Finding our New Groove for Year Two: Homeschool Curriculum

We are entering our second year of homeschool and we've all settled in more. In my last post I wrote about our revamped schedule for year two as well as changing the space we use in our house. 

In this post I wanted to share my two cents on curricula. We've made some changes from last year, adding some new subjects and deciding to forgo packaged curriculum in certain areas. Here are my thoughts on the homeschool curricula I bought or planned for each of my children (a kindergartner and a fifth grader) this year.  

Homeschool Curriculum We're Using

Math

5th grade: Primary Mathematics

I am using Primary Mathematics from Singapore Math with my son this year for the second year because it worked for us last year! It feels like serious, down-to-business math. There are no bells and whistles, and it is cheap. The teacher's guide is written for homeschool (it is called a home instructor's guide). The materials you occasionally need are usually things you already have in the house. It jumps right into concepts, and aims high, which is good because my son catches on pretty quickly in math. The activity suggestions move from concrete (working with actual blocks when introducing volume, for example), to pictorial representations of the same, to abstract (solving equations or word problems).  

Kindergarten: Dimensions Math

We wanted to stick with Singapore Math for my kindergartner, but found that Primary Mathematics doesn't start until the first-grade level, so we tried Dimensions, which is another line from the same company. Dimensions is in full color, with more bells and whistles. There are a good number of materials (game boards and cards and such) that can be downloaded and printed. One thing to note is that Dimensions (unlike Primary Mathematics) is written for use in a classroom. It goes at a slower pace so as to encompass a wide range of abilities. There are many activity suggestions within a lesson to get at the same concept; we don't do them all unless M needs a lot of extra practice on a concept. Most of the games are written for a small group but we can adapt them to play at home, and she loves them. There are so many developmentally appropriate, play-based, hands-on activities. We've used paintbrushes and water and chalk and play dough and flour to practice forming numbers. We've played hopscotch and card games and sorted objects around the house. It is very interactive and dependent on an adult's involvement the entire time (this may be kindergarten-specific, but I'm not sure). There are a couple kindergarten workbook pages each lesson, but they only take about two minutes. The many active components are the bulk of the lesson.  

Reading 

I didn't buy any curriculum for reading. 

Last year I purchased an expensive program that I knew well from my classroom teaching days, that I really believe in. Research on good teaching and on how kids get to be better readers was embedded. The philosophy of all the lessons was excellent. W learned so much and we had some wonderful experiences with it. But it was a bit intense. Too intense to read through and plan for every day, too intense for my son to take it all in some days. It added some unnecessary stress for us both, which was silly because reading was already a major strength of his. Plus, this year, the thought of buying something that expensive, times two kids (plus a similar cost for the same authors' writing programs, times two kids again) was overwhelming. So I did a lot of online research for ideas of what to teach, dug out my guides to best practices for teaching reading, and sketched out my own plans for the year. 

For my 5th grader, I have a plan of several genres we'll spend time reading for a month or two at a time and discussing. (I don't choose specific titles for him, but rather check out a bunch of books within a genre and let him select from those based on interest). He's reading fiction right now and I'm managing to not kill the joy in that with too much teaching, so my plan has been a success so far! I try to spend a few minutes each day before he goes off to read modeling a strategy or tip for being a good reader of fiction. This is usually a thinking/analyzing strategy because that's the part about reading that he doesn't do on his own naturally. I encourage him to jot for about three minutes of his reading time a day in a reading notebook-- about theme or character traits or the author's style, etc. I'm looking forward to helping him delve into fantasy and mythology and reading about particular topics in history and more at other points in the year. 

And with my daughter, who is just beginning to grasp the bits and pieces of what it is to read, reading time is a whole other, exciting story. I didn't purchase curriculum for her either. I hope to share more about this soon.  

Writing 

We're forging ahead on our own without packaged curriculum in this area as well. Same explanation and decision as above, but in writing. I'll share more about our work in writing soon!

Foreign Language

5th only (for now): Rosetta Stone online homeschool subscription 

We decided to experiment with my oldest learning a foreign language this year. When we asked W what language he would be interested in, he said immediately, as I had predicted he might, "Could I do Greek?" Mostly born from his love of the Percy Jackson series, he has learned a lot about Greek mythology so he was intrigued. The pros and cons of different languages were discussed. After he realized that Greek uses a different alphabet, he at first backtracked and thought more about something seemingly easier like Spanish or French. We encouraged him to choose what he was most excited about. Who knows if he will stick with or get real use out of any language he learns. (I don't "use" my six years plus two college semesters of Spanish. But I'm glad I learned it. It helps me have a better sense of the world. And it would come back to me and help me if I moved somewhere with a lot of Spanish speakers.) So we decided to treat a language for now just like any other interest: it's great to see how curious he is about this one right now, and see where that leads. 

