A New School Year is a Great Time for Change
One of the things I try to encourage people to do before beginning each homeschool year is to take your year, your curriculum choices, and your routine to the Lord and see if there are any changes you feel compelled to make. Surrender it to the Lord and let Him lead you! He is faithful!
Before starting this homeschool year, the Lord placed a few things on my heart that I would like to share with you. I share this with you so that you will know the reasons behind our curriculum choices and why I believe with my whole heart they are best for us.
One of the things He placed on my heart was that I need to spend more time teaching my children and less time simply placing good materials in front of them. You can read more about some of the other things He’s impressed upon me for the coming school year here!
I am a firm believer that there is no “one-size-fits-all” curriculum style, option, or choice. Every family is different and the seasons of every family are ever-changing… and my family is not exempt!
Because of that, our family’s needs are always changing… and so is our homeschool curriculum.
This Year’s Goals
The following goals are the things I’ve been convicted of after taking it to the Lord; our curriculum choices reflect these goals accordingly.
- Keep Our Priorities in Order
- Start Each Day by Glorifying Jesus Christ as a Family
- Read the Bible Together
- Pray as a Family Every Day
- Sing Hymns as a Family
- Help My Children Develop Spiritually
- Teach My Children How to Pray More Intuitively
- Teach My Children How to Be More Independent with Bible Study
- Missionary Stories to Help Build Faith
- Choose Literature that Glorifies God and Builds Character
- Focus on Building Positive Moments to Develop Stronger Family Relationships
- More Time 1:1 With Each Child
- Choose Curriculum That Will Foster That 1:1 Time Daily
- Family Read Alouds
- More Time Playing Together Outside
- More Grace – for myself, my husband, & my children
- Learn to Let Go of the Little Things
- Expect Less; Train More
- Practice Acceptance & Less Criticism
- Foster a Deep Foundational Understanding of Math So My Son Will Struggle Less
- Use Hands On Curriculum and Real-Life Situations
- Choose Teacher-Led Curriculum (Mommy-Led Curriculum)
- Dig in Deep with My Child and Expect it to Take a Long Time
It’s hard to dig in to see which curriculum choices we chose without first laying out what our goals for the homeschool year are… Sooo I went ahead and gave you an outline above. *wink!*
After serious prayer and consideration, I just want to say the following choices are the choices we believe are best for our family. We are, by no means, saying they are best for yours.
Keeping Our Priorities in Order
Our last season of homeschooling was a rough one. Our family was in crisis most of the year and certainly had different needs than this next year has. In the midst of the craziness, we lost a lot of those foundational one-on-one moments that once were built into our every day… including our family time with the Lord.
The Morning Basket
Once upon a time we did a little thing called the “Morning Basket.” I believe the idea originated from Pam Barnhill, but the main idea is that you can start your day with something beautiful – and while bonding as a family!
The basket, put simply, is just a few low-stress, joyful activities intentionally chosen to start each day on the right foot – coloring pages, short beautiful lessons for Bible, or character training, devotionals, or even geography lessons.
So… curriculum choice #1 – We have decided to bring our morning basket back. (Check out this post for other… creative… ways we have used the morning basket in the past!)
Our Morning Basket
In our morning basket, we have a hymnal, our individual song books, a Bible, and a Missionary Read Aloud (we are currently reading about George Muller). I will soon put reminders for family prayer time and our French lesson in the basket, too, since I seem to keep forgetting! It’s so hard to remember when there’s nothing visible in the basket to help me remember!
My hope with restoring our morning basket is that each morning will be filled with joy and remind us of our purpose every day. No matter what is happening, God is supposed to be priority #1… and my hope is that our morning basket is going to help us to practice putting Him first each day.
The truth is that none of us have what it takes to do it without Him anyway… and my hope is that I will be reminded of this every morning. I can’t do it without Him and I don’t want to… because when I do it isn’t the beautiful thing He created our home and homeschool to be.
Mama… your work is important. It’s Kingdom Work… and nothing is more important than that! Regardless of what society tells you, you have a high calling. Don’t ever forget it! *hugs*
I know that by remembering Who I am here to glorify every day, I will remember who I am, Whose I am, and won’t get stuck in the lonely trenches of stay-at-home motherhood. Your work… My work… Is HIS work… And nothing is more important than raising and discipling souls for Him! So, that’s what this “Morning Basket,” for me, is all about.
Helping My Children Develop Spiritually
During our Morning Basket time, we are each going to take turns praying and being silent, waiting to see if God places something or someone on our heart each day. The goal is to build confidence praying as individuals and to not be afraid to pray in front of others.
