Year End Curriculum Review | First, Second, and Fourth Grade

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Another homeschool year is in the books! This year was unlike any other though and it’ll definitely show in this review. Moving has a way of throwing off a solid routine. My previous Year End Curriculum Reviews have been helpful as I plan the upcoming year and I know many of you appreciate the feedback too. I’ll repeat my same disclaimer as usual though. What works or doesn’t work for our family may not have the same results for yours, so please don’t let these reviews overwhelm you!

This review is coming much later than last year’s as well. We only just finished our school year at the end of June. Last year by this time, I was already posting our curriculum picks for the new school year (read our group subject picks here and our picks for individual subjects here). Moving slowed us down, but that’s ok! A flexible schedule is one of the many benefits of homeschooling. Along with slowing down, moving also required us to cut a few of last year’s picks.

Let’s start with a review of our Morning Basket Routine

Morning basket may have been skipped occasionally this year, but never for long. It remains one of my favorite parts of our day and has become essential. What started years ago as a calm and lovely way to begin our day with Bible time and a bit of calendar practice has become my number one way to incorporate our group subjects. So many things have been added over time!

Bible will always remain first.

We ended up starting our year with a few Kaleidoscope books. Shadow of A King (1 & 2 Samuel) was first, then we did Far From Home (Daniel). Kaleidoscope books are a fun way to bring Bible stories to life! I use the term story very literally though. These books are closer to storybooks than devotionals or history books. They have “Secrets of The Hidden Scroll” vibes without the mystery solving or fictional characters. I ended up reading the actual Bible along side them which was really fun! The Kaleidoscope books helped make a few parts a little more understandable to my kids. I think they’re great resources, but they don’t replace reading the actual Bible (nothing does).

Once we got settled in our new house, we started The 10 Minute Bible Journey. I naively thought “10 Minutes” meant 10 minutes though. I suppose if you only read the material written in the book itself, each chapter would take no more than 10 minutes a day. However, each chapter is based on multiple chapters and sometimes full books of the Bible. The reference Bible verses are listed for the chapters so I chose to read through all of those first and end the section with the reading from the book. This definitely added up to more time.

A few chapters took us weeks. Job especially took awhile, not only because we read through the entire book to prepare for the chapter’s commentary, but also because the conversation was awesome! So even though I find the title a bit misleading, it’s been a fantastic book to use as a guide. We will be continuing it into the new year!

After Bible we moved on to Catechism

There should be no surprise here. We’ve been working our way through New City Catechism for years and it will take us many more years to memorize the entire book. Then when we’ve memorized the book, we’ll start over! That’s how valuable it is. We added a solid number of questions and answers to our memories this year.

Story of The World continues to be our favorite way to study history together.

We have completed the first three volumes (Ancient Times, The Middle Ages, and Early Modern Times) all as read-alouds. I have loved reading through these books! Early Modern Times was especially interesting to us this year as the kids recognized names they’ve heard a little more and learned about the beginning of the United States (a little more relatable). Early Modern times even ended with California becoming a state (where we live) which was exciting! They loved learning about the California Gold Rush so we ended our history for the year with some extra reading on that specific time period. This curriculum does have a workbook that could be added, however we’ve never used it and enjoy it much more as a read aloud.

Latin was slow going this year, but that’s ok.

When I made the choice to pause Latin with just Squeaks and start over with all three kids together I knew it would be an adjustment. I’m thrilled with my decision to make it a verbal subject though. Prima Latina is made to be a workbook, but I’ve adapted it to our learning style by reading everything out loud and having them answer questions verbally as a group. We recite vocabulary words, derivatives, and the Latin Prayers as a group. One lesson takes us one to two weeks because I mix in review from past lessons as we go.

As a result we are still not finished with Prima Latina, but I feel the information is being absorbed better than if I had them each going through the workbook. I know I could pick a different Latin curriculum (I’ve purchased many over the years that now sit unused), but working through Prima Latina verbally as a group subject has been our best fit so far.

The new favorite addition to morning basket this year was our artist studies!

