This week is our second full week of school. We have already experienced a couple hiccups like bad attitudes and Finnegan being a complete mess, but I think we are in for an exciting year. I finally feel like I have a goal and direction in mind for our little school and have found some great materials to help us along the way. I wanted to share with y’all what we have decided to use for our homeschool curriculum.

As I have previously talked about here, we are using a Charlotte mason approach to our schooling. This has been an excellent way of teaching my children. It took me most of the summer to create a curriculum I am happy with and wanted to share!

Our Homeschool Curriculum

The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts

I started using their curriculum about half way through last year. I just downloaded the pdf for their level 2 to use with Annaliese. She excelled at it and I loved the layout of the book. So this year I purchased both level 1 and 3 to use with the girls. These books have a beautiful balance of learning the key concepts of English while introducing wonderful pieces of art and poetry to my children.

Masterbooks Math

This is our first year using this curriculum. We had been using Singapore Math, and while it was a good Math for Annaliese, it was not for Madelyn. I wanted to find something Charlotte mason inspired and Masterbooks is definitely it. At the beginning of the week there is a story that follows Charlie and Charlotte and their homeschooling life. Every story ties in what the student will be learning for that week. It introduces math concepts at a slow and repetitive pace which is perfect for both girls so they do not feel overwhelmed with what is to be learned.

Exploring Nature with Children

This is our second year using this book/journal combo. It is simple and easy to follow and allows for us to get outdoors to see what nature can teach us. The book gives a step by step guide to a complete years worth of exploring while the journal includes copy work, an artwork page, and extension activity pages for each week.

Dash Into Reading

It is no secret that Madelyn has struggled with Reading. She becomes easily frustrated and discouraged. We take it slow and at her pace. I stumbled across these books on Instagram and instantly fell in love. First because these books are so beautifully made. Second because these books are right at Madelyn’s pace. She is constantly pulling these out to look through and perfect. I make sure she reads and repeats the stories till she can easily read through the entire book.

Living books

A key to Charlotte mason teaching is by reading living books with the children. We have a number of books to read this year including most of the Little House on the Prairie books. We are eager to read through and see how each book creates further researching of different subjects. Many times a subject or even a word in a book can branch out into a whole lesson plan of learning. This is where we get most of our studies for science and history. We read something that interests us, for example tornadoes, then it spirals into something so much more with reading and experiments!

There you have it! This will be our curriculum throughout the school year. If you have any questions about homeschooling or picking a curriculum, please do not hesitate to ask!