Fifth Grade Curriculum Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the Curriculum we used during 2016/2017 school year for Fifth Grade.

Most of the curriculum for 5th Grade worked well for my son but we did change a few things as I felt he needed more or that he just wasn't getting some of it. 

Math- Saxon Math 6/5

This math program was really good for him and really helped him build his confidence in math this year. He didn't really like all of the reading that came with it but we made our way through it and he really succeeded. The plan for this next year is to try something with less reading and more computer oriented. 

Language Arts- First Language Lesson, Level 4

We used Level 4 for 5th grade as he didn't really have much background in Language Arts coming from the public school. It just wasn't taught like it should have been. So we used this program this year although I will say it didn't end up being exactly what I wanted for him. We made our way through it and we will be working even harder in another Curriculum next year. 

History- America From the Beginning 

This was one of the books we stopped pretty early on. It was too much reading and just didn't catch my kids attention very well. They were very bored with it and I felt there had to be another option that worked for them better. We ended up using Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool for the remainder of the year and it was a much better fit!

Science- God's Design For Life, Plants, Animals, and Human Body 

I liked this Science curriculum. It was very easy to plan with and to teach. We did not get to the Human Body though as my kids started to show signs of interest in Space so I decided to take that interest and find online resources we could use instead. We did do plants and animals and really enjoyed it!

Literature- Classic Literature, Volume 1 

My son really enjoyed the Literature. He enjoyed reading through books he didn't know he would like and really digging down deep into learning more about them. We did do quite a bit of read aloud books with this program as well. 

Geography- Road Trip USA 

We didn't get through this curriculum fully but I did like it a lot. We will be continuing with learning our States this year as well as other Geography type items. 

Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

I mainly used this for my son to see where he was at with writing in cursive. It is not taught in our public school here so seeing him pick it up as easily as he did was really nice. Definitely recommend this curriculum. 

Writing- Spectrum Grade 5 and Reading- Spectrum Grade 5

I grouped these together because I absolutely hated them as a curriculum for my son. I just did not like them at all. We tried to use them and ended up just focusing on individual things instead.

Spelling- Grade 5 List

This was a nice starting out point for us but I do think Id rather have an actual curriculum with a little more structure for the next year. 

Art- World's Greatest Artist, Volume 1 

I loved this curriculum. However, my boys just didn't find it interesting. We ended up just doing fun crafts from pinterest most of the year. He really enjoyed that and it worked! We may try to introduce it more in the future. 

Most of the curriculum I had picked for 5th Grade was a great fit for my oldest. There are definitely areas that I worked harder on finding curriculum that matched what my boys need for the next school year. 

These opinions are my own and not everyone may agree with them. This is just to share what we ended up using for the school year and what didn't work for my child.

You will notice some links have been removed due to not promoting a curriculum I was not happy with! 

To see the curriculum we had planned on using and explanations from the beginning of the school year check out our Fifth Grade Curriculum post. 

Third Grade Curriculum Thoughts

These are my thoughts on the Curriculum we used during 2016/2017 school year for Third Grade.

Overall most of our curriculum was a good fit and we worked our way through it. Some of the curriculum was not a good fit and I will tell you which ones we ended up getting rid of and what I replaced it with! 

Math- Saxon Math 3

This was a great fit for my son. He loved how hands on it was and how well explained it was. I really enjoyed teaching from the Teachers Handbook. We plan to use Saxon for 4th grade this next school year!

Language Arts- First Language Lesson, Level 3

This was one that I gritted my teeth through the whole year. My son did not like it as it was mainly diagramming. I can honestly say we will not be using this the next school year. It just was not a good fit. I feel that Language Arts should be more about structures of sentence writing and more about learning parts of speech. This did touch a little on that but not enough for my liking. 

History- America From the Beginning 

This was one of the books we stopped pretty early on. It was too much reading and just didn't catch my kids attention very well. They were very bored with it and I felt there had to be another option that worked for them better. We ended up using Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool for the remainder of the year and it was a much better fit!

