Our Preschool Curriculum 2022

  • Some links are affiliate links; see disclosure below

Children learn through play and living out real life with their family and those around them. Young children do not need a formal curriculum to learn and grow. I firmly believe that, but I also have a four-year-old that wants to ‘do school’ like his big brothers and sister.

Reading with Sissy

Since he wants to do school, I have gathered various materials to use with him and arranged our day so that I can spend twenty or thirty minutes a day working with him. I will not force the issue if he decides he does not want to do school on any given day.

What Are We Learning?

When I asked my four-year-old what he wanted to learn in school, he told me he wanted to learn his letters and all about the weather.

Science

So I logged into my handy SchoolhouseTeachers.com subscription and found a fun Charlotte Mason Preschool course with a unit that covered weather. It also has bird and insect units which will tie in nicely with my eight-year-olds science course this year.

He will also join us on our nature walks and listen in as I do nature study work with my older children. 

Preschool Nature Study

Language Arts/ Math

I created these fun alphabet activities for my older son, so we will use them and some other fun alphabet printables. Of course, we love reading together, and I will continue reading a variety of books to him and listening to audiobooks in the car and while he is resting at home.

We are using unifix cubes, pattern blocks, and other fun math manipulatives to work on basic number sense and math skills. There are also some great fun math lessons on the SchoolhouseTeachers.com preschool playground that we can incorporate.

Art/Music

He is using our You Are an Artist Clubhouse Membership for art. He loves sitting alongside my older children and doing the chalk pastel lessons. He will also do some of his art from their preschool courses. Of course, he will have plenty of time just to be creative and access to a wide variety of art and craft materials for independent exploration.

He listens to music during our morning routine with our hymn and fine arts studies. He has been asking to start violin lessons with Practice Monkeys. However, for now, I am letting my daughter start working with him on the violin to determine if he is ready for actual lessons.

Foreign Language

I am also having him watch the Whistlefritz and Salsa Spanish videos for a simple, low-pressure introduction to Spanish. We aren’t doing formal studies, but the low-key introduction will hopefully help him learn some of the language more naturally.

How Long Will This Take?

When I list it all out like that, it may seem like a very full load, but in reality, I will spend twenty to thirty minutes a day doing ‘school’ with him, not counting our extra reading aloud and nature walks. I am looking forward to a fun, no-pressure, play-filled, and active introduction to school days with him. I think he will enjoy the focused time and attention, and his inquisitive mind will soak up all of the science.

Do you do preschool in your homeschool? What are your favorite resources?

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale BOGO sale!

The Tuttle Twins Back to School sale starts today!!

Our 2022 Third Grade Curriculum Choices

In addition to the 11th and 9th graders, I am homeschooling a third grader! It seems like not so very long ago that I was wearing him in a Moby wrap or Ergo while I taught my oldest two children.

*Some links are affiliate links; see disclosure below*

My third grader is a very auditory and kinesthetic learner, and he can tell you more about fishing and camping than most adults I know. However, he was also a little slower to learn to read than some of his peers. For that reason, you will see that we are using some second-grade curricula for phonics and spelling.

Reading and Spelling

We absolutely love All About Reading and All About Spelling. The step-by-step approach to phonics has been great. I have used it with all three of my children for spelling, but Benjamin is my first one to use the reading program. Despite his struggles, it has been a fantastic program that allows him to progress at his own pace. We are halfway through their second-grade curriculum and will finish that and start the level three program this year.

Third Grade History

Story of the World is the history program we have been using for the last eight or nine years (with a break for U.S. and North Carolina history). We love the living book style of the text and the fun activities accompanying each chapter. This has been a family subject for us in the past, but with my two oldest in high school, my third grader will be the only one doing Story of the World this year. He is in Volume Three, which is early modern history.

We have already planned several field trips to accompany Story of the World, and I am working on a book list for accompanying picture books. We can also add fun art with the history lessons from You Are An Artist, and we are even coordinating our Fine Arts program to include composers from that era of history. (If you are doing Story of the World, you can find my booklists here.)

Third Grade Math

He is continuing with Math for a Living Education Level 3 this year. He really enjoyed this math program and was excited to start again when the book arrived this week. There is a story woven throughout the math to help them see the relevance of the concepts. He was so happy to know that the story continued at this level. I appreciate that there is enough practice and review to gain mastery but not so much as to become tedious.

