I get questions daily about what we do and love for homeschool. Sharing our experiences is absolutely one of my favorite things to do. If you've spent any amount of time with me, you know I'm obsessed with homeschool life, so it's such a joy for me to share snippets of that with other families interested in doing life this way!
Hands down, the most overwhelming challenge for new homeschoolers is figuring out what curriculum to use. I get asked OFTEN about the resources we use in our home, so I decided to compile this year's resources here!
Disclaimer: our homeschool needs and structure are ever-changing. I adapt DAILY to our schedule, the kids' interests, and what I think is a priority for our home and their education. Being able to tailor their educational experience to their exact needs is magical (I could write a whole post about that). So don't be afraid to ditch what's not working, follow your kids' lead, and do what you know is best for them!
How do I know what to teach?
The short version: I prioritize reading, math, and cc memory work. Everything else is based on what's interesting & meaningful to our family. My philosophy of education is that it doesn't entirely matter WHAT they learn, but that they know HOW to learn, and that they ENJOY doing so. We simply follow our interests and explore together! The goal is to inspire life-long learners!
This list is a brain-dump of resources we've dabbled in this year. Some we've used consistently and some for only short spurts (and I'm sure some are missing entirely). We definitely don't use all of these every day (or even every week!). I'll have to share separately on how I narrow down and plan each week!
For reference: Beckett is 9 (3rd grade) and Charlie is 7 (1st grade). Both kids generally work above grade level in their subjects.
R E S O U R C E S
Classical Conversations
Classical Conversations (CC) serves as the spine of our homeschool journey. This is the program that will provide the bulk of their middle and high school education. My kids use their memory work app daily. We attend community days (co-op) once a week, and field trip together about once per month.
St. Louis Homeschool Network
SLHN is an additional co-op we participate in. We don't attend their regular (twice monthly) in-person classes because I didn't want another consistent obligation, but we sign up for a lot of their online classes, field trips, and one-day workshops. We appreciate the diversity and class variety this group offers!
Math
We have used a variety of resources for math, and have worked hard to find a program that Beckett is passionate about. I cannot express enough how grateful we are for the option to ditch a curriculum or program that does not fit his learning style and preferences. After several tries, we've found a combination he loves!
- Beast Academy: Beast serves as our primary math curriculum for both kids. It is targeted at math-minded kiddos who excel in the subject. It is ideal for confident readers, but can work for struggling or non-readers if the parent is willing and able to always work with them. The text book is graphic novel style, the videos are fantastic, and the practice set-up is phenomenal. We HIGHLY recommend this program. We use Beast 4-5 days per week.
- Math Seeds: Because we have a subscription to Reading Eggs, we try to make use of their Math Seeds program. This was Charlie's primary math program last year. She still uses this when she needs a break from Beast. Both kids use the Mental Minute feature a couple times per week for regular practice with math facts.
- Math Workbooks: Because the bulk of their schoolwork is done on screens, I try to incorporate breaks for their eyes and brains, and give them a chance to work those motor skills. I like these workbooks from Usborne for basic math practice because they are colorful and fun, but thorough! We use these 2-3 days per week.
- Prodigy: Prodigy is a fun, video-game like math website. My kid LOVE this. We generally only use it for extra, fun practice and is rarely assigned during the week, but it is a great little review game if your kids are wanting some screen time and you'd prefer it be educational!
- Math Board Games: We have a variety of math board games, mostly from Simply Fun, that we incorporate when we can! Beckett's current favorite is Sumology and Charlie likes Hook' Em.
- Classical Conversations has a math strand with memory work they practice every day. We are so grateful for this memory work, as it has given the kids a phenomenal base for math skills! Even if you don't join CC, find yourself some skip counting songs!
Reading
We tried using The Good and The Beautiful with both kids. I love their curricula! However, we really struggle with consistency when Mom has to facilitate every part of the day, so curriculum options that can be done relatively independently are so much more successful in this house! Don't be fooled... "independent" is still a lot of hands-on for mom, but it creates a lot more freedom to multitask (between two kids, housework, my own work, etc) than if I were also serving as primary instructor.
- Reading Eggs: both kids use Reading Eggs as their primary curriculum. I don't think it's as thorough as others out there, but it covers all of the basics (spelling, grammar, dictionary, comprehension, etc). Because my kids are voracious and confident readers, and because they'll get intense grammar & writing training through CC, I feel like this is enough practice for them right now. We use this 4-5 days per week.
