Homeschool Easy Full Curriculum Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

With so many folks new to homeschooling this year and looking for an open and go curriculum option, I was excited to take the opportunity to review 1st Grade Entire School Year Curriculum by Homeschool Easy

The 1st Grade Entire School Year Curriculum included reading, grammar, math, history, science, and writing all in one program. The program is downloadable and was well organized with each subject being in a folder and then the necessary PDFs with-in each folder were labeled by week. This makes it very easy to open what you need and print out each week’s materials. There was also a short 2-page PDF that walks you through how to use the program.

There are two components to the reading program. The first is a book that you would read each week for comprehension with questions about that book. The books are available online and linked through the PDFs so you do not have to purchase additional materials. The second component focuses on learning how to read with sight words and phonetic lists. Each week there is a new set of words with flash cards and worksheets to work on daily that relates to that new set of words.

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History and Science are both set-up with a series of worksheets and art projects. Several times a week there is an accompanying YouTube video or other similar free resource with more information on the topic. The science lessons had more videos (almost daily) and I felt like those lessons went more in-depth than the history. While it would vary some, most days the history component would take about 5-10 minutes to complete and science about 15-20 minutes.

For writing, each day the child has a simple grammar worksheet to complete and there are two writing prompts for each week. Each week focuses on a new skill such as nouns, contractions, or combining sentences. The writing prompt worksheets provide lines for the students to complete the prompt on the worksheet.

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The math component includes a worksheet or two for each day. Each worksheet provides an example and explanation at the top and then problems for the student to solve. There is an answer key provided with answers as well as links to YouTube videos that explain the concepts for each week.

Overall, I found Homeschool Easy to be a great option for a parent that is looking for an all-in-one print and go curriculum. It included reasonably short lessons that are easy to implement and cover all of the basic subjects for a first grader. Our family would want to go deeper with the history component, but we could use this as a guide and find additional books and documentaries to go more in-depth. I think this program is a great option for parents that want something that is all inclusive and open and go and takes a minimal amount of planning time. It would make a great basis for a new homeschooling family.

I highly encourage you to click on the graphic below to see what the other reviewers thought and how they put this program to work! Reviews reviewed grades 1-5 so you can check out specifics for the grade level you are interested in.

How Do I Teach…. What I Don’t Know Back to School Blog Hop

One of the most common questions that I am asked by those that are interested in homeschooling is, “How do I teach what I don’t know?” Most of us feel fairly comfortable with most elementary school subjects, but we may have concerns about high school (Algebra anyone?) or elective subjects such as music and art. There are several solutions to this problem, but the real answer lies in the fact that while homeschool moms do spend time teaching, their overall job is more of a facilitator. This is especially true as students get older.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

When my children were in the early elementary grades, I personally taught them almost everything I wanted them to learn. However, as they have gotten older there have been subjects that I did not know how to teach them. This did not mean we needed to give up homeschooling or that they would be unable to learn. This meant that I needed to find a curriculum we could use to learn together, teach them to learn and research independently, or out source the subject. Over the years we have done a combination of all of these to help them learn.

First, there are many wonderful curriculums that can help you teach areas that you do not know well. Even though I felt competent to teach elementary science and history, I found I learned a great deal right along with my children as we went through those subjects. Many parents worry about teaching phonics when their children are young, but there are many great programs that will walk you through the process including our favorite, All About Reading.

As an adult, I believe that we should always be learning. I learn by reading, watching documentaries, doing research, and talking to other people. As my children got older, I started teaching them how to use those same techniques to learn about their areas of interest. When my oldest wanted to learn about gardening, he started doing research and talking to our experts over at the cooperative extension. When my daughter wanted to learn about weaving, she read a book, watched several videos, and talked to a good friend that was a weaver. This is a great way to encourage their interests without mom having to know everything.

