I have homeschooled since 2005.

It’s been a wild journey and I have learned so much about myself as a mom and teacher over the years.

You can see how we began with our first and second years.

Here’s how I plan a homeschool year.

You can scroll through all the curricula we’ve used over the years for various levels.

I also created these pages of homeschooling topics and to help answer questions.

This year, I’m only homeschooling 3 kids!

We’re still finishing up some maths, science, and history…but we should have about a month off from academics. We typically school year round with lots of breaks for holidays, resting, and travel.

My eldest is dual enrolled at a local university, and has all but completed her high school work of French and history.

We continue to use our core curriculum of Tapestry of Grace for history, geography, literature, art, music, and church history.

We use Memoria Press for Latin. My son is finishing up Prima Latina and the girls are doing Latina Christiana. We also learn modern languages.

We’ll take local weekly art classes again since we love the teacher.

My middle girls are 11 and 12 years old. We don’t really do grade levels, but I guess they’re in about 7th.

Katie is trying soccer again.

Tori loves being outdoors and walks, runs, bikes, rollerblades all the time.

This year, they’re studying:

• Beauty in the Heart Bible study
• Spelling Workout Level H
• New Elementary Maths 1
• Apologia Physical Science and notebook

My son is 8 years old. He is in about 4th grade.

Alex loves baseball and will play fall ball and spring league again this year.

He is studying:

Apologia Chemistry and Physics to coincide with his sisters’ physical science.

A winter Astronomy Unit

• Stargazer’s Guide
• Apologia Astronomy and notebook
• The Astronomy Book
• journals
• various library books
• telescope

• Christian Liberty Nature Reader 3
• Studying God’s Word Book D
• Primary Maths 4
• Spelling Workout Level B

Some of this curricula is no longer printed or has updated to new editions. I’ve had these books for years and if it ain’t broke…

What are you studying in your homeschool this year?

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It seems like summer has flown by for us this year!

We moved from Germany to Ohio and spent lots of time getting settled and dealing with reverse culture shock.

We’re pretty relaxed and spend most mornings reading and completing the lessons so our afternoons are free to play, explore, create, bake, watch videos, or ride bikes.

I’m not worried about schedules or how long it takes to complete a book. Some days, we don’t get to math. We do science only a couple times a week. We read every day.

Our curricula this year:

We still use Tapestry of Grace as our base. I like their book lists and activities. I print Notebooking Pages every week to coincide with our history and literature studies.

We don’t really label with grade levels, so here’s what my son will be working through so far this year. He’s 7 years old.

He also listens and participates in history and literature read-alouds with his sisters.

• Christian Liberty Nature Reader
• Life of Fred
• Singapore Math 3
• Spelling Workout A
• Apologia Who is God?
• Apologia Land Animals

My middle girls are 10 and 11 years old and here are their core texts. They’re also enjoying Bible studies from Time-Warp Wife.

• The Story of the World
• Elementary Greek
• First Start French
• Singapore Math 6
• Spelling Workout G
• Apologia General Science

My eldest daughter is almost 17 and will be attending a local university part-time for dual enrollment.

She’s looking for a part-time job too! It’s a bit discouraging how few jobs are available for a 16 yo and how potential employers talk to and treat her. She volunteered with the Red Cross for two years, but has no paid experience. And everything is online now, so she can’t charm anyone by walking in. There are no help wanted signs in windows anymore.

She is still finishing up French, year 3 history, and some literature. She has to review algebra and take a math entrance exam to enroll in college algebra spring semester.

The kids really work quite independently.

We do history and literature read alouds in the mornings, after breakfast.

The kids then work on their notebooking, Bible, vocabulary workbooks.

I assist Alex, which really just means I just watch him do his work. Every few days, I read a science chapter to Alex and he works through his science notebooking journal the other days.

I assist with and discuss science with the girls. Dad reviews science in the evenings and weekends and does some of the more extravagant experiments.

Dad does math with the girls in the evenings and weekends. We all like to listen to Life of Fred!

We’re usually finished with the bulk of school work by lunchtime.

