Large Family Homeschool Curriculum Picks 2017-2018

It’s time for my annual post about what curriculum we will be using in our homeschool for the upcoming year.  We are year-round homeschoolers and are actually still working through our current year, but I do like to have an official start to our ‘new’ year each year. 

This year it is a little later than usual.  I normally like to start shortly after Labor Day, but we added a new family member last summer, so the start of last year’s school year got pushed back, plus, having a new baby in the house made for many more interruptions and days off of school this past year.  But we aren’t complaining; we have loved every minute of it.

So, our current school year will end on September 15th.  Then we will have family visiting for a couple of weeks.  And then we will start back up October 2nd. 

We will be venturing into new homeschool territory this year as we embark on our maiden year of homeschooling high school!  Pretty exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time.  Along with a 9th grader, I will also have a 7th grader, 5th grader, 3rd grader, two Kindergartener/1st graders, a preschooler, and the cutest toddler ever. 

Many factors go into the decisions I make regarding curriculum for our homeschool, and after much thought, prayer, and homework, this is what we have decided to use this year.  An (*) means that this is a new curriculum for us this year.

Ninth Grade

This year I am outsourcing some of the homeschooling for our oldest.  With so many little ones keeping me busy, I want to make sure my son gets the attention and help that he will need to prepare him for college.  There’s no messing around now – it’s getting serious up in here!

My 9th grader will be taking a course called Starting Points* that is taught by a woman locally.  It will cover English, U.S. History, and Bible/Theology/Apologetics.  Here are some of the books and resources he will be using in the course –

• When Worldviews Collide
• The Deadliest Monster
• Assumptions That Affect Our Lives
• Mere Christianity
• Never Before in History
• Chronicles of Narnia
• Hinds’ Feet on High Place
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Frankenstein

So at home, we will cover the following subjects, using the following curriculum –

Math – Teaching Textbooks

Science – Experience Astronomy*

Grammar – Easy Grammar Ultimate Series*

Fine Arts – Photography* – he will be going through courses and eBooks I purchased from the last photography Ultimate Bundle

PE – plays travel hockey pretty much year-round

Foreign Language – this is still up in the air

Electives – archery, driver’s ed*

Seventh Grade

Math – Teaching Textbooks

Science – even though he could move onto Apologia’s General Science, I’m going to have him finish off the Zoology series with his younger sisters and just add to his studies as needed.  So he will be doing Apologia’s Zoology 3.

Spelling – Soaring with Spelling

Grammar – Growing with Grammar

Vocabulary – Wordly Wise 3000

Literature – will be incorporated in with history

Composition – Jump In – this will be his second year doing this, so he will mostly be focusing on the writing prompts (they provide a year’s worth of prompts)

History – America the Beautiful from Notgrass

Bible – we will most likely do Bible Road Trip* so he can do it with his younger sisters

Fine Arts – up in the air, but probably some See the Light DVDs

PE – archery and go-karting (yes, go-karting; he wants to get into racing, so that falls under PE, right?)

Foreign Language – this is still up in the air

Fifth Grade

Math – Teaching Textbooks

Science – Apologia’s Zoology 3 – Land Animals

Spelling – All About Spelling

Phonics – All About Reading – we are still trucking through this; I’m sure if I just let her, she could breeze right through the rest or not even do it.  She is a  fluent reader, but this program is so good, that I don’t want her to miss anything important!  So hopefully we will finish it up this year.

English (grammar, vocabulary, literature, writing) – Readers in Residence* and Writers in Residence* – this is our first time using this and I’m pretty excited to check it out and see how we like it. (These are no longer in print).

Handwriting – Mastering Handwriting at Any Level* – this covers print and cursive, and can be used with any age.

History – Time Travelers* unit studies from Homeschool in the Woods – this year we will do New World Explorers (we’ve already started this), Colonial Life, The American Revolution, and The Early 19th Century.

Bible – we will most likely do Bible Road Trip* so she can do it with other siblings

Fine Arts – theater production (she will be in a production of Peter Pan, Jr. in the spring), she will also do the online course – Intro to Musicals for Elementary Students*

PE – archery

Foreign Language – this is still up in the air

Third Grade

Math – Teaching Textbooks

Science – Apologia’s Zoology 3 – Land Animals

Spelling – All About Spelling

Phonics – All About Reading

English (grammar, vocabulary, literature, writing) – we are trying something new with my third grader too; this year we will try out Learning Language Arts Through Literature.*

Handwriting – Mastering Handwriting at Any Level* – this covers print and cursive, and can be used with any

History – Time Travelers* unit studies from Homeschool in the Woods – this year we will do New World Explorers, Colonial Life, The American Revolution, and The Early 19th Century.

Bible – we will most likely do Bible Road Trip* so she can do it with other siblings

Fine Arts – theater production (she will be in a production of Peter Pan, Jr. in the spring), she will also do the online course – Intro to Musicals for Elementary Students*

PE – archery

Foreign Language – this is still up in the air

Kinder/First Grade

My twins are kind of between grades.  They had a pretty major speech delay, which has delayed us in some areas of schooling, especially phonics and reading.  They have been going to a speech therapist for about 6 months now and are making wonderful progress.  I think that this year they are really going to make big strides academically. 

Most of what I have been using with them has been very piecemeal – a lot of just making things up as I go and pulling things off the shelf as needed.  The only formal thing we’ve been doing is math, and for that we are using Math-U-See.  We are working through the Primer right now, but I might just skip a lot of it and jump into Alpha when we start our new year because they know a lot of it already. 

We are also working on beginning phonics and learning the letter sounds.  We are using the Explode the Code Pre-Literacy Primers and doing fun crafts, activities, and worksheets that go along with each letter.  I’m also going to do some formal speech therapy/practice at home with Super Star Speech*.

For history, science, and Bible, I just piece things together.  We read from books and do projects and activities that go along with the reading; pretty plain and simple.

Preschool

My preschooler is 18 months younger than my twins and they are like three peas in a pod.  So he will just be tagging along with this brothers.  Nothing formal here.

Check out what we’ve used in previous years –

2016-2017

2015-2016

2014-2015

2013-2014

2012-2013