I have hesitated to post our curriculum choices for this school year until we had all of the kinks ironed out.

Are you ever guilty of planning TOO MUCH for your homeschooler?

(That's me.)

After four full weeks of school I believe we are in an excellent groove, so I am ready to share our official PLAN for Fifth Grade!

Homeschool Curriculum Choices - 5th Grade

I'll be sharing this in collage format (since it IS Collage Friday here on the blog).

*The book, Teaching From Rest, has greatly influenced how I planned for and approached this school year. I think it is a MUST READ for all homeschool moms. I also am using a loop schedule this year - you can learn more about that by watching this FREE webinar: The Quickstart Guide to Loop Scheduling for Homeschoolers)

Our Homeschool "Spine" - Classical Conversations

We happily use Classical Conversations as the spine for our learning.

(If you are interested as to how we arrived at this decision, you can read about why we chose Classical Conversations.)

My fifth grader attends Foundations class each Tuesday morning from 9-12, and then attends Essentials class from 1-3 that afternoon.

Foundations consists of six areas of memory work (English Grammar, Latin, Geography, History, Science, Math, and Timeline). There is also a time for art and music instruction, as well as presentation skills and science experiments.

I believe the memory work is enough and rest in the fact that in these early years Grant is getting just what he needs.

Essentials consists of formal grammar instruction, and writing lessons (using IEW materials), followed by math games.

Each morning our family starts the day together at breakfast. I created a simple morning basket, which is working SO WELL! We have devotions, memory work review, a music or art lesson, and CNN Student News. It all takes about 30-45 minutes and is my favorite part of the day.

(In case you are wondering, I created the flipbook in the collage about using files on CC Connected from users melodystroud and TiernyTribe. The maps for tracing also come from TierneyTribe. To see more about our organizing for CC - check out my Cycle 1 Organization post.)

Starting the Day with a Simple Homeschool Morning Routine

More Curriculum Choices

Grant was ready this year to branch out on his own a bit. He watches his sister (who is quite independent in Challenge I) and longs to do more himself this year.

The Veritas Self-Paced History Course - Old Testament and Ancient Egypt - has been a SUPERB addition to our homeschool!

It has lessons, quizzes, games, maps, a timeline, and suggested readings at different levels. I purchased the suggested chapter books, so Grant is getting a lot of great reading this year!

We are reading Pages of History, Volume 1 - Secrets of the Ancients (also from Veritas Press) together as a family this year. We had always been big Story of the World fans, but wanted a change this year.

Homeschool Curriculum Choies - 5th Grade

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Mythology

We are reading through this lovely book together, and also using the study guide from Memoria Press. Mythology is of great interest to Grant right now, hence this choice!

Grant also LOVES art, so we use a lot of the tutorials from Art for Kids Hub.

We have plans to also start the Art of Fall: Mixed Media Workshop for Kids (we used the winter mixed media last year and it was EXCELLENT!)

Also pictured in the collage above is Grant typing. I am a FIRM BELIEVER in teaching kids to type. We have used Dance Mat Typing and Typing Instructor for Kids along the way.

Saxon Math

Grant is finishing Saxon 6/5 and will be moving into 7/6 soon.

Math isn't anything fancy in our house. Grant completes a lesson each day and we occasionally will play a math game. I am lucky because he's a math kid and enjoys math!

We are a house divided in math this year. Saxon still works very well for Grant, but Anna is doing Algebra I with Mr. D Math online (and we couldn't be happier!).

Enrichment/Extras

I'm very happy with the Classical curriculum we have in place this year.

We've added in a couple of extracurriculars to round it all out.

My guy is a ball player - baseball in the fall and spring and basketball in the winter. I think EVERYONE needs a physical outlet, don't you?

Piano lessons are a big part of our homeschool, too. Grant's been playing for two years now.

I also try to leave ample down time so both of my children can read the books they love, play LEGOS, games, or craft. Part of the beauty of homeschool is that my children are learning to schedule their OWN time and if they use their time wisely they have more time to pursue FUN.

Join Collage Friday!

How was YOUR homeschool week? Are you happy with your curriculum choices for this year, or are you still making adjustments and/or changes?

Join me each Friday for a wrap up of the week - or just to share pertinent thoughts that have been rambling in your head during the past week.

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An InLinkz Link-up

In just the first week of school my ninth grader has learned a most valuable skill:

How to READ A BOOK.

Anna is my bibliophile; books are her treasures. She reads and rereads books. They occupy a very special place in her life, and for that I am grateful.

I would have contended that she already knew how to read a book, and I would have been wrong.

One of the assignments for the first day of Challenge I is to read Mortimer Adler's How to Mark a Book.

(If you're not familiar with this essay, it is worth printing and reading. It WILL change the way YOU read a book. It will change the way you teach your older children to read books.)

Something about Adler's simply essay struck a chord with Anna, and she developed her own strategy while reading books. As she began to implement this strategy I told her it would be a GREAT way to improve her vocabulary for the SAT (and for life in general).

Make a Book Your Own

In Adler's essay he states,

“The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things differently according to their worth. In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through you — how many you can make your own”

Something about this struck me (and I later found, through conversations with my daughter, that it struck her, too).

Anna made the comment to me that she reads so much but sometimes simply skips over words she doesn't know, or lets the CONTEXT of the word give her a clue as to its meaning.

In one of those wonderful homeschooling moments, Anna decided to begin highlighting the words she didn't know, look them up in a dictionary and then make a note of the meaning in the margin.

(In the past, she has done something similar to this, on notecards, and it was very beneficial.)

SO SIMPLE.

She has been reading with her dictionary and favorite highlighters (she's always had an addictions to school supplies), marking any words unfamiliar to her, then noting their meaning in the margin of the book.

*And yes, I believe DICTIONARY SKILLS are important. Some would argue with the advent of online dictionaries and smartphones we don't need to teach dictionary skills, but I disagree.

Start a Word Journal

Parents of teens will sympathize with this.

Sometimes I make a "suggestion" and hope my child will take it to heart - knowing full well that will happen maybe 25% of time.

CAN YOU RELATE?

During a casual conversation in the car (the very best place to make connections with teens, by the way), I asked Anna what she thought about the Adler essay and if she thought there was value to marking a book.

When she told me about highlighting unfamiliar words I suggested she start making a "Word Journal".

"Why don't take one of your journals and see if you can fill it up with new words this year? Imagine how much that will help you on the SAT, in conversation, and in writing papers."