The Homeschool Curriculum We’re Using for 2025-2026

Last year, when we decided to homeschool, the #1 question was “What curriculum are you using?!” (You can see the answers to all the other questions people asked in this post, if you’re curious, plus why we decided to homeschool!)

I’ve never been interested in doing a single curriculum for all subjects – my mom didn’t go that route when she homeschooled my siblings and me 30 years ago and I had the same desire to pick things that worked for us in each subject.

Here’s a full rundown of what we’re doing this year, but, like last year, a few notes:

1. Homeschooling rules vary widely by state. Your state may not care if you watch cartoons from sun up to sun down and call it homeschool. Your state may want detailed plans submitted for each child that align with their state designed standards. So I know that what works for us may not be an option in every location.
2. My goals for homeschool are to spark curiosity and a love of learning in my children. I’m SIGNIFICANTLY less worried about them learning specific material in specific topics. When I went to public school for the first time as a ninth grader, the most shocking thing to me was discovering that I was one of the very few students who still liked school and learning (even in my AP and Honors classes). Protecting that love of learning is one of my biggest priorities for my kids.
3. My two older kids (high school and middle school) do part-time homeschool and attend public school for some of their classes. I did the same when I was in high school and I have a whole post about how hybrid homeschool works for my kids here, if you want details!

Each girl has a wire basket to hold all their school supplies and I have these charts on the wall so they can track what they need to do each day (people always want to know if there is a reward for completing their charts – there isn’t. This isn’t an incentive program; it is just a way for them to keep track of what they need to get done and have a visual way to see what needs to happen).

Here’s what homeschool curriculum we’re using for each grade level

Ella – 10th Grade (Hybrid Homeschool and Public School)

Last year, Ella mostly did homeschool and took just a few classes at the public high school. This year is the opposite – most of her classes will be at the public school and just a bit done at home.

• AP English Language She’s taking this at the high school and will take the AP exam in the spring.
• AP World History. Another class at the high school with the AP exam at the end of the school year.
• AP Biology. And . . . another class at the high school with the AP exam at the end of the school year.
• PreCalculus. She’ll do this at school too.
• Mandarin Chinese. She took the AP exam (and got a 5!) in the spring so she’ll just keep working with a tutor each week and watching some shows and reading some books in Mandarin to keep it up.
• Piano. Ella started playing last summer and has gotten really good over the past year, so she goes to her lesson once a week and then practices during individual work time the rest of the week.
• Art class. Ella is taking a weekly art class for high schoolers at a local studio.
• Pickleball. Ella LOVES pickleball and played all summer and will take lessons and keep playing recreationally this fall.

Ani – 7th Grade (Hybrid Homeschool and Public School)

Last year, Ani homeschooled full-time but now that she’s in middle school, she’ll go there part-time as well as homeschooling. She’s taking very little at the public school so she’ll still be mostly working on school at home.

• Mandarin Chinese. Ani left the Chinese Immersion program in 4th and 5th grade to attend an accelerated program in our district, but last year she worked with a tutor all year long to try to get her Mandarin back in working order and she’ll be taking two Chinese classes (one language, one culture) at the public school. The teacher is phenomenal – Ella had him in 7th and 8th grades – so I’m excited for Ani to get to take from him too.
• History. We’re doing Story of the World (book 3) all together again this year – I read aloud one chapter twice a week and on the off days, the girls read the related books that this curriculum recommends (I mostly get them from the library)
• Science. She’ll be doing Practical Chemistry through the Well Educated Heart which meets virtually once a week.
• Language Arts. She’s doing Intro to Language Arts through the Well Educated Heart. They meet virtually once a week.
• Math. Last last year, Ani will be doing math with Bart’s mom and they’ll be doing Saxon Algebra 1.
• Geography. Like last year, Bart will be doing geography with the girls and they’ll be focused especially on US geography this year and learning about the place we’re visiting on our upcoming trips.
• Cursive. Ani is doing this cursive workbook which she started toward the end of last year but hasn’t completed yet.
• Poetry. During our morning meeting, every other week I choose a poet and we read a few picture book biographies of that poet and then read some of their poetry and they pick 1-3 poems to memorize over the next two weeks. This year, I’m doing a quarter at a time instead of trying to pick a new one every week. We’ll focus on poets that have connection to Boston/New England before our trip this fall.
• Art History. This is NOT intended to be comprehensive art history but every other week during our morning meeting, I’ll pick an artist, we’ll read a few picture book biographies about that artist and look at some of their most famous art. We’ll spend the first quarter focused on art and artists that are in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum since we’ll be visiting it this fall.
• Typing. I wrote a post here about our favorite free typing programs – each day the girls do 15 minutes of practice.
• Art Class. Ani is taking a local stained glass class for tweens and teens. She did this last year and LOVED it.
• Violin Lessons. Ani has wanted to play violin for years and she finally started at the end of last school year – we have a teacher who comes to our house which is SUPER convenient.