Science

Last year we loved Apologia’s Swimming Creatures, and he was excited to choose their Flying Creatures book for this year’s study. Once again, I purchased the audiobook so that he can listen independently, and then we will do the activities together. I am pairing that book with bird and insect art lessons from You Are An Artist and notebooking pages from Notebookingpages.com. We are also planning field trips to a local bird park, our state zoo, and even our local aquarium, which has some fun educational bird presentations.

Zoology 1

Art and Music Lessons for Third Grade

I have mentioned the art lessons we are adding to our science and history. Benjamin will do a weekly lesson from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastel Art. Sometimes they will tie into history or science, and he will choose a lesson for other weeks based on his interests. We use their clubhouse membership so we can freely move between the courses, and he can do as many classes as he wants each week. (You can also purchase individual courses.)

He is continuing his music studies with Practice Monkeys violin lessons. While he is not as dedicated as his older sister (who is working with the instructor to prepare for a college music program), he enjoys learning to play his violin and has big improvement plans this year. I appreciate that he has an excellent instructor, a reasonable price, and we can do it all online, so I don’t have to be out of the house for lessons.

We Can’t Forget Nature Study

Nature Study is one of Benjamin’s favorite parts of school. He loves to take walks and learn about the things around him. Even outside playing on his own, he often brings in different nature finds for us to look up in our books. We will use our Homeschool Nature Study Membership to go more in-depth with birds and insects. We may also add some seasonal or interest-led studies throughout the year.

Bible Time

We do morning devotions and Bible reading as a family and incorporate scripture memory work and hymn study into our morning time. However, I like having some time where we do a curriculum that focuses on teaching the Bible to younger children. Last year we started working through Master Books Bible curriculum, Where Faith Grows, and we will finish that course this year. (My four-year-old is also joining us for this Bible time.)

Morning Time

Finally, we will have our morning time. I will share a post that goes into more detail about our morning time, but each morning we have family Bible time and watch World Watch. Then we will rotate through hymn study, Tuttle Twins, Fine Arts, Logic, and Shakespeare.

We are looking forward to an exciting year of spending a great deal of time outside doing science and nature study and continuing to work on his reading skills. We will listen to various read-aloud books and audiobooks (he could listen for hours every day with our audible subscription and the free selections from our overdrive through our local library).

Do you have any favorite curricula for third graders?

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this BOGO Sale!

Apologia is having a great summer sale right now!

Journey Homeschool Academy is open for enrollment through the end of the month. If you are still searching for a science program, I encourage you to check them out.

You can use my link and get a free month of World Watch!

Super Teacher Worksheets Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I love the flexibility of homeschooling. Sometimes we follow a set curriculum (of my choosing), and sometimes we follow interests and rabbit trails. I often hunt the internet for a worksheet or project that will help with something we are learning, something one of the children needs more work on or something they are asking to learn.

I have been able to try the one-year membership to Super Teacher Worksheets this summer and found it a great way to find those resources all located in one place and ready for me to print and use. It saved me time and made it easy to find the help I needed.

What is Super Teacher Worksheets?

Super Teacher Worksheets is an extensive collection of different worksheets and printable activities for all different subjects for kindergarten through fifth grade. Preschool and middle grades students could also use some of the worksheets. 

Subjects include:

  • Math
  • Phonics
  • Grammar
  • Science
  • Literacy
  • Social Studies
  • Holidays
  • More

Parents can use the papers for all their children, so you only need one membership for each household. You could search for and print different worksheets or save them into digital file folders if you wanted to organize things ahead of time and print them as needed.

There is also a tool for making custom printables. You can make custom math printables, quizzes, flashcards, calendars, and more. This is great when you want to work on specific skills or create a quiz to cover precisely what you have been studying.

How Did We Use Super Teacher Worksheets?

I used a variety of activities with my four-year-old and eight-year-old sons during this review. My eight-year-old enjoyed the mystery math pages.

 These were pages where he had to complete math problems and color in different blocks based on the answers (like a color by number) to reveal the hidden picture. We did a fun one for our first day back to school.

