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Let’s jump right in! This year we have a first, second, and fourth grader! My mind is still wrapping itself around the fact that I have three school-aged children. I know it’s cliche to say it, but it goes by so fast! I’m excited for this school year though. The older my kids get the more fascinating they become to me, so smart, conversational, and creative. It’s such a pleasure to be their mom as well as their teacher. Our curriculum picks for this school year reflect their personalities so much.
If you missed my post about the subjects we cover as a group you can read that here. Those include Bible, calendar work, poetry, history, science, Latin, and artist study. In this post, I’ll be focusing only on individual lessons, more specific to each grade level.
Let’s start with our curriculum picks for first grade.
Flash is starting first grade and frankly, he’s more interested than I ever expected him to be. He is the most eager learner! Last year I made him wait till the fall to start his Kindergarten Journal and he was not happy about it. He asked me nearly daily to start until I finally gave in. Occasionally he’d take breaks from it for a week or so but always happily jumped right back in. I never pushed and I think it really paid off.
For first grade, I’m sticking with the same plan for Flash as I had with Little Dude. Flash is very much in the just-like-big-brother stage and he watched what lessons Little Dude did last year very carefully. When I told him he’d be doing the same lessons he beamed from ear to ear.
So, just like big brother, Flash will be doing Horizons Math level one and All About Reading level one (thankfully I can just reorder the activity books instead of the whole thing). Along with what we cover in our group lessons, these two core subjects will be plenty for him. I don’t plan on requiring much writing from him as he is still newly six years old and I just don’t think it’s necessary. Some verbal narration during our group lessons, plus the writing practice he’ll get from his Morning Menu, and the nature journaling that goes with our science will be sufficient. He is benefitting from his third-child status because this is definitely a more relaxed approach than I took in my early lets-do-all-the-things new homeschool mom phase.
Now for Little Dude’s second-grade curriculum.
If I had a do-all-the-things phase, now I’m in my add-things-slowly phase. Little Dude is teaching me to slow down. Horizons for math and All About Reading worked perfectly for him last year so we’re just moving on to level two in each. Horizons was a perfect fit for my math-minded guy, and All About Reading was challenging but also very easy to modify so we could go at a speed that worked for L.D.
This year I’m adding All About Spelling level 1. Since we’re familiar with the style of the reading program I think the spelling will be nice reinforcement. I may also add a writing journal (the free one I offer to newsletter subscribers) along with one of our Draw, Write, Now books for occasional penmanship and writing practice, but I don’t plan on forcing that.
Last year he did show interest in the Touch-Type Read and Spell program Squeaks did, so I may also give that a go, but possibly not until we’re in a good rhythm with our other subjects. We’ll also have to see how his posture is at the computer. He may not be quite tall enough to have it be comfortable. The typing program itself I’m confident would be great for him though. It’s made with dyslexia in mind and uses the Orton-Gillingham method (just like All About Reading) to teach typing and spelling through a multi-sensory approach. Right up Little Dude’s learning-style alley.
Last but not least, Squeak’s fourth grade year!
I truly can’t believe I just typed “fourth grade”! Absolute craziness.
Being the oldest means Squeaks has the biggest “workload”. Over time, I’ve added subjects and skills just like I’m doing with her younger brothers.
Math is staying the same this year for Squeaks. The Teaching Textbooks curriculum was a perfect fit for her. She loved being able to work independently and I loved that it allowed me time to work with her brothers without her just waiting around. A win for everyone, so on to level four we go!
For language arts, we’ll be sticking with some favorites and adding a few extras.
We enjoyed First Language Lessons level three for grammar last year so we’re simply moving on to level four. The one thing I do wish it had more of is spelling practice. So this year I ordered a simple Evan-Moor Spelling Skills book for Squeaks. It looks very simple and straightforward, possibly even something Squeaks can do independently. These two books combined will be her daily language arts work, then we’ll loop through a few others.
We’ll be adding in Writing and Rhetoric from Classical Academic Press a few times a week. As suggested by multiple reviewers we’re starting with Book 1: Fables. It looks like a fantastic way to study and practice creative writing and I’m really looking forward to watching Squeaks (already very creative) writing progress and improve.
This will also be the first year Squeaks will have assigned reading as well. The plan is to have her read for at least 15 minutes 3-5 times a week (I’m keeping this flexible) then narrate back to me what she’s read. When she finishes each book I’d like to have her try and do a book report, however I haven’t quite decided what that will look like yet. Her first three assigned books will be The Hundred Dresses, The Cricket In Times Square, and Nancy Drew: The Secret Of The Old Clock. The Nancy Drew one may be a stretch, but she loves The Boxcar Children series so I thought it would be worth a try.
As far as extracurriculars, Squeaks will continue to take piano through Hoffman Academy and doing sewing lessons with Gaga (my mom) once a week. I’m so glad she’s enjoying both of these!
There we have it! Our individual curriculum picks for first, second, and fourth grade for the 2023-24 homeschool year!
If you missed our family-style group subjects, again, you can find them here. And don’t forget to follow along in the new school year through my newsletter and Instagram.
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