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?

Linking up: Our Holiday Journey, My Pinventures, Inspiration for Moms, Life on Oak Hill, Lori Schumaker, Create with Joy, MaryAndering Creatively, Bloggheti, The Mrs. Tee, The Chicken Chick, Life of Faith, Our Mini Family, Al Things Beautiful, Jessi’s Design, Wise Woman, Timeless Mama, Creative K Kids, Gingersnap Crafts, Our Three Peas, LouLou Girls, Penny’s Passion, RCH Reviews, Organized 31, Debbie Kitterman, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Sarah Frazer, Soaring with Him, April Harris, Jaime Wiebel, Mississippi Mom, Abounding Grace, Be Thee Inspired, Purposeful Faith, Marilyn’s Treats, Bountiful Love, Trekking Thru, Simply Sweet Home, Overwhelmed to Fulfilled, Life with Lorelai, Easy Peasy Pleasy, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Chocolate, Blended Blog, Susan Mead, Charm of Home, Lyli Dunbar, Crystal Waddell, Counting My Blessings, Arabah Joy, Coffee With Us3, Our Mini Family,

After a week off for the new year, we’re back to homeschool with second semester.

We kinda finished our entire ancient history curriculum in one semester, including trips to Greece and Rome.

We’re spending a few weeks reviewing, notebooking, completing projects, and filling in the gaps of ancient history.

Elizabeth is beginning VideoText Geometry and finishing Apologia Chemistry. She has to complete some philosophy and government readings for history credits. She’s still enjoying Homeschool Christian Psychology. We’re finishing up with I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. We’re having some amazing conversations between that and the psychology book. She’s performing in a local production of the musical Mary Poppins this winter.

Alex is starting All About Reading Level 4! I can’t believe how much he’s learned in so short a time. He’s excited to start Singapore Math 1B.

I’m beginning Apologia Botany with Alex, Tori, and Katie. This will be the first time he’s had a notebooking journal!

I’m reading Changes to Tori and Katie. They’re excited to start Singapore Math 4B and Latina Christiana 1. We’re also adding the Greek Alphabet.

I have spent some time considering what’s most important and removing the fluff from our school time…and our lives.

I’m still purging our home of stuff, cleaning and throwing away and donating. If we haven’t used those items for crafts this year, it’s tossed.

I have all these unit printables in files that the girls loved but Alex doesn’t. They’re gone.

The kids are mostly old enough to do arts and crafts unsupervised. I allow them the freedom to complete projects their own way – even if it’s messy and veers off in a different direction than I’d planned. I bought the girls watercolor calendars.

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!

Linking up: iHomeschool,

I listed our goals for the new school year a couple weeks ago.

Here I expand on our curriculum choices.

Elizabeth is 11 and in 7th grade.

Victoria is 6 and Katherine is 5 and they’re in 1st grade (funny how they have different abilities! Tori loves math and science and Katie can narrate very well and can read much more fluently than Tori).

Alexander is 2 and does Tot School (when his mood is right).

History:

I love it when all the kids learn together. I love Tapestry of Grace for this. Here are the children coloring Rose Windows from cathedrals and Elizabeth is researching them on the iPad. She read the article to her siblings.

We are studying Medieval Times this year. We can’t wait to dress up Alex as a knight or something. I wish we lived close to a Medieval Times restaurant. I found the coolest medieval cookbook at the library. We shall have us a medieval feast as our unit celebration!

Bible:

The kids often have a hard time comprehending when I just read from the Bible. We often read from our Bible story book for TOG history. We needed something more though. We’ve been loving Grapevine Bible Studies. I contacted Dianna a couple months ago and asked if I could do reviews for her and she happily obliged. I really thought the idea was silly at first, but the kids love it. They really get it. I need something the kids can all do together and this fits well.

Liz then has her Worldview reading from TOG. Right now, she is reading The Church in History.

Math:

Science:

We’ve used Apologia science Exploring Creation elementary series from day 1. Tori and Katie did Swimming Creatures last year. This year we are learning about Land Animals. Elizabeth is beginning General Science this year.

