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At times a mid-year change in homeschool curriculum is needed {or desired}. I try not to change things mid-year too often, but I am not scared to ditch something and go for something new if it is needed. Below you can read more about some changes we made with our 4th and 7th grader!

4th Grade

From Carson Dellosa Skill Builders Reading Comprehension to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Reading Comprehension

This was for my daughter who is in 4th grade. She used the Houghton Mifflin book{on the right} for 2nd and 3rd grade and on a whim I ordered her a different brand for 4th grade. She does NOT like the new one, so we switched back. Ironically, the old one {now the current one – her choice} has MUCH more work to do. She is my reader and likes the layout better. I accidentally ordered 5th grade instead of 4th, but we decided to use it anyway!

Finished Growing with Grammar, switched to Fix It Grammar

Also for my 4th grader – she finished Growing with Grammar 3 {which we didn’t finish last year} and I planned on moving on to GWG 4. However, IEW offered Fix It Grammar for FREE during their 12 Days of Giving so I decided to give it a try!! I do love Growing with Grammar and so far love Fix It Grammar. TOTALLY different ways to teach grammar. I have no idea which one I will choose for next year!

Finished IEW Bible Heroes, added IEW SWI B

My 4th grader finished up IEW’s Bible Heroes and I had planned to move on to IEW’s All Things Fun and Fascinating with her. After much thought over Christmas break I changed my plan and decided to use IEW SWI level B with BOTH of my kids this semester! So far so good and we are 4 weeks in, take a peek at them working here on Instagram!

7th Grade

From LIFEPAC Language Arts to IEW Fix It Grammar and SWI B

This change was for my 7th grade son. We gave LIFEPAC Language Arts a shot and neither of us prefer it. It isn’t a bad curriculum at all and if he had been using it for many years perhaps it would have worked. It was too random for him, he likes the structure of former language arts programs better {Growing with Grammar, Spectrum Vocabulary, etc}.

Knowing we needed a change, I decided to go to all IEW for him. Since we got Fix It Grammar for free, I am using that with him and so far he LOVES it. As I mentioned above, I am using IEW SWI B for him. Level B is the perfect level for him, it is a bit challenging for her, but we make it work.

In addition to grammar and writing/vocabulary we are focusing on our reading together more. There is one unit from the LIFEPAC Language Arts I do plan to use as it is a literature guide to go along with the book The Hiding Place. We just aren’t planning to finish the rest of the booklets.