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Finally, sometimes you just need to outsource. This may mean an in person course with a local co-op, an online course, a tutor, or private lessons. For several years now we have been outsourcing both music and art. My children adore their music lessons from Practice Monkeys with three of them taking violin lessons and my daughter also taking piano. My son is even considering adding their new guitar lessons in the fall. I cannot play an instruments would have been unable to teach these skills, but this has not stopped my children from enjoying the blessings of music lessons. We also love our art lessons from Nana at You Are An Artist . These fun chalk pastel and acrylic lessons have allowed my children to learn about various techniques in a fun way all from the comfort of our home.

As my children have gotten older, we have begun outsourcing some of their core subjects via video instruction. Many of these are subjects that I was proficient in during my high school and college years, but much of that knowledge was forgotten over time. For example, this year my son is going to take a video based geometry course from SchoolhouseTeachers.com as well as a video based Ancient History course. He is also going to use Journey Homeschool Academy for biology.

No one knows everything there is to know about every topic, but that should not deter you from homeschooling. There are so many great options that will help you lead and facilitate your children’s education. If you are already homeschooling, what resources do you use with topics that you don’t know?

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

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.

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!

Super Teacher Worksheets Review

Over the summer we had the opportunity to review a 1-year membership with Super Teacher Worksheets. This membership gave us unlimited access to all of the worksheets on their site and the worksheet generator where I could create my own worksheets. They have a wide variety of worksheets available for reading, spelling, math, and more.

For this summer, I primarily used this program with my six year old who is learning to read. I chose a variety of worksheets that would supplement his phonics program. In particular, he enjoyed the the worksheets that used his dot to dot markers to fill in the circles and make the shape of the letters. I printed out each of the letters that went with his phonics program for the day. Each letter also had handwriting practice, craft activities and more. There were also phonics worksheets that worked on letter sounds.

My son also tried and enjoyed some of the basic math worksheets. Since we were between school years, we used some of the kindergarten level math worksheets to review and keep his skills sharp. The math worksheets are divided by topic (addition, multiplication, geometry, etc) and then with-in each topic there are a variety of different worksheets at different skill levels. There are worksheets that go all the way from the very basics of numbers and addition up through algebraic equations.

Science and social studies were split into various topics such as butterfly life cycle, human body, simple machines, American Revolution, landforms, maps, and more. Each topic there were a variety of activities and those were marked with their suggested grade levels. In addition to more standard comprehension or question worksheets, they also offered coloring sheets, scavenger hunts, crossword puzzles, and other activities. For example, the butterfly unit included several songs that students could use to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly, coloring pages of the life cycle, a wheel they could cut out and put together about the life cycle, and a variety of other fun worksheets.

We did not try the spelling program because my son is not yet ready for spelling but they offered spelling for grades 1 through 5. Each grade offered 30 units and each unit had a new spelling word list and a variety of worksheets to accompany the list. It was enough to be a standalone spelling program.

For older elementary children, there are a variety of worksheets that form literature units for popular novels, such as Magic Tree House, Charlotte’s Web, Boxcar Children, and more. The units for each book include comprehension questions, writing prompts, vocabulary worksheets, and more. There are also independent reading comprehension worksheets that are divided by level. They range from first grade level all the way to middle school.

For teachers or homeschool moms, there are a variety of printables to help with various tasks. This includes calendars, lined paper, projects, grade books, and other templates. There were also some fun brain teasers, puzzles, and holiday worksheets.

Overall, I found this program to be a great resource. I appreciated the variety of different types of worksheets, the ability to create my own, and the fact that the worksheets included answer keys to make my job simpler. I think it works best in most areas as a supplement to another curriculum or as a part of a parent created program. This is especially true for math where the worksheets would make great practice or review, but do not provide a great deal of instruction. The spelling could stand alone and for younger grades the science and social studies could mostly stand alone with a few read alouds or documentaries added in.

I highly encourage you to click on the graphic below and see what types of Super Teacher Worksheets other reviewers used in their home and how they put this program to work! There is so much variety available.

