Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2018-2019

Last year, I never got around to posting our curriculum choices. This year, I decided to take a moment to stop by and jot them down!

Without further ado, here are our choices for the 2018-2019 school year (which, for us, will be starting in one week):


Sixth Grade

Math - We will use Christian Light Math 6. This will be our fourth year of using Christian Light, and we LOVE it!

Language Arts - We will use Christian Light Language Arts 5. We have already begun the gradual process of getting our son caught up to grade level in language arts, so we will be moving into level six before the end of the year.

Reading - Christian Light Reading 6. Again, love this program! The new edition of this curriculum isn't coming out until June, so we'll be doing extra time with our Latin program while we wait for this to arrive. (The previous edition is still available.)

Penmanship - Our Language Arts curriculum includes a penmanship component, but it hasn't been working well for our student. I've been giving him homemade assignments, which has worked really well, but I'd like to save some time and use a pre-made book. We're going to give Pentime 5 a try.

Reading Comprehension - Read and Comprehend, (finishing) level 5 and (starting) level 6 by Abeka.

Composition - I use a homemade "curriculum" of various writing assignments. I have not yet found the need for a formal curriculum.

Science - We will use Bob Jones Press Science 6. I do not have all of the bells and whistles for this curriculum. I simply have the student text, and I use a homemade schedule of reading and notebooking. For us, simple science is just better. I add in weekly science activities.

History - We will continue using Story of the World. This year we will complete Year 4 (moderns) and move into Year 1 (ancients). This includes weekly readings, narrations, a coloring page, a map assignment, an optional outline assignment, and extra enrichment projects when we have time.

I really considered moving to Notgrass History's America the Beautiful, which would be less work for me - besides being a mouth-wateringly wonderful curriculum. I will be honest here - the considering factor was price. Totally free vs. over a hundred dollars. However, I'll be keeping Notgrass in mind, and if I can find a used copy, we may switch - or if we find that we are expecting a new baby and I need something that can work for more independent student work, we might just bite the bullet and buy it anyway.

Maps - Continuing with a generic maps book that we've used for several years. This is not going to set the world on fire, but it does fulfill a purpose.

Logic - We will continue to use Mindbenders. (In 9th grade, we plan to transfer over to a formal logic program with Memoria Press.)

Latin - We will complete Latina Christiana, and move into First Form Latin if we have time.

Spanish - Spanish 1 by LifePac. I'm really excited about this!!

Piano - Starting with the Alfred series.

Literature - Our 6th grade is assigned 20 minutes of "history reading" and 20 minutes of "fun reading." Both of these are assigned by me, with input from him.

Bible - One chapter per day, one memory verse per week.

Character - Our 6th grader will be going through "Created for Work" with my husband.




Kindergarten

ABC Series by Rod and Staff

Kindergarten 1 by Christian Light

Rocket Phonics



Whole-Family Activities

Galloping the Globe - Serves as a history/science topical reading list for elementary students.

Charlotte Mason Memory Box - We use this to memorize Scripture, historical pieces, and poetry. Highly recommended.

History Video Time - We use this to teach music. Every fortnight or so, I select one new hymn, one historical piece, and one classical piece. We watch them every day. This has been such an amazing way to learn historical music! Highly recommended! Here is our music list from this past year in case you would like to see examples of the pieces we learned.

I have lately also thrown in extra "how-to" videos into this time, in order to teach a variety of skills. We've covered how to cook scrambled eggs, how to use a hammer, how to do a proper push-up, how to survive in the desert - all sorts of great things.

Elementary Science and History/Culture - This is a homemade curriculum that I am developing to cover basic topics of interest. I have also added in a weekly preschool "fun time" activity, and a weekly science activity. We'll see how that goes.

Morning Read-Aloud Time - This is for our memory box, catechism, safety, history and science read-alouds, Bible, character, and usually one longer read-aloud.

Afternoon Read-Aloud Time - This is for older students, covering our read-alouds and history curriculum.


One of the fringe benefits of home education is the wonderful education that it offers for the homeschooling mama. I feel that I'm finally getting the education that I've always wanted, but which I just didn't get when I was in school. It's a lovely feeling.


Feel free to shoot me any questions, dear friends! I will now once again bury myself in the land of not-blogging (except rarely!). I hope that each of you has had a wonderful Easter and is having a wonderful spring!