We enjoyed Picture Study Portfolios from Simply Charlotte Mason on Van Gough and Monet this year. The included pictures and booklets for each artist were fascinating and so well done. We rotated this subject with poetry, so every other day we read a poem (usually our daily poem from Sing a Song of Seasons. We’ll save The Classic Hundred Poems for next year) and discussed it, then the next day we would enjoy a new work of art! It was fun to see how the kids interpreted each piece and what stood out to them. At the end of each study they each picked their favorite painting and tried to recreate them. It’s not a “curriculum” per se. There’s no schedule, workbook, or activities, and very few instructions, but it doesn’t need it! This subject lends itself very well to conversation and simply enjoying something beautiful. It was so fun!

The flop of Morning basket this year was our science curriculum.

I started the year with every good intention to add science as a group subject using unit studies. We began with the Burgess Birds study from Charlotte Mason Simple Studies. I have zero negative feedback about this resource and before we found out we were moving we were really enjoying it. Reading through the The Burgess Bird Book for Children and looking up the different birds was a blast. We even downloaded the Audubon Bird Guide app to listen to their bird calls, then we colored or painted our favorite birds each week.

When we decided to move things went down the tubes. We were never able to get back in a good rhythm with Burgess Birds. Science turned into exploring our new land and simply observing the new bugs and animals here (snakes, rabbits, squirrels, lizards, TONS of birds, spiders, and even a legless lizard!). We started our new garden and learned about soil, decomposition, nitrogen, and pollinators (my Seek app has been working overtime). We observed and recorded the eclipse in April, watched tons of animal documentaries, and enjoyed some STEM science activities. So science was life this year, and that’s ok.

Other little add-ons worked their way into morning basket as we needed them.

We rotated in our Morning Menus to learn our new address, then skip counting practice as Little Dude learned multiplication this year, and seasonal picture books to accompany any holidays. We also completed our third version of Pilgrim’s Progress with Little Pilgrim’s Progress (we’ve enjoyed Dangerous Journey and a poetic retelling of Pilgrim’s Progress in past years) and read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a group (I highly recommend both). Morning basket really is the best way to multitask and combine so many interesting topics. It’s a morning feast of knowledge!

On to our year-end curriculum review of individual subjects for first, second, and fourth grade!

Flash’s first grade year was so chill. I know, not the most academic of word choices, but I genuinely can’t think of a better word to describe it. As our third born he has benefitted from lessons I’ve learned with the older two about taking things slowly. Even so, his hunger for learning is strong! He convinced me to start his Preschool Journal earlier than I would have way back when and his eagerness has not faded.

Flash (newly seven years old) happily pipes up with answers during morning basket and works so diligently at his individual lessons as well.

Horizon’s Math was a great fit. He loves that he’s doing what big brother did and the concepts are easy to grasp. I quickly read the instructions for him and he’s off! He easily completed a page or two every day and was the first kiddo to complete math for the entire year.

All about Reading was a great fit too. He was annoyed by the warm up sheets for some lessons though. Mostly, I think, because it’s just a list of words and not a story. Near the end of the year we ended up skipping the warm up sheets for most lessons (if he was struggling with a rule or blend I’d add them back in) and going straight to the activities and the storybook. Each lesson was generally split between two days and he did awesome with that routine.

That’s all I required for Flash’s individual lessons this year and I think it was perfect!

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You might also enjoy reading this post: Year End Curriculum Review | Kindergarten, First, and Third Grade

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Little Dude’s Second grade year had some minor bumps but I’m so proud of how hard he worked!

With Little Dude, his mindset is more of a challenge than the actual subject matter. The sweet guy just wants to be perfect at all of it on the first try! Don’t we all?! Frequent reminders that no one is perfect on the first try and that all I expected was his best effort was reassuring. His wiggles were strong this year too, and honestly, I love it. Having him jump up and down next to me, answering math problems verbally as I read them aloud, writing while sitting on top of the table, running laps around the backyard between subjects… It’s a constant reminder of what a huge blessing the individualized nature of homeschooling really is!

Horizon’s Math was good this year simply because it wasn’t fancy.

A page or two a day and then he was off to other adventures. I’m not 100% convinced it’s what we’ll stick with for next year though. I feel like there’s something out there that could fit his math-centric personality better than a simple worksheet, but it worked this year…We shall see.

All About Reading (level 2 this year) feels like it was made for Little Dude.