We also found some fun activities for the life cycle of a butterfly that goes along with his science program this year. We are looking forward to trying out some of the included book studies, particularly the one for the Boxcar Children.

My four-year-old wanted to learn more about the weather, so we have been reading books and doing weather-related activities. We found a fun weather graph to accompany our studies. Each morning he looks out the window and comes to tell me what the weather is like that day. Then he colors in the appropriate block on his weather graph.

He has also just recently started a fairy garden, and we were excited to find a poem about fairies that we could read together. The poem also had reading comprehension questions that I could have used if he was older, but we enjoyed the poem together.

What Did We Think?

I thought that Super Teacher Worksheets was a great addition to our homeschool, and it gave me easy access to resources on a wide variety of subjects. My son loved the weather graph and the fairy poem we did together.

This is an excellent resource for having a one-stop place to get materials to coordinate with what you are working on in your homeschool. Parents can use it to accompany any other curriculum, or it could be an excellent tool for creating their curriculum.

There are so many options and ways to use Super Teacher Worksheets. I encourage you to click on the graphic below and see how other Crew Members used this program. 

printable activities

Progeny Press The Story of Ping Literature Study Guide Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Over the few weeks, we have been reviewing The Story of Ping Study Guide from Progeny Press. My 2nd grader worked through it with me, and my four-year-old sat in on the fun. This is a digital guide that could be printed or completed on the computer. They require you to have the book, but most of them are available at your local library, or they can be ordered directly from Progeny Press.

Story of Ping Study Guide

Progeny Press recommends The Story of Ping Study Guide for grades kindergarten through second. My son just finished second grade but still enjoyed the book.

This e-guide began with background information about the author and ideas for pre-reading activities. The pre-reading activities included watching videos about ducks, reading selected scripture verses, and even making a craft boat.

Then the guide moved on to vocabulary, focusing on synonyms and homonyms included in the book. After the vocabulary, there were questions about the book and the artwork. There are also dig deeper questions that encourage the student to dig deeper and think critically about the book or issues from the book. Some questions had lines that you could type or write answers to, and others offered a drop-down box for multiple choice answers.

Next, there were worksheets, including coloring pages, a maze, and a word search. The guide wrapped up with related activity ideas for after you were finished reading. They included art ideas, field trips, science projects, and more.

In addition to the student e-guide, there was an answer key included. While this may not be necessary for a short picture book that we completed together, it certainly would be a big help for older children working independently with chapter books.

Benjamin’s Opinion

Benjamin said that the guide was fun. He recommends it for students in second and third grade. He appreciated that while we did it together on the computer, it could be printed if he was doing it by himself.

Progeny Press

Overall Thoughts and Conclusions

When my older son tried literature guides from Progeny Press, he did not enjoy them (though he learned a lot.). However, my younger son does well with the Progeny Press study guides. We found them to be interesting, thorough, and easy to use. We worked through the book and guide together, and it was a great way to allow him to focus on understanding the book without hindering his phonics struggles.

You can find our other Progeny Press Reviews from the past at Progeny Press Literature Study Guides Review and Progeny Press Hound of Baskervilles and Little House on the Prairie Study Guide (Review).

Different Review Crew Members tried out different studies, so I encourage you to click on the graphic below and see how they used them in their families.

literature study guides

SchoolhouseTeachers.com Giveaway!!!!

Finding the right curriculum for our children can feel daunting. Especially if, like me, you have multiple children with different learning styles and interests. You want to be flexible and try new things, but you also can’t purchase a new curriculum every month.

*affiliate links included; see disclosure below for details*

This is where SchoolhouseTeachers.com can be a great fit. They offer over 400 different classes ranging from preschool through high school. They even have some fun stuff for the parents.

In our home, we have found it a great way to be able to explore a lot of different interests without additional cost. You can try as few or as many classes as you would like for the whole family for one low fee.

This means my daughter can explore her photography interests, I can do fun weather activities with my preschooler, my oldest can do history, and I can find fun recipes all for one price.

Then if they decide that is not a good fit, we can look for a different class.

The program also works great for those looking for a core curriculum. You can choose from various math, language arts, history, and science classes.