Star – 5th Grade (Full-time homeschool)

• Mandarin Chinese. She practices with her tutor 1:1 one morning a week and then a group class with Tally 1 morning a week. She also has homework assigned from her tutor to work on throughout the week and they watch a short Chinese show every day too.
• History. We’re doing Story of the World (book 3) all together again this year – I read aloud one chapter twice a week and on the off days, the girls read the related books that this curriculum recommends (I mostly get them from the library)
• Science. She’ll be doing a science class taught weekly by one of the moms in our neighborhood focused on upper elementary schoolers.
• Math. Star is doing math through Khan Academy which she did the last month of so of school last year when she finished the highest level of Savvy Math (for Savvy Math, use my code JANSSEN25 for $25 off each month or you can do a trial class here!).
• Geography. As noted above, Bart will be leading this.
• Weekly Writing Prompt. I have a list of prompts for the whole year and printed them all out and taped them into the front of a notebook. Each week she picks one, writes half a page (or more) and then I check it with her. (I’ll be sharing all the prompts in my free broadcast channel next week if you want to check them out!).
• Easy Grammar. I did this book when I was a kid and it is wild to be doing it with my own child now.
• Cursive. Last year, I bought these handwriting books for my girls to work on each day. Now that they’re done with those, they’re using these.
• Book List. This year, I made a book list with 20 books for Star to read during the school year – basically about 2 per month. I’ll share that list in a few weeks!
• Poetry. Same as above
• Art History. Same as above
• Typing. I wrote a post here about our favorite free typing programs – each day the girls do 15 minutes of practice.
• Piano. Star goes to her piano lesson once a week and then practices during individual work time the rest of the week.
• Art Class. The two younger girls are doing a weekly art class for homeschoolers with a bunch of friends – they can’t wait!
• Sewing lessons. A lovely woman in our neighborhood offered to teach the two little girls sewing lessons and they’ve loved it for the past year!

Tally – 3rd Grade (Full-time homeschool)

• Mandarin Chinese. She practices with her tutor 1:1 one morning a week and then a group class with her sisters 1 morning a week. She also has homework assigned from her tutor to work on throughout the week and they watch a short Chinese show every day too.
• History. We’re doing Story of the World (book 3) all together again this year – I read aloud one chapter twice a week and on the off days, the girls read the related books that this curriculum recommends (I mostly get them from the library)
• Science. She’ll be taking the science class I mentioned above.
• Math. Tally is doing the 4th grade level class of Savvy Math (use my code JANSSEN25 for $25 off each month or you can do a trial class here!).
• Reading. Tally is doing a 5th grade level class of Savvy Reading each day (use my code JANSSEN25 for $25 off each month or you can do a trial class here!).
• Book List. This year, I made a book list with 20 books for Tally to read during the school year – basically about 2 per month. I’ll share that list in a few weeks!
• Geography. As noted above, Bart will be leading this.
• Cursive. Last year, I bought these handwriting books for my girls to work on each day. Now that they’re done with those, they’re using these.
• Poetry. Same as noted above
• Art History. Same as noted above.
• Typing. I wrote a post here about our favorite free typing programs – each day the girls do 15 minutes of practice.
• Piano lessons. Tally took piano a few years ago and was just not ready for it but restarted this past year and has liked it so much more. Ani’s violin teacher also does piano and comes to our house for Tally’s piano lesson.
• Art Class. The two younger girls are all doing a weekly art class for elementary schoolers in our neighborhood.
• Sewing lessons. A lovely woman in our neighborhood offered to teach the two little girls sewing lessons and they’ve loved it for the past year!

We also do a weekly library trip and a weekly Nature Study outing with some other homeschool families in our neighborhood.

Any other questions about the homeschool curriculum we’re using? I’m happy to answer any questions!

If you liked this post about our homeschool curriculum, you might also like these other posts:

• A Q&A About Homeschooling This Year
• How I Make Time & Space to Wind Down on a Busy Day
• 40 Inexpensive Hobbies To Try