2021 Curriculum

This year is our 7th year of homeschooling, and what an incredible journey its been! The curriculum is one of my favorite things to talk about, and I love sharing what we use. I hope to help others see what all is out there because there is A LOT. I’m pretty excited about what we selected for this school year! (We started this school year a couple of months ago to show a few examples of the lessons)

MORNING TIME SUBJECTS

I love to use this time for our Habits/Character, History, Science, Bible, and Read Aloud. (I alternate science and history to every other day). The kids drink their daily smoothies and eat breakfast while I read for each subject.

Habits and Character

“Get rid of the weeds, and foster the flowers.”

-Charlotte Mason

It’s essential to my husband and me that our children are well-rounded and respectful adults with manners and wholesome values.

 

Science

This year we are studying Mammals, Ecosystem, and the Human Body part 1 with The Good and the Beautiful. They have such marvelous choices for science.

Map of the animals and their location from TGATB

A little sample of a lesson

Most science units come with extra materials such as books or kits.

* You can find free samples of everything on their website. They even offer a free Marine Biology unit!

Our vocabulary wall- I’m working on ways to make it more aesthetic.

History

We are using TGATB History 1, which covers the following:

• Ancient Egypt
• The Middle Ages and Renaissance
• The French & Indian War – Revolutionary War
• The Victorian Era. The history of flight. The cold war era.

Little Miss’ presentation of the Nile River she made on her Ipad.

French

First Start French is a beautiful curriculum for beginners. The lessons are short and straightforward, and it comes with a DVD if you need help pronouncing anything. We haven’t done too much of this, but my daughter is pleased with it.

Bible and Read alouds

With time and my sons’ patience allowing, I get one or the other of these topics. The read-aloud gets swapped out and replaced with other books after we finish with the selected.

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• Ellie’s Log
• The Cabin Faced West
• Geraldine Woolkins
• Childrens First Book Of Virtues
• Amoung the Forest People
• Amoung the Pond People
• The Railway Children

*The Good and the Beautiful also offer a free download of clean and trustworthy books along with their library of wholesome books. You will never have to worry about what your child is reading again.

The Chronological Life Application Study Bible is new for us. Still, I wanted something a little more aesthetically pleasing since my daughter and I are both very visual people, and this bible checks all of the boxes. With charts, photos, maps, and notes, it makes it very reader-friendly!

MATH

For Math, we are doing level 4 with The Good and the Beautiful. Every day, she does her daily dose as pictured, then we move on with the main lesson. I am SUPER excited about their new Simply Good and Beautiful Math. Little Miss finished level 3 way before the new release date, so I snagged an old edition until then.

*The Good and The beautiful levels are advanced so it is recommended you take their placement test.

TYPING

For typing, I decided to give The Good and the Beautiful typing a try. I love how it entwines spelling and grammar. It also includes lovely artwork, poetry, and quotes. It is a highly affordable and beautiful curriculum. After they finish a portion, they put a sticker of completion! The lessons are short and are easy for a child to do alone. All I need to do is the timing of assessments.  

HANDWRITING

Little Miss is doing level 4 handwriting of The Good and the Beautiful, and she LOVES it! Its new rainbow cursive is so creative! Your child follows the steps in rainbow order to create the letter. They also include some activity at the bottom of each page. Perfect for a creative child.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Little Miss is on level 4 of the language Arts, which includes:

• Art
• Geography
• Grammar
• Literature
• Reading
• Spelling
• Vocabulary
• Writing

It is a very open and go curriculum and emphasizes good character and values. In level 4, it starts to teach the child more independence with their work. I have a tiny little box I read a day and possibly be a little more involved, then I’ll check her work. It takes her about 15-20 minutes to complete.

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  Example of an Art lesson

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  Example of Geography

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  Challenge word climbs

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  Beautiful art throughout

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  Example of grammar

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  Level 4 books

CO-OP

Co-op classes my daughter has include geography and lifestyle about different cultures. They discuss ideas and opinions and have hands-on activities. She also has other lessons about plants, soil, and the water cycle.

EXTRA

This summer we will introduce this unit gently to Miss 9. We absolutely love the topics they go over in TGATB Maturation and Sexual Reproduction unit.

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That’s a wrap of this year’s curriculum! I’d love to know what you are using for this year. Please message me with questions!