Morning Time 2020 Back to School Blog Hop

Morning time is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling, but if I am being transparent it has also been one of the most challenging to implement consistently. When we first started homeschooling and I had a four year old and a six year old it was not very hard. They automatically did a lot together. We did not call it morning time, but we consistently did a few things together each morning. We would have Bible time, calendar time, and read a story.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

However, when you add a baby or a toddler to the mix, things can get a little more complicated. Over the last several years I’ve learned a few tricks that have helped me to make morning time happen more consistently. First, the toddler is going to be a toddler and we just have to expect some extra movement and noise. It is perfectly acceptable to continue to have morning time over the noise of an energetic toddler and not to expect everyone to be perfectly still and quiet. Second, keep it simple and readily accessible to not being prepared is never an excuse. This allows you to utilize whatever time you have available. Even if you can only get in 10-15 minutes that day, you still have done something.

This year I am adding another challenge to our morning time, a high school student with a heavier course load. I know that he will need plenty of time to get his other work done, but we still plan to have him join us for at least part of our morning time each day. I want to continue to foster that atmosphere of family learning, but be mindful of his needs. Our plan for this year is a starting point, but I am going to be very open to adjusting it as needed.

My goal for our morning time this year is to cover Bible and one other subject each day. We are going to put the other subjects on a loop schedule so that we just keep going through the list. This will allow us to cover a variety of topics without it feeling overwhelming and without trying to do too much on any one day. I am setting aside 20-30 minutes per day for our morning time.

For Bible study we will be using a variety of resources. First, our church is continuing our study through Core 52. We have enjoyed what we have covered so far. In addition, we like to do monthly hymn studies where we learn more about a particular hymn and the story behind it. My son also enjoys sharing different praise and worship songs with us during this time. I am also currently looking over several Bible studies to find one that I think will work well for us this year. We have in the past used the ones from Not Consumed, which we really enjoy because they do a great job of Biblical application and they have the same study broken down by age groups so they are easy for us to do altogether.

Other subjects that I want to cover during our morning time include geography, read-alouds, Shakespeare, and music appreciation. This list may change a bit as we go through the year. I like to be able to use this time for any subjects or activities that I feel would be beneficial to all three of my school age children.

For geography we are going to continue to work through Let’s Go Geography Year 2. It is a fun program that the children really enjoy and it is easy to break it down into short chunks that we can do during morning time. For music appreciation, we will be using SQUILT Music. The ‘live’ courses are not actually in the morning so sometimes we will be able to catch them together in the afternoons, but we can use that morning time to watch the lessons that we do not do live. It is a bit longer than our normal morning time lesson but all three of my school age children enjoy it and the toddler will often sit and watch part of it because he enjoys the music.

I knew that I wanted to introduce more Shakespeare to my children, but honestly I had been a little nervous because it seemed so advanced. However, after listening to Pam Barnhill talk about it on her blog and in her podcast I became convinced that we could enjoy Shakespeare as a family. (If you want to have a more in depth morning time or want a resource that lays it all out for you, Pam has some great morning time resources that are seasonal or themed around different literature. She even has plans based on various times in history. ) I have purchases Shakespeare’s Stories for Young Readers as well as Shakespeare’ Theater to get us started. We have enjoyed theater adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays done by Bob Jones University. They typically will offer a free live stream each year. I’m not sure how that will play out this spring with the COVID restrictions, but they have several available in their archives.

To start off our read alouds this year, I am finishing Family Under the Bridge. Next up is Tuesday in the Castle, which we are reading as a family book club with our Read Aloud Revival Membership. I also have One Blood for Kids, Who Was Mr. Rogers, and Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen. I will add to this list as we go through the year and would love to hear your ideas for great books to read aloud.

I am excited about the curriculum and books that we are going to start off the year with and would love to hear what you are using. Please share in the comments and feel free to ask questions as well.

Deals and Freebies

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.

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!

