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Our 2020 Homeschool Curriculum for Multiple Kids

August 13, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Well, the year 2020 has brought more than its share of surprises.

We were homeschoolers for ten years (not counting a five-month break) and last year I finally decided to let my kids attend public school.

After seven months, they were home again – suddenly. And now we’re back to homeschooling again too (like many of you).

If you’re unsure what to do with your kids, how to arrange their days, or what resources to use, I hope that reading our 2020 homeschool curriculum plan will help.

These are resources especially for the grades we’re teaching this year: third grade, sixth grade, and seventh grade. But you can use this as a framework for building your own plan too.

Just starting out with homeschooling? Check out my Get It Done Guide to First Time Homeschooling too!

See the 2020 homeschool curriculum choices we made for our family this year!

A No Stress 2020 Homeschool Curriculum Plan for Multiple Kids

Images c/o: AndrewLozovyi & IgorVetushko / depositphotos

(This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Fair warning: This looks like a lot of work. But it’s not.

As you read, you’ll see that I reuse multiple resources for each child and several of these resources are free or inexpensive.

I do believe, though, in investing in the subjects that matter the most for our family’s goals. In our experience, that always turns out to be worthwhile.

By the way, if you’re unsure what to teach and when, I cannot recommend the book Home Learning Year by Year enough.

It breaks down each grade level subject and lists specific concepts to cover, with curriculum recommendations.

Our 2020 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Math – We’re using Teaching Textbooks this year for all three of our children. (Look for an in-depth review of TT later this year!)

Since our third grader is also using the BrainQuest Third Grade Comprehensive Workbook, we’ll be supplementing the math exercises in that along with TT.

ELA – For ELA, we’re just using the BrainQuest workbook along with What Your Third Grader Needs to Know. Easy peasy.

Science – We’ll be covering the science sections in both of the above books, but I want to add a bit more this year.

So we’re working with two Usborne resources: Science with Magnets and the First Encyclopedia of the Human Body.

Also – my third grader loves STEM, so I picked up the free STEM at Home resource from Carly and Adam. Done.

Social Studies – Social Studies is a bit harder to recommend, because we’re using the Usborne Time Traveler book.

(Note: I’m not an Usborne consultant. We received almost all of our Usborne books when we used BookShark curriculum last year.)

I looked around on Amazon and the Time Traveler book is super expensive these days. So if you’re looking for a more affordable resource, try the Usborne First Encyclopedia of History instead.

Our 2020 6th Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Math – For my middle schoolers, we’re also using Teaching Textbooks. But I’m adding another resource for each child.

My sixth grader will also be working with Everything You Need to Ace Math in One Big Fat Notebook. I love this book so much.

It’s filled with easy explanations, colorful drawings, simple exercises, and an answer key. Perfection.

ELA – Our eleven-year-old is a math and science fan, but he doesn’t love reading and writing. So he needs a little more support in that area.

We decided to use the 6th Grade Common Core ELA Practice Book from ArgoPrep.

Here’s why I like ArgoPrep: Their books come with free video explanations of each exercise. If you visit the website, you can choose your math or ELA book and then watch the instructors explain each exercise.

No more grading!

Science – While my third grader loves STEM, my sixth grader is a STEM super fan. All he’s ever wanted to do is build and design things.

I attended a STEM educator conference over the summer and one of the presenters recommended Instructables for Teachers. It’s incredible and free, especially if you are not STEM-inclined (like me).

It’s separated by grade level and the full instructions and supplies for each project are clearly listed. You can easily scan to see which projects you can complete with your kids before getting started.

Social Studies – Our social studies program is going to be based around the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.

Now that we’re living in unusual circumstances in our country, I wanted to help my son learn about the food insecurity people in other regions face everyday.

We’ll also be learning about the culture of each country and some of its history as we go along.

Our 2020 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Math – Teaching Textbooks again, plus Everything You Need to Ace Math in One Big Fat Notebook.

My seventh grader loves to draw, so we’re also using The Cartoon Guide to Algebra. It’s a really fun book and does a great job at illustrating some of the algebraic concepts that seem abstract.

ELA – For the basics, ArgoPrep again with the 7th Grade Common Core ELA Daily Practice Book.

By seventh grade, I also start to get serious about organization and writing with my kids. (High school is only two years away!)

So he’ll be taking two live classes with Open Tent Academy this year: one on Study Skills and one for IEW Middle School Writing.

Science – Our science for seventh grade is going to be based almost entirely around the free CrashCourse YouTube channel and the free program Ted-ED Earth School.

At this age, I start to let my kids have some say in their interests and my seventh grader is not interested in hands-on experiments. So videos it is!