As far as program, there were a lot of choices and we chose Rosetta Stone mostly because of name recognition. (There were also back-to-school promotions so I was able to get it for a lot less than it is currently offered for a 12-month subscription.) W has been logging in and using the program a few times a week. It jumps right in, teaching vocabulary and short phrases, and it focuses on listening and speaking right away and primarily. W loves to speak and see if he gets full credit for echoing the pronunciations. He has learned that if he rolls his Rs, he gets higher points. There are also reading and writing components that have recently started (a Greek keyboard comes up on the screen and he clicks the appropriate keys to spell a word). He loves it and feels so pleased with himself for knowing bits and pieces of something so foreign. But every so often, there will be a day where he feels really confused. While Rosetta Stone is billed as something homeschoolers can do independently, and it is, sometimes it really helps if I sit with him and we work through it together for a bit. It introduces things through pictures and listening and speaking. It never provides the English translation. So it's a whole new way to learn. Sometimes he has to really be a detective and it takes a while to figure things out, taking notes to eliminate possibilities of what a word that keeps appearing might mean (often it's not what he first guesses it to mean). 

M is intrigued and likes to watch and is picking up on bits and pieces, so she may yet join in the foreign language adventure this year-- we'll see. Important note, though: we can only have one account on each online subscription, so would need to pay for another entire subscription for a second child to use the program. Also of note: the Rosetta Stone program does not seem to teach the names of letters of the Greek alphabet, so we researched that and learned it ourselves by listening to a YouTube video a bunch of times.  

Grammar

5th only: Easy Grammar

This program has worked well for us since last spring. We do a lesson a few times a week, with an accompanying workbook page for practice. The teacher's guide is the only thing I purchased, as it includes the student pages and is reproducible. The parts of speech and sentence structure were foreign to W, and quite frustrating at first, but he is catching on and loves to impress/stump his dad now by giving him sentences to mark. This program starts with identifying prepositions and prepositional phrases, so once students learn how to do that, it makes identifying the subject(s) of the sentence much easier. This program does not teach diagramming sentences on branches the way I vaguely remember being taught in sixth grade. I thought about trying to teach diagramming the old-fashioned way, but decided that it wasn't the diagramming that was important but rather meaning-- understanding the functions of different parts of a sentence. This program teaches this in a simple, bare bones way.    

Spelling/Word Study

5th only: Words their Way

I am a big fan of Words their Way because it is a small, concrete way to easily personalize for your child and give them exactly the challenge they need. I wrote a post last year with more details on how this program works. This overview book contains spelling inventories and directions on administering them to help you find what level your child is at in his spelling (what types of features in words they are on the cusp of understanding). Once you know the developmental stage they are at (which is not a grade level), there are multiple books available full of curated word lists for the various stages to be used as spelling/vocabulary words for the week. All the words in a list contain a similar feature (such as long a sound) and students have to learn the generalization, or rule, to remember which ones are spelled in which way and why. Kids aren't simply memorizing words, but learning about word meanings, spelling rules, and exceptions to the rules. We work with one of these word lists each week, studying, defining, and doing some activities with the words, and a spelling test at the end of the week. 

Phonics

Kindergarten only: Guidance from Wilson Language approach and Fundations program

The basic idea of the Wilson Language approach is systematic, consistent teaching of the way the English language works. There is an order in which it makes sense to teach letter sounds and later other spelling rules. I had used the Fundations program in my first-grade classroom. For this year I bought the Kindergarten Fundations teacher's guide and a few individual materials I thought were important. I got a poster of Fundations key words for each letter of the alphabet (a, apple, /a/; b, bat, /b/, and so on) and I am glad I did because M is fascinated by it and utilizes it constantly. I also bought a pocket chart in which we can move word cards around to form sentences, and letter cards around to form words. My mother-in-law passed on to me a set of letter cards she had in her attic. I bought a dry-erase board with special lines to help M learn how to form her letters. I made a file-folder and sticky-note version of a magnetic letter board (see picture below). And I already had a supply of dry-erase markers. We add more letters to M's repertoire each week. It's amazing how empowering this is to her and how much she likes to show off her latest letter-sound skills. The program focuses on all the lower-case letters first, because those are what we use most of the time. I like Fundations, but as it turns out, I could have gone without the teacher's guide; my one kid at home is going at a quicker pace than a class of kindergartners would and we often do more than one day's lesson in a session. I probably could have forged my own way with just my pocket chart and white board and by following a general scope and sequence for language learning and we would have been okay. 