Must Have Supplies… For Mom Back to School Blog Hop

Today’s blog hop theme was must-have resources or supplies. My first thought was all of our basic supplies, and a couple years ago, I shared a post that talked about Friday Favorites: My 5 Must-Have Supplies That You Might Not Think About. Today, I decided I wanted to share my must-have supplies for moms.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links; see below for more information. *

Chocolate

First, chocolate or whatever treat is your favorite. Homeschooling is a worthwhile job that has many blessings; however, it also comes with its share of challenges and hard days. A little chocolate can lift your mood and give you the energy you need to keep going on the hard days.

Books

Second, encouraging books to give you ideas and support. What each mom finds encouraging will vary a bit, but I tend to gravitate towards those that offer ideals and support, not necessarily curriculum advice.

Some of my favorite encouraging books are Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie, The Lifegiving Table and The Lifegiving Home by Sally Clarkson, and Better Together by Pam Barnhill. I am also currently reading Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson and have really enjoyed what I have read so far.

Notebooks

Third, a pretty blank notebook to jot down notes, keep track of ideas and make plans. Some would say that it doesn’t have to be pretty, and it may not matter to you. However, I have found that having it be a pretty notebook can bring an extra smile to my face on a challenging day.

Being a mother means lots of different thoughts to keep up with, and when you add in homeschooling, it just gets more challenging. Having a notebook where everything is written down can make it much easier to keep track of everything.

Friends

Finally, a few friends that will support you. This challenging but amazing journey is so much better when you have friends that can encourage you and help you through the tough days. Whenever possible, I highly recommend finding a few local friends. Families with whom you can share park days, field trips, and moms’ night out. However, if you are struggling to find that connection because of the current pandemic or because there are not a lot of homeschoolers in your area, join a homeschool Facebook group that is encouraging and uplifting.

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares My Must Have Homeschool Resources.

Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Must Have Resources and Supplies in Our Home.

Annette @ A Net in Time shares Nature Study Bring Alongs.

Jessica @ My Homeschool with a View shares My Top 5 Homeschool Supplies.

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag shares Must Have Supplies … For Mom.

Vicki B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Must Have Resources / Supplies.

Yvonne @ The Life We Build shares her Top 5 Favorite Homeschool Supplies and Resources.

Lori @ At Home: Where Life Happens shares Homeschool Supplies… Squirrel.

Deals and Freebies

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing BOGO sale this month! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.

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

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

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

Back To School Traditions Blog Hop

I love traditions! We have traditions for holidays, traditions for weather events (snow and hurricanes), but today I want to talk about traditions for ‘back to school’.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Tradition Misconception

First, I want to clear up a common misconception about traditions. I often hear people talk about being overwhelmed by the prospect of having so many traditions because they feel like it is a lot of work or that traditions need to be big and elaborate events. While this may be true with some, it does not have to be!

Most of our traditions are quite simple and were often created to make life easier. For example, when there is a hurricane foretasted we make rice krispie treats to have for breakfast. This started because I wanted something fun and easy for breakfast that would not need any electricity.

So, someone takes five minutes the day before the storm and whips up a batch to eat the next morning. Breakfast solved! It brings excitement and familiarity to a time that could otherwise be a bit scary.

Our Back-to-School Traditions

We have four simple traditions that my children have come to expect when it’s time for ‘back to school’. First, in addition to whatever curriculum we need, they all get some basic back-to-school supplies.

There is nothing like a box of fresh pencils and new crayons or markers to help us get excited for the new year. This time of year is a great time to buy all your school supplies for the year (and pick up a bit extra for Operation Christmas Child boxes) because they are on sale at some of the cheapest prices we normally see all year.

Last year’s date with out kindergartener!

Our Breakfast Tradition

Second, while our family does a sit-down breakfast most every morning, we almost always have chocolate chip pancakes and bacon on the first day of school. It is the breakfast that everyone loves, and it makes for a tasty start to the day.

While we are talking about food, we also take each child out on a special date before kindergarten. We started this with my oldest the week he started public school kindergarten but have continued it with our other children after we started homeschooling. They get to pick the restaurant, and it is a great chance for us to spend some special time with them and talk about how proud we are of how they are growing up.

