Year 5 can be tough. Bodies and minds and attitudes change. It’s a hard time for a child, asserting her independence and discovering who she might be.

I try to allow for interests while guiding the curriculum for what I want her to know. She has a lot of freedom and few rules.

I highly recommend the books by Louise Bates Ames. A good guide to follow is What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Fifth-Grade Education by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

5th Grade Curriculum

Geography and History

This week, we started geography learning about Kenya. I bought the Expedition Earth curriculum and we love it! I’m teaching future missionaries with our new books and prayer cards!

We’re also studying a U.S. state a week with the Nifty Fifty states flash cards from A Beka and other U.S. books I’ve had since I was a kid. We did Alaska last week and this week we did Montana. Yeah, no rhyme or reason. They just picked those out of the stack.

We love the PowerPoint shows at 1+1+1=1. The membership is well worth it!

Literature

She loves to read, so I have no worries there. Just trying to find appropriate and interesting books to read and discuss can be a challenge sometimes. We love the book lists from Ambleside Online.

Music

Liz has studied piano for over 2 years and here she is practicing! She loves classical music and opera and adores Broadway musicals. We learn about composers and music all the time.

Math

Liz is working on Singapore Math 5B. She does really well when I can work with her, but does not do well independently in math. She loves reading and will do almost everything else on her own…Life of Fred is a great supplement that incorporates fun stories with sneaky math.

Latin

She did her Latina Christiana II lesson right after math with very little help. We have the DVDs and CDs for those and they’re great.

Notebooking

I love notebooking for assignments and narration and evaluation. I print notebooking pages as we need them based on our history and reading assignments. I don’t force writing formally.

Life Skills

Liz helps a lot around the house and with her siblings. She’s becoming a great mother’s helper.

5th grade is a fun transition year – before middle school!

My middle girls in 5th grade:

• Singapore Math 5
• Tapestry of Grace Year 2
• Studying God’s Word F
• Spelling Workout E
• Apologia Botany
• Latina Christiana I

The last time I teach 5th grade!

My son:

I can hardly believe my youngest is doing 5th grade work this year, y’all! He’s only 9 but keeps moving along at a quick pace and I won’t hold him back.

• Singapore Math 5
• Tapestry of Grace Year 4
• Studying God’s Word D
• Spelling Workout C
• Apologia Human Anatomy
• Latina Christiana I