What About My Preschooler?
My preschooler loves to sing songs with us! I often hear him singing the worship songs we sing together during this time to himself while he is playing! Songs help with language development and it makes my mama heart happy to hear how happy it makes him to sing and worship God with us. He also has his own little prayer, “Tank eww, God, ahmen!”
Bible Study/Devotional
To encourage my children to grow in their individual Bible study skills, they will each be reading Bible stories or doing their own devotionals independently. We chose Generations for our Bible study & devotionals for the two older boys.
Why Generations?
I stumbled upon the Generations curriculum maybe a year or so ago and everything I read on their page had me on the edge of my seat as a Christian, homeschooling parent. (You have to read it!)
They believe that the goal of education is to educate our children in Christ. They believe that our goal as parents is to bring up our children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4). They believe it’s not possible to have a “neutral worldview” curriculum, and they believe the heart of education begins with family discipleship.
Woah. It’s like literally everything my Mommy heart has ever yearned for was right there in front of me in black and white.
They believe that YOU are the best teacher for your children and that it’s more important for your child to get to HEAVEN than Harvard… BUT their curriculum is academically strong and not lacking in any way that I’ve yet found.
They use a 4-Step Framework for their curriculum that includes a focus on:
- Discipleship
- Biblical Worldview
- Best Teachers, Best Books
- Worship and Life Application
Last year we used Generations for Bible and Science and we were not disappointed. The creator of the curriculum is Kevin Swanson, one of the founders of Answers-in-Genesis, so the theology backing these courses does NOT compromise on God’s word. I absolutely love it!
Our 6th Grade Choice
Our 6th grader will be doing the Proverbs Companion from Generations to dig deep into a study of Proverbs over the course of the school year. Each week comes with a suggested memory verse, vocabulary exercises to ensure he knows what he is reading, a word search, a “connect the verse” page, and an application section.
He can easily do one easy worksheet a day without becoming overwhelmed and it will help guide him through a deeper study of the wisdom that comes from the book of Proverbs. I love that the author talks in the beginning of the companion about how God’s Word is the core resource to build our child’s education upon and the book of Proverbs was written for exactly that purpose.
Our 4th Grade Choice
Our 4th grader will be using the God’s Big Story Level 4 Set from Generations. This set is actually to be used as the curriculum’s core reading book, but we have opted to use it as a Bible Study. Last year we used the Level 5 book for their Bible Study and my children really gained a lot from it.
What my older boys love about the God’s Big Story book is that each level pulls different stories throughout the whole span of the Bible. Both of my boys have complained that they’ve heard the same stories over and over again in Sunday school, and they loved learning all of the new-to-them, in-depth stories told in these books.
I love that it gives them a broader foundation of the Bible, while still telling the stories in a way that is easy for them to understand, digest, and apply. I love that at the end of each lesson there are Faith Lessons to help, too!
Last year we did not use the workbook, but the Faith Lessons were not “little-kid” on the surface kind of stuff! I love that the books are written on their level, but that they are still challenged to think deeply and apply it to their own lives.
This year, we opted to do the entire set (the book plus the workbook) to go even deeper… but if it causes frustration we will ditch the workbook. We just started school this week so it’s still too early to tell! He will be using the memory verses from his brother’s Proverbs study so that they can learn them together! (Bonus- that’s easier for me!!)
Our Preschool Choice
For my preschooler, we will try to read a story from The Bible Story Hour each day for our Bible lesson. Each lesson is short and in very easy to understand language for littles. I love the watercolor pictures! Of course, we will make it fun for my wiggly little boy! Check out these tips for fostering a love for reading in small children. If he’s not up for it, I don’t push!
Science/Worldview
We also chose Generations for Science this year. As I mentioned before, we used Generations for Science last year and we were not disappointed. Last year, my children shared a science book, but it ended up being a little over my 3rd grader’s head – probably because it was a middle school level book.
The Science books literally solve the issue that seems to wedge itself between academics and faith- especially in the area of Science. Because we have grown up in a secular world, Science has been presented from a viewpoint of skewed facts. The truth is that one article, interpreted by someone with a secular viewpoint, will be interpreted way differently than someone with a Biblical viewpoint.
That person draws a conclusion based upon their secular worldview and presents it as a fact, when, in reality, it was a hypothesis or a theory – not a fact. That theory is then presented as if it is factual and becomes part of our belief system.
If you dig deeper, like I was compelled to do some years ago, you will find that Science CONFIRMS the Bible – it does not contradict it! What contradicts the Bible is the false conclusions made by those who do not believe the Bible… who then take that information and present it as factual, when it is truly more of an opinion than a fact.