Pictures

Third, I need those back-to-school pictures, even though they aren’t really going to a different place. I love being able to look back through the years and see how the children have grown from the beginning of each year. I simply print off sheets that say First Day Of ____ Grade and have them hold the papers for an assortment of pictures before we start our lessons.

Start Dates

Finally, we start the day after Labor Day. We enjoy spending time swimming and playing at the river each summer and didn’t want to cut that time short. We also generally have the opportunity to spend some time with family towards the end of August, so it works well for us to hold off our start date. The children love that they get to wait and get in that last bit of summer fun before settling down to the books.

Remember that traditions should be a fun way to make memories together. They do not need to be difficult or stressful. It is also important to remember that they can change, and that is okay. For example, this year, my younger children are still starting back after Labor Day, but in order to make my high school student’s schedule work better, he is going to begin some of his courses the week before Labor Day.

I would love to hear about some of your home school traditions. Tell me about them in the comments.

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares Homeschool Traditions.

Yvie @ Homeschool on the Range shares 20 Best Educational Subscription Boxes (we let the kids choose a new one at the beginning of each school year)

Vickie B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Traditions {NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop}

Adrienne B @ Practicalmindedness shares on Traditions that seal the heart.

Teresa B @ Teresa Brouillette shaes Homeschool Traditions.

Annette V @ A Net in Time shares Starting a New School Year.

Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Taditions for the New Year.

Lori @ At Home: Where Life Happens shares Traditions for Back to School.

Yvonne @ The Life We Build shares Our Homeschool Traditions.

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

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!

Our Ninth Grade Curriculum Choices

matthew sailing

I have a high school student!!! How did this happen? It feels like just yesterday we started this homeschool adventure when he was in first grade. There have been ups and downs over the years but I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to homeschool him and we are looking forward to the joys of high school. I know there will be challenges but there will also be joy and celebration.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

I think I have spent more time contemplating (and sometimes agonizing) over our choices for this year, than ever before. It feels like such a weighty decision when you realize that these courses go onto transcripts that will follow him to college. However, I came to realize that I still had lots of flexibility and I could still change things up as needed. I did not need to add more pressure to myself or to him.

We decided to try a modified block schedule this year. Each semester he will complete three full courses. In addition, he will be working on music and physical education all year. At the end of the year he should have eight courses completed. We liked the block scheduling for allowing him to focus on fewer courses at one time. However, for music and physical education we felt that spreading the hours over the full year would make it easier to complete and show good progress.

First Semester:

During his first semester my son’s three main courses will be literature, biology, and financial literacy. Literature might be the course I am personally most excited about because we are going to work through that one together. We are doing British literature, but not just any British literature, we are focusing on the Inklings. (He will do another year of British literature later to catch all of the other wonderful British authors). For this course he will be studying C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and his choice of two other Inklings. He will read a variety of novels from these wonderful authors and participate in round table discussions about their works. He will also complete two papers related to the novels. I have chosen about half of the books and he will be able to choose the other half based on the author.

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For biology, we were blessed to be able to review Experience Biology: Upper Level and we loved it. Since we reviewed it this summer, he gets to start biology five lessons ahead when we jump into our studies in a few weeks. This will give him some flexibility to have a little smaller load during a few busy weeks of the semester. We truly loved this program from Journey Homeschool Academy. It was a great mix of well done video lectures, online quizzes and tests, and hands-on labs. I love that he was getting a strong college prep course from a Christian perspective and that it only took me about ten minutes a week to check the assignments that needed to be checked by a parent. If you want to know more you can also check out my review: Journey Homeschool Academy High School Biology Review.

Finally, he will be completing Dave Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance: High School Editionfor his financial literacy course. Years ago, my husband and I read Dave Ramsey’s book and completed his Financial Peace University course. We love the sound, Biblically based advice and feel that it will set our children up to be good stewards of their money. I like that this course was already set up for high schoolers and is done digitally so he can read the information, watch the videos, and complete the quizzes online. He will also be keeping a journal and responding to journal questions. To prepare for this course and to help him start high school with the right mind set, he and I both read Debt Free Degree, by Anthony O’Neal and I highly recommend it if you have a student middle school or older.

