What we chose and why

My goal was to choose as many “plug and play” subjects as possible, that lined up with the academic level they will need to complete for their grade, and were not outrageously expensive. I wanted to combine what grades we could to save my sanity. I did not want to build my own curriculum if possible. Also, when possible, I got the girls’ input as we made choices.

Some of these goals were met, and some were not. Here is the breakdown:

Georgia has 5 required subjects:

• Mathematics
• Science
• English Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Reading

Math

I started searching out math first. It feels like an anchor subject. Personally, I had hoped the girls would take to Saxon Math. It was my favorite. But alas, they did not. I asked them if they wanted to do math with videos, with textbooks, with workbooks, or a combination. They watched some of the review videos with me. They looked at some of the pictures. My 6th grader did a placement test. They were very involved in the math choices, more than with the other subjects.

My 6th grader likes math and is quite good at it. I searched for curriculum that aligned with how she learned, that is, Everyday Math, which most people confuse with Common Core math. (Don’t tell anyone, but it’s really a brilliant way to learn math! It just confounds anyone who ever learned math the old way that makes sense to us. But when they get to ‘regular math’ they will grasp it so much more fully.)

My 4th grader is a smart kid, who, frankly, is lazy about doing hard work. I don’t like fighting with her to make her do “hard work.” So when I heard about Life of Fred, a story-based math program that has very little busywork, I was intrigued. And then I learned that it has so many advanced mathematic concepts (such as calculus and algebra, along with practical life concepts like opportunity cost) within even the earliest books, I thought this might be the ticket. I saw the books used on the local facebook group, I was sold. We will use Life of Fred for the 4th grader’s math. I have found her reading them for fun, which is against the rules!

Science

My 6th grader is learning Earth Science, Astronomy, and Weather. I needed to find a curriculum that included that.

My 4th grader is also learning Astronomy and Earth Science and Weather, along with some Light and Sound, and Force and Motion. Since there is a good deal of overlap, we will combine our learning.

There is no telling how many youtube videos I watched, how many tabs I had open on my computer–searching, looking at tables of contents, and comparing goals with content.

I wanted a Christian-based science curriculum, so they can see that it can be worshipful to learn about creation.

Based on many reviews, decided to order Apologia’s General Science. It meets all of the above criteria, and the textbook itself is beautiful.

We may be crazy. It is written for 8th graders.

I have an 11 year old and a 9 year old. But they like science. And we will read the coursework together, we will discuss, we will do the experiments as we can, the 6th grader will use the workbook, and the 4th grader will take notes in a composition notebook. I doubt we will use the tests.

English Language Arts

I wanted a curriculum that both girls could learn together. After narrowing it down, and after hearing some really good feedback about it from real life friends, I chose IEW, Institute for Excellence in Writing. I chose the course for 3-5 grade, rather than the 6-8 grade level.

It was the most expensive piece of our curriculum. But it’s video based. They will watch a video and then do the week’s work. Since we will be doing a lot of “together” work and have a lot of direct involvement from me, I wanted to have something that was plug and play.

This program also incorporates other subjects as it teaches its writing concept. Because what’s the point of listening, writing, and critical thinking if you’re not applying it to something? After this course, if we continue this method, they apply the method to subjects like classic literature, legends and myths, and ancient civilizations. This felt like a good way to outsource a little bit of work in the future–assuming we ever homeschool beyond this year.

Social Studies

I was really struggling with Social Studies.

It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m only starting this week.

So here’s the trick. Fourth grade is supposed to learn U.S. History, from the Revolutionary period up through Civil War and reconstruction. Great, that will be fun, especially with their current obsession with the Hamilton musical story.

Sixth grade is supposed to learn about 3 other continents and Canada. And I can not find any curriculum that covers the continents we need in one volume.

So… we’re going to lean heavily into library books and a handful of documentaries. I’ve ordered a few workbooks and one book that gives a birds-eye-view of the time period to use as a guide. It’s on back order and we’ll get it in September.

Also, I’m not going to try to teach these two vastly different histories and geographies simultaneously. The girls will study together. We will focus on U.S. history for the first half of the year, and we will focus on industrial/modern Europe, South America, Canada, and Australia in the second half of the year.

After hearing this tip from a member of a Facebook group, I reached out to my teacher friends for a “curriculum map.” This is a chart showing when a teacher will cover different portions of a particular subject. A friend found the curriculum map for my girls’ grades and emailed them to me. (Thanks again, Joy!)

This breaks down the goals for the subject and the more specific topics within that goal, in sequence through the year. This brought my research into focus–as well as my library book hold requests.

Then I found very comprehensive teaching tools from the GA Education Standards website. I have printed a lot of pages and have a lot of Revolutionary War books from the library.

Reading

If there is one thing that I am incredibly thankful for, it is this: My girls love to read. I will provide them with as many books as we can keep up with from the library, and I’ll find a book or two a month to read out loud to them. That’s the whole of my reading program. I’ll just record what they read and compile a great list by the end of the year.

Our librarians already recognize me and my mask. I do pray we get to go in the actual inside of the library again soon.

“Specials” and other enrichment

We will incorporate Bible reading. I’m considering adopting a “Morning Basket” style to ease into our school day. This week the plan is to read through all 4 Gospels in the first 90 days of school. There are 89 chapters total, so we should have read them by Christmas. The girls each have a notebook to jot down anything that catches their attention or awe.

We have this book we are planning to go through together for “The Talk”. We have already gone over the basics of the birds and the bees and sexuality with the girls (because public school), but our goal is to have an ongoing conversation. And having a book to get the conversation going is much more palatable.

The 4th grader is still taking violin lessons (remotely). They will both learn typing. And, um, they’re pretty good at Roblox?

We will arrange for some random get-togethers with friends while most of us are still socially distancing. As we work out a routine a little better, we will hopefully get into a rhythm of visiting and hosting and meeting up.

School starts officially on the 12th –tomorrow. So, ready or not, here we come! I’ll let you know how it goes.

What are you choosing? How did you decide?