Most curriculum options shy away from these difficult-to-answer questions, but these books hit these topics HEAD ON with all the Scientific evidence you would ever need to learn the truth – Science confirms the Bible.
Nearly every page is dripping with relevant scripture to show you how God is in the center of it all and the end of every chapter has relevant videos, and even prayer and worship sections to continue to point it all back to God and give Him all the glory. It also gives hands-on application and life-application exercises at the end of each chapter.
God knows His creation and these books have helped to bridge the gap of any lacking Scientific depth my children have had thus far in their education. My 6th grader just drinks these books up and wants more! I would even recommend these books to any adults who need help strengthening their Science-Faith connection!
Last year my children shared the God Created the World book, which is about space, stars, natural disasters, etc. It is an introduction to physics, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, and natural disasters. We did not use the workbook because it seemed to be a bit much at the time.
Our 6th Grade Choice
Our 6th grader started the God Made Life Set today and you can tell he’s drinking it up again already. I love how he runs to me with all the new things he learned – including how to use the Scientific Method to determine the difference between facts, opinions and theories!
This specific set is an introduction to biology- including microbiology, biology, human anatomy, and application skills like basic medical skills, health habits, and disease prevention and treatment.
Our 4th Grade Choice
Our 4th grader started the God Made Animals Set today. The chapters are much shorter than the two previous Science books I mentioned, and I think he will do much better with it. We did opt for the workbook again, but if it is too much, we will ditch the workbook and just read. Comprehension is more important than worksheets – and there are other ways to demonstrate understanding than worksheets!
The God Made Animals book is intended to be an introduction to zoology, especially for younger children, with a focus on bringing in as many cool facts about animals to the surface as possible. The purpose of the book is to worship God by highlighting His wisdom, power and goodness throughout His creation of the animal world.
All of these upper/middle-level science books from Generations give such Scientific depth to many answers where the typical Christian seems to be seriously lacking in these areas… and hits these issues head-on. These Science books are a must-have for our children being raised in Christian homes today – even for non-homeschoolers!
Our Preschool Choice
For Science for our preschooler, we will be checking out books about animals from the library to snuggle up and read together! Every preschooler loves to read books about animals and the world around them!
Language Arts & Literature
Language Arts
This year for Language Arts, after much prayer, we have chosen The Good & The Beautiful. I love that their language arts courses are gentle yet thorough. We chose The Good & The Beautiful because I believe it will help us to reach our goals.
I love the focus on good character and good morals, and the focus on bringing beauty into the curriculum. The curriculum is controversial among Christians because it was created by a woman who is from the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS), also known as Morman. It is marketed as an entirely Christian curriculum, although it was created by a member of the LDS.
It is worth noting that the LDS is trying to push being accepted as a Christian denomination, which, of course, cannot happen because Mormans do not believe that there is One God, which is foundational to Christianity. There are some other discrepancies in their belief system that go against the foundations of Christianity also. Because of this, and the focus on “good works” being able to get you into heaven, many people will not use the curriculum, due to their own convictions in regards to these issues.
The curriculum does focus on good morals and character, which are positive Christian values, but, of course, there is not a strong focus on any specific Christian doctrine. I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer in regards to this issue for our family and I feel a very strong peace for using this curriculum for our family. I think it is important to make yourself aware of these issues to keep an eye out. As with any curriculum, you should be on guard and prayerfully consider before making any final selections.
Now, with all of that being said, The Good & The Beautiful has almost everything that I look for when I am looking for curriculum. I love that it is open and go, which means I can just turn to the page or lesson we are on and begin. I love that there is a focus on high moral character. I love that the lessons are short and very thorough, yet gentle. I love that multiple subjects are incorporated into language arts, including geography, grammar, and art. I love that there is a focus on making it hands-on and trying to make it fun with games and other activities woven throughout.
Most of all, I believe that the biggest reason we are being called to use this curriculum is because it is teacher-led, yet gentle and doable. One of the goals God has placed on my heart for the coming year is to spend more time teaching each child 1:1 and this curriculum will help us to do exactly that. I will be right there teaching to be able to identify and address any discrepancies in theology, and we will tweak the curriculum as necessary to add/take-out as we go.
[Update: A few weeks more into the curriculum, I haven’t found any other poems of concern so far. The gentle nature and focus on things that are beautiful has had me in tears more than once, though! My middle son is memorizing a poem about how Mother’s lemon pie helps all the little cares of the day melt away, which is such a beautiful reminder of how beautiful it is to cheerfully mother our children! These little reminders are just what the homeschooling mama needs to help remind her of all the reasons she does what she does! It’s like honey for the homeschooling mama’s heart.]For My Preschooler
We also chose The Good & The Beautiful for our main preschool curriculum this year. We absolutely love the Folder Activity Games! We will most likely reinforce what he’s learning with flash cards, too. Flash cards are a great way to learn a lot of information quickly – just be sure to keep it FUN!