Second Semester:

In his second semester he will be studying Ancient History using Drive Thru History and Geometry with Mr. D both with SchoolhouseTeachers.com. He will also be doing a Bible Apologetic course.

Drive Thru History!

Our family loves Drive Thru History and they are lots of fun just to watch, but I am excited for my son to be able to go through and use them as a high school history course. SchoolhouseTeachers.com has created worksheets with short answer and essay questions to accompany each video. In addition, I will have my son do a capstone project showing what he learned throughout the course.

As we reached the high school years I found it was best if math instruction came from someone other than myself. It has been a ‘few’ years since I took many of these courses and I have forgotten quite a bit of what I once knew. We were excited to find that the Mr. D Geometry course was included with our SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership. This course provides quality video instruction for geometry and my husband will also be available to help him if he has any problems.

Last year, I had the opportunity to review the Unbreakable Faith course from Pilgrim’s Rock. This is a high school level apologetics course and my son completed the first portion of the course during the review. This course is set up with readings and video and includes quizzes and tests that are computer graded. Matthew will be finishing this course for an elective Bible credit.

Year Round

For his other two elective courses this year, we chose music performance and physical education.

For physical education, he is working with my husband to create a weight lifting, running, and circuit training routine. He will track the hours he completes each week as well as his progress on several physical fitness goals.

For music performance, he is taking lessons from Mrs. Sarah VanKleek at Practice Monkeys. He is currently taking violin lessons, but as they are getting ready to start guitar lessons he may switch instruments. He will track his time completed in both lessons and extra practice and also track progress based on assessment lesson results. In addition, he will be performing with his youth group band and if things open back up from the pandemic he will also continue to perform at a local nursing home. To round out his music course he will participate in monthly SQUILT Music lessons. Our family has been enjoying a subscription to SQUILT Music this summer and plan to continue to use it throughout the year. These lessons will help increase his knowledge and background in the music appreciation aspect of music.

In addition to these programs, he will be doing Bible study with us each morning and listening to some of our read alouds. As we move forward, we will see how timing is going to determine how much of our other morning time and extra activities he participates in with us. He knows that he will have to focus and work hard with this course load, be we want to continue to make time for life learning and fun.

What are your favorite high school resources?

Deals and Freebies

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.

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!

Our Seventh Grade Curriculum Choices (2020)

Today, I am sharing with you what we are using for my daughter’s seventh grade curriculum. While there are a few things that are similar to what I shared a few years ago for my son in seventh grade it certainly is not exactly the same. That is because there is no one best program, it all really depends on the student and what works best for them. Hopefully, a few of these wonderful programs will be a great fit for your family.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Glossary Sample

For language arts, we are continuing to use several different programs. First, we are sticking with 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. This will be her last year with the program as she completes the final level. We also plan to continue with Fix It! Grammar from IEW. The short lessons are effective without being overwhelming and I have seen an increase in her understanding and use of proper grammar. Last year she started Sharon Watson’s writing program Jump In and will continue that program this year. The program is designed to be broken up between two and three years. Since we also include several research projects and essays through Junior Historians and 4-H we will probably take the full three years to complete the program. It is a gentle but effect approach to improving writing.

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Finally, for literature we are really switching things up. Last year, my daughter started a wonderful music appreciation course from Zeezok that she had planned to complete. However, we found that it was just too much on top of all of her other school work and extracurricular activities. The program is based around some wonderful biographies. So this year, we decided that for half of her literature we are going to focus on those biographies and activities. She loves music and hopes to be a violin instructor one day so this is a great way to incorporate her interests into her school work. In addition, we are going to read a novel together in between each biography. We are still working out the exact list but we are looking at some classics including Anne of Avonlea, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women.