Social studies – Our seventh grader will also be working with Hungry Planet, along with our sixth grader. Two for one!

What about Our Homeschool Electives?

We’re only working with one elective this year: how to play piano.

We got a keyboard from a friend and I bought the Alfred All-In-One Piano Course. Since our kids are a bit older, I decided to go with the adult version. But if I had younger children, the Basic Piano Course would be a better fit.

Whew! It looks like a lot on the page, but it’s really simple and streamlined.

Want to see some of our school year in action? Follow me on Instagram! We’re starting our school year on August 24.

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Lesson planning has come a very long way. . . Now that we’re homeschooling again, this digital lesson planner from @pocketfulofprimary is truly saving my life. . Four weeks to go! . . #lookwelearn #homeschoolmom #homeschoollife #homeschoolplanning #teacherspayteachers

A post shared by Look! We’re Learning! (@lookwelearn) on Jul 27, 2020 at 6:53am PDT

Need more help to plan your homeschool year?

Banish overwhelm and start learning with this easy guide to first time homeschooling!

If you feel overwhelmed by planning your homeschool year, take a look at these easy tips to streamline your homeschool schedule!

Welcome the new homeschool year with these 25 fun first day of homeschool ideas! Choose a few of these back to homeschool ideas to try with your family!

How to Teach History with a Timeline

November 26, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

If you’re teaching your kids at home, you’ve probably discovered that there are several ways to learn how to teach history.

You could do it by starting with the history of the country in which you live and then proceeding out to the rest of the world. Many curriculum companies use this approach.

You could start with modern history and then work your way back to the ancients.

You could follow your child’s interests and cover historical periods according to what they want to learn at the moment.

Or you could teach history chronologically – in order of how it occurred.

Personally, I love the chronological approach. But, no matter which historical teaching method you use, history always makes more sense with a timeline.

What is a history timeline? Why should you learn how to teach history with a timeline? Read on to see why we love using timelines in our history lessons with our kids!

And for more history learning fun, don’t miss our African Kingdoms unit study. It’s a semester-long thematic unit all about the royal kingdoms of ancient Africa!

Disclosure: I am a BookShark brand ambassador and am receiving free curriculum as part of my role.

Images c/o: javarman & Andy-pix / depositphotos

How to Teach History with a Timeline

So – what’s a history timeline? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a line for recording historical events in the order in which they happened.

For example, if you’re studying Ancient Egypt, you might start with a discussion of how the Old Kingdom emerged as a major civilization. You’d begin with that topic and mark the appearance of the first recorded Egyptian king on your timeline, along with the years of his reign.

As you learn about subsequent kings, you’d add them to your timeline during the following years.

However – and this is what makes history timelines so great – you’re not bound to that one topic. You can switch and learn about other civilizations that existed concurrently with Ancient Egypt, such as the Sumerian civilization and the Indus Valley civilization.

You’d record those rulers and their reigns in the years in which they occurred as well. As a result, when your kids look at a specific period in human history, say, 3500 – 3000 B.C.E., they’d be able to see which kingdoms were in existence, which were on the decline, and which were just emerging.

This is incredible for understanding not just which civilizations existed and when, but how they came about and what contributed to their development. It adds so much context to what’s happened among humans over the past centuries.

How to Teach History with BookShark

With BookShark, all of the historical events are covered using the timeline approach. And, if you’re new to learning how to teach history in this way, the prepared lesson plans in the curriculum make it simple.

The lesson plan for each week’s history lesson explains when you will use the timeline book and figures. As you get to those activities, you simply help your child cut out the correct figure and place it in the timeline book at the year specified.

When you move through the program, you’ll gradually fill in your timeline with other important figures you discuss with the kids.

But BookShark doesn’t just include timelines for history. The program incorporates several excellent history resources to explain exactly what was happening and who was involved.

Kids can find out what life was like in those historical periods, make fun crafts and activities, and learn how these ancient civilizations have influenced our modern lives.

So, when they go back and look at the timeline, they remember when events occurred and, more importantly, why these events were significant.

For more on the BookShark approach to how to teach history, check out the website to see which periods are covered in each grade level.

How do you teach history in your homeschool? Have you found a specific way how to teach history that works best with your kids? Share your experiences in the comments!

Don’t miss these other history learning ideas!

See more ways to bring history to life on my Living History for Kids Pinterest board!

Portrait Style Homeschool Art Courses with Sparketh

September 28, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My ten-year-old son is the artist in the family. And by that I mean he wants to be an artist. He’s very interested in drawing and painting, but sadly, neither his father nor I are qualified in the least to teach him those skills.

What’s more, we don’t have any local homeschool art programs that are affordable enough for us at the moment.