Literature
One of the ways we will be tweaking the Language Arts curriculum is by not using their suggested book list. While we are planning on using The Good & The Beautiful for Language Arts, I do not feel comfortable using their book list because of the LDS background.
I am not great about reading the suggested literature I give my children ahead of time, so I absolutely will not risk having them read literature that may present skewed viewpoints that would be difficult for children to catch onto. I would rather read those concepts together to open up the conversation about what we believe and why.
For example, in page 3 or 4 of the Poetry Reader we did today, one of the poems mentioned that doing good works, like acts of kindness, etc, gets us into heaven. It was so cute and sweet and seemed so innocent in nature… but the only thing that gets us into heaven in belief in Jesus (John 14:6). Our belief in Jesus *causes* us to do good things; the good things we do are just the evidence of Christ at work in our life, NOT our admission ticket to heaven. Good works do not lead us to heaven, Jesus leads us to heaven (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-8).
So instead of using TGTB literature suggestions during the 20 minutes of suggested reading time, my children will be reading books and read alouds suggested by Generations, which I trust when it comes to theological issues. We will be taking their idea of having an approved book list for the year and tweaking it to make our own “approved book list” for the year.
Approved Reading List for my 4th Grader
- 10 Boys Who Used Their Talents by Irene Howat – (Lightkeepers Series)
- Adoniram Judson by Irene Howat- (Trail Blazers Series)
- Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John
- The Dragon and the Raven by G. A. Henty
- Hudson Taylor (Men of Faith Series)
- Tuttle Twins Series by Connor Boyack
- Christian Heroes Then & Now Series
Approved Reading List for my 6th Grader
- Pilgrim’s Progress for Young Readers by John Bunyan
- Created for Work by Bob Schultz
- 10 Girls Who Didn’t Give In by Irene Howat (Lightkeepers Series)
- The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
- Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
- God’s Smuggler: Young Readers Edition by Brother Andrew
- Tuttle Twins Series by Connor Boyack
- Christian Heroes Then & Now Series
Another list of books that I have always loved and approved of are the books from the Easy Peasy Readers. Every year until this year we have always used the Easy Peasy readers for my children’s reading time. Their book lists are challenging and I trust the creator, Lee Giles, and her content choices. It is also one of the most cost-efficient ways to find Christian-approved books for the entire year, because you can buy one book (or two for the middle grades), and all of the books, with included vocabulary words, are included and scheduled out day-by-day for the whole upcoming year.
Math
For math, we have chosen Right Start Math. My 6th grader has really struggled ever since we started multiplication and division a couple of years ago. We have tried multiple things to catch him up, like supplementing with Elephant Learning, using video-led curriculum like Kahn Academy, and focusing strongly on foundational things like math facts.
We have used ACE, Easy Peasy, Kahn Academy, supplemented with IXL, and tried Elephant Learning. Regardless of our efforts, he is still struggling to move forward. After praying about this, I believe the answer is that he needs something that is very teacher intensive so that I can walk him through each step of the way and something that is very hands-on, using manipulatives and real-life examples for him to relate to.
I believe we have been called to try Right Start Math this year. Right Start is all of the things I believe my child needs to succeed and overcome these individual obstacles to be able to move forward in Math with confidence. He needs to understand the “why” for something to make sense and I think this curriculum will help him do just that. I am especially looking forward to the games!
Of all the curriculum options we have chosen this year, this one was the hardest call to make for several reasons, one of which is because of the start-up expenses. I finally bit the bullet and decided to do my best to calm my fears and surrender my worries to God and trust that He is the one leading me this direction and so He will have to be the One to help me teach and provide the finances needed each year.
I love that this curriculum uses hands-on manipulatives and games and that each lesson is teacher led, so it will walk me through helping him each step of the way. It will also help with that 1:1 school time that my children need, which will help encourage building those positive family relationships.
For my preschooler, all of the suggested math learning is included in the language arts preschool package we will be using this year.
History
For History this year, we will be using The Good & The Beautiful. I like that their History curriculum covers the whole span of History from Creation to Modern History. I like that the Bible is included in the History lessons as a reliable source for Historical information, like Creation. I like that there is an emphasis on American History each year and I like that there are underlying tones supporting freedom.