Cursive

5th grade only: Can-Do Cursive book from Handwriting Without Tears 

W knows how to write in cursive, but handwriting has always been an area he needs reminders in. This book is just review of the finer points, and he does a practice page a couple times a week. 

Keyboarding

5th grade only: TypingClub 

I wrote recently about our experience with TypingClub as a way to learn how to type efficiently and keyboarding skills in general. We're still using it a few times a week for 15 minutes or so each time and his WPM is increasing! It is online, free, and students can use it mostly independently.  

Science

5th grade: Mystery Science

Kindergarten: Mystery Science 

I am so impressed with Mystery Science. A year-long homeschool subscription is inexpensive; it includes every child in a household, so we don't pay more to utilize both the kindergarten and grade five lessons. They are online-based science lessons, but I think that can give the wrong impression until you've actually done a "mystery" (as each lesson is called) with kids. These are by no means videos to watch passively, though they do include brief video. There are great introductions to topics that hook my kids every time. The videos pose questions and contain lots of stop-and-think moments. They contain well-chosen, appropriate, short footage of animal behavior, or volcanoes, or whatever the topic is being studied. They align with the Next Generation Science Standards. And almost every lesson centers on active, hands-on activities. Science class was never my favorite subject when I was in school, so I love having this company to make science feel fun and accessible. Last week we set up a fifth-grade experiment to test how well mold grows in different conditions (the kids came up with the variables they wanted to test). Tonight my daughter reenacted the defensive animal behaviors she had observed today-- a scared praying mantis is something to see. The lessons are written for classrooms (and I know a lot of classrooms that use them) but they include specific instructions for using them in a homeschool setting as well (very little modification needed). Usually household supplies and the online printables are all the materials you need but occasionally you need to buy something special ahead of time like the red worms we are currently housing for a various observations and experiments this week (eww).  

We currently have pet worms!

Social Studies

I didn't buy any curriculum for social studies because we are making use of free curriculum online-- some school districts put their entire curricula online, so if there is a school you think is doing things well, it's worth checking to see if they have done this. There is a school in Missouri that has an incredible amount of information online. I have found that their social studies units and lessons align with topics we wanted to study this year and seem really well thought-out. These include activity ideas and clickable links to great relevant web sites. I have downloaded these and use them as a guide for social studies. (I feel a little like I am stealing, but these are free and available to the public online...) 

We also may use, as we did last year, some of the Core Knowledge (also free, also downloadable) units as backup or if we end up with extra time this year. These are highly traditional-- essentially mini textbooks for students and discussion ideas for the teacher-- but we certainly gleaned lots of knowledge from them on a few particular topics last year. We also always check out a lot of library books to go with the topics we are studying in social studies.  

Art

For art we do various projects together and try to keep it fun and encouraging. I find ideas everywhere. Last week we made color wheels-- a younger-kid version with primary and secondary colors, and a bigger-kid version that included intermediate colors as well. Here and here are some things we did last year. 

Trying to imitate their llamas' facial expressions

Music

For music, in the past we've checked out venues in person or online, listened to and learned about types of music and specific well-known pieces of music as well as some musicians and musicals. Music comes a little less naturally to me than art, but as with art, I just find ideas everywhere without a master plan for the year (here's a great web site and podcast we just discovered). Each of my kids is taking lessons in and practicing an instrument daily, so I feel that lets me off the hook a little. Here are some things we did and resources we used last year. 

P.E. 

We aren't doing anything formal (though, like everything else, there are homeschool P.E. curricula for sale online). We get outside daily for a good chunk of time late morning as well as after school. We go on lots of family hikes and bike rides on the weekends, as well as the occasional school-day hike; come winter there will be skiing and skating. Last year my son did P.E. at the public school twice a week, but as our local school isn't even open yet this year, we are holding off on that. But my kids are both able to participate in a masked, game-free, shortened soccer season this fall. I have plenty of web sites earmarked that a quick search of homeschool P.E. ideas yielded in case we need a boost of activity, but haven't needed to tap them yet. 

Finding our New Groove for Year Two: Homeschool Schedule and Space

One thing I've always loved about teaching is that you get a fresh start at the beginning of every year. As I begin our second year of homeschool this year, I feel that same sense of renewal. 

We had a great first year of homeschool last year, but we're in a pretty different place as we start year two. For one, it doesn't feel as surreal to be spending each day with my own children-- though I'll never take that for granted. 