We also do nature notebooking each month. I read a Christian Liberty nature reader to Tori and Katie almost every day.

Language Arts:

Um. I was an English teacher in my past life. I don’t have a curriculum for this. I know there are some great ones out there. I’ve looked at them and I just can’t bring myself to spend money on them.
I use the TOG writing ideas each week, mostly for Elizabeth. Elizabeth learns her grammar from her Latin program. She started with Prima Latina in 3rd grade. IF I feel she needs a refresher, I teach it to her. That’s what I did. I don’t need a curriculum to teach grammar or writing or reading. I think I am blessed with these talents. I love literature and writing and all that grammar stuff. Liz love to read. She carries her Kindle with her everywhere. I loaded some free classics as well as some TOG and Ambleside Online reading books on there and she loves it.

I use online printables for Tori and Katie. The girls really love her word families. We read A LOT. We do copywork. We get lots of books from the library for history, science, and literature. We’re also working our way through First Language Lessons. I don’t make them do every lesson. Tori asked me last month: “Mom, when are going to move on from nouns? I get it.” So we move on!

Living books for history and reading:

• Saint Francis of Assisi by Joyce Denham
• Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press by Kay Melchisedech Olson
• Caedmon’s Song by Ruth Ashby
• The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur by Margaret Hodges
• The Squire and the Scroll by Jennie Bishop
• Joan of Arc: Heroine of France by Ann Tompert
• Exploring Ancient Civilizations: Medieval Times by Robynne Eagan
• Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thomson
• Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
• The Minstrel in the Tower by Gloria Skurzynski
• Marguerite Makes a Book by Bruce Robertson
• The Making of a Knight by Patrick O’Brien
• Marco Polo
• Medieval Myths, Legends, And Songs by Donna Trembinski
• The Fall of Constantinople by Ruth Tenzer Feldman
• Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
• Celtic World by Fiona Macdonald
• You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Crusader!: A War You’d Rather Not Fight by Fiona MacDonald
• The Renaissance by Jane Shuter

Foreign Language:

I teach them all a word each week or so in German, French, and Spanish. This week is the word “sun.” Die Sonne, le soleil, el sol. They love it. Katie is begging to learn Spanish. I guess I can try to fit it in. Our library has a Mango languages app.

Liz is currently going through Elementary Greek. It’s just ok. She will begin Second Form Latin when she completes the Greek study. Any recommendations out there for a good Greek program? Liz really loves it but I am less than thrilled with this text.

Art:

We love Artistic Pursuits! All the girls enjoy these lessons. We also study the artists on Ambleside Online. I really need to incorporate more arts and crafts. TOG has some great ideas, and I am just lazy.

Other:

We have lots of computer games and iPad apps. Technology, check.

I think Tori and Katie need to start up Funnix again, taking turns. It would give me time to work with Alex one on one. I need to set a schedule up a couple times each week.
Tori, Katie, and Alex are taking gymnastics this year. They just started and they love it! We took a couple years off and Tori and Katie are just picking up where they left off. Katie is playing soccer these next couple months. Liz and Tori will probably run track again in the spring. Not sure what to do for Liz during the fall and winter. She wants to start Tae Kwan Do, but it’s just not affordable or convenient. They recently pooled their allowances and bought a couple Just Dance Wii games. They make you sweat!

I also plan to begin a homemaker’s journal with Elizabeth. I have plans to get a lovely scrapbook and pretty tab dividers and let her help me plan it. My mom just gave me a subscription to Better Homes&Gardens and I think Liz could use that as a jumping off point to begin her home idea scrapbook. She can start collecting decorating ideas, recipes to try, cleaning and organization tips, beauty and hygiene tips, hospitality and event planning/holiday ideas.

Basically, it will be a real life Pinterest since I will not let her have her own account yet. (I’m a mean mom!) I hope it helps her get more adept at running a household and doing her chores. If she gets to make some decisions, then maybe that will generate interest? I was doing so much more at her age and she doesn’t even want to learn. sigh