There are also online social events, access to videos and other resources, and more great benefits to the program. I’ll share links to several reviews that I have done to give you a closer look at the program, but the purpose of this post is to share with you a BIG sale and a giveaway!

Right now, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is running a BOGO sale; you buy one year and get a second year free. In addition, I have teamed up with them to give one lucky winner a FREE annual membership! Enter below for your chance to win!

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More Information and Reviews

Schoolhouse Teachers Review 2022

SchoolhouseTeachers.com Review 2021

SchoolhouseTeachers.com (Review)

SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

CTC Math (Review)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

CTCMath

Last year my daughter had the opportunity to try Algebra I with CTCMath. This summer, I had another chance to review the 12 month family membership and decided to take a look at the younger grades. My eight-year-old had just finished second grade, and I had him do some lessons as a review over the summer.

Since it was summer and review lessons, he did not complete a lesson every day, but as we had time, he would sit down and complete a lesson or two.

CTC Math Format

Each lesson included video instruction and digital questions. The videos were short (three to six minutes), and it only took him about fifteen or twenty minutes to complete a lesson. There was also a parent lesson reference sheet for each lesson that gave completed examples of the problems included in the lesson. This would be a great resource for a parent that needed to provide a little extra help to a student.

There are also diagnostic tests for each area. These allow you to pre-test students to see what they already know and what areas they need to practice.

From the parent dashboard, I could have assigned him specific lessons to complete. However, I chose to just let him begin at the first lesson and work his way through. This made it very open and go from a parent’s perspective.

What We Thought

My son said, ” I liked that they gave a video of what you were doing before you answered the questions.”

While we did the second-grade course, CTCMath starts in kindergarten and goes through high school level math. This makes it ideal for families that want to use the same program all the way through or for all the children in your family.

The parent dashboard would make it very easy to keep track of multiple students’ progress and gives you the flexibility of going straight through the course or assigning only certain lessons.

Conclusions

Overall, while I wish there was a little more feedback on incorrect responses and more review woven into the daily lessons, we liked this math program. When we used it with my daughter, we used it as a complete math program. This time I used it as a supplement and found that it works well either way. It is complete enough to be a stand-alone math program, but with the flexibility to choose your own lessons, it can also be a great supplement.

I encourage you to check it out at CTCMath or check out their homeschool discount and also to click on the link below to see what other Crew Members thought about the levels they reviewed.

Online Homeschool Math with CTCMath

Tuesday Tips: Benefits of a Four Day Homeschool Week!

Where We Started

We have found that having a four-day homeschool week for our elementary and middle grades children was very beneficial. The first year I homeschooled, I had planned on a five-day week.

This worked great for the first few weeks, but then we found the other homeschoolers in our area, and suddenly there were field trip opportunities, library activities, and more. Add in doctor’s appointments and other activities, and it felt like we were never getting in a full five days.
At first, this bothered the planner inside of me. I didn’t like feeling behind, even if it was a schedule of my creation. I also really wanted us to enjoy these fantastic opportunities that afforded so much learning, even if it wasn’t checking any of my pretty little boxes.

What I Changed


So, I changed everything up and went to a four-day school week. On paper, I planned school Monday through Thursday, and this left Friday for field trips, free play, and housekeeping. However, I kept it really flexible, and we could take off whatever day of the week we needed if there was another activity.


My elementary and middle-grade students generally only needed a few hours in the morning to finish their work, so fitting it all into four days was not challenging, and they were still finished by lunchtime or early afternoon each day.


Having that built-in day for field trips and housekeeping really took a lot of stress out of our homeschool. Another benefit is that my children were motivated to get their work done because they enjoyed the extra day off and knew that if they didn’t do their assignments because they had not been diligent, they would have to finish them on that fifth day.

Make It Your Own


Every family is unique, but creating a schedule with built-in flexibility can help you relieve the stress of not getting to all the lesson plans, allow more time for real-life learning and field trips, and motivate your children to get their work done in a timely fashion.
As my children have gotten older and started high school-level courses, they have drifted back towards a five-day week just because their courses take more time.

However, we still have weeks where they fit five days of material into four days so they can join the family on a field trip or do some other activity.
If you are feeling overwhelmed trying to fit it all in or if adding in field trips and other opportunities messes up your carefully written plans, don’t be afraid to change your schedule to provide that built-in flexibility.