Last year, my son got to try the homeschool art courses from Sparketh and he was absolutely hooked. So when we found out that Sparketh now offers portrait style art courses, he jumped at the opportunity to try them.

In just a few days, he had produced his very first portrait – with no formal artistic training! It was amazing to watch. In fact, it actually made me want to try learning to paint myself.

Read on to see how Sparketh’s portrait style art courses work and how you can use them as a comprehensive homeschool art program with your family!

Disclosure: I received access to this program in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

Sparketh Portrait Style Homeschool Art Courses

Sparketh is an online video art program that offers various courses and projects for kids (and adults) to complete. Each course is broken into short videos that demonstrate exactly how to draw or paint a specific object or person.

As students go through each step, they gradually produce their own works of art.

In addition to their individual art project courses, Sparketh now offers an Art Style Portraits track with several portrait courses in various styles.

As you can see from the list, students can create portraits in Pop Art, Fauvism, Minimalism, and other specific artistic styles. There’s even a manga style course for comic fans!

My son wanted to begin with the Harlem Renaissance Portrait Course. In this project, students look at a snapshot and repaint it in the cultural style popular during the Harlem Renaissance – one of our favorite periods in history.

All he had to do was click “Join Course” and we were off and running!

Learning to Paint a Portrait with Sparketh Homeschool Art Courses

I should note here that we have tried other video art lessons. Here’s what sets Sparketh’s homeschool art course apart, in my opinion:

The courses are short, which keeps students from getting overwhelmed. The entire Harlem Renaissance Portrait course is only 31 minutes long.
The platform is very easy to follow. Students can read the supply list before getting started and then decide how much of the project they want to complete that day.
Individual steps are broken into separate short videos. This is excellent for kids who have attention concerns (like several of our children do).
The videos show the art instructors as they work. My son was able to pause the video and look directly at what the artist did and then recreate it himself.

Once he’d gathered his supplies (and we didn’t need many for this course), he got started.

The instructor showed him how to begin by sketching his portrait, which he did.

He simply paused the video to catch up and follow the instructor’s work.

Then he moved on to outlining his picture with marker.

Like so.

As you might be able to tell, he did the sketching and outlining all within one day. I had to make him stop for that afternoon. That’s how much he loved using Sparketh.

Later, he went back and added his watercolor paint and he was done!

I think he might have asked me for help to understand the instruction once during the entire course.

Sparketh is easy enough for a ten-year-old to follow all on his own, so it’s a stress-free homeschool art course for parents. You can just sign your child up for an account and let him or her work through the projects.

Art class for the year? Check.

Want to try Sparketh’s Portrait Style Art Courses with your child? Just sign up on the Sparketh website and let your child browse the list to find a project to try!

See how you can use also Sparketh to teach your child to draw in the post below!

Plus, follow my Art Ideas for Kids board on Pinterest to get more suggestions for homeschool art projects!

How to Afford Homeschooling eBook Download

How to Boost A Gifted Reader’s Reading Skills with Reading Eggs

September 4, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve always wanted to build a love for reading in our kids. Now that we’re down to just one child in early grades, we’re pretty much done with teaching early reading skills.

No more phonics, no more decoding, no more CVC word practice. All four of our kids are off to the reading races.

Our youngest, though, has taken this to a completely different level.

She’s five and she’s in first grade this year. But she’s reading on a fifth grade level. She wants to read everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING.

So when it was time to work on reading for this school year, I was a bit stumped. How do you help a child who’s reading four grade levels ahead to improve her reading skills? Was an online reading program the answer?

Which is why I jumped at the chance to try out Reading Eggs from Blake eLearning, even though I didn’t think our child really needed it. A couple of days in, I found out I was wrong. She did need help – but not in the ways I imagined.

Read on to find out how we’re using Reading Eggs to strengthen our gifted reader’s skills and how you can get access to this program for free! Plus, score a discount on Reading Eggs’ new math and reading workbooks too!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.

Does Your Gifted Reader Really Need Help with Reading Skills?

Honestly, before I tried Reading Eggs by Blake eLearning with our daughter, I thought it was just for very early readers. I didn’t know that the program contains several levels, including lessons for kids all the way to age 13.

We’ve used several reading programs with our kids over the years. But after just a few days, I could see why Reading Eggs has won so many awards.

Each of the levels are designed for kids of different age groups:

Reading Eggs Junior: for children aged 2 – 4 years
Reading Eggs: for children aged 4 – 7 years
Reading Eggspress: for children aged 7 – 13 years
Mathseeds: for children aged 3 – 9 years

But those age ranges are only a guide. You can let your child take a placement test (more on that in a bit) and then start working at the level that is best for him or her.

