Can you believe it’s August already?! We just finished our first week of the new school year and we have so many new things to share!
Recently, my husband and I attended the Southeast Homeschool Expo, which is a big homeschool convention that annually meets in Atlanta in July. Being new homeschoolers, this was the first we’ve attended but most certainly not the last! There were exhibitors galore, curriculum as far as the eye could see, and so many great speakers and workshops.
Language Arts
Our primary focus for attending the expo was the CURRICULUM! We began homeschooling primarily using The Good and the Beautiful but as any homeschooler knows, every kid is different and you are often on the hunt for what works best for your family. We still love The Good and the Beautiful so much. Some people say that it seems like a lot of work but it feels like just the right amount to us and seems to cover all of the bases. Another thing I love is that everything is laid out for you. Being new to this, I loved the ease of that. Everything is all in one place. You have the course book and then accompanying readers, boxes, or accessories.
Most of our children are still merrily enjoying The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts curriculum. They just recently released a high school level that seems to be quite fitting for my advanced 13 year old. They have an eighth grade and an Honors book study as well. I will update on how that is going toward the middle of the year!
For my other two, very picky readers, I had to go a different route and we chose Literary Adventures for Kids. It’s funny that we went all the way to Atlanta to end up deciding on Language Arts curriculum that was created by an exhibitor there who also happens to be the leader of our local homeschool archery team! Literary Adventures for Kids is an online curriculum that actually revolves around the reading. Children choose from the selection of books and then all of that month’s lesson is based on comprehension, grammar, spelling, etc. that relates to the book. Kids can even do book clubs online through the program.
Another great option I’m thrilled about are the Not Consumed reading journals. I am constantly talking to people about how much I loved reading but hated having to do assigned reading. Do we expect people to watch movies or listen to music that they have zero interest in? I know that I’m alone in my dislike for Lord of the Flies but I never enjoyed it and I’ve never gotten over being forced to read it for my Gifted and Talented class in eighth grade. I don’t feel that it helps to breed a good love for reading. The Not Consumed reading journals are a DIY reading curriculum. They allow your child to CHOOSE the books that they fancy and then analyze their comprehension, writing skills, and literature worldview. If only all curriculum was this easy and customizable!
One of the intriguing tables we came across at the Southeast Homeschool Expo, was the creative writing curriculum that instructs your child on the entire novel writing process, to include publishing their own book. 180 Days to Save the World has several different types of story writing curriculum available, to include short stories and young adult novels. I always loved writing my own stories so I am extremely excited to see what my kids can create with this one! I’ve already heard, “Sorry, I’ve got to get back to my story!” several times.
Math
With public school pushing my oldest along for so many years, despite her learning disability, the online math program we were using was not a good fit for her. Thankfully Homelife, our umbrella, told me that I could work with her on “math foundations”. This gave me the opportunity to work with her on the foundational math skills that she should have been learning from a young age. For this, we’ve chosen Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool. It’s extremely straight forward and exactly what she needs. My younger teen is also doing her pre-algebra with Easy Peasy, since The Good and the Beautiful hasn’t created big kids math as of yet.
The Good and the Beautiful math style is spiral rather than mastery, meaning that you go from one concept to the next and then keep building on with review along the way. That is not actually my ideal method however, it seems to be working for my younger kids so far. I know that there are a lot of well-known math programs out there and hopefully, we will have the opportunity to peruse more at future conventions.
History
I mentioned in a previous post that we absolutely despised our The Good and the Beautiful history. It started off so strong with really cool projects about ancient history, but then fell flat shortly thereafter. It became everything I hated about history as a kid and my kids had to be dragged through the lessons with treats of fruit snacks that were only for history. Finally, I’d had enough and went on a long search for something that would hold their attention. I came upon two history lessons that I love dearly…
History Unboxed is a history subscription box that includes information and activities that relate to a particular time period. For instance, we received a Civil War box from their American History line. Within this box, there was a harmonica, gourd painting project, and a Morse code kit that all related to the lesson on Civil War. The kids were so engaged and interested, it was exactly what I imagined for history that would leave a lasting impression!
Biblioplan is history curriculum that a friend of ours introduced us to and it seems to include what I’m looking for as far as opportunities to make history an interactive lesson. It is taught as a family, with the family guide detailing what to do with children of each age group. My favorite part is the separate activity guide that includes a variety of food, crafts, and activities to do that are relating to the history. Each book is separated by era so we are currently studying the Early Modern History, with the hopes of receiving the updated Modern America and the World for next year,
Science
I really feel like you can’t go wrong with The Good and the Beautiful science units. They have a wide range of specific science courses, like Energy, Mammals, and Geology. There are a lot of activities and experiments within the lessons and these really helps to keep the kids engaged. Currently, our older three are doing The Good and the Beautiful Beginner’s Chemistry and loving it! Their units do not take up the entire school year so we plan to get through several this year!
A year-long nature science curriculum, Exploring Nature with Children, presents itself exactly as I imagine homeschool to be. It encourages you to get outside with the kids on nature walks, read poetry, appreciate art, do crafts and activities, and of course, an in-depth study on plants, animals, and the world around you. We plan to do this one interspersed with other science curriculums, as a way to stay in-touch with the nature and really immerse ourselves in the nature. It sure beats being on electronics or just sitting in a classroom!
Cooking (and more science!)
I could not possibly be more excited about Inquisicook! This science-driven cooking course is absolutely genius! Unit by unit, your child learns about not just the how of cooking, which in itself is a very important thing, but also the WHY. Why does it matter which flour you use? What happens to the egg protein molecules when custard forms? How does one convert collagen to gelatin? In Inquisicook 1, students learn how to fry and scramble eggs, make macarons, breads, salads, soups, stocks, the works! That alone would have caught my attention, but including the scientific model of cooking makes it so much more incredible than any other curriculum I’ve seen thus far. I can’t wait to share our year with that one!
The lessons for Inquisicook are done online and one account can actually include the entire family so the price is an absolute steal! The recommended age range is 12 and up but a mature child or one with parent help can easily get a handle on this course. Also, Inquisicook 2 will be available very soon so stay tuned for more information on that as well!
Personal Finance
In sixth grade, we had to do a project where we chose a career and drew up a budget based on the average income of that career. My career was architect and to save money? I said that I would just eat Ramen every day. I’ll never forget that project or the teacher explaining to me that I would die of a heart attack because an overabundance of cheap food will wreak havoc on your body.
In high school, at least where I live and with our umbrella school, personal finance is a mandatory course and I believe it should be. When I glimpsed the Beyond Personal Finance table at the Southeast Homeschool Expo, it caught my attention. Students choose a career and plan their lives in a realistic way. They learn about student debt, car payments, mortgages, and the cost of having children, among so many other real life situations. It truly makes them consider how they will make and spend their money as adults and I believe that it will help them to choose their situations a bit more carefully when that time comes.
Our visit to the Southeast Homeschool Expo was extremely enlightening and helpful for our new school year! We are so happy to have attended and had the opportunity to flip through so many options that we otherwise would not have seen. These are our curriculum picks for this school year and I’ll be sure to update with how things are going later on in the year!