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She was very sad that she had to switch programs for math this year because she had completed the highest level of Math for a Living Education. We tried samples of various programs, and she decided that she wanted to try using Teaching Textbooks for pre-algebra this year. This will be her first time using an online program for math. We will see how that works for her, but she enjoyed the sample lessons at the beginning and is looking forward to getting started.

For science, she will be doing a study of anatomy and physiology. We are using Apologia’s Anatomy and Physiology course as our spine. This is the last book in that series that she needs to complete. We have really enjoyed using the series with both she and my ninth grader. My first grader will be joining her for science this year, though obviously with much different expectations.

For history this year our family is going to study ancient history. My daughter along with my first grader will be Story of the World Volume 1. My high school student will also study ancient history but using a high school level course through SchoolhouseTeachers.com. This will be my daughter’s second time going through volume one and I will be adding in some addition reading. In addition, she will be adding in some history pockets from Evan-Moor. Those can be purchased individually but they are also included in the Evan Moor Teacher FileBox which has a ton of great resources all in spot and they are offering a 30 day free trial right now.

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. She is also very excited to try the new sewing course that is being offered from You Are an Artist. Needlework is an art form that she really enjoys.

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For music, she takes violin and piano 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. I love that I never have to push her to practice or even remind her. She sets an alarm on her watch so she doesn’t forget and she is happy to virtually go to class each day.

We have also been using a subscription to SQUILT Music over the summer for music appreciation and the children have asked to continue to us that program through the year. This program supports her love of music and encourages her to learn more about other great musicians. Each month there are two new ‘live’ lessons that are done virtually and introduce students to a new composer or musician. In addition, you can access all of the previous lessons as recording at any time.

In addition to these programs, she will be doing Bible study each day and our morning time which will include read alouds, hymn study, nature study and more. We try to stay flexible and change things up if they are not working well. We will also be included a wide variety of review products.

What are your favorite middle grades 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 up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is doing an amazing sale this month! Buy One year get One Year FREE! We use this for several of our courses and one price covers all the students in your home for as many of their over 400 courses and you would like to use.

Free ABC Mouse Trial: Looking for a little summer education for your children when it is too hot to play outside? ABC Mouse is offering a FREE 30 day trial. This is a great way to give it a try and see if it works for your child.

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!

Our First Grade Curriculum

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This has been a year of extreme interest in homeschooling! Several times a week, over the course of the summer, I have been asked, “What is the best curriculum for….?” I will be the first to tell you that there is no one right answer to that question. Each child is different, each family situation is different, and there are hundreds of wonderful curricula. However, I did want to share what we are using in case it benefits someone who is looking for good options.

There are so many great options, but I think it is important to remember that sometimes less is more when it comes to younger children. They need plenty of time to play and explore. They need to use their imaginations and learn from active life experiences. Even with our list of curricula for my first grader, he will only be doing about one to two hours of school each day.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

All About Reading's new color edition review

My son was very reluctant to start learning to read and so we held off until he showed more readiness. Over the summer we started the pre-reading level of All About Reading. It has been a really great fit for us. He was finally ready and willing to learn how to read and doing it over the summer allowed me to really be focused on him while my older children had a break from regular school work. We will finish that level around October and move right into level 1. In addition to All About Reading, he is going to use Reading Eggs for a little fun reinforcement. He adores getting on the computer to do reading eggs, can navigate the program himself, and earning the eggs seems to be highly motivational for him.

Next, he will be using MasterBooks Math For A Living Education. My daughter used the program for several years and we really find it to be a quality program and a great fit for our family. In addition to the math skills sheets, there is a story woven throughout the book which is engaging and also helps students understand how they use math in day to day life. The Level 1 story involves children at a farm which I think my son will really enjoy.

For science, he will be joining my daughter in a study of anatomy and physiology. As a seventh grader, I will expect much more from my daughter but I think they will enjoy the study together. We are using Apologia’s Anatomy and Physiology course as our spine. I think he will enjoy learning about the various parts of the body and it will be a good course for them to work through together. However, if I just had a first grader, I would probably choose a different book in that same series. The zoology ones are a lot of fun with younger children. This is the last one in the series that my daughter needed to complete and he will go through the series over the course of his elementary years.

