Summer is drawing to a close, which means that school is on everyone’s mind. I admit I’m not ready for the warmth of summer to end.
We’ve already had our first 4H Horse Club meeting as well as a couple of Homeschool Group meetups.
Since I can’t stop summer from ending, I have resigned to making this school year the best one yet! So, here is my annual homeschool curriculum post. We will use many of the same resources as last year, because when you find something that works…you keep doing that! But, there are a few changes and a few additions this year.
Keep in mind that I have two intense kiddos that absorb information like sponges. It can pose a challenge in keeping up with them. Therefore, our homeschool is constantly shifting and evolving. I invite you to check out our eclectic homeschool curriculum for the upcoming school year.
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Our Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2018-2019: Kindergarten and 6th Grade
Read alouds are a huge part of our homeschool as are games, hands-on activities, and adventures. These read alouds and hands-on activities always depend on current interests.
We love to tumble down rabbit holes of learning, get lost in forests of knowledge, and sometimes we take long detours along routes unknown. Many times we end up on opposite ends of the map and completely turned around.
It’s never perfect, but we love learning. We always have fun and I strive to keep joy in our homeschool adventures.
Here are a few posts from past years on our curriculum choices:
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Eclectic Homeschooling Curriculum: Pre-K and 4th Grade
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Preparing for Fall: Homeschool Curriculum Choices
We have some scheduled weekly activities that the kiddos will participate in such as guitar lessons, homeschool group meet-ups, online courses, swim meets, and weekly hikes.
Here is how I schedule our homeschool:
Please keep in mind that we keep a loose rhythm as opposed to a strict schedule. I also strew loads of books, games, and hands-on activities to spark my children’s interests. This works for our family. It’s important to find a routine or rhythm that works for your family.
Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum Language Arts
Brave Writer is the core of our Language Arts curriculum. It encompasses everything I find lovely and encouraging not just with writing but for homeschooling and parenting in general. It’s the bee’s knees for both my 5-year-old and my 11-year-old!
My son and I will be using The Writers Jungle, Partnership in Writing, and Arrow single issues of his choosing. My daughter and I will be using Jot it Down.
- Beautiful Feet Books Teaching Character (we will be using several of the Beautiful Feet programs because I just LOVE how they approach EVERYTHING with Living Books! We fell in love with Beautiful Feet Books after reviewing their Around the World with Picture Books last year. Several of the Beautiful Feet books also pair well with our Arrow guides.)
- Audible: (you can try Audible for FREE for 30 days!)
- Language Games
- Reading to Shelter Animals every Tuesday
My daughter will continue using All About Reading. While my son will continue with All About Spelling.
Our Brave Writer Lifestyle Routine
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- Monday – Copywork taken from our read aloud and Arrow guide.
- Tuesday – Poetry Teatime and Art/Music Appreciation
- Wednesday – Dictation
- Thursday – Work on Writing Project from Partnership in Writing and Jot it Down
- Friday – Nature Study and Friday Freewrite
Our Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum by Subject
Math
As homeschoolers, we all worry about teaching math. I try to make math as fun as possible with delightful math books, and math games. We also use several solid programs that my children enjoy.
My 6th grader with use the following:
My Kindergartener will use the following:
Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum Science
My son will be starting the 4H Horse Club this year. He is thrilled to learn more about hippology. They have already started learning about some of the various forms of horse maintenance such as brushing the horse’s coats, combing their manes, cleaning their hooves, and how to get a saddle on and off.
Aside from 4H, both kiddos will enjoy:
- History of Science from Beautiful Feet Books: We are so excited to be using Beautiful Feet Books History of Science! Just look at all of these lovely books we get to explore!
- Exploring Nature with Children: This book is a year-long curriculum. It contains 48 weeks of material including weekly nature book lists, nature poetry, nature activities, and nature art to enjoy. We will dip in and out of this book as the seasons go by.
- Nature Journaling
- Science Games
- Nature Games
- Curiosity Stream Documentaries: Did you know you can get a FREE Trial and if you decide you love it, then it’s only $2.99 per month?
- STEAM Kids
- Home Science Tools: for all of our science needs from microscopes to science kits, and owl pellets! They have EVERYTHING Science!
- Tinker Crate/Koala Crate
- Various Outschool courses. We enjoyed several Harry Potter potions courses, and a wilderness survival course last year!
Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum Geography and History
Both kiddos will enjoy:
- Around the World With Picture Books from Beautiful Feet Books: These picture books are gorgeous and with them, we will continue to explore World Geography.
- The Giant American History Timeline
- Heritage of Our Country by Your Story Hour
- Geography Games
- History Games
Art
As a homeschool mom with creative kiddos, I rely heavily on online art courses. Plus, my 5-year-old is insanely creative and NEEDS her creative outlet on a daily basis.