Then the kids can read whatever they like, create art or crafts, play outside, rollerblade, scooter, ride bikes, wait for their public school friends to get home on the bus, play table games, iPads, Wii, watch Netflix, hike in the woods, bake something yummy, practice typing, research, nature journaling, or almost anything they want!

We take days off for field trips and other activities. Since we school year-round, we don’t stress. Evenso, we still often complete the year’s workbooks, journals, and other curricula by March!

What are you using this year?
What does our schedule look like?

Our Curriculum Choices for the 2015-2016 School Year

We have gotten to a really good place with our curriculum. We know what works and what we like. No fluff! We are streamlined. We prefer a literature and history-based homeschool with lots of books. The kids are at a great age to do their hands-on projects independently.

We’re done with preschool work and it’s so fascinating to me to have the girls reading fluently. Alex is also coming along nicely with reading and writing. He’s a whiz at math!

The Boy

Alex is 5.

He is beginning 1st grade Singapore math. He loves Life of Fred and we’re reading Butterflies together.

We’re continuing with All About Reading Level 3. He has a manuscript writing workbook from A Beka that he loves.

He often listens in with our history and science reading, but I don’t make him do any work other than coloring pages. Tapestry of Grace has a new Primer program that is great for littles.

He likes Bible Treasures and it gives us a good overview and introduction.

Alex does fall soccer and baseball in the spring.

The Girls

Tori is 9 and Kate is 8.

They’re beginning 4th grade Singapore math. The girls are finishing up the elementary series of Life of Fred with Farming. We’re doing Apologia Astronomy and Botany this year.

I let the girls choose their schedule:

Monday: First Start French I, then Level II!

Tuesday: German for Children, then German Demystified

Wednesday: Guitar lesson for Tori and Piano lesson for Kate

Thursday: Song School Spanish…then I don’t know what.

Friday: Prima Latina, then Latina Christiana I

Weekly: Art and Nature Study

Kate does fall soccer. Tori does gymnastics in fall and winter and track in the spring.

The Teen

Liz will be 15 in October.

She is finishing up Videotext Algebra. The goal is to complete that program by Christmas and move on to Videotext Geometry.

We sat down and planned out the next school year and set goals. She’s finishing Second Form Latin by mid-September. She wants to switch to French, so we will do that as a family.

Apologia Biology should be completed by mid-September. Liz begged me to find a 2nd edition Chemistry by Dr. Jay Wile. There’s a new 3rd edition, but we weren’t impressed with the reviews. She will complete Chemistry, then move onto Physics (I’ve already purchased that in case it goes out of print too!).

She is excited to study homeschool Christian psychology this year.

She is ranking up in Civil Air Patrol and is excited about new leadership this year. She has to pass a physical training test every month.

See what our high school homeschool looks like so far.

The Whole Family

We are rotating back to Year 1 cycle in history with Ancient Studies in Tapestry of Grace.

We use the book lists and assignments in Tapestry of Grace Year 1 for Bible, literature, history, geography, writing, and art. We will have a whole Old and New Testament overview this year!

We supplement art studies with Artistic Pursuits. We anticipate lots of traveling to see ancient sites this year! We’re traveling to Greece this fall and celebrating Christmas in Rome!

We’re working on time management skills with the girls having their own agendas that they check off every day.

When I started easing back into a full-time school routine, I worried we’d be “doing school” all day long. The first day was rather long. The second day, everyone had completed work by lunchtime!

It’s that time again. Back to school. And since we pretty much “do school” year-round, it’s rather anticlimactic around here.

We’re still finishing up some history and math before we’re able to move on to a new year’s curriculum. Liz has quite a lot of catching up to do with history, science, and Latin before moving on.

But when we complete “last year’s” work, here’s what we’re beginning!

Tapestry of Grace Year 4 is our core curriculum. Year 4 is contemporary history…and we’ve never really done this year in the history cycle since I couldn’t bring myself to teach WWII when Liz was little. Since we live in Germany, I can’t pass up this chance to really teach it like few children chance to learn.