Each level of Reading Eggs is loaded with hundreds of reading lessons. And each of the lessons includes multiple interactive activities to help kids practice their own reading and comprehension skills.

Plus, they can read along with over 2,500 ebooks. It is truly a comprehensive literacy program.

Since our little one is such a bookworm, I was glad to see that Reading Eggs evaluated, not just her reading ability, but her comprehension.

She’s pretty good about asking for definitions of words that she doesn’t understand. (I can barely get through a sentence of a read-aloud before she’s asked to get the dictionary.)

But I like to see her show what she understands about a story she reads on her own. And Reading Eggs is awesome at that.

As you might be able to tell, she aced this particular storybook quiz. Only 2,499 ebooks left to read!

How We’re Using Reading Eggs to Boost Our Child’s Math and Reading Skills

So – Reading Eggs is great, but how does it help a child who’s already reading well?

Since the program includes lessons for so many reading levels, you can let your child take the placement test to see where he or she needs to begin. But then you can still adjust the level as needed.

As your child learns, you can track his or her progress and read reports to find out how many books they’ve read, lessons they’ve done, and even their estimated reading age.

Here’s what happened when our gifted five-year-old took the placement test.

The program placed her one-third of the way through Reading Eggspress – on the level of a 9 or 10-year-old.

While I was initially pleased to see that kind of score, I wanted to know more about the level of work that would be expected at that place in the program.

And that’s when I learned that, while she could read and answer questions at that level, she was still missing some basic grammatical concepts she would be expected to know at that part of the program.

Even though she reads fluently a few grades ahead, she still needs ELA help to understand language before she can complete lessons at that level.

So, we went backwards and began toward the end of Reading Eggs and started her lessons from there. Her level of mastery went up and so did her understanding of the concepts.

Now when we come back to that part of Reading Eggspress, she’ll be ready!

Mathseeds works exactly the same way as Reading Eggs.

Kids begin by taking a placement test, called a “Driving Test”, to see where they should begin learning math.

There are tests for each grade and each mathematical concept.

$Reading Eggs Mathseeds Placement Test for Math$

Fair warning here: The tests are super cute. As students answer each question, they drive around a race track. The goal is to complete the entire track and finish the test.

$Building Math Fluency with Reading Eggs Mathseeds$

Once they get enough right, they get to play a racing game for 60 seconds. That was definitely her favorite part of the exam.

Reading Eggs Reading and Math Workbooks

One of the biggest drawbacks to using reading apps and online reading programs is that they often don’t have enrichment activities that you can use without screens.

Since some of our children have ADHD, we try to limit screen time as much as we can.

Guess what? Reading Eggs now has print reading and math workbooks that kids can use as they work through the program!

$Reading and Math cover spreads$

The workbooks are designed to be used with the online lessons in the program: reading workbooks for Reading Eggs and math workbooks for Mathseeds.

Each of the workbooks has a explanation of how to use the materials along with the program, as well as a year planner to help you get an overview of how you can complete the workbook in a single school year.

$Reading and Math Sample pages$

And they’re available by level, so your younger and older students can work on practicing math and reading skills they need!

Ready to try Reading Eggs for yourself? You can get a FREE four-week trial to everything the program has to offer, including Reading Eggs Junior, Reading Eggs, Reading Eggspress, and Mathseeds!

Just visit Reading Eggs and sign up to get started!

You can also save 10% on the new Reading Eggs math and reading workbooks for grades K-5! Check out the Reading Eggs shop and enter promo code WK10A40CWG1 to claim your discount!

Want to find out even more about Reading Eggs? Check out the program on these networks!

Get your little ones reading with these fun booklists featuring beautiful children’s books you can share with your family!

How to Choose a Secular Science Curriculum

May 10, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

When you think of a “secular” homeschooler, what comes to mind? You might think of a parent who supports evolution, practices atheism, or chooses not to follow religious beliefs. There are secular homeschoolers who fit this description. In fact, I personally know some who do.

But, this doesn’t describe our family. We’re deeply religious, but we still choose to use a secular science curriculum. Why?

It’s because many faith-based homeschooling programs include tenets that we do not personally subscribe to – particularly when it comes to science. So, we’ve always preferred a secular science curriculum that we can teach, while including our religious point of view.

Still, that’s made choosing a science curriculum somewhat difficult, because many secular programs don’t line up with what we want to teach our kids either. Fortunately, we’ve found one we like. Through our search this year, I discovered a few tips that helped us choose a secular science program.

Disclosure: I am a BookShark brand ambassador and am receiving free curriculum as part of my role.

