Curricula We Used This Year: My Thoughts

Phew! Another homeschool year is finished at my house. I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on some of the curricula we used this year. I know many people are beginning to plan for next fall's homeschooling. Hopefully this will help! I will share another post in the future with our curriculum plans for next year. I will sort by subject area.

Math

We used Math U See for everyone. The specific levels we used this year were Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1. We like MUS. It is solid. The only thing I don't like about it is the early levels don't include what I would call 'real life math topics' very well. Things like using a calendar, learning shapes beyond basic circle, square, triangle, rectangle, using money, measuring with cups/spoons/rulers/yardstick, and telling time, are taught in very spread apart lessons with no hands on elements, which means for some kids, they are not memorable or functional.

History

Joseph was our outlier this year. He wanted to study the history of scientists and scientific discoveries beginning around Einstein. This meant he had a textbook we chose as well as living books to read. It went well, he liked it, but missed being a part of the family history studies. He will rejoin us next year for history.

Everyone else did history as a family using The Good and the Beautiful History 2. We love this because it is flexible. The basic program itself has a mix of reading from the lesson manual, an ongoing audio adventure, photographs, maps, a timeline, and read alouds, along with student explorers (notebooks) for different ages. The older grades explorers include more articles to read on more history topics, writing assignments, book lists to read from, etc. TGTB History covers the span of history from Creation to modern times in each of the 4 years, stopping at different topics, events, and people each year, and helping you put into perspective the people and events you've learned about in prior years. We love it! For those who prefer a much heavier reading list, it is easy to add extra books using the read aloud suggestions.

Science

Joseph and Emma used Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology this year, along with a dissection kit from Home Science Tools, our microscope, prepared slides, and other experiment materials. They don't love this curricula, but they don't hate it either. It is a textbook based course, and I don't really know many teens who love those. However, it is a solid course and they learned a lot from it. I used it for Makayla, my graduated child, and will continue to use it for each child when they are in 8th or 9th grade.

The rest of the kids did science as a group. This year we did a mix of unit studies based on topics we were interested in, with books and materials I gathered from the library or our shelves, and purchased science units from The Good and the Beautiful. They enjoyed it all, and especially loved our most recent unit from TGTB, Mammals.

Learning to Read

Caleb and Samuel continued using All About Reading this year. This 4 level course is our family's favorite for teaching reading. Caleb started the year in level 3 and is now in level 4. Samuel started the year in level 2 and is now in level 3. They will continue using it during the summer, because we don't take a break from reading. Kids learn to read at different ages and times. I'm comfortable with that. We don't use AAR exactly as written. There is a letter tile component, flashcards, activity pages (games!), reading pages, and then chapter book readers. We skip the letter tiles and flashcards completely. None of my kids have liked using them for long. They love using the games and reading from the readers.

Language Arts

Once my kids can read decently well we move out of All About Reading and into The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. This year I had five kids using various levels. (Levels do not correspond to grade levels.) This language arts curriculum covers reading, writing, grammar, spelling, dictation, poetry, geography, picture study, and art. I'll talk about each level we used this year next.

Level 3 - Mason and Oliver used level 3 this year. It was their first time doing TGTB LA. In the end, it was a great fit for Oliver, but challenging for Mason, who has some fine motor disabilities that made the writing overwhelming at times. This level is actually one of the oldest levels by TGTB, and just this month has been released in a completely overhauled and redone edition. While Oliver will move on to level 4 next fall, Mason is going to do this new version of level 3, which looks lovely.

Level 5 - Daniel did this level, having done level 4 the previous year. It was a great fit. The reading, geography, and often the art related to one another. The sentence dictation is a solid way to improve spelling and grammar, alongside the rest of the grammar work. Daniel will move into level 6 in the fall.

Level 6 - Joseph and Emma did this level, having done level 5 the previous year. I feel like this level really improved their writing skills, with great work on essays. The liked the level well enough, and chose to continue with level 7 next fall.

* Next fall I will also have kids using level 1 (Samuel) and level 2 (Caleb). We have not used these levels before, but both are reading well enough to move out of All About Reading by the end of the summer. Level 7 for Joseph and Emma is also new to us.

That sums up the main materials we used this year. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!