We are gearing up for our second year of homeschool (words I never thought I’d hear coming out of my mouth), so I wanted to share what we have picked out to use this year! Let me go ahead and say that things are always subject change. I am not naive enough to think that things always work out perfectly. And am open to changing my mind as we go or as needed! I also want to preface that this is what works for me and my family in this current season. Homeschool is not one size fits all, and what works for us might not work for everyone! There are so many different homeschool philosophies out there, which is amazing! For reference my boys are 9 (4th grade), 7 (2nd grade), and 4 (preschool).

Math

The Good and The Beautiful just released their new Simply Good and Beautiful Math, and we will be using level 2 and level 4. We used their old math (level K & 1, and level 3) last year, and loved them both!! I am excited to use their simplified versions this year, because all the moving pieces and parts got to be a bit overwhelming for some lessons. But I loved the learning style, and both boys loved it, too. I am excited for level 4 to be more independent, as it is student led with an optional video component. While we did choose to order the physical course books, the company offers levels 1-5 in math for FREE. Another reason to love this company. Math level 2 should take about 20-25 minutes, and level 4 will be around 35-45 minutes. We do math four days a week.

Language Arts

We also loved The Good and The Beautiful language arts levels K and 3 last year, and will be moving on to level 1 and level 4 this year. It’s a mix of grammar, spelling, literature, writing, reading, geography, and art. And even though my boys are so very different, it was a great fit for both of them! My 7 year old started the year off struggling with reading, and now I can hardly get him to put a book down. Level 4 will also be more student-led/independent! It will be interesting adjusting to letting him do his own work and I just help as needed. But I think it will be a good shift and hopefully help our time flow more smoothly. As with math, we do purchase the physical workbooks, but you can get everything you need for levels 1-5 as a free PDF! Level 1 should take 15-20 minutes at most. Level 4 will take around 30 minutes. We will do lessons four days per week. They also have independent reading time each day.

Preschool

I am planning to use the new Preschool course and to roll into the new Kindergarten Prep course from The Good and the Beautiful. They haven’t released samples as of this posting, so that’s all I have to share for now! I will come back and edit with links later :) My preschooler will also participate in our group subjects like History, Science, and Morning Time (see below).

History

We will be using Early American History (primary) from Beautiful Feet Books*, and I’m very pumped about it. This is different than what we did last year, and wasn’t what I was originally planning to use, but the more I looked at it, the more I fell in love with it. It’s all literature based learning, beginning with the Indigenous Peoples who first settled the American continents and ending at the conclusion of the Civil War. It will take us probably two years to get through the entire curriculum. The book list is fantastic and thorough. We only purchased the teacher’s manual (which was less than $30), and I will buy some of the books used and borrow others from the library. It is recommended grades K-3, so I may have to add in some extra things for my oldest to do, but we will just play it by ear! Beauty of homeschool right there :) We plan to do a history lesson one to two times per week for about 30-45 minutes.

Science

We will not be using a specific science curriculum, but will be focusing on nature study by putting together our own units. Our plan is to study birds, trees, and plants! We will be using lots of books, hands-on activities, and field trips with friends. I’ll do my best to share resources as we go! We will do one devoted science lesson per week.

Extras

A few months into last school year, we found Morning Time* from Brighter Day Press, and it has become one of my absolute favorite things we do! It includes Bible study, scripture memorization, hymns, catechism (basically just understanding foundations of what we believe), artist and composer studies, and read-alouds. There is a copywork component you can add in as well to go along with the poem and the scripture for the week. We typically do the copywork on Fridays. And we do in fact do ours in the morning during breakfast because that has worked well for us. But you could incorporate it anytime in your day. It takes about 20 minutes, and we do it five days a week. I cannot recommend this resource enough!! We are almost through volume 1, and will roll right into volume 2 when we finish. We also used her Advent and Easter guides, and they were wonderful as well!

We will be using The Good and The Beautiful handwriting books for all three kids. My oldest will be finishing up level 4 and moving into level 5, my middle will be using level 2, and my youngest will be using the doodles and pre-writing for littles. These handwriting books are fun for the kids. I never had to fight them to do a few pages! There are fun activities induced on most pages - mazes, coloring, step-by-step drawing, etc.

My 9 year old will be using the Typing 2 book from The Good and the Beautiful (can you tell yet how much we love this company?!). He did well finishing Typing 1 last year. It’s a simple to use workbook style with easy to follow, independent lessons and has helped him learn so much already! He will do a page 2-3 times per week.

We also participate in weekly tennis lessons with some other homeschool friends, and a friend and I are leading a monthly nature group for our area. We are using Hoffmann Academy for piano lessons - highly recommend!! They’re easy to follow and the boys love them. We will of course be reading lots of books together, both aloud and audio! I share a lot of what we are reading over on instagram, so if you’re not following me there, I’d love for you to come on over! I have a whole highlight filled with kids’ book recommendations, and recommendations for my mama friends, too!

Homeschool friends, what are you using this year? Share below! It’s always so nice to hear different perspectives and options. And if you are not a homeschool mama, but have questions, please feel free to ask me anything! Cheers to a new school year!

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