We are a homeschooling family with five kids eight and under! See what we are using this year for homeschool curriculum in third grade, first grade, and preschool. Plus, get free printables to help you keep your homeschool days organized and on track!
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You do not have to have a curriculum to homeschool your children, but a good curriculum has the potential to make homeschooling much easier and more beautiful. This year I changed things up a bit and opted to stop using an all-in-one boxed curriculum, and instead piece together different curriculum components myself.
I intended on sharing our homeschool curriculum choices earlier this year, but I have been so busy teaching through it! It’s actually just given us the opportunity to wet our feet before sharing. I can now tell you that we are loving all our curriculum choices!
My children are in third grade, first grade, and preschool this year. (Plus a toddler and a baby!) About half their lessons are independent from one another, and the other half we do together as a family.
Keep reading for a few more details on what I chose for each child. I didn’t go too deep into each one, because that would make this post exceptionally long. But I shared links for each one. I also just shared a video discussing each one on YouTube if you want to check out that video. (I would love for you to join me there!)
I also plan on sharing our daily rhythm this year– how we are getting lessons done for three children with two smaller children besides– but I couldn’t fit it in this post. I will share it another time soon!
What we are using for curriculum this year ::
Third Grade
This is our second year using Math Lessons for a Living Education. We all really enjoyed the story-based lessons last year, and I really appreciated both the low-cost and the fact that everything is in just one book. All the lessons are related to real-life. There is also a manipulative section in the back of the book.
Other than math, though, everything we are using for my oldest is new this year. The entirety of his language arts curriculum is from Simply Charlotte Mason. After looking at many different options and listening the recommendations of friends, I settled on these books. You can watch videos on the SCM website to get a closer look at each component.
MATH: Math Lessons for a Living Education, Level 3
LANGUAGE ARTS:
- Spelling Wisdom Book 1, Simply Charlotte Mason
- Using Language Well Book 1, Simply Charlotte Mason
- Hymns in Prose, Simply Charlotte Mason
First Grade
My six-year-old is finishing up the second half of My Father’s World’s reading program this year. He started with kindergarten last year and I wanted to preserve the continuity in his lessons this year, so we are using only the language arts component of the MFW curriculum this year.
My Father’s World is an all-inclusive curriculum. We used it for my older son in kindergarten, first, and second grade so we already have all the teacher books. I like how reading is taught and will likely continue to just order the student sheets each year for whomever is in kindergarten or first grade.
One downside to My Father’s World can definitely be the cost, which is why this year we are not continuing with the family plan (MFW has plans for teaching similar curriculum to all your students).
MATH: Math Lessons for a Living Education, Level 2
LANGUAGE ARTS: Learning God’s Story, My Father’s World First Grade
Preschool
This is the first year I have ever purchased a preschool curriculum. Usually, I would just do some Target dollar spot workbooks, play learning games, and read a lot. However, I wanted to have something a little more structured this year since my daughter would be joining us at the table for lessons everyday.
I follow Jennifer Pepito on Instagram, and have seen pictures of her curriculum for a few years now. (She has a lot more than just preschool). Her preschool curriculum is very reasonably priced being that you simply download and print it. I love the structure, organization, and variety of activities included.
The Peaceful Preschool :: The Peaceful Press
All Together
Other than math and language arts, a majority of our lessons are done together. The Enrichment Studies is currently taking the place of me needing to plan out our morning time since it included all the morning time components already in its plans.
SCIENCE: 106 Days of Creation Studies, Simply Charlotte Mason
GEOGRAPHY: Geography Through Literature, Beautiful Feet Books
MORNING TIME: Enrichment Studies Year 1, Simply Charlotte Mason
Free Printables
These two printables help keep me on track each week. With so many “interruptions” and various lessons and everything else, being able to look and see what we need to do next, and what we have already finished is lifesaving. I print these pages out as needed and keep them together on my clipboard.
(I also keep a laminated copy of our daily rhythm, my master lunch ideas and dinner ideas lists, our current meal plan page, and a laminated copy of my Costco/Aldi price list on this clipboard. It is a very important clipboard!)
WEEK AT A GLANCE ::
This Week At A Glance page helps me to see an overview of everything included in that week’s plans for each of my kids. With having so many different teacher books and lesson plans, I wanted a way to have it all together. Filling in this page at the beginning of the week also really helps me to know what I need to do to prepare for the week– whether that is book we need, craft supplies that need to be pulled out, etc.
You can see a picture of my Week At A Glance above, but I also included a blank copy for you to download and use. Just fill in the boxes with your child(ren)’s names and their lessons.
DAILY CHECKLIST ::
My Daily Checklist is SO helpful to have on hand. I do not expect to do every single item on the list each day, but I can check off what we do accomplish. Then, at the end of the day, or at the end of a week, I can look back and see what still needs to be done, or areas we may be missing too frequently.
The Daily Checklist is also super handy in the middle of the day when I have had to pause lessons to take care of something/someone else. My mom brain means I am liable to forget completely what we already did. A quick skim of the checklist helps me see where we need to pick back up.
Again, you can see our daily checklist above, but I also created a blank one for you to use as well. Just download the checklist, add in your family’s lessons and tasks, and print.
All of this makes for a busy day, but I truly love teaching my children and cherish the time we have together. Our curriculum choices this year are certainly a part of making homeschool enjoyable for us all.
I would love to hear what curriculum you use and how you came to use it. Comment below and share your favorites. Do we use any of the same books? I’d love to hear from you!
You can also find a few more related links if you want to read more about our homeschool life, see our homeschool space, and so on. Plus, don’t forget that all of this is on video form (with peeks inside the books) on YouTube! I’d love to see you there too!
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More like this ::
Sarah says
I was getting MFW materials used, and have finally accepted that it’s not for us. The beginning of each year is fun and challenging, but the lessons start to get repetitive and there isn’t much progression of skills, so my son gets bored (even though we are using everything a year ahead of schedule). We have used the 3 year old preschool through Learning God’s Story. I agree that the reading program is great and will probably use it for my younger son too. We got some Peaceful Press products in various bundle sales, and my 5 year old has LOVED the nature guides, so I’m thinking of doing those next year even though he will technically be in first grade.
Abey says
I really liked the idea of having a common curricular for kids from different grades. It will not only allow to do more in less time but is it also a great way to bond. Plus, the little one will learn a lot more while sharing common topics with the older sibling. This is a really cool concept what you are doing here. Thank you for sharing!