Science- God's Design For Life, Plants, Animals, and Human Body

I liked this Science curriculum. It was very easy to plan with and to teach. We did not get to the Human Body though as my kids started to show signs of interest in Space so I decided to take that interest and find online resources we could use instead. We did do plants and animals and really enjoyed it!

Literature- Classic Literature, Volume 1 

I loved this curriculum! Although we only used a few units from it and ended up just reading books for our Literature time instead of doing activities. It was more enjoyable for my kids to just have read aloud time.

Geography- Road Trip USA

We worked through this curriculum slowly as I wanted them to really learn about each state. We will be continuing on with learning our States this next year. It is a great curriculum I just feel my kids needed a little more with it like using an Atlas and online resources with it. 

Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

Handwriting was another area my son struggled with. He was not ready to start cursive so I decided to focus on building his foundation on printing before continuing on to actual cursive. He also struggled with writing on just notebook paper so that is another area we focused on. We will try cursive this next year!

Writing- Spectrum Grade 3 and Reading- Spectrum Grade 3

I grouped these together because I absolutely hated them as a curriculum for my son. I just did not like them at all. We tried to use them and  ended up just focusing on individual things instead. 

Spelling- Grade 3 List

This worked well but I am looking into something a little more structured for this next year. I want to have activities to do with the spelling words. This is a great basic as it is just the lists. I had my son write the words on one day, then alphabetize them, and other activities. I just think it would be nicer to have a workbook with activities for each list instead. 

Art- World's Greatest Artist, Volume 1

I loved this curriculum. However, my boys just didn't find it interesting. I am holding on to it for the future. We ended up just doing fun crafts from pinterest most of the year. He really enjoyed that and it worked! 

Overall most of our curriculum was a good fit! I learned a lot about what works for my children from this year which made picking curriculum for this next year much easier. 

These opinions are my own and not everyone may agree with them. This is just to share what we ended up using for the school year and what didn't work for my child.

You will notice some links have been removed due to not promoting a curriculum I was not happy with! 

To see the curriculum we had planned on using and explanations from the beginning of the school year check out our Third Grade Curriculum post. 

2016-2017 School Year Wrap Up

With our school year coming to an end last week I can honestly say that I made the best decision to pull my kids from Public School and to homeschool them!

Our first year is in the books and I have really seen changes in both of my boys. Academically, I feel that they have both blossomed into wanting to learn and understanding what they are actually being taught. They also have created a bond together and can actually get a long most of the time. 

We plan to continue to homeschool this next school year! So I am already busy planning and working on our school year calendar! 

I plan to do a follow-up from last years curriculum and start to share with you all what our plans and what things I will change for this next year. 

Curriculum Changes

Homeschooling has been going great and I really have been enjoying teaching the boys!! 

We have had a few changes in curriculum as I felt my boys needed something different than what I had chose. 

My first change was to the History Curriculum. We started the year off using America From the Beginning.



 For my boys it was just over their head and boring. They really hadn't had much History type learning in Public School. So I wanted to change this to find a better approach to create a curiosity into History. They did not like the amount of reading that they had to do and the activities just weren't for them.

I decided to look for either something I could put together with activities for them or something that was already out their with the types of activities they enjoyed. I stumbled across Easy Peasy All in One Curriculum and decided to give it a chance. We decided to do the Early American History. It covers the same subject as the first curriculum but it has less reading and more fun for them. It has been a really great change and helped with the bored and empty looks I would get when it was time for History. 

Another subject we have just decided to change is our Science. We had been using the Answers in Genesis- God's Design for Life and while I liked it, I could just tell my boys were not enjoying it. I feel Science is one of those areas that should be fun and experimental and this curriculum just doesn't have that. It is very basic with reading and little activities.

I have decided I will piece ideas together from Pinterest and my own creativity and make my own curriculum. I want to really key into my boys interests. So we are going to start by studying the Solar System. They are excited to learn about the planets, constellations, and just have fun with Science.