- Books! This really should be at the top of the list. We. love. books. And we encourage lots and lots of reading. I rarely assign specific books to my kids, but sometimes I guide them. I keep a wall of books in our loft that are chosen to support topics we're studying, we have a full library, and both kids keep a plethora of books in their rooms. We read aloud as a family, and love audiobooks as well. Raising readers is a GAME CHANGER. If you do nothing else as a homeschool parent, figure out how to inspire a love of books in your home, and they'll be off to a strong start!
Geography
- Classical Conversations has weekly memory work for geography. Eventually, they'll be able to draw the entire world to scale and label all of the countries, major landforms, bodies of water, etc.
- Seterra: this is an app we've found relatively recently and is a total game changer. It's free, very thorough, and the kids love it! I assign them one continent or region at a time and they practice for about 5-7 minutes per day.
- SLHN: Beckett is taking an online 50 States class through SLHN this year!
History
- Classical Conversations has two strands of history memory work. They memorize one history sentence per week about an important fact, event, person, etc. (There are three cycles of memory work, then they repeat). They also memorize a 161-point timeline of history + all of the presidents in chronological order. (This part repeats every year). As they get older (next year for Beckett), they'll dig deeper into the history with history-based writing assignments, then speeches, etc.
- The Good and the Beautiful: I LOVE the way TGATB history is set up. If we had more time and space in our days, we would be using this curriculum! We have dabbled in it, but struggle with consistency, so have set it aside it for now. However, if you're looking for a beautiful open-and-go curriculum, start here!
- Picture Books: Books.. books... more books! We love learning history through picture books. Each year, I do a massive haul from Thriftbooks to help create a wall of beautiful and diverse history books that align with their memory work or whatever we're interested in. I recommend checking out Read-Aloud Revival, The Heritage Mom, and Beautiful Feet Books for ideas of quality books to support your studies.
- Audiobooks: Audiobooks are such a fantastic way to get in rich literature on the go. Our family has gone through phases of being really intentional with audiobooks, and forgetting about them altogether. They're great for in the car, while you're doing art/puzzles/lego/chores, or listening to at bedtime!
- Story of the World: this is another one we only turn on occasionally, but LOVE when we use it! Our family ONLY uses the audiobook version, and my kids love it! I've heard good reviews from other family who use the hard copy and do the activities, but I like the simplicity of just hearing the audio, jam-packed with great history to devour.
- Outschool: Outschool is a fantastic resource with a plethora of fantastic classes. My kids have taken so many. Currently, Beckett is taking a history book club, using the Who Was books. If you're checking it out for the first time, use this link for $20 off your first class!
- Videos, shows, podcasts, and documentaries galore: we have a variety of resources we love for videos & podcasts. We use Brainpop, Curiosity Stream, TedEd, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Amazon, etc for videos. We use Apple's Podcast apps for podcasts, but specifically love Real Cool History. There are SO MANY incredible resources out there, you'll have so much fun searching around & seeing what you can find!
For science, I used to attempt to study whatever aligned with what we were doing in CC. This year, I decided to let Beckett choose the area(s) of study based on his current interests, and it's been the best decision I've ever made! He chose Chemistry and Coding, with a splash of Engineering.
- Classical Conversations has weekly science memory work. It will get more in depth as they get older. They also do a science experiment every week on Community Day.
- The Good and the Beautiful: again, we love TGATB. I particularly love this curriculum because it reinforces that God and Science are not mutually exclusive (in addition to being beautiful and thorough!). This year, we're working through Chemistry. We are working SLOWLY through this curriculum, and doing a lot of fun supplemental chem activities in between. The goal is to do one lesson per week, but it's turned out to be closer to once every other week, if that.
- Supplemental Goodies: Whenever I do a science unit, I compile a list of resources to enhance that unit. This is the example for Chemistry! Keep in mind that many of these books and tools have been gathered and gifted over years and not purchased all at once! (In the book list, Disappearing Spoon is our current audiobook!).
- Outschool: Beckett has taken multiple science classes through Outschool. Currently he is taking both a Minecraft Coding and a Chemistry in Minecraft class.
- Lego Engineering Clubs: for the first year, the kids participated in First Lego League. It was a great experience! Beckett has also just joined a Bricks 4 Kidz after school club at one of our local schools!