I can’t even imagine how much of a struggle reading would have been for him if we hadn’t started with an Orton Gillingham curriculum from the beginning. That’s not to say he wasn’t challenged, because he definitely was, but this curriculum provides the most helpful explanations for breaking down syllables and decoding words that he was able to work through the challenges confidently. Combining it with All About Spelling level 1 was a bit time consuming but I think it was helpful in reviewing and solidifying concepts and gave him a great confidence boost too. That said, I don’t believe it was “necessary” to do both and we probably won’t continue with All About Spelling next year.

Lastly, we did end up working in occasional writing practice with some Draw Write Now books and my Journal Pages (a freebie for newsletter friends), but it wasn’t super consistent. Penmanship is lower on my list of priorities at this age, and I’ve found that forcing it with Little Dude just makes him frustrated. As long as I can read his writing (which I can) I’m not gonna push it right now.

Squeak’s fourth grade year was a good example of “it worked for this season”.

Teaching Textbooks Math curriculum has been fantastic of Squeaks the last few years.

It allowed her to work independently while I worked with her brothers and it felt like an easy thing to manage during our move (which was a relief to me). The one thing that seemed to pop up this year was how quickly it moved from one concept to the next. There were a few times when it felt like Squeaks could have benefitted from a bit more practice before the program introduced something new. Because of that, she has requested to try Horizon’s Math like her brothers next year.

First Language Lessons was another familiar resource that made this hectic season a bit easier.

Squeaks and I were already familiar with the script style of this curriculum and enthusiastic about learning to diagram sentence (yep, we totally nerd out for diagramming) so FLL fit the bill. The positives started to morph into negatives near the end of the school year though. It started to feel a bit repetitive and dry. We found ourselves skipping a lot of the review because it felt unnecessary. This is another subject that Squeaks enjoyed overall this year, but has requested to try something new next year. I’m confident the skills we both learned with First Language Lessons will no doubt transfer very well to whatever we move to next.

Since FFL didn’t include spelling, we ended up adding a simple Evan-Moor Spelling Skills book.

It was an easy add on and she was mostly able to work on it independently with me checking her work. After learning what I know about the Orton Gillingham method and working through the All About Spelling curriculum with Little Dude this year, the Evan Moor book just didn’t compare. It was more sight words than anything and AAS really taught me the value of good phonics skills. Evan Moor Spelling is another book that checked the box in this busy season, but won’t return.

Writing And Rhetoric is great…if you already know a good amount about writing.

I can see how Writing and Rhetoric would be a great fit for some people. The content is creative and the stories are super fun, but the instruction is lacking, in my opinion. There were several times when the directions for an activity left us with more questions and I feel like a few concepts were introduced without nearly enough explanation. We didn’t even finish the book and I’m on the hunt for another writing curriculum.

We introduced assigned reading for the first time for Squeaks this year.

I started the year with plans for her to read The Hundred Dresses, The Cricket In Times Square, and Nancy Drew: The Secret Of The Old Clock, then I had her write a short narration in her Journal as she went. The only one she ended up finishing was Cricket In Times Square. She read multiple other books (several Roald Dahl books, The Wind In The Willows, and the Zoe and Sassafras series were favorites) but Cricket In Times Square was the only one she journaled. This coming year I have plans to change up the structure of her assigned reading, but she’s such an enthusiastic independent reader already. I’m really quite content with what she accomplished this year. We’ll just save The Hundred Dresses and Nancy Drew for another day.

Typing, sewing (weekly lessons with my mom), and piano are the only subjects that will remain unchanged for Squeaks fifth grade year.

The Touch-Type Read and Spell curriculum continues to be a fantastic resource. Squeaks enjoys typing her way through their themed subjects (art, animals, etc.). I love that it doesn’t “grade” based on speed, encourages accuracy, and doubles as extra spelling practice. It even uses the Orton Gillingham method just like All About Reading!

Piano lessons with Hoffman Academy are so cute and well done, I’m not surprised that Squeaks enjoys them so much. Lessons are around 15 minutes long, easy for Squeaks to do independently, and the Premium Access has super fun games and helpful printables to go with the lessons. We will definitely be continuing with them next year.

That’ll do it for our 2023-2024 school year! It didn’t go quite as I expected, but in a lot of ways it was our most exciting year yet. I can’t wait to share our plans for next year!

Did you use any of the same curriculum or resources as we did? How did you like them?!