Also, last year my son struggled with several things: in the very beginning he had a rough time with the idea of not being in school with his peers. Last year was one of the first times he was asked to do challenging work that required real effort, and we unfortunately debated a bit about that, but we also worked hard to find strategies to help him focus better. Now that this is more of a way of life for us and he's past the difficulty of the transition, he frequently talks about the perks of homeschooling and how much he likes it. W's not surprised or irritated by the work I ask him to do. He's become so much more confident and responsible and self-driven, and he's proud of that. The good start we've had to year two is in no small part because he has fully adjusted to homeschool. 

Then there's me. Coming from years in a school system and my own education there, it took me a long time to fully realize that at home we often could and should do things differently.  

And the biggest change of all: last year I was homeschooling just one fourth grader; this year both my kids (a kindergartner and now-fifth grader) are home. I am finding myself thankful that I was able to start with one kid and then transition to homeschooling both my kids, especially with their disparate ages. My five-year-old is so excited to "do kindergarten" every day. Just this weekend she worked out a word on a hiking trail sign and then exclaimed, "See, I knew I could do it! I'm doin' kindergarten!!" as she punched the air and marched off ahead of us down the trail. Her spunky energy for learning and growing is contagious, and we're all delighted by the big-kid skills she is soaking up at lightning speed recently, from shoe tying to bike riding to spelling words phonetically.

This year we aren't doing everything differently from last year, but we've made some changes. I've chosen some new curricula (and opted out of buying curriculum in some cases), changed the space in our house that we use, and breathed new air into the routine we follow each day. I'm loving the new groove we are finding together this year and thought I'd share about it.

Schedule

It seems there are as many ways of scheduling the day as there are homeschool families; it all depends on your philosophy. A few weeks ago, I listed some of my own current guiding principles for making a schedule. We went through several revisions of our daily routine last year simply due to changes that came up. Over the summer, I put a ton of thought into what our new schedule would be. One of my big questions had been, how do I teach two kids, at very different ages, while giving them both the attention they need, and without me going crazy? Staggered lesson times has been the answer (see below for details). 

I've been asking the kids their input regularly on what they like about school so far and what they wish was different. I want us all to feel good about the day. I try to convey to them something I learned last year-- we can always change the routine, so they can always tell me if they have ideas of better ways to do things.  

When I made the schedule, I sketched in time frames for everything just to make sure it was feasible (for example, "8:30 - 9:15 math"). Then I removed those exact times before I printed it. My oldest, especially, really likes to know what to expect for the day and looks at it regularly. I didn't want him, or me, being too driven by being "on time" or "behind" or "ahead." I wanted us to keep our priorities straight by focusing instead on learning, finding good stopping points, and completing quality work. It is working. Sometimes we've decided something is just too much/too long and we'll put it on the agenda for the next day, but for the most part, math or anything else is done when it's done each day, and then we move on to the next thing. Our schedule is more about the order and flow of things, and less about where you can find us at any given time. Below is my current "master" version with both kids on it. (I hung on the wall one copy with only W's columns on it and one copy with only M's columns on it, so they each have an individual version they can look at which is a little less busy.) 

Notes: W's columns are color-coded by subject, but M's aren't. I wanted to see when each subject was during the week but didn't have enough colors to do this distinctly for two kids so her columns are unhighlighted just to help them stand apart. Also: we have done other stuff and will do lots more stuff that isn't on this schedule this year-- hikes, field trips, appointments. We aren't locked into this, but it gives us a framework that we follow for the "normal" days. 

What I love about our schedule so far: 