Images c/o: StockUnlimited

How to Choose a Secular Science Curriculum

1. Consider your educational goals.

First, think about what you want your children to learn this year:

Do you want them to get an introduction to the universe, to the science of Earth, or a look at the wide world of wildlife?
Are you ready for them to tackle basic chemistry or physics?
Do you want the kids to try lots of experiments themselves?

Science programs vary greatly. Some feature hands-on experiments and activities, while others are more lecture-heavy. Take your children’s readiness into account when deciding which program to try.

2. Decide which scientific principles are important to you at this age.

In the homeschool world, kids may learn at different grade levels, depending on the subject. A child who’s reading several grade levels ahead may need to stay at their current grade level or even *gasp* take a step back to get a good foundation in science.

That’s fine! Think about the age of your child. What scientific principles do you want your child to learn now? Look for a program that will cover those topics.

For our rising first-grader, we wanted to get an overview of all scientific branches: geology, biology, physics, and chemistry. So when we selected our first grade science program, we chose one that would give her an introduction to all of these.

3. Browse the program to look for possible areas of contention.

Once you narrow down your selections to a few programs, take a look at the scope and sequence, as well as the learning objectives, to see if there are any topics that may be a problem for your family.

Personally, I didn’t want to go through the trouble of finding (and purchasing!) a secular science curriculum only to skip several chapters of it. So I carefully read the program overviews to see if what was taught would suit us, or at least be easy to adapt for our family.

This year, we’ve decided on BookShark for our youngest child. She’s entering first grade this fall and BookShark’s science curriculum is an excellent fit for what we want her to learn this year.

While BookShark isn’t strictly secular, it’s faith-free. It doesn’t promote evolution, but it also doesn’t promote the “young earth” viewpoint. We can simply discuss what scientists have come to know and we’re excited to see what we can learn.

I’ll be sharing more of our journey with BookShark throughout this upcoming school year!

Read these other tips for choosing homeschool curriculum for your family!

See more tips for teaching science on my It’s Science! Pinterest board!

Easy Spanish for Kids with Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®

April 20, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve been learning Spanish with our kids for the past few years and, while they’ve been enjoying their lessons, they’ve also seemed just a little bit…bored in the process.

It’s understandable. When you learn a foreign language, you spend a lot of time repeating vocabulary words, listening to rules of grammar, and writing sentences over and over. That can get old pretty quickly, especially for little ones.

I looked around for a program that would be more kid-friendly without being too easy. And that’s when I found out about the Spanish curriculum from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®, which is exactly what I was looking for!

With this program, my kids are learning Spanish and having fun at the same time! Worried about time commitments? You can use this program in as little as 15 minutes twice a week!

Read on to see how this Spanish for kids program works and check out how you can score a coupon code or win a copy of the Level 1 lesson free!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

Easy Spanish for Kids: Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®

What’s included in the Spanish for Kids program from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®? Here’s a look at Levels 1 and 2.

Since we were using the online Spanish curriculum, we received printed workbooks, vocabulary card games, word stickers, a plushie of Squisher, the International Inchworm, a mini frisbee, and a pencil. My five-year-old ran off with Squisher and I haven’t seen him since.

As you can see, the Spanish curriculum includes multiple levels to help kids build on the vocabulary they learn. There are also online quizzes and practice activities for them to try. By the way, if you don’t want to use the online program, you can pick up the Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® Spanish DVD set instead.

In the video lessons, kids use Spanish vocabulary words to have simple conversations. Common objects are labeled with the Spanish vocabulary words for them. (Kids get a chance to do this in their own homes too, as you’ll see later on.)

Vocabulary words are also introduced on the screen as kids see each object.

Plus, they can use the Rapid Review challenge at the end of each level to test their memory of the vocabulary words they learn.

What I love the most about the video lessons, though, is that each lesson follows a simple storyline that’s understandable and funny. My kids couldn’t wait to see what happened next! They enjoyed watching each lesson because it was entertaining and then they wanted to act out the scenes themselves. They were practicing Spanish vocabulary without even knowing it!

After each video lesson, kids can take a reading quiz that gives them a chance to match up the vocabulary words with pictures from the video.

They can also take a listening quiz to practice identifying Spanish words when they hear them. (Personally, understanding what is said to me has always been my weakest area in Spanish. So helping kids learn to do this early is a great skill.)

Using Foreign Language for Kids by Kids® Spanish for Kids Lessons

While the video lessons from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids® are awesome, they’re only half of the program! The curriculum also includes lots of workbook and hands-on activities to reinforce what kids learn from the video clips.

We used several of the enclosed Level 1 stickers to label common objects around our home.