I also like the emphasis on memorization in their course, just like in their Language Arts courses. The course is taught family style, so everyone can be involved in one lesson, and I also like that each year comes with a game to play! It seems like everything about this encourages family relationships and fun together. Yesterday, we turned on the audio clip and all of us cuddled on the couch listening to the story! It was amazing – I didn’t even have to read, just cuddle and love on my boys.
We will not be doing the read alouds suggested in the history course, but will instead continue to read aloud biographies of Christian Missionaries and other stories, most likely continuing with the Christian Heroes Then & Now Series as more of a “Church History” add-on, which is already planned for our morning basket each day. Don’t stress! Reading books about things and biographies about people definitely counts as history!
[Update!! After a few weeks into the course, I want to say that I am very pleased with the History course so far. I was worried at first about the emphasis on Enoch in lesson 2 and how he was taken to heaven for walking so closely with God, but at the beginning of the next lesson it becomes clear that they are simply using the Word as history until they reached the point of history where there was some written history, which is really great!]My Preschooler
My preschooler is encouraged to play with toys quietly while we are reading our history lesson each day. I also have coloring pages on-hand to give him if it suits his fancy! Otherwise, he’s free to come and go and play as he wishes! Most days he plays independently in his room with his little wooden train track!
French
One thing that came to my mind when I was praying about our upcoming school year was the thought that Foreign Languages typically begin being taught in middle school, which my oldest could now be considered. After prayerfully considering this, I do believe we are to begin learning French as a family. After all, it can’t hurt to be able to talk to more people about Jesus, right?
As of now, the plan is to use Rosetta Stone‘s app and each morning, as part of our morning basket, we will watch a lesson together. I will take a few moments after each lesson to create some flash cards of the words we learned for us to review. This is nothing intensive, just a light introduction for us to do for fun as a family.
Since Rosetta Stone is an immersion experience, my preschooler loves to sit with us and try to say the funny words with us. He’s very intuitive with answering the questions, too! Sometimes I think he is faster than me! Who knows- maybe he is?!
Music
My 6th grader will continue to study music on his piano. We are hoping to get him started back up in private lessons soon! As for my 4th grader, who enjoys learning to play guitar, we are going to start him on the Simply Guitar app. They also have one for piano, but my older son needs that 1:1 instruction time for extra accountability purposes.
If you would like your child to begin learning piano for free online, I can recommend Hoffman Academy, too. We used them before we have ever tried anything else and enjoyed it. We just all needed the extra accountability that lessons with a live teacher offered (especially me!).
As for my preschooler, I think the morning singing time together as a family is good enough practice for music! I don’t know… maybe we could have some dance worship parties?! Do you need a revolution, ooh ooh!
Handwriting
Cursive Writing for my 4th & 6th Grader
For cursive handwriting, I compiled a list using free online resources for my children to use a few years ago which we decided to actually DO this year. (Hey, life got crazy that year!).
Most of my free resources came from the following websites:
- Handwriting for Kids
- Handwriting Worksheets
- Kid Zone (Tracer Pages)
- Kid Zone – Learning Cursive Worksheets
- Handwriting Paper from Dad’s Worksheets
After my children do all of the worksheets to review print and learn all of the cursive letters, I used the Tracer generator worksheets from Kid Zone and Handwriting Worksheets to create custom worksheets for my children to practice writing scripture in cursive.
When I created the course, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to have them practice their cursive writing by practicing writing a scripture each week. Each week, I would have them practice writing the same scripture, and I could even use it as a tool to assist them with memorizing the Word, too!
Here is a link to JUST the Scripture Verse tracing pages we are using this year, in case you’re interested! All of the Tracer Pages in the Scripture Verse pages below were created using the Kid Zone and Handwriting Worksheets generator linked right above this. Go and check them out for yourself!
Preschool & Pre-Writing
Oh! Our preschooler will be practicing learning writing, too, using the Doodles & Prewriting for Littles Part 2 book. For more tips on teaching prewriting, check out one of my most popular posts, Prewriting & Fine Motor Development!
Conclusion
There ya have it – Our 2022-2023 final curriculum choices! Ta-da!
- Our DIY Morning Basket for Growing Spiritually as a Family
- Generations Discipleship Curriculum for Bible Study & Science
- The Good & The Beautiful for Language Arts/Geography/Art and History
- Generations Book Suggestions for Literature Reading
- Rosetta Stone App for French
- Private Lessons and/or Simply Guitar App for Music
- Our Own Compilation of Cursive Writing Sheets
What has God placed on your heart for your homeschool this year? What is most important to you when choosing curriculum? I’d love to hear about it in the comments waayyy below!