Both kiddos will enjoy:
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Masterpiece Society Membership: As a member of the Masterpiece Society, you receive INSTANT online access to all of the current courses! These courses are perfect for diving deep into a master artist study or studying certain art periods in history.
- Celebrate Summer Mixed Media Workshop
- The Art of Fall Mixed Media Workshop
- Winter Wonderland Mixed Media Workshop
- Springtime Splendor Mixed Media Workshop
- Valentines Day Mini Mixed Media Workshop
- Playful Pet Portraits
- Mixing with the Masters, Volume 1
- Mixing with the Masters, Volume 2
- Step by Step Drawings for K-2
- Art School: Drawing 101
- Art School: Watercolor 101
- Coloring Pages for Preschoolers
- Create and Connect Area for Moms
- Exclusive Holiday Art Lessons
Van Gogh Sunflowers -
You Are An Artist Annual Membership: Chalk pastels are great for a quick art session particularly on grumpy days, cranky days, and rainy days when the kiddos need an outlet. There are over 700 lessons included in this membership. Plus the kids adore “Nana!” With the Club House Membership you will get immediate access to A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels year-long video art course with 45 lessons plus these video art courses:
- Get Started in Chalk Pastel Art Video Art Lessons
- Preschool Video Art Lessons
- Spring Video Art Lessons
- Backyard Nature Video Art Lessons
- Forest Nature Video Art Lessons
- Garden Nature Video Art Lessons
- Summer Art Camp Video Art Lessons
- American Landmarks Video Art Lessons
- Sharks Video Art lessons
- Art Techniques Video Art Lessons
- Fall Video Art Lessons
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Art Games
Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum Music
My 6th grader is taking his second year of guitar
Both children will enjoy music appreciation.
SQUILT: Have you heard of SQUILT?
SQUILT stands for Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time and was created by Mary Prather of Homegrown Learners. We started our journey into SQUILT when my son wanted to learn more about Mozart. SQUILT is an easy to use music education program. You don’t need any musical background to use it! That’s huge for most of us parents, folks!
The only thing you need is internet access, a printer (for the supplemental notebooking pages and activities), and a desire to learn.
This year we are taking part in SQUILT Live!
With a SQUILT LIVE! Monthly Membership You Will Receive:
- 2 live SQUILT music appreciation lessons taught by Mary (recordings available if you are not able to attend). Lessons include printable listening maps, notebooking pages, and supplemental activities.
- A monthly listening calendar – clickable PDF with an engaging piece of music to share with your children each day
- Access to the archives of all past live lessons
- 20% discount on all products in the store, as long as you are a member
- A members-only volume – SQUILT Goes to the Movies!
- A weekly member email with teaching tips, reminders, and more!
Eclectic Homeschool Curriculum Foreign Language
Both kiddos will enjoy:
- Foreign Languages for Kids
- Song School Latin
- Duolingo for German, Chinese, and Dutch
Read Alouds and Games
As you can see, we rely heavily on read alouds, games, and hands-on activities. We will dip in and out of all of these resources and books, but we don’t stick to a strict schedule. If you want to see more of our favorite books and games, then be sure to check out these posts:
Hi Erin! I recently found your blog and have enjoyed everything I have read so far. I had a question regarding how you are planning to use the various BFB guides/books you purchased. I have been reading their site and everything sounds so lovely, that I’ve been considering purchasing their Early American, History of Science, and Around the World, guides to use with my 11, 9, & 6 year olds, but I’m not sure if using them at various times throughout our weeks would be overkill. I would love some insight on how you are planning to use the multiple guides with your children. They seem like such a wonderful resource that I am having a hard time deciding on just one guide to use at a time! 🙂 Thank you in advance for your time!
Beautiful Feet Books are so wonderful. We are enjoying using the Around the World with Picture Books and the History of Science bi-weekly. So we did the first two lessons in the History of Science last week and studied all of Thailand this week. We are also doing the Character study several timers per week. You can do as much or as little of the Beautiful Feet Books as they suit your family. Perhaps you want to take it easier and only do a single lesson from each guide per week OR you could do a lesson from every guide each day. It’s totally up to you and you can totally use them at various times throughout the week. We are LOVING them so much that I’m seriously considering adding in another of the Beautiful Feet Books guide…either the Intermediate Geography, the Intermediate U.S. History or the History of the Horse….since my son is in the 4H Horse Club. I might end up getting all three. Because, like you, I can’t decide. But what we have so far, I’m totally in love with!
Sounds like a wonderful year with lots of fun learning activities! We love read alouds also but it’s getting harder to find good books we all enjoy now that my oldest is starting high school. I might have to look into those barefoot books; they look wonderful!
We Love, Love, Love the Beautiful Feet Books! So many wonderful books to choose from. They do have several history (Ancient, Medieval, and Modern U.S & World) for high school levels too!