I plan to really let them get hands on with experiments in the future as well. I hope to share more of our Science journey as I find new and fun things for them to explore.

With these changes History and Science are no longer boring and there are no more attitude issues about getting the work done. Plus we get to see more smiles and have a little more fun in our learning. 

First Two Weeks

We are done with our first two weeks of homeschool and I am blown away! I wish I had homeschooled them from the start. We have learned a lot and the fact that they are soaking it in and talking about it for days after really shows that the one-on-on attention and lessons are good for them.

I wanted to share some pictures and what we have been doing the past two weeks! It was hard to get several pictures in certain subjects! I did what I could! 

Science

We have learned all about Mammals. They copy notes from the board after we have read through our lesson. Then we usually have an activity or worksheet to work on. On Friday we made kangaroo pouches with joeys in them. They also took their first Quiz this week!

   

Geography

We covered Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, and Maryland. I read from our National Geographic Atlas and they color their sheet about that state. We also review where the state is located and the Capital. 

History

We just finished our first unit. It had 5 Lessons and then a building project at the end. We also started our timeline and did some map work. We learned about The First Americans 2348 BC to AD 1500. The last day of this Unit they had to choose a tribe to build the type of houses they lived in. Austin chose the Inuit tribe that lived in Igloos and Dylan choose the Iroquois tribe who lived in Longhouses.

   

 

    

  

Language Arts

The past two weeks they started their First Language Lessons workbooks. They learned the parts of a book, nouns, and pronouns.

Math

In math they work separately. So one will do independent work while I work on Math with the other. Dylan has been reviewing time, addition, days of the week, and months of the year. Austin has also been reviewing counting money, writing numbers in word form, and odd and even numbers.

Spelling

They each get a grade appropriate list. They have certain activities to practice their words each day and then on Friday we take a test.

Cursive

Cursive is done independently twice a week. Right now they are working on the movements to build certain letters.

Literature

We are reading Charlotte's Web. So far we are on Chapter 8. We were only reading it twice a week but the boys have asked that we read it more so we are going to start reading it daily starting this week. After we read we work on our Lapbook or Activity that is listed in the curriculum I have.

Art

We just started our Art program this week. They colored the cover to their Lapbook and I have read the assigned pages from the Picasso book. 

This was our first two weeks of homeschooling. They are loving it and I am enjoying having them home and actually knowing what they are learning. It's nice to be able to talk about it with them in the evenings as a review.

The First Day of School

We started our first day by taking the normal Back to School pictures we have done since they started Kindergarten. 

I went into this first day thinking we are going to have a good day. I am going to keep my cool and understand this is a transition for them as they have been in public school for so long. They blew my socks off with how well the day went. I know that won't always happen but our first day went really well. 

We don't have a set schedule with strict times. Instead, we have a schedule with items that have to be done that day. We started school at 9:00 and we were done within three hours. I felt that was pretty good for introducing their books to them and doing Science, Geography, Language Arts, Math, Reading, Spelling, and Literature. 

We also had a trip to the Library and they were so excited for the books they got they read them on the way home!

Overall I can't say it enough that they really surprised me. I thought I was going to pull my hair out and be way more stressed because they wouldn't want to do what I had planned, but they loved the first day.

We were having breakfast this morning before our second day and they both told me they loved homeschool and couldn't wait to get started today!!

Will update at the end of the week on how the rest of the week goes!

Our Schoolroom 2016-2017

I finished up the schoolroom this weekend! We start school tomorrow and I am very excited to get started! I wanted to provide a space that was welcoming and exciting for my boys and I feel that I reached that goal!

As you enter the room this is what you see. My desk and shelf. 

To the right of the room is our main table and the boys desks.

I will work my way around the room and explain in more detail!