All of the vocabulary words were covered in the video lesson, so it was easy for the kids to spot them on their own.

They even learned to use basic expressions such as me gusta (I like) and no me gusta (I don’t like). As you can see, it was easy for them to figure out which things they like and don’t like around our house.

We printed a couple of pages from the digital workbook to let them try a few Spanish learning worksheets.

My third-grader was partial to the word search.

And my fourth-grader liked drawing pictures of things he liked and didn’t like. He doesn’t like cleaning – something I was already WELL aware of.

After we completed level 1, we broke out the Level 1 vocabulary cards to play a spirited game of Go Fish.

The vocabulary cards include pictures of objects and scenes from the video lessons and written expressions for the kids to match up.

Even our five-year-old got in on the fun!

My children are having a ball learning Spanish for kids with Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®! Interested in checking out the program? You can choose from the Early Learner Set for young ones, a Single Level Set if you want to go slowly, or the Super Set if you’re ready to learn Spanish for the long haul!

Don’t forget to use the promo code 20OFFFORYOU to save 20% on any order before April 30, 2018!

See more ways to make foreign language learning fun on my Foreign Language for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

Ready for the giveaway? You can score a free copy of the Level 1 Video: Basketballs Aren’t for Breakfast from Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids®! Use the giveaway widget below to enter for your chance to win! Prize shipped only to USA addresses.

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What to Do When You Have Too Much Homeschool Curriculum

April 10, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

The question of what to do when you have too much homeschool curriculum might seem like a strange one to ask. The more curriculum, the better, right? Well…

Remember when you first started homeschooling? Did you look at your bookshelves and imagine them filled one day with gorgeous picture books, beautifully-illustrated encyclopedias, and resources your kids would love?

I did. I wanted to make sure that my kids had the opportunity to learn from any book they wanted and that I had any resource I needed to create an engaging and happy homeschooling experience in our home.

Fast forward nine years later. Instead of staring lovingly at our academically-equipped bookshelves, I was fighting to keep the door of our homeschool closet closed. Actually, I was in the habit of hurriedly slamming it shut before an anchor chart fell on me. Something…went wrong somewhere.

What went wrong is that I went on a curriculum hoarding spree over the years. In my desire to make sure that my kids had every homeschooling resource they’d ever need, I’d managed to store materials for literally every grade level and their first two years of college. And, no, I’m not exaggerating.

Rather than feeling comfortable and secure in my homeschooling arsenal, I felt overwhelmed at the very thought of trying to plan the new year. So, I had to take some drastic steps to minimize our homeschool. And if you’re overloaded with homeschool curriculum, these steps might help you too.

What to Do When You Have Too Much Homeschool Curriculum

Images c/o: belchonock & ArturVerkhovetskiy / depositphotos

Revisit Your Educational Goals.

Before you dive head first into your curriculum hoard, take some time to revisit your homeschooling goals. After years of homeschooling, we can get so used to following a “routine” that we lose sight of exactly what we’re trying to accomplish with our kids. It’s understandable, but it’s also counterproductive.

Grab a notebook and write down a homeschooling mission statement. Imagine what you want your children to be able to do by the time they finish homeschooling and then write it down. Or imagine what you want to have accomplished for them by the time they graduate and then write it down. Be very, very specific with this.

Keep the Resources That Align with Your Goals.

Read what you just wrote. Then read it again. Think about what you’ll actually need to make your goals a reality.

Now, open the door of your homeschooling closet (watch our for falling charts!) or venture over to your overloaded bookshelves and start pulling everything down. And I mean everything. If it’s a LOT (like ours was), do one bookshelf at a time to avoid collapsing into a puddle of overspending regret.

As you sort through each resource, reread your homeschooling mission statement and ask yourself: Will this help me accomplish my goals? Trust me, you’ll know when it will. If it will, put it off to the side.

Get Rid of Everything Else. Really.

Okay. We’re at the hard part. You have to get rid of every other thing that will not help you accomplish your homeschooling mission statement.

Complete curriculum you personally love? Get rid of it.

Expensive reference book you saved up to buy? Get rid of it.

Program you’ve kept for years just waiting for the right time? Get rid of it.

Just so you know: If you’ve been homeschooling a long time, this might be excruciating. So, to ease the pain, do NOT flip through any of the materials you plan to discard. It will not help.

Now when I say “get rid of it”, I don’t necessarily mean throw it in the garbage. Find another family to donate or sell the program to. Donate it to your local library. Feel free to pass it on, but just get it out of your house. Once you do, your homeschooling space will look better and you will feel wonderful!

One last thing: Now that you know what to do when you have too much homeschool curriculum, resolve never to get into this predicament again.