- Grab Bag Checklists: This year, I decided to try something new with our sciences. Because we have collected so many neat resources over the years, and because it's difficult (and too calculated) to try to intentionally schedule them each into our days, I created these grab bag checklists. They have each of the cool resources we have on hand and that are appropriate ways for Beckett to learn and explore his subjects. When I'm planning out our week, I plug "Chemistry Grab Bag" or "Coding Grab Bag" into his days wherever they fit. Then when those times come around, he can choose whichever activity he's interested in. This gives him the freedom of choice, and relieves me of the decision-making!
.jpg)
Latin
I have gone back and forth on whether or not to do supplemental Latin work at home with my kids. They LOVE doing it, and I'm very excited for them to learn Latin. But it's one more thing to fit into a schedule (and I am committed to not over-scheduling!). Because I know the kids will get a thorough Latin education in their later years in CC, we have been extremely lax with our Latin studies this year, but we hop back in whenever we have time and energy!
- Classical Conversations has weekly Latin memory work. The kids do this daily. When they get to middle school, it'll get significantly more in depth.
- Song School Latin is adorable and my kids loooove it.
- DuoLingo is free and Beckett really enjoys it. Plus it's completely independent!
- SLHN offered an online Latin class that Beckett took this past fall!
Grammar & Writing
- Classical Conversations has weekly memory work for English/Grammar. They do this daily.
- Reading Eggs covers some grammar.
- Fix It Grammar: Because Beckett will use IEW next year in Essentials (CC), I decided to give him a jumpstart on his grammar skills using Fix It. We have been SO HAPPY with this curriculum. It's relatively quick and easy each day, but thorough! He does this 4 days per week, unless we are traveling.
- Writing Workbook: Charlie is still working on handwriting skills, so I chose this adorable writing workbook just because it's cute and I knew she'd love it. We call it "unicorn writing" and she does it 4-5 days per week, unless we're traveling.
- Typing.com: because Beckett has always had an aversion to hand writing (and most fine motor skills), we've tried to be intentional about introducing him to typing. He uses typing.com for practice. The goal has been to do it about 3 times per week, but I've recently cut it from his schedule and decided to make it a part of his daily morning routine this coming summer.
- Night Zookeeper: at the beginning of the year, we were really consistent with this, but have taken a step back. The kids really enjoyed it, but I decided narrative writing wasn't a priority right now (it's in their long term plan) so it hasn't been something we've chosen to continue with on a regular basis. Charlie writes stories for fun all the time, which I much prefer over facilitated writing anyway!
I've tossed back and forth with what I want to do for Bible with my kids. So far, I've decided not to do a structured curriculum. I want them to know the Bible thoroughly, but it's important to me that it's not presented as an item on a to do list, or as part of a list of assignments. Here's what we're currently using in our home.
- Genesis Song: For CC this year, we are memorizing the first chapter of Genesis. This is the song we are using.
- Spiral Bible: Charlie has this, and it's so beautiful. It has been a great way to review stories and let her dabble in note taking in her Bible. She does it when she feels like it, not as part of an assignment.
- I Am Bible Story Book and I AM Devotional Book: These are so neat. These are the books that Mom is attempting to work through with the kiddos. There are 40 Bible stories in the Bible story book, and then several devotions in the second book to go along with each story/name. I love the formatting. Admittedly, I have struggled with consistency on this, but the goal is to do a story OR devotion each morning.
- Action Bible: This has been the best investment for us. Beckett loves graphic novels, and loves the Bible. This combo is genius. He reads this all. the. time. I've never had to assign it, it's just come naturally. He's read all the way through (over 800 pages) once already and is almost half way through a second time. I love this thing so dang much!
- Nighttime Devotionals: Brian is really fantastic at being consistent with the kids' nighttime devotionals. They each have their own he does with them individually. Charlie is working through this for the second time through. Beckett is working through this for the second time through.
- Beckett plays sports through the local Catholic league. He's made buddies with the third grade boys at the local Catholic school and has played soccer and basketball with them so far this year. He starts baseball with the same boys this month! (As a homeschool family, you also often have the option of playing sports with - and receiving therapy/services from - the public school you are zoned for.)
- Charlie has played with the same (county/rec) soccer team for 4 years now. They will be moving to a club together in the fall. This year, they also played basketball together though a local church (similar to Upward).
- Charlie does gymnastics and Beckett does Ninja Warrior at the same gymnastics gym.
- Beckett takes an online Chess class that was set up through SLHN.
- Charlie takes an art class on Outschool. (This is extra fun because her cousins in Dallas are in the same class!)
- Beckett takes piano with an awesome teacher who comes to our house every week (we got so lucky with her!).
