The Homeschool Curriculum We’re Using This Year

When I opened a question box about homeschooling a few weeks ago, the #1 question was “What curriculum are you using?”

(You can see the answers to all the other questions in this post, if you’re curious!)

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 first, a couple of 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.

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.

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

Ella – 9th Grade (Hybrid Homeschool and Public School)

• Mandarin Chinese. She’s taking this at school and will take the AP test at the end of the year.
• Language Arts. We’re using the High School 1 Language Arts homeschool curriculum. This is very plug and play so it doesn’t require really any prep on my part.
• History. We’re doing Story of the World all together (I bought the whole set back when Ella was in 1st grade and we were homeschooling) and we’ll be using it this year as well. They are aimed at elementary schoolers, so I bought the high school books for Ella and she can read along the same timeline in those as well as be part of the things we’re doing that are more focused on the younger girls.
• Science. There is a local place that offers homeschool science classes so all four girls will be taking a science class there (along with some other friends that homeschool!)
• Math. Like the last 2 years, she’ll be doing math with Bart’s mom and they’ll be doing Saxon Advanced Mathematics (I did Saxon back in my homeschooling days too!).
• Geography. Bart is taking the lead on this and they’re focusing on U.S States and Capitals and then also getting really comfortable with the geography of the various locations we’re visiting on our family trips this school year too.
• Creative Writing. All four of my girls are doing this online creative writing class and I’m THRILLED about it – right now it is on sale and you can stack my affiliate code JANSSEN15 on top for an extra 15% off!
• Hand lettering. Since Ella is very solid on print and cursive, she wanted to do hand lettering and I got her this Intro to Hand-Lettering and Faux Calligraphy course to do (when she’s done, she’ll do the intermediate). You can use my code JANSSEN20 for 20% off this course plus JANSSEN10 for 10% off any of the workbooks and supplies in the shop!
• Poetry. Ella has poetry and memorization included in her language arts program but also 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.
• 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.
• Piano. Ella started picking up piano on her own this summer and asked to take formal lessons this fall, 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.

Ani – 6th 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 all together – I read aloud the unit each week and then we have additional books that this curriculum recommends to read solo and together (I mostly get them from the library) and we do 1-3 projects from the activity book each week too. (I bought each girl their own set of all the consumable maps and activity sheets so I didn’t have to copy them every week which would have been much more expensive).
• Science. She’ll be taking the science class I mentioned above.
• Language Arts. She’s doing the Book Studies from The Good and the Beautiful.
• Spelling. I bought this spelling book with lists by age/grade and each week they work on a new list.
• Math. This year, Ani will be doing math with Bart’s mom and they’ll be doing Saxon Algebra 1/2.
• Geography. As noted above, Bart will be leading this.
• Creative Writing. Ani is also doing this online creative writing class – you can stack my affiliate code JANSSEN15 on top for an extra 15% off!
• Cursive. Ani is doing this cursive workbook.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Star – 4th 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 all together – I read aloud the unit each week and then we have additional books that this curriculum recommends to read solo and together (I mostly get them from the library) and we do 1-3 projects from the activity book each week too. (I bought each girl their own set of all the consumable maps and activity sheets so I didn’t have to copy them every week which would have been much more expensive).
• Science. She’ll be taking the science class I mentioned above.
• Math. Star is doing the 5th grade level class of 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.
• Creative Writing. Star is also doing this online creative writing class – you can stack my affiliate code JANSSEN15 on top for an extra 15% off!
• Cursive. One of the things Tally and Star both really wanted to learn this year was cursive – I bought them these handwriting books to work on each day.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 all doing a weekly art class for elementary schoolers in our neighborhood.

Tally – 2nd 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 all together – I read aloud the unit each week and then we have additional books that this curriculum recommends to read solo and together (I mostly get them from the library) and we do 1-3 projects from the activity book each week too. (I bought each girl their own set of all the consumable maps and activity sheets so I didn’t have to copy them every week which would have been much more expensive).
• Science. She’ll be taking the science class I mentioned above.
• Math. Tally is doing the 2nd 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 4th 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!).
• Geography. As noted above, Bart will be leading this.
• Creative Writing. Tally is also doing this online creative writing class – you can stack my affiliate code JANSSEN15 on top for an extra 15% off!
• Cursive. One of the things Tally and Star both really wanted to learn this year was cursive – I bought them these handwriting books to work on each day.
• 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.
• 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.
• Typing. I wrote a post here about our favorite free typing programs – each day the girls do 15 minutes of practice.
• Art Class. The two younger girls are all doing a weekly art class for elementary schoolers in our neighborhood.

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