For history this year our family is going to study ancient history. My son and daughter will be using Story of the World Volume 1. My high school student will also study ancient history but using a high school level course through SchoolhouseTeachers.com. I have found that the short, story style lessons and the fun projects really make Story of the World a great option for young learners.

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For art, he will continue to work on lessons from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels. He loves doing the lessons with nana and has progressed from her simple preschool lessons to being able to do some of her more advanced lessons. She has so much to choose from and we rotate between choosing lessons that align with what we are studying and just letting him pick lessons based on what looks like fun.

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. We have also been using a subscription to SQUILT Music over the summer for music appreciation and the children have asked to continue to us that program through the year. Each month there are two new ‘live’ lessons that are done virtually and introduce students to a new composer or musician. In addition, you can access all of the previous lessons as recording at any time.

He will be joining us for Bible study each day and our morning time which will include read alouds, hymn studies, and more. This will give him a good base while still allowing time for free play, field trips, and life learning.

What are your favorite first grade resources?

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

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!

Our New Homeschool Library

When we moved into our home almost fifteen years ago, the downstairs area was finished space and all of the upstairs was unfinished and used as a storage area. We kept it that way for years, until we started to homeschool. The year we started to homeschool my husband finished one portion of the space to serve as a school room. Over the years, we later finished a space for an extra bedroom and a closet but we still had a room in the middle that was being used as storage.

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Over the course of this summer, we took everything out of that room and my husband and son finished it into a library/music room!! I have always dreamed of having a home library but never thought it would actually happen. We have a rather large collection of books because we frequent yard sales and used book stores. This gives us a place to neatly store our book collection, a place for their instruments and music practice, a place I can go to sit and read quietly, and a place where they can have friends and hang out chatting or playing board games.

My husband and son did all the work from putting up wood slats for the ceiling, sheet rock on the walls, and carpet tiles on the floor. We were blessed to get a large selection of bookshelves back in the beginning of March from a bookstore that was going out of business. Those finished off three of the walls and gave us a place to store many of our books.

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One of my favorite parts was a special touch that my husband put into the room. We are hug fans of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. So my husband turned one of the doors into the ‘wardrobe’ that leads to Narnia. This makes me smile every time I see it and reminds me both of my husband’s love and that this world is not my home.

We have one step left, we are going to get quotes from some of our favorite books printed onto vinyl and put up on the walls. We plan to use quotes from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Hobbit, and The Green Ember series. I know that we are going to include: “It will not be so in the mended wood.” and “My place beside you, my blood for yours. Till the Green Ember rises or the end of the world!” from theGreen Ember. We also know that we will use “Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” and “Oh Children” from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We are still choosing a couple more from those books and a couple from the Hobbit.

I think our new library might just be my new favorite room! Do you have a favorite room in your house or dreams of a library or special room that you might be able to complete one day?

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

Final 2 Days to get the Ultimate Homeschool Bundle for less than $30! Includes a variety of curriculum from pre-k through high school. What courses are you excited about? I’m going to do the Jane Austen course with my daughter!

So many folks looking for homeschool options at a reasonable price during this unusual time. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having an amazing sale. For less than $200 you get 2 years access to over 400 courses that you can use with as many students as you have in your home! We use this for several courses and I am always happy to answer questions. Just click on this link and use code: SHARK20

If you are looking for a fun way to encourage reading this summer, check out the FREE summer reading materials from Your Morning Basket with Pam Barnhill. The passport and reading bucket list are a great way to encourage reading!

Homeschool Complete is offering a special 10% off discount to my readers! Just use code: SWAG

Get a FREE Literature Kit from LitWits using Code 11READ4FUN. We are currently enjoying the Heidi kit but have also previously loved the My Side of the Mountain kit.

IEW is offering some great free resources right now.