Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2014-2015

This year (our ninth year homeschooling – woot!) we’re adding a few new pieces to our homeschool curriculum roundup and venturing into the world of high school credits. Gah!

It was a bit intimidating at first, but after putting together an overall plan for high school,  it was a bit easier. Several of our friends are also venturing into the homeschool high school realm, so that helps even more! We’ll be participating in a small-scale co-op this year for two of our high school credits which will make several of the subjects a LOT of fun.

New to Homeschooling?

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, please don’t let this post overwhelm you! Here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

Here’s a look at the overall plan for the homeschool year. This year our kids are working on 8th (Laurianna), 6th (McKenna), 4th (Zachary), and 2nd (Kaleb). Our 8th grader will be working on 5-6 high school credits.  Something may have been left off the list despite my ridiculous list making, so it’s entirely possible that this list will be edited during the year.

2nd Grade Curriculum Choices

• Bible: Picture Smart Bible – wrapping up our Old Testament Studies and 90 Devotions for Kids – morning devotions
• History: Mystery of History 4 combined with Story of the World 4 (see below); Liberty Kids dvd series
• Math:  Teaching Textbooks 3,  Life of Fred Dogs and Edgewood; Spielgaben
• Calendar Notebook Binder Printables
• Science:  Nancy Larson Science 2
• LEGO Education programs ~ WeDo and Simple Machines
• Language/Writing: Learning Language Arts Through Literature Red
• Spelling: All About Spelling Level 2 (and Level 3 if he is ready)
• All About Homophones
• Reading: All About Reading Level 2 and misc. readers based on reading level
• Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting Level B
• Art:  Home Art Studio – 2nd grade program
• Co-op: PE, Art, and other electives

4th Grade Curriculum Choices

• Bible: Picture Smart Bible – wrapping up our Old Testament Studies and 90 Devotions for Kids – morning devotions
• History: Mystery of History 4 combined with Story of the World 4 (see below); Liberty Kids dvd series
• Math:  Teaching Textbooks 5 and Life of Fred
• Science: Nancy Larson Science 2 with three weekly Snap Circuit assignments
• Language:  Learning Language Arts Through Literature Orange
• Book reports:  Book Report Form
• Spelling: All About Spelling Levels 3 (finishing) & 4
• All About Homophones
• Reading:  All About Reading Level 4 (when released) and historical period reading
• Handwriting:  A Reason for Handwriting Level F
• Art:  Home Art Studio 5th grade program and Pastel tutorials from HodgePodge
• Co-op: PE, Art, and other electives

6th Grade Curriculum Choices

• Bible: Picture Smart Bible – wrapping up our Old Testament Studies and 90 Devotions for Kids – morning devotions; also Apologia’s Who Am I? and notebooking journal (6th grade); Who Is My Neighbor? and journal (when finished with previous book/journal)
• History: Mystery of History 4 combined with Story of the World 4 (see below); Liberty Kids dvd series
• Math:  Teaching Textbooks 7
• Science:  Rainbow Science year 1
• Grammar: Growing with Grammar 7 and Daily Grams Grade 7
• Vocabulary: Dynamic Literacy Word Build Elements,
• Spelling: All About Spelling Level 5-6
• Writing: Write Shop for Grade 7
• All About Homophones
• Reading:  books to go along with history text as well as suggestions from Reading Roadmaps possibly some lapbooks to go along as well
• Art:  Home Art Studio 5th grade program and Pastel tutorials from HodgePodge 
• Co-op: PE, art, mini-society, LEGO Story Starters

8th Grade Curriculum Choices

Laurianna  will be working on 6 high school credits this year. We are also a part of a small co-op and will be combining a literature class and science labs with them.

• Bible: Picture Smart Bible – wrapping up our Old Testament Studies and 90 Devotions for Kids – morning devotions
• History: Mystery of History 4 combined with Story of the World 4 (see below); Liberty Kids dvd series
• Math:  Algebra 1 from Saxon Math (1 credit)
• Science:  Physical Science from Exploration Education (1 credit), The Fossil Book and The Cave Book from Masterbooks (1/2 credit)
• Literature: Introduction to Literature (1 credit),
• Grammar: Easy Grammar 180 Daily Teaching Lessons,
• Spelling: All About Spelling Levels 6 & 7
• Vocabulary: Dynamic Literacy Word Build Elements
• Foreign Language:  Spanish Tell Me More program (1 credit)
• Geography: North Star Geography (1 credit) and Wondermaps
• Elective: Greek Myths from Memoria Press (1/2 credit)
• Co-op: PE, Art, and other electives

History as a Group…

Our history text will be our core focus for the year and we will be working on Mystery of History 4 as a group (Early American History to Modern Times). As they fit in, we’ll add lessons from Story of the World 4. Depending on the levels of the kids, they will also use the following resources. The bulk of our resources are from Bright Ideas Press with a few from Amazon:

• Mystery of History 4 text (releasing from BIP end of August 2014)
• reproducible tests/quizzes (if available)
• coloring pages – our kids LOVED these last year and helped with wiggles while I was reading!
• Biblioplan Year 3 and 4 (for historical read-aloud and reader suggestions)
• Liberty Kids dvd series
• Story of the World 4 text
• Wondermaps – fabulous interactive maps from Bright Idea Press.

• timeline figures – see how we’re using our timeline here

Mom’s Curriculum & Additional Helps

In addition to a lovely collection of teacher’s manuals that go along with all of the kid’s books, here are a few things that I have on hand to keep me organized:

• Weekly Homeschool Planner
• Planners for the girls: Ultimate Daily Planner for Students and Ultimate Teen Planner from Apologia
• Weekly Workbox system
• Creating a Homeschool Binder
• Organizing Homeschool Paperwork
• Our Homeschool Classroom

Additional Resources: Unfamiliar with some of the curriculum choices above? Follow the links below to learn more about the companies and resources:

• Teaching Textbooks
• Nancy Larson Science for Homeschool
• All About Reading
• WriteShop Primary

• All About Spelling

Curriculum Choices from Years Past…

If you’d like to see what curriculum we’ve used in years past, click on one of the posts below. Grade levels taught each year are listed with the posts.

• 2013-2014 Curriculum Choices – grades 1, 3/4, 5/6, and 7

• 2012-2013 Curriculum Choices – grades K, 3, 4/5, and 6

• 2011 Curriculum Changes

• 2011-2012 Curriculum Choices – grades PreK, 2, 4, and 5

• 2010-2011 Curriculum Choices – grades PreK, 1, 3, and 4

• 2009-2010 Curriculum Choices – grades K, 2, and 3