To the left of my desk I hung two posters that I will display amazing work on. Then you see my bulletin board that is home to our School Calendar and our Weekly Schedule. I will also be hanging our Character Trait of the week here. I have a hanging caddy that houses my markers, pens, and pencils. The organizer on my desk is where papers will be turned in from both of the boys. Above my computer is our Homeschool Rules! 

To the right of my desk is my shelf. It has my printer, paper cutter, hole punch and laminator on it. It also holds my Teacher manuals and extra school supplies. The poster to the right of it is our Multiplication Tables. 

Then is the window area (sorry for the bad glares). This shelf is from IKEA and I am using it to hold our main school supplies. They are labeled and organized for the school year. Top right drawer is our Math Manipulatives.

To the right of the window is our Dry Erase Board and our Calendar area. Next to the shelf are some of our Science Manipulatives and our CD Player. 

Above the closet door are just some cute lights I found at Target and on the closet door is our Spelling Assignments for each week. The desk in this picture is my 5th Graders and above it is our United States Map. 

On the door is a Science Poster and a Post of our Presidents. This desk is my 3rd Graders and above it is a Language Arts Poster and Cursive Alphabet. 

Each desk has a caddy that has markers, colored pencils, crayons, a ruler, glue stick, eraser, highlighters, dry erase marker, scissors, and a pencil (not pictured) on it. 

This is our table where we will do curriculum that they are both using. We will start our day here with our Morning Work and continue through the day either at their desks or at this table depending on which Subject we are working on.

This is our schoolroom!

As you can see I went with a black and white theme at first,  but then decided to throw in a lot of color! 

I am so excited to get started tomorrow and utilize this space fully! 

Preparing to Homeschool

Time has moved so fast this month. I posted about our curriculum and then I have been busy the rest of the month. I made a list of things to get done and I am slowly working through it to get it done by our start date. 

We start school September 6th!!

I am working on setting our school room up!

We received our chairs from IKEA and I put them together.

I have worked on organizing school supplies, desks, created notebooks for subjects that needed one, and I am currently working on Morning Work Folders and Reading Logs! Pinterest has been amazing for these!!

I plan to finish our school room this next week and share the whole thing with you all!!! 

See y'all then!

Fifth Grade Curriculum

My oldest son is 10 and entering Fifth Grade. He is very excited to be homeschooled this year! Here are the curriculum choice I chose for 2016-2017.

Math- Saxon Math 6/5

Math is a subject he struggles with here and there. I chose this program as I felt it would give him a review of what he knows plus slowly introduces new learning items.  

Language Arts- First Language Lesson, Level 4

I decided to go with Level 4 for him as it states it can be used for Fifth Grade. He struggled with Language Arts in Fourth Grade so I feel it is best to really review items with him to be sure he understands before moving on. 

History- America From the Beginning ( Shared Curriculum)

This is an area that my kids have not receive much information on. Our public school didn't seem to teach much History so I wanted to find a program that would start from the beginning and really show them our History.

Science- God's Design For Life, Plants, Animals, and Human Body (Shared Curriculum)

This was a fun area to search through as I knew I wanted to teach my boys about creation and I wanted a Science program that didn't teach about evolution as it is not something we believe in. I wanted them to learn about Science from a Godly point of view and I felt this program was the right one for us. We will be learning about plants, animals, and the human body this year. 

Literature- Classic Literature, Volume 1 (Shared Curriculum)

I knew I wanted to do read-a-loud type curriculum with my boys this year as it would give us a fun sit down time to really go through classic books. I found Confessions of a Homeschooler's Literature Units to be perfect for what I was wanting to achieve. It gives them a Lapbook to work on and activities to go along with the book as we read. 

Geography- Road Trip USA (Shared Curriculum)

In fourth grade at the public school he went to they introduce States and Capitals but that is about as far as it went. I am excited to share with him where the states are and information about each state. 

Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

This is a subject that is no longer taught at public school in our State. So I am excited about teaching it because I feel it is still needed even with how technological our society is, kids need to learn how to sign their name and write in cursive. 