Tapestry of Grace encompasses history, geography, arts and crafts, and literature. There are writing assignments and lots of notebooking. It’s a great Charlotte Mason/classical curriculum and we all love the reading lists of living books – most of which I’ve never heard of before on the lower three levels. There are four learning levels – lower grammar, upper grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. Tori and Kate are doing some of both grammar levels and Liz is solid dialectic, but she’s beginning to read some of the rhetoric literature.

Tori and Kate are doing Singapore math 3. Liz is still doing Videotext Algebra. We all love Life of Fred math as read alouds.

Alex just completed All About Reading Level 1 and is beginning Level 2. He is doing some living math and random workbooks.

Tori and Kate are still working through Logic of English. We all love it! It’s slow going – often, 1 lesson takes 2 weeks – but they’re really learning all the nuances of English, spelling, reading, grammar, and writing.

Tori and Kate are going to start work in Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology – and Alex will listen and observe – and participate when he likes. Liz is moving into Exploring Creation with Biology!

The girls are all learning German, French, and Latin. Alex picks up some and loves language!

For Bible, we are continuing with the Apologia What We Believe series and other random readings I come across that I like. We’re also working on thankful journals.

This mama needs to prioritize and pick back up that prayer journal and get up earlier to do Bible study and devotional to prepare for the day. I need an empty lap and empty hands to nurture little hearts.

Our Curriculum Choices for 2013-2014…

Elizabeth – 12.5, in 8th-ish grade

• Bible – Apologia Who is My Neighbor and Why Does He Need Me? and notebooking journal…working our way through this series. She loves it! {Also reviewing Beauty in the Heart. Wonderful!}
• ELA – IEW Student Writing Intensive B and Tapestry of Grace lit and writing…her writing has improved greatly lately!
• Math – Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology. Finally. And VideoText Algebra – yay!
• Science – Apologia Exploring Creation with Physical Science and notebooking journal. We love Apologia science!
• History/Geography – Tapestry of Grace Year 3. Liz and I both love this comprehensive classical curriculum that covers all social studies, literature, writing, and worldview.
• Electives – Second Form Latin, Homeschool Programming, piano lessons with our neighbor, Harmony Fine Arts w/ ARTistic Pursuits. We do these once a week or so.

She’s earning high school credits already. wow.

Victoria and Katherine – 7 and 6, respectively, in 2nd-ish grade

• Bible – The Dig Volume 2, Studying God’s Word B, and Bible Study Guide. The girls love to do all these every day! I try to mix it up a little.
• ELA – First Language Lessons (1-2), Spelling Workout B, IEW, Logic of English. We don’t do all of this every day.
• Math – Life of Fred Butterflies and Singapore Math 2. We alternate days with these. Tori prefers LOF and Kate prefers Singapore. Compromise!
• Science – Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and notebooking journals. Kate especially loves experiments.
• History/Geography – Tapestry of Grace Year 3 with Story of the World, years 3&4. The girls are finally enjoying history and the read alouds, notebooking, maps, narration, projects.  yay
• Electives – Prima Latina, Song School Spanish, Children’s Music Journey 2 online piano, Harmony Fine Arts w/ ARTistic Pursuits. We do these once a week.

Alexander – 3, in preschool

Alex knows all his letters, their sounds, and he’s starting to put them together to make CVC words! He knows his colors and numbers past 100. I’m taking it slow with him because I can. He is loving his “school work” and it’s great review fun. But I can tell he’s getting a little bored.

• Letter of the Week
• Raising Rock Stars Preschool
• All About Reading pre-level
• Logic of English Foundation A
• Poppins Book Nook monthly theme units
• Children’s Music Journey 1 online piano
• art along with sisters. He will not be left out!
• Montessori works in his workboxes

Looking at it all laid out, it looks like so much!

When I went through all of Liz’s papers to organize, I realized how much we did last year. But they get bored if they’re not challenged. And they like to do schoolish activities 7 days a week! It’s exhausting for me and sometimes I have to tell them to just go play or color. Tori will do Kumon math workbooks for fun and Kate reads voraciously!