It might be a four-day week or some other nontraditional option, but find what works for you and your family! I would love for you to share your flexible homeschooling schedule in the comments to give other families some ideas.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

Deals and Freebies

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month!

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)

Grove is offering 30% off your first order of cleaning and beauty supplies!

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

9th Grade Curriculum Choices 2022-23

My daughter is starting her first year of high school this year. I think it will be a great year, but she is a little nervous. Since she is my second high schooler, it does not feel as daunting.

*Some links are affiliate links; see disclosure below*

She will take a couple of classes with her older brother and others independently.

Together Courses

Chemistry

For chemistry, we are using Journey Homeschool Academy. We LOVED their biology program and are very excited about the chemistry course. Both of my high school students will be working through this course, and they will be able to watch the videos together or separately. Each will do their own tests and quizzes, but we will do lab work together.

We love how thorough but relatable Journey Homeschool makes their courses and the fact that they are presented from a Christian worldview.

I am super excited that they even have homework help videos added this year because it has been a long time since I last took chemistry.

American Literature

This year my son and daughter are each picking several books from American authors, and my husband and I are also picking several. When possible, we will find correlating movies. We will all four read the book and then have a family discussion. When there is a movie that correlates, we will watch it and have them make a Venn diagram comparing the two.

We are excited about this relaxed approach to American literature. We hope it helps renew their natural love of reading while exposing them to various authors and facilitating good family discussions.

American Government

We have already started the American Government course as it was a recent review from Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum. We will do their Principles and Precepts of Government along with a video series. We have enjoyed the first part of the curriculum and are looking forward to finishing it.

Independent Courses

Photography

My daughter spent her summer babysitting and selling lotion bars and sugar scrubs because she wanted to buy a new to her, nicer camera. We are doing this fun photography elective from SchoolhouseTeachers.com to help her grow her photography skills (you can use a more basic camera for the course; she just wanted to buy a nicer one). I am excited to be able to combine her interests with her schoolwork.

Bible

This spring, we had the opportunity to review Dynamic Christian Living from Positive Action Bible Curriculum. My daughter enjoys it and plans to continue working through it this year.

Culinary Arts

This spring, she is going to be taking culinary arts. My husband helped me create a culinary arts course for my son last year, and it uses episodes of Good Eats, worksheets, and other materials we created to give a well-rounded class.

We will use mostly the same course but add more baking because my daughter is interested in baking bread and desserts. She did her 4-H presentation this year on baking bread and won gold at the state level.

Geometry

*updated 8/17/22

Through no fault of my daughter, she is needing to switch geometry programs. We are looking at using either CTC Math or Thinkwell. I will update once we have decided. If we go with thinkwell we will use the self-paced courses, but we like the option for additional tutoring if needed. However, she did well with CTC Algebra last year.

Cover Story

Cover Story is a writing program that works on different writing skills while helping students create the content for their own magazines. This was another excellent review product that we started over the summer. She is taking a break from all school this month but will return to it in September.

Music

Music is my daughter’s passion, and she is excited to continue her music lessons. Her goal is to one day be able to go to college for music. She will take piano and violin lessons from Practice Monkeys, and I will also include some music appreciation with these Fine Arts Lessons from You Are An Artist.

She is excited to get high school credit for lessons and practice she was already planning to do for personal enrichment.

Morning Time

She will still be doing morning time with us as a family. We will be doing some fine arts together as well as hymn studies.

We will continue to use World Watch in the mornings as a family to discuss current events and family devotions.

You can check out what we have used for other grades, and stay tuned to see what we are doing with my third grader and preschooler!

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this BOGO Sale! Get 2 years for the price of one.

Journey Homeschool Academy is offering my readers 10% off with code SWAG through 7/23/22.

Sign up here for the FREE Make it Your Best Homeschool Event next week! I am so excited to be sharing hymn studies at this event.

Our 11th Grade Choices

How do I already have a junior in high school? It is so bittersweet. The years seem to go by so fast, and I want to hold on tight, but I also enjoy watching him grow into a godly young man.

*Some links are affiliate links; see disclosure below*

This year we are making a HUGE transition. He is going to be dual enrolled in our local community college. I will still teach him several of his courses, but others he will take at the community college. Those classes will count for both high school and college.

