Our Curriculum Picks for the 2023/2024 Homeschool Year!
The question I get asked most often is about curriculum. When I first started homeschooling, I think I was most stressed about this topic, but now that it’s been a couple of years I am so much more relaxed. I used to think I had to only use one brand/type and I couldn’t even consider mixing (this is me giggling at myself). The longer you homeschool and the more you see your children learning new things, the more confident you become with your teaching styles and curriculum choices. I never would have thought that I would now would want to put together my own curriculum for certain subjects. Every family is going to have different needs and every child learns differently. Just keep that in mind when you’re researching different curriculums for your school year.
My teaching style is a blend of things. I adore the living books of Charlotte Mason, I cherish the beauty and wonder that comes from the Waldorf method, I see a little unschooling strike in me at times, and the call of the Wild and Free is my definitely my heart song. I put a huge emphasis on outdoor play and just anything that sparks natural learning in my children. I generally pick living books over text books and imaginative play over worksheets. I thrive in fostering environments for my children to feel like explorers on a quest or scientists on the brink of a huge discovery. I love going places with my kids and taking “adventure days.” I want them to know the thrill of learning and that it doesn’t stop when they’re eighteen. It’s forever.
I remember the day when I started reading a book out loud to my kids. I can’t even remember what it was about, but I remember they all started acting it out. At first I thought they were being silly, but then I realized that they were kinesthetically learning. They were fully engaged in the topic and acting it out in such a way that I could see they were fully understanding. It was incredible!! It taught me that my kids are amazing :) and that there are so many ways to learn things. One of the best things about homeschooling is that you can use as many methods as you want! Some of my friends are loving classical education and its been wonderful for their families, and others are more like me and a blend of several things. You do what is right for your family. Even though I don’t generally do worksheets there are some days when I love a good worksheet and the kids need something extra to do or even want to do it and that’s totally fine. You aren’t in a box so be sure to not put yourself in one by thinking things have to be only one way. I have changed up our routine, switched curriculums, and whatever else needed to help us get into a good flow of things. Some days will be hard - as with all things, but when you find what works for your family it will really help those days to be few and far between.
Picking curriculums is so fun to me! I definitely nerd out and read a million reviews etc…I can tell you for SURE that I am a less is more person when it comes to curriculums. I have had some recommended to me, and when I just look at the website and the amount of things and steps and extra this and that I feel stressed, and I haven’t even tried it yet hahahahaha! You may love all the accessories and steps and extras and that great! These are things that factor into my decision when it comes to picking our curriculums. I like simple beautiful things :) so here we go!
I can’t say enough great things about this curriculum. We use their Math and Language Arts Courses, as well as their writing practice books. I LOVE how simple and beautiful it is. My kids actually enjoy looking at the pages and I love that all I have to do is open and read what I need to do that day. I don’t have to go in and lesson plan anything. Their math is not a mastery style curriculum which I love, it is a spiral approach. My kids seem to do best when we circle back around to topics which is exactly how the good and the beautiful works. Here is their definition of a spiral approach:
A spiral approach presents a new concept, provides practice on that concept, and then moves to another skill. Each skill is reviewed and revisited throughout math levels, always adding to prior learning.
Their Language Arts Course is just lovely. They include reading, phonics, writing, spelling, literature, grammar & punctuation, geography, and art. My favorite part of their language arts is their reading booster cards. These really helped my kids last year get more confident reading. They also have a YouTube channel with tons of helpful videos! Another great thing about them is that they offer their curriculum for FREE you just have to print it out yourself. I buy their books because that’s what I prefer, but you can definitely download and print it out especially if you are unsure and want to give it a trial run before purchasing. Even if you do buy their books they are very affordable compared to other curriculums.
I am SO excited to start our Early American History bundle with beautiful feet books. This is all about teaching through stories. It comes with a teachers guide and 23 books!!!! I love literature based learning and this is just so helpful to have someone put all the books together for us and we can just get started. The teachers guide is very laid back, which is definitely my style. :) There are activities you can do if there is a particular interest in a specific book or you can choose to forego it. It’s meant to be something that is for the whole family to enjoy. What I love about literature based learning is that it goes beyond just reading the book. The kids will usually find something super interesting and want to dive even deeper into the subject. So we will take a special library trip to get even more books, watch a documentary, look up videos on YouTube, etc.. It just does such a great job sparking interest and getting everyone invested and learning. When you learn through story it connects more deeply than just reading a paragraph in a text book. I cannot wait to get started!
This is one of the books I’ve chosen for our Bible study this year. I’m not sure how long it it will take for us to get through it, but I love the structure of traditional systematic theology. I will use this as a cornerstone to keep us on track with moving through scripture this year and teaching biblical truths to my littles.
I am a major fan of unit studies. My kids are little and I absolutely do not stress about having a million things for them to do all day. We do however, have themes for each month, and I like to have material that goes along with our theme. For example, our back to school month theme is “oceans.” I decided to use an actual printed out unit study from Gather Round Homeschool. I have used their National Parks of North America and we all really enjoyed it so I thought it would be a fun way to kick off the beginning of our school year. Also, with it being a million degrees outside everyday in August, this will be a great month to visit indoor aquariums. Next month is all about “the human body." I will not be buying a printed out curriculum, instead, I am going to pick my own books and videos and fun projects for us to do together. I do have my eye on some really fun projects like the human body project from KiwiCo, but we will see if it comes back in stock in time for September.
These are our curriculum choices for the year. I have a YouTube video coming soon where I go in a little more detail and flip through the books so you can get a better idea of what each book looks like and includes. I also have my book wish list that I will be posting soon of all the read alouds I am hoping to get through as a family this year. We use audible (which I highly suggest) to listen to our family read alouds in the car and even somedays when I am cooking and the kids are resting and just hanging out. I am so excited to start our new homeschool year and I hope that this post helps you to navigate the curriculum choices a little better. If you have any questions feel free to reach out I love to chat about all things homeschool!!