The next time someone offers to “give” you a program, reread your homeschooling mission statement. If it won’t help you accomplish it, it’s okay to say no! When you find out about a curriculum that’s on sale, read the details and reviews carefully to see if it will harmonize with your learning goals. If not, don’t buy it! It’s that simple.

Don’t miss these other homeschooling tips!

Get more tips for managing your homeschool on my Help for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

Simple Minimalist Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

September 4, 2017 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

My last little one is learning at kindergarten level this year. She’s working at first grade in some concepts, but there are a few important kindergarten objectives that I want her to grasp before we move on.

So we’ll be focusing there and then moving forward as she becomes comfortable.

In keeping with my desire to make homeschooling a lot less stressful than it has been previously, I’m practicing minimalist homeschooling this year.

Basically, that means using as few resources as possible to make lesson planning, teaching, and guiding as easy as possible.

And so…here’s a look at my minimalist kindergarten homeschool curriculum!

This is a great list if you’re trying to keep your homeschool plans simple this year.

By the way, if you’re teaching older kids, take a look at our minimalist fourth grade curriculum plans too!

A Simple Minimalist Homeschool Curriculum for Kindergarten

Image c/o: eskaylim / depositphotos

Note: This is a very minimalist homeschool curriculum for kindergarten. So this truly focuses on the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic.

I also include science, because I believe it is essential to introduce science to kids as early as possible. Thinking scientifically comes so naturally to young ones and it’s wonderful to encourage that way of exploration from the start.

All-in-One Program: ABC Mouse will be our primary homeschool program for kindergarten. We got to try it earlier this year and my little one has absolutely loved it. After working with it over the summer, her reading ability has skyrocketed. So, we’re sticking with it for this entire school year.

Reading: While ABC Mouse is a great core program, I want our kindergartner to get some structured practice in reading and responding, so we’re using 180 Days of Reading for Kindergarten to give her some regular reading practice daily. It’s also a good way to make sure we hit all the sight words for this grade level.

Handwriting: Since she already knows the alphabet and how to write each letter, we’ll be focusing on improving her overall handwriting. To do this, we’ll be using a standard Roselle Paper Primary Pad to do some basic copywork each day. We’ll try to complete one sentence each morning to warm up and see how her handwriting progresses through the year.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks eBook

Math: Our supplemental math practice will be the Early Math section from Khan Academy. When this grade level was first introduced, I leapt for joy. We love Khan Academy, but I was looking for something to help my younger kids with basic math skills and this is it. Our kindergartner loves it.

Science: Finally, for science, we’ll be working through the Usborne First Encyclopedia of Science together. I used this book with my boys when they were younger and it was a big hit. In fact, our Floating Egg Experiment came out of this book!

In addition to these core subjects, we’ll be sharing plenty of crafts and stories together this year. Look out for list of reading choices for kindergarten – coming soon!

What are you using to homeschool your kindergartners this year? Share your curriculum picks in the comments!

Want to see more of our minimalist homeschool curriculum choices? Check out these posts for suggestions!

See more tips for getting your homeschool year started on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more curriculum choices from our fellow bloggers!

Minimalist Fourth Grade Homeschool Curriculum

September 1, 2017 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

When I first started homeschooling, I thought that I needed every single resource for every single grade level I’d ever conceivably teach. Nine years and four children later, I know better.

I was so intent on being “prepared” to give my kids the best education I could that I overwhelmed myself by buying ALL the curriculum I could. Most of it ended up in the hallway closet, buried for years. Just opening the closet door sent me into panic mode.

Now I’m homeschooling as a minimalist, which means using the least amount of resources possible to give my kids a good education. And thanks to the Internet, it really is possible to teach your children at home *well* without turning your house into Harvard.

Here’s a look at the minimalist fourth grade homeschool curriculum we’re using this year to teach my rising fourth-grader!

Image c/o: seregam / depositphotos

Our Minimalist Fourth Grade Homeschool Curriculum

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Before you look at the resources below, keep in mind that this is a truly minimalist homeschool curriculum plan. So there are a grand total of eight, count ’em, EIGHT items listed.

Of course, we’ll be watching educational videos and reading tons of books together this year, but the items listed below make up our core curriculum. And, since my son has ADHD, these are good resources that allow us to take frequent brain breaks and time off as needed.

All-in-One Program: Our comprehensive homeschool program this year is IXL. It’s an online program that includes practice exercises in ELA, Math, Social Studies, and Science for kids K-12. I love it because I can see all the skills for his grade level at a glance and then proceed in the order that works best for us.