Writing- Spectrum Grade 5

This was an area I questioned on if I really needed. So I looked through some of my sons past papers from the year before at public school. I read through them to realize that he had not been taught how to write proper sentences or even how to be creative in his writing. So I researched through several curriculum and found this one to be the one I liked the best. 

Reading- Spectrum Grade 5

I chose this because it is mainly reading comprehension. This is an area that both of my boys struggle with. So I chose it to work with them and to reinforce how to comprehend what they have read. 

Spelling- Grade 5 List

I knew this was an area that my son is really good at so I didn't want to get to difficult with how he has already been learning spelling from past years. So I chose the basic Fifth Grade Spelling list that was free and that is what we are using this year. 

Art- World's Greatest Artist, Volume 1 (Shared Curriculum)

He loves Art so much and I am looking forward in giving him techniques and new things to try this year. This curriculum will offer a background in Art History and he will get to explore art culture. 

Music

This is something he is not very interested in. So, I am still trying to decide if I will push him to do a Music Program this year. I am a firm believer in letting them choose this type of stuff. 

You will notice some of the choices say Shared Curriculum. These are subjects that we will work together on as they work well for grades 3 to 5.  I felt it was important to include times to work together as I am hoping to help my children bond, as well as learn. 

These are our Fifth Grade Curriculum choices. I will do a post at the end of the school year to share what I think of my choices. 

Third Grade Curriculum

My youngest is 8 years old and going into Third Grade. He is very excited to be homeschooled and this is the curriculum I chose for 2016-2017 school year.

Math- Saxon Math 3

I chose Saxon for our Math as I felt it would give them both a good review of some of the items they know plus introduce new information. It also stayed away from the Common Core aspect which I was wanting to stay away from as much as possible. 

Language Arts- First Language Lesson, Level 3

I picked this as I liked the layout of how the teaching was done and how the lessons were laid out. I feel it will be very easy for me to teach and they will be learning a lot this year.

History- America From the Beginning (Shared Curriculum)

This is an area that my kids have not receive much information on. Our public school didn't seem to teach much History so I wanted to find a program that would start from the beginning and really show them our History.

Science- God's Design For Life, Plants, Animals, and Human Body (Shared Curriculum)

This was a fun area to search through as I knew I wanted to teach my boys about creation and I wanted a Science program that didn't teach about evolution as it is not something we believe in. I wanted them to learn about Science from a Godly point of view and I felt this program was the right one for us. We will be learning about plants, animals, and the human body this year. 

Literature- Classic Literature, Volume 1 (Shared Curriculum)

I knew I wanted to do read-a-loud type curriculum with my boys this year as it would give us a fun sit down time to really go through classic books. I found Confessions of a Homeschooler's Literature Units to be perfect for what I was wanting to achieve. It give them a Lapbook to work on and activities to go along with the book as we read. 

Geography- Road Trip USA (Shared Curriculum)

This is going to be something new for my Third Grader as he knows where the United States is but he doesn't know anything about the states and capitals or where each state is. I feel this will be fun to introduce and teach about each state! 

Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

This is a subject that is no longer taught at public school in our State. So I am excited about teaching it because I feel it is still needed even with how technological our society is, kids need to learn how to sign their name and write in cursive. 

Writing- Spectrum Grade 3

This was an area I questioned on if I really needed. So I looked through some of my sons past papers from the year before at public school. I read through them to realize that he had not been taught how to write proper sentences or even how to be creative in his writing. So I researched through several curriculum and found this one to be the one I liked the best. 

Reading- Spectrum Grade 3

I chose this because it is mainly reading comprehension. This is an area that both of my boys struggle with. So I chose it to work with them and to reinforce how to comprehend what they have read. 

Spelling- Grade 3 List

I knew this was an area that my son is really good at so I didn't want to get to difficult with how he has already been learning spelling from past years. So I chose the basic Third Grade Spelling list that was free and that is what we are using this year. 