Community College Courses

Here in North Carolina, dual enrollment is free for high school students. He will not pay any tuition, but we are responsible for purchasing his textbooks. He will take College Algebra, Spanish 1, and Public Speaking from the community college this first semester. We will reevaluate towards the end of the first semester, but most likely, he will take Spanish 2, English 111, and Fine Arts during the spring semester. He is starting with two online courses and one hybrid course.

Homeschool Courses

In addition to his college courses, he will take Chemistry, American Literature, and American Government in our homeschool.

My daughter is entering the ninth grade and will be taking those courses with him, so I am excited to do some learning together.

Chemistry

For chemistry, we are using Journey Homeschool Academy. We LOVED their biology program and are very excited about the chemistry course. Both of my high school students will work through this course and can watch the videos together or separately. Each will do their own tests and quizzes, but we will do lab work together.

We love how thorough but relatable Journey Homeschool makes their courses and the fact that they use a Christian worldview.

I am super excited that they even have homework help videos added this year because it has been a long time since I last took chemistry.

American Literature

My son taught himself to read at age three and has read voraciously since he was in early elementary school. However, over the last several years, I noticed that he was not reading as much, and he rarely picked up a book for fun and complained about his literature programs.

I wanted him to be well-read and prepared for college-level courses, retain his love for reading, and be a lifelong reader. This year, we found that he enjoyed comparing books and movies more than answering questions about the books. The comparisons and subsequent discussions generally showed a good understanding of the book.

Therefore, this year he and his sister are each picking several books from American authors, and my husband and I are also picking several. When possible, we will find correlating movies. We will all four read the book and then have a family discussion. When there is a movie that correlates, we will watch it and have them make a Venn diagram comparing the two.

American Government

We have already started the American Government course as it was a recent review from Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum. We will do their Principles and Precepts of Government along with a video series. We have enjoyed the first part of the curriculum and are looking forward to finishing it.

Conclusions

We will continue to use World Watch in the mornings as a family to discuss current events and family devotions. My son is also running his own business raising meat chickens, and we may add in a poultry science elective related to the business. 

He has a full schedule, but we look forward to the changes.

Stay tuned to find out what we are using for my other children. I’d love to hear what courses you love.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library 

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this BOGO sale! 2 years for the price of one.

Just for my readers, you can use code: SWAG to get 10% off any Journey Homeschool Academy Course this week only!

Buck First Bank Account (Review)

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Last year we had the privilege of reviewing two Buck Academy books about money for toddlers and elementary students. This summer, we were able to check out their new book, Buck First Bank Account, which Dustin Goss wrote, and Febyolla Goss did illustrations.

What is Buck First Bank Account?

Buck First Bank Account is a 25-page paperback picture book packed with information about getting your first bank account and saving money. The first twenty pages walk children through the process of opening a bank account, essential terms and information they need to know, and the benefits of saving money from a young age.

The book also talks about having goals and a plan with your money.

Pages twenty-one to twenty-three are a comparison and assessment form to help them choose the right bank and account for their needs. Page twenty-four is a glossary of essential terms, and twenty-five finishes the book with information about the author and illustrator.

The illustrations are bright, colorful, and fun, and they help make what could be a challenging topic seem less overwhelming for younger students.

What Did We Think About Buck First Bank Account?

My teenage daughter thought it covered a lot of great information, the different types of accounts, and the differences. She didn’t like that pages 14-15 went across the binding and were more challenging to read. 

She thought the content was great for upper elementary through high school, but the graphics are most appropriate for the upper elementary school students.

I agree with my daughter that the content is excellent, and the illustrations are adorable. The pictures lean towards the elementary range, where the content could be for older students. I still think it is a worthwhile purchase and a great way to help students work through getting their first bank account.

Recommendations

I recommend this book for upper elementary and middle grades students ready to open their first bank account. Elementary students may need assistance completing the bank account and comparison at the book’s end.

If you have an older student who has never opened a bank account, the information would still be helpful, but the illustrations may make it seem too young for them even though the content is appropriate.

Find out more about this book at BUCK Academy, and click on the graphic below to see what other families thought!

first bank account