5th Grade Curriculum Choices

My youngest is entering 5th Grade and this is the curriculum I chose for the 2018-2019 school year.

Math: Teaching Textbooks 3.0 Math 5
Language Arts: The Good and The Beautiful Level 4
History: The Good and The Beautiful History Year 1
Science: The Good and The Beautiful; Arthropods, Human Body Part 1, Energy, Space Science ( not pictured)
Handwriting: The Good and The Beautiful Level 4
Writing: The Good and The Beautiful Creative Writing

It may seem that we are missing some subjects but The Good and The Beautiful Language Arts includes Geography and Art.

7th Grade Curriculum Choices

My oldest is entering 7th Grade and these are his 2018-2019 curriculum choices. 

Math: Teaching Textbooks 3.0 Math 7

Language Arts: The Good and The Beautiful Level 6

History: The Good and The Beautiful History Year 1

Science: Masterbooks Archaeology and Geology

Handwriting: The Good and The Beautiful Level 6

Writing: The Good and The Beautiful Creative Writing

It may seem like we are missing subjects but The Good and The Beautiful Language Arts covers Geography and Art. 

Curriculum Changes Once Again

Choosing curriculum can be one of the hardest parts I've found to homeschooling. I always seem to think I have found what is going to work best for my boys and then they hate it or I hate the layout once we really get into it. 

We have made some changes to our curriculum this school year and what I  have picked has been amazing to take place of what we were using! 

First up was Science. I had chosen the Cambridge Primary Science for both of my boys in level 4 and 6. The material was so dry and boring once we really got into it that I stopped using it pretty early on! We made the switch to The Good and Beautiful Science curriculum and I can't say enough good about it!! We decided to study Intro to Energy and Meteorology!

 We are loving Science now and plan to continue using it for the years ahead. 

Our next change was Spelling. Spellwell just wasn't a good fit for my boys. We also dropped Growing with Grammar as I felt it was just too much like busy work and not enough retention when my boys were using it. Next was the Maps and Geography it was too easy and my boys flew right through it. There was nothing really wrong with it they just found it to be too easy and not enough of a challenge. So you are probably asking yourself well why aren't you telling us what you chose to use instead for each of those. Most of the time you would need to find separate curriculum for each. I was lucky enough to find that The Good and Beautiful offers Language Arts curriculum that includes; Reading, Writing, Literature, Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Vocabulary, Geography, and Art!!

Yep it covers it all!!! So we only needed one book! And better yet Levels 1-5 are free downloads!! No I am not sponsored I am just LOVING this curriculum!!!

So that's where we are at! The rest of the curriculum for History and Math has worked out really well!

6th Grade Curriculum Choices

My son is 11 years old and going into 6th grade for the 2017/2018 school year. These are my curriculum choices for this school year.

(this post may contain affiliate links)

• Grammar- Growing with Grammar Level 6

This is new to him this year and I really think he is going to like the layout and how the curriculum works. He will read his lesson on his own and do the assignment in the student workbook each day. I think it will be much better than all of the diagramming we did last year. 

• Math- Teaching Textbooks 6

I am very excited about him starting Teaching Textbooks this year. He didn't like Saxon Math last year and he loves his time on the computer, so I think he will really enjoy Teaching Textbooks 6. I like that it will teach him and I will be here if he needs help. 

• Science- Cambridge Primary Science 6

I had a hard time finding a science program that I really liked this year. I finally found this and fell in love with the program. Each section has experiments. I also bought the activity book for follow up to each lesson so he would have an activity to really grasp what he has read. 

• Spelling- Spellwell D

With spelling last year I just gave him a list and an expectation to use it each day by writing the words three times or writing them colorfully. This year I wanted to have different activities to do with the spelling words and Spellwell really had everything I was looking for. Each week he will have a new list and activities for each day and then on Friday we will do a spelling test. 

• History- Story of the World Volume 1

This is the subject that both of my boys will do together. I am really looking forward to History this year. I like the fact that I will read the chapter each day and that we will have follow up questions and activities to do that come with the program. We will be using both the Book and Activity Book.

• Geography- Carson Dellosa Maps & Geography

We will be starting off by following directions on a map, to then learning about the United States and the Continents. Both boys will be using the same workbook and we will work together throughout the year. 

Want to see what he used in the past?

Fifth Grade Curriculum

This is what we are starting with! I will update if we make any changes and review how we liked everything at the end of the school year! 

4th Grade Curriculum Choices

My son is 9 years old and going into 4th grade for the 2017/2018 school year. These are my curriculum choices for this school year.

(this post may contain affiliate links)

• Grammar- Growing with Grammar

I am excited for him to use Growing with Grammar as I think he will be able to be more independent while learning. I like the layout of having one section to read each day and then an assignment that follows up with what he will have learned. This is a new curriculum for us so I am excited to see how we like it. 

• Math- Saxon Math 5/4

We used Saxon Math last year and he really liked it and asked to continue to use it. I think it fits his learning style really well and he will be able to be more independent with his Math this year. 

• Science- Cambridge Primary Science

I had a hard time finding a science program that I really liked this year. I finally found this and fell in love with the program. It offers studies in the human body, living things and environment, solids, liquids, and gases, sound, and electricity and magnetism. Each section has experiments. I also bought the activity book for follow up to each lesson so he would have an activity to really grasp what he has read. 

• Spelling- Spellwell C

With spelling last year I just gave him a list and an expectation to use it each day by writing the words three times or writing them colorfully. This year I wanted to have different activities to do with the spelling words and Spellwell really had everything I was looking for. Each week he will have a new list and activities for each day and then on Friday we will do a spelling test. 

• History- Story of the World Volume 1

This is the subject that both of my boys will do together. I am really looking forward to History this year. I like the fact that I will read the chapter each day and that we will have follow up questions and activities to do that come with the program. We will be using both the Book and Activity Book.

• Handwriting- Carson Dellosa Handwriting Cursive

Cursive is an area he struggled with last year. I found his print handwriting needed help so we ended up not doing much cursive the year before. Now that his print handwriting has improved he will be moving on to learning the basics of cursive.

• Geography- Carson Dellosa Maps & Geography

We will be starting off by following directions on a map, to then learning about the United States and the Continents. Both boys will be using the same workbook and we will work together throughout the year. 

Want to see what he used in the past?

Third Grade Curriculum

This is what we are starting with! I will update if we make any changes and review how we liked everything at the end of the school year! 

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. 

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. 

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! 

Our curriculum

I am linking up with the 4th Annual "Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop for curriculum today.

So I though I would share what curriculum I am using this year with Dylan. 

Our main curriculum is made by KidSparkz

Expedition Earth by Confessions of a Homeschooler

I have several other resources that I will be using for things like Science, Preschool Packs, Monthly Themes, Sensory Bins, and much more. So come back throughout the year to see what else we are up to and for new printables that I make for fun learning!