Art- World's Greatest Artist, Volume 1 (Shared Curriculum)

Art is extremely important to me as I love to create new things using different art techniques. I am a very crafty person and both of my children enjoy Art also. I wanted to find a curriculum that would teach them different techniques and Art history all together. This one has it all so I knew it was the perfect pick!

Music

This is an area that I am still trying to figure out. We have talked about doing piano or recorders. We just haven't decided as of yet. I will update when we decide. 

You will notice some of the choices say Shared Curriculum. These are subjects that we will work together on as they work well for grades 3 to 5.  I felt it was important to include times to work together as I am hoping to help my children bond, as well as learn. 

This is what we are starting with this year! I will do a look back at what we though of them at the end of the school year! 

School Supply Haul

It's back to school season in all of the stores! That means it's time to start shopping for school supplies with all of the good deals out there!

I started by making a list of items that our curriculum suggested we would need and items that are commonly needed when doing school work!

When deciding what we would need I wrote down a number for how many items of each supply we would need. I ended up buying less than I was going to but figured with homeschooling for the first year I can always pick up stuff as needed for replacements. 

Here are my suggestions for others that want to know what I bought and possibly what they may need when homeschooling!

Binders, Folders, Spiral Notebooks, Dividers, and Notebook paper. 

I let my boys pick out a couple of fun folders as they have never been able to because in Public School items were shared and no fun type folders were allowed. 

Art Paper, Construction Paper, and Printer Paper.

Pencils, Pens, Dry Erase Markers, Highlighters, Markers, Colored Pencils, Chalk and Crayons.

Play-dough, Erasers, Index Cards, Scissors, Paper Fasteners, Rulers, Liquid Glue, and Glue-sticks.

Some of the items I bought in certain colors as one of my children will be using blue items and the other using red items. They each have a supply caddy that they can move from their desk to our center table. So I figured it'd be easier for those supplies to be color coordinated so they don't get confused on who has what. 

This is our basic school supply haul! 

Another Shopping Post!!

I obviously have a school shopping problem. Although I will blame it on Instagram and the #targetdollarspot. If you don't check that hashtag already, stay away from it. I have found it addicting to check it daily!

With that said I made another run to the Target Dollar Spot last week and found some more goodies for our school room!

 I started by finding another one of the Maps except this one is dry erase and is of the World for $3. I stumbled upon bulletin board border so I grabbed two packs of those for $1 a piece. And I also found Word Strips to use in the pocket chart I bought last trip for $1. 

I am a sucker for cute ways to organize! I found these little tin pails for $1 each and they match several of the decor items I have bought! The little rectangle bins were also $1 each and I plan to use them for glue stick storage, dry erase markers, and whatever else I can fit in them!

These string lights I just bought because they are cute and match other decorations in the room! They were $3 I believe! They run off batteries too which I thought was nice!

 I bought two of the clip strips as my plan is to use them above the boys desk to hang their spelling words for the week and any other important papers! They were $3! I also stumbled upon this cute Learn sign and plan to place it on our book shelf! It was $3, also!

Next was some of the blank books that are already stapled and ready to go for the creative mind! My boys have already been coming up with ideas of ways to use these! They were $3! I also grabbed a few fun pencils for $1 each as my boys love these types of pencils over the regular yellow ones. 

I grabbed another set of flash cards from the Dollar Spot on the United States to go with our Geography lessons. They are $1! I will add there are a ton of different subject of flash cards there, too!

I also remembered that when my boys were in public school they always loved coming home with special erasers for rewards. So I went ahead and grabbed a couple packs of fun erasers to use as rewards! They were $1 each. And then I saw some $1 paper clips and knew it was one item I didn't have in my desk so I grabbed them!

Be ready for many more shopping trips as I head out this weekend to get our school supplies and hit up Dollar Tree's school section! I may even sneak into Target again! I tell you I have a school shopping problem! It's just too hard to pass up all of the cute things!