• Morning gathering time together after breakfast. I got the idea of homeschool "morning time" from homeschool blogs all over the internet, and adapted it for us. The big idea is that this is time for all of us to do shared things together to start the day. It sets the tone for the day. It's easy and accessible for everybody. We've studied some artwork during this time (they are loving spotting the details in the book Can You Find It?). I've read aloud some picture books and portions of nonfiction books (we love The Outside Story which gives a week-by-week poetic synopsis of notable plant and animal happenings outdoors in our part of the world). We've practiced memorizing things that are just important to know or relevant to something we are studying (the first thing we worked on was the months of the year because somehow, my 5th grader was not yet solid on the order of the "-ber" months, and followed that up with learning the "30 days hath September..." poem). I use it as a time to fit in anything I am not getting to otherwise-- a news story I've saved to share with them, a picture or video shared by a friend, a necessary conversation or finishing touch on a project. Start of the day is a nice time for odds and ends and general enrichment. 
• The bulk of our day is in the morning. We're all most alert in the morning. It feels good to take care of the core subjects-- reading, writing, math-- as well as several other smaller things by lunchtime. 
• We don't even attempt to do everything every day. Core subjects are four times a week, other things are three or less. I prefer quality over quantity, finishing over being rushed.
• Staggered learning blocks. Of course, there are parts of the day we do together, like art projects. But for the core subjects my 5- and 10-year-old need different things. So in general, during each core chunk of time, I start off working with my oldest first, spending about ten minutes with him, while my youngest plays. She understands she's not supposed to interrupt during the brief time I am focused on her brother. When I'm done working with him, he goes off to write or do math practice or whatever the work consists of independently (usually into the next room). Then I call M over and work with her for most of the rest of that chunk of work time (which might consist of reading with her, or playing math games, or working on letters and sounds). As a kindergartner she can not work independently for long, and the learning activities she needs to do are mostly interactive and dependent on my presence. When I have a moment, I go check on W briefly and answer any questions he has. She has more playtime during the day this way, which feels right. I get one on one time with both of them this way. Lessons are to the point with my oldest this way and can't drag on and on, which is great for both of us. The overall time my fifth grader is spending on any one subject is greater than my kindergartner, which also feels right. (This might not feel so perfect if my kids were closer in age, but it works for us right now!) 
• Outside time before lunch every day. We all need fresh air and exercise and I've been making sure we drop all work, whether it's done or not, by a certain point late morning and get outside for a good chunk of time. I hope to keep doing this no matter how cold or wet it may be some days. We plan bigger hikes and big excursions other times, but this is a time to run around, visit the brook, go for a walk, or play a game outside, and it benefits us all. 
• A nice long lunch time (~an hour) that is realistic and unhurried. This is especially good because several days a week, my husband works from home and lunchtime is a time they love to catch up with him, show him recent accomplishments, or just spend time with him.
• Brief yoga (or meditation or mindfulness) exercises after lunch to settle and refocus for the last part of the day. We like Mind Yeti (you can access some of their activities for free on their web site as well as their YouTube channel), and sometimes Cosmic Yoga (for yoga or mindfulness), or we just do some poses or activities that we all know. We usually spend no more than five minutes on this, but it's nice that it's becoming a habit. Even if W might grumble about doing it sometimes, he settles in once we start and I feel like it is doing him good to grow a repertoire of these sorts of strategies. Just the other day he told me he had used a breathing activity we had done to help him go to sleep at night. 
• Our afternoons are slower with more time to dive into things. We do just science OR social studies and then something else-- music, art, or project time (see below). I am enjoying trying a routine where every day all of one week we do science, then every day the next week we do social studies, and so on. It's the same amount of total time I would have scheduled for those subjects anyway, but it's been nice to keep up momentum on one topic all week rather than alternate days as I've done in the past. And it's nice for my planning purposes to not have to switch gears all the time to be ready for one then the other. 
• Project time! I will post more about this separately, because we are all loving it. Three days a week, the last hour of the school day is devoted to pursuing the kids' own choice of projects and topics. We've been doing some exciting stuff during this time that I can't wait to share about. I also love that project time is the last chunk of the day, because if they are really into it they can keep doing what they are doing as long as they want to, which has happened several times. 

Space 

Last year we had a devoted homeschool space. It was a small spare room upstairs that we didn't use for much other than storage. It worked for us pretty well last year. But, my husband now works from that room several days a week. Also, I couldn't see staying in one room most of the day with two kids, or having them on different floors doing different things while I ran back and forth. 

So we moved out of that space and into the part of our home where we live the most. We have the materials all stored in a central cabinet. Each kid has a cubby that is specifically all of their stuff-- their own best pencils, their own workbooks and writing folder. I have supplies for general use in another  couple of cubbies, and my teaching materials in the top cubbies. Things we use less often or that I want to have more control over (like glitter and the glue gun) and in drawers below out of sight. 

The dining room table is our home base where most of the actual lessons happen. (Our big table comes in handy because a few school things that are in progress can be left out and we still have the other end to eat at.) But the work happens wherever it makes sense-- the table, the floor, the couch, or even outside a few times so far in good weather. We're finding that certain work in certain locations works best, but I like including the kids in those choices and working that out naturally. 

Recently my son described how he loves to do math pages sitting on the couch next to our dog: "...When there's a problem that frustrates me, I just pet him and that calms me down and then I can figure it out." He summarized by saying, "I just love how homeschool is like, so loose, but I feel like I'm learning so much." 

That's become my homeschool motto that I want to live by all year: keep it loose while making sure they are learning a lot.  

In the next post, I'll share about the curricula we are using this year and why we chose what we chose...