You can see our detailed curriculum posts by clicking on the graphics below.
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Back to Homeschool
We started back to homeschool in early August with a partial schedule. All subjects were added in by August 19, the day my oldest also began his senior year! He is taking all of his classes at the community college for dual credit so you won’t be seeing him in my wrap-up posts any more! He’s a BIG kid now! Read more about his journey here in our 11th grade wrap-up post.
5th and 8th Together Learning
This year I have combined my younger two kids for a few of subjects – History, Geography, Writing, and Grammar. We are also studying the Bible together in the morning during our breakfast time together. Below I will share a bit about each!
Geography
We began our geography study with AFRICA Country by Country. I created the Country by Country series and am excited to finally be using it with my kids! One of the ways we are extending our geography and world learning is by reading. I have chosen several books that take place in Africa to read aloud to my kids while we are learning about Africa. We began with A Long Walk to Water, which we are all loving so far! I keep our map open during reading to consistently remind my children of certain locations. I want them to be fluent in world geography and this is a simple way to help with this.
They are completing one country per day on their own, totaling 4 per week. I have instructed them to circle any fun facts that they’d like to look into more together. The snakes of Benin was a definite circle for both! We spent some time online together learning about Benin and the snake temple, it was pretty interesting – but not anywhere I’d like to visit!
History
In history we are working together daily, with a goal of 5 lessons per week. So far we are enjoying Notgrass and I am really glad I switched to this and combined my kids for history this year. Last year they each did separate and it was too much for me and neither got as much out of it.
We sit together at the dining room table, with me in the middle, and explore the topic together.
We are doing many of the activities, all of the vocabulary and extending our learning and retention by creating Jeopardy game cards to play with later! After each lesson, they each create one fact card to use in our Jeopardy game. We are waiting to play our first round until we have accumulated enough facts – we are almost ready!
Bible
We do Bible learning together during our morning routine! This is something I began last year and we have continued this year. Click here to see what we are doing in the mornings right now!
Writing & Grammar
We picked up where we left off at the end of last year with both writing and grammar, see more about our mid-year switch here. We are finishing up SWI-B and are currently writing reports about whales.
Fix It Grammar continues to be a good fit. It’s a review for both, that they both need. We aren’t to the point of learning new things yet since I decided to start at the beginning with the first book [The Nose Tree}, but the review is needed.
5th Grade
How is my baby in 5th grade? This one is even harder for me to accept than the 12th grader! She is supposed to be in Kindergarten forever!
Science
We are using Evan-Moor Skill Sharpeners Science 5th Grade and we are loving it so far! We do lots of the reading on the couch, so that sweet Baxter can join us.
We are loving the experiments! See the blubber glove in action here on Instagram!
The bean plant experiment was awesome, I shared about it on Instagram here!
We had great results and it is still growing!
Math
I can’t say enough wonderful things about Teaching Textbooks Math. She is using level 6 and flying through it.
We are also using our Spielgaben Math Workbooks to review concepts as I notice struggles. Recently we have been digging back into telling time and the workbooks have been a helpful addition.
Enrichment
She started her weekly enrichment classes at the end of August! This year she is taking Apologia Science – Swimming Creatures and Mind Benders.
Reading
See her 5th grade reading list here.
Here’s her completed list so far for 5th grade…
- Spark
- Star in the Forest
Currently Reading: Sing Down the Moon, The Familiars {book 1}, Wings of Fire {book 13}, Wonderland {yes she likes to have multiple books going at once – she’s my bookworm}
Extras…
We recently reviewed Reading Eggspress and I fell in love and we are now using this for our reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. I am assigning her the computer portion 2 days a week and the worksheets with me 2 days per week.
Night Zookeeper is another wonderful addition that we discovered through a review we did for them. She loves it and uses it about twice a week. Read more about it here.
8th Grade
K continues to train many hours a week with his gymnastics so many of his homeschool choices are based around this. He is competing level 9 this year, and has an Instagram account here if you’d like to follow his gymnastics adventures! You can also follow my posts about his gymnastics with the hashtag #krashthegymnast.
Math
Teaching Textbooks works SO well for him. He is doing unbelievably well with Algebra 1 so far and is really turning over a new leaf of confidence in math. I am so proud and happy for him!
Science
Last year we started using LIFEPAC for science and the format works well for him so we continued this year. So far, so good! Baxter LOVES science time since we often do it on my bed.
Reading
See his 8th grade reading list here.
Currently Reading: Finding Gobi {independent read}
Finally Finishing: Hiding Place {reading together}
Up Next: Running For My Life
You can also see much of our everyday homeschool life on Instagram!