To supplement his IXL lessons, we’ll be using the following individual subject resources:

ELA: For more specialized lessons in English Language Arts, we’ll be adding selected videos from Khan Academy Grammar. We’ll be using the workbook 180 Days of Language for Fourth Grade, which includes practice in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, parts of speech, and the writing process, as the supplement to our grammar videos.

Science: Mystery Science will be our supplemental science program. You can sign up for a free account and get access to some of the units to see how they work. This is an extremely well-crafted science program for elementary students. There are hands-on experiments, lesson plans, and activities that correspond to earth science, biology, space, and more.

Math: I am a huge supporter of online math programs. They’re typically short, interactive, and clear. But I also value traditional math education, so we’re using EnVision Math Grade 4 as our math textbook. Rather than focusing on covering the entire book this year, however, I’ll be assigning exercises that correspond to the lessons he covers in IXL. For math warm-up activities each day, we’re using Smartick Math to get some quick practice in the morning.

Social Studies: I really want him to learn more about the countries of the world this year. IXL covers the geographic aspect of these places, but to get a look at the culture and people of other countries, we’ll be using the beautiful book Children Just Like Me to see how children all over the world live.

Health: For health, we’ll be reading the book Eye Wonder: Human Body by DK Publishing and discussing the importance of nutrition for our body systems.

Art: We got to review the program Sparketh earlier this year and we’ll be using that for our year-long art program. The videos are easy to follow and the projects are actually interesting, even to a very active eight-year-old boy!

And that’s what we’re using for our minimalist fourth grade homeschool curriculum this year! What are you using for fourth grade? Share your picks in the comments!

For more homeschool planning ideas, check out these posts!

And get a look at lots of curriculum resources on my Homeschool Curriculum Choices board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the Back to Homeschool linkup from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more curriculum choices from our fellow bloggers!

10 Minute Math Practice with the Smartick Math App

August 18, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

My boys aren’t that interested in long math lessons. Actually, they’re not that interested in long lessons in any subject. (Pretty typical for 8 and 7 year olds, right?) And since my youngest son is living with ADHD, it’s a real challenge to get him to sit still for much of anything, especially math practice.

Over the years, they’ve gotten to try lots of math programs and we’ve enjoyed most of them. But the real issue has been getting them to do a program regularly. If each lesson takes a while, they tend to lose interest rather quickly and then they start viewing lessons as chores, instead of something they actually want to do.

$Smartick Math App for Kids$

So I was excited to learn about the Smartick method – a math practice app that helps kids get math enrichment in just 10 minutes a day! And it’s been helping my boys do their math lessons without fussing and fighting – always a win in my book. 🙂

Read on to see how the Smartick method works and how you can score a free trial and a 25 percent discount on your subscription!

Disclosure: I received access to this product in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

$Need to help your active learner practice math? Smartick Math lets kids get math enrichment in just 10 minutes a day!$

The Smartick Method for Math Practice

Let me be clear: Smartick is NOT a math curriculum. So it’s not a primary math teaching program. Rather, the Smartick method is used for enrichment and regular practice of what kids are already learning.

Many parents use it as an alternative to Kumon or similar after-school programs, so instead of having to take your child to a math lesson after school, you could try Smartick for a quick math boost!

$Smartick Math Practice App$

It’s easy to set up Smartick for your kids. Once you create a tutor account, you can add your children as students. Each of them will complete an initial assessment to see what math skills they already know and then the lessons can begin!

$Taking the Smartick Math Assessment$

Smartick is not text-heavy. Each of the math problems does have written instructions (with optional audio), but there’s not a lot of reading involved.

This was great for my youngest son, who really isn’t much on reading. His patience is low because of his attention issues, so he loved how visual the program is.

$Trying the Smartick Math App$

Since he can do the lesson completely on the tablet, he can just pick it up, log in, and get started!

$Smartick Math App Practice$

What I also love about Smartick is that he can keep up with his progress through the daily lesson and get an idea of how many more problems he has to do. That stops him from constantly asking “How much longer, Mooooom???”

$Smartick Math Session Results$

At the end of each lesson, the boys could see their results: how many questions they got right and how many they missed. They’re also given the opportunity to fix their errors and, if they do, they get an extra point. It’s a nice way to encourage them to review their mistakes and try again.

$Using the Smartick Math App for Kids$

Plus, there are games they can play after they’ve completed their daily lesson. And when they miss a lesson, which mine frequently do, I get an email letting me know that they didn’t do their practice for that day.

Smartick is a really good, simple to use math program that’s working well for my boys. It’s available in both the Google Play Store and the App Store.

And it’s worth the time to try it out with your kids too! If you decide to subscribe, you can score a 25 percent discount when you sign up with this referral link!

Need more math ideas for your students? Try these posts!

$Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Math Game$