2020-2021 Curriculum Choices

Well, Covid-19 sure has made schooling decisions unique this summer! It’s been quite the journey trying to discern what to do for the upcoming school year, but we’ve ultimately decided on homeschooling again for our youngest three children. It’ll be our ninth year!

Though the kids enjoyed their very short stint with traditional school, they don’t have a ride or die mentality and just aren’t interested in going back knowing all that potentially awaits them with social distancing and possibly doing more at-home distance schooling again. That definitely did not work for us and isn’t sustainable for our family. Additionally, I’m not interested in the potential health concerns of wearing masks and I am seriously concerned about the constant exposure to toxic disinfecting chemicals.

This was very much an over-discussed, labored decision process including everyone’s input, and I feel at peace knowing it’s the right call. We’re taking into consideration all of the lessons we learned from being enrolled in traditional school, and intentionally creating a homeschool environment to suite everyone’s needs and desires. I really think it’s going to be fantastic and am finding myself so excited about the upcoming school year!

We will not be participating with a weekly academic co-op this school year, which I’m actually really stoked about. Instead, we’ll be joining a hybrid co-op that schedules field trips, workshops, and social gatherings with no set weekly gathering. Not only does this offer us a lot of freedom, it’ll be the first year in our homeschooling career that we’ll have all five days at home to do academic work. That’s a 25% increase in time at home, so I’m super thrilled about that.

The plan is to complete academic work in the mornings, and then schedule extracurricular activities and therapy sessions in the afternoons and evenings. It’s been years since I’ve been this available to drive everyone to their activities and events, so I’m truly looking forward to what the new school year holds!

I am more convicted than ever that homeschooling is the right choice for my family. I am truly so grateful for another academic school year to instill Christian values and morals in my children’s lives. Though we, of course, have that opportunity during non-schooling times as well, I particularly enjoy talking through history and science with a Biblical worldview lens.

Here is the outline of what we’re working with as we approach our ninth homeschooling year. I expect there will be some minor tweaks, but this is a solid plan:

Angel (10th grade) is enrolled in a local private Catholic school.

Lovebug (7th grade)

Timeline: Classical Conversations
English: Writing With Sharon Jump In Middle School Composition
Spelling: Building Spelling
Vocabulary: McGraw Hill Education Vocabulary Grades 6-8
Reading: Assigned great books from my Claritas Cycle 1 Reading List
Math: Math Mammoth 7
History: The World’s Story 1 (the Ancients)
Geography: A Child’s Geography Vol 2 Explore the Holy Land and Vol 3 Explore the Classical World (and map drawing)
Science: God’s Design for the Physical World: Machines & Motion, Heat & Energy, Inventions & Technology
Health: Mental health topics, Mindfulness for Teens with Journal, Big Life Journal, Imagine Journal
Art: Art studies from history and geography lessons, See the Light DVD lessons
Music: Classical Music Theory & Appreciation
Bible: Family Bible studies, AIG Apologetics
Physical Education: FCA Cross Country, Homeschool Gym
Typing: Type 2 Learn
Foreign Language: Spanish tutor via Panda Tree
Extra: Robotics Team

Sunshine (5th grade)

Timeline: Classical Conversations
Grammar: Fundamental Grammar (Cycle 1)
Writing: IEW All Things Fun & Fascinating
Spelling: Building Spelling 4 & 5
Vocabulary: McGraw Hill Education Vocabulary Grade 3-5
Reading: Assigned great books from my Claritas Cycle 1 Reading List
Math: Math Mammoth 5 and Xtramath website
History: The World’s Story 1 (the Ancients)
Geography: A Child’s Geography Vol 2 Explore the Holy Land and Vol 3 Explore the Classical World (and map drawing)
Science: God’s Design for the Physical World: Machines & Motion, Heat & Energy, Inventions & Technology
Health: Mental health topics, Big Life Journal, Usborne Mindful Kids series, Imagine Journal
Art: Art studies from history and geography lessons, Let’s Make Art monthly boxes
Music: Private Piano lessons and Classical Music Theory & Appreciation
Bible: Family Bible studies
Physical Education: Homeschool Gym
Typing: Type 2 Learn
Foreign Language: Mandarin Tutor via Lingo Bus

Dumpling (3rd grade)

We had made the decision to discontinue enrollment in his local homeschool tutoring program (well before Covid happened) for this upcoming school year with the goal of focusing on getting extra speech therapy and adding in occupational therapy. Though he had a wonderful experience with incredibly patient teachers, we were limited in how much outside therapy we had time to do because he was getting instruction for the first half of every day. He then had additional math and language arts homework to knock out, which was even making it difficult to get the other homeschool subjects completed between pick-ups and drop-offs. There’s just only so many hours in the day, and he really needs lots and lots of repetition, as well as both therapies.

Likewise, I’m feeling much more confident in my ability to meet his unique special needs and challenges. And with the two hours gained from not traveling back and forth to tutoring daily, we’re able to spend more dedicated time on schooling at home. I am including many different resources in his curriculum plan because he thrives with lots of repetition coming from all the different angles. I am incredibly proud of how far he’s come in such a short amount of time. He loves learning and is truly such a hard worker!