Kingdom Files Biography Series . We reviewed the two books about Mary and Jonah but they have a book about Esther that looks great. I love the story of Queen Esther and how by stepping out in faith she allowed God to use her to save her people.

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This series of books, written by Matt Koceich, teaches children about Biblical people and each book is set up to contain three parts: Fact File, Action File and Power File. These parts take them through learning the basic facts about the person and timeline, telling the story of that person, and then walks them through how that all applies in their life today.

These are great for independent reading for roughly ages 8-12 and for family read alouds or devotional times. There are currently six books in this series which each focusing on a different person from the Bible.

Have you read any of the Kingdom Files books? Tell me what books come to mind when you think of the letter Q.

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