-M

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Homeschool Journal Highlights

Monday

We kicked off the week reading The Tailor of Gloucester from
A Year of Tales curriculum. This one was a harder story for both Lynni and me to get into, so we did not read it the other days suggested in the curriculum.

For science we revisited the months of the year and talked about the weather and how the temperature can have an effect on the weather. I showed her a chart of our state and the average temperatures for each month. When we moved onto the seasons, she learned that the Earth tilts as it rotates around the sun, which is why the seasons change. When we were all done with this lesson, I taught her the four seasons in American Sign Language. She asked to draw a picture of the four seasons and wrote four different descriptions for each season in her lesson book

Lynni’s illastration of the four seasons.

We also started a geography unit this week from A Year of Tales. Geography is one of Little Miss’s favorite subject and I’m trying to add a little here and there for her until our second part of the year when it will be more frequent.

We did a fun little project called “Me on a Map” and had a discussion about where in this big universe she fits. We talked about our street name, town, state, country, continent, and planet. She also took the time to recite the order of the planets and our galaxy, which we studied two years ago.

The Year At Maple Hill Farm // A Stroll Through The Seasons // The Squirrels Busy Year // Around the Year

**This Post contains affiliate links for your convenience. See Disclosure page.

Books for Monday

Tuesday

Little Miss started this sunny day by acing another math test and got 100% on her practice on Khan Academy.

We took her to her grandparents for a few hours to work on her patch work pillow case with her grandma. This project took a few days to finish.

Another little fun thing that we did was go around the house and observe all the different kinds of fabric that we have and picked out our favorites and why they were are favorites.

Books for Tuesday

The Rag Coat // Fiona’s Lace // The Patchwork Quilt

Wednesday

While Little Man napped, Little Miss and I took some mommy/daughter time and worked on a dream catcher her Nana bought her.

Wednesday

Continuing on the weather topic, I copied the chart from the curriculum to start documenting the weather we were having.

Our fun handicraft for weather was making weather peg dolls. I think next time I will order a larger set, but these were just fine to start out with. I remember years ago when I was just focused on Waldorf Education, I made these for Lynni and made them with hats! I don’t know where those cute little guys ever wound up. This was a great project and we shared many giggles while we made these together.

Books for Wednesday (Some not photographed)

Thursday

Just reading a little twaddle during her free time. We were having a slow and slightly rough morning, I had her pick out whatever she wanted to read for twenty minutes while I got breakfast going for her and her brother.

One of the things that I mangaged to get a picture of for the day was keeping track of the rain we have been getting. She’s been documenting it in her journal and adding the differences each time we check it.

I asked her what kind of weather she was interested in learning more about. She told me blizzards, so we read the books I had on blizzards and looked on the internet for some more facts. We created a snowflake with glue and glitter, but I didn’t get around to getting a picture of it before it was destroyed by little baby hands.

We met up with friends in the evening at our library to make paper circuit valentines for STEM!

Finally, Little Miss did about fifteen minutes of French on Dulingo in the evening.

Books for Thursday

Over and Under the snow // The Story of Snow // Blizzards (not shown)

Part of our language arts for the week was creating a formal thank you letter to someone. She learned the parts of creating a letter and how to address an envelope. We will be doing more handwritten letters; she loved how personal it was and putting extra special things in the envelope. This letter was to her Nana for some of the toys she bought the kids.

Friday

I didn’t catch any school related pictures this day. After school we just enjoyed a lot of free play with out spielgaben set and read some stories.

This is the final product of her patchwork pillow she and her grandma worked on! Lynni picked out some of the fabric I had in our craft area, so I didn’t have to order any more. She was so proud of it, and I am so proud of her. She had fun doing it and asked if she could start sewing more. It looks terrific in her room.

Thank you for reading about our Homeschool Journal Week Three! What are you up to this week for your homeschool?

-M

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Homeschool Journal Highlights

Monday

Character trait of the week

Little Miss acted out the Tale of Benjamin Bunny with her Nins from Grapat. This was to practice sequencing and to encourage her to be more specific with her details when telling me a story. After sequencing she went over the story again and she pointed out all of the prepositions and how they connected the sentences together.

We also took the time to dig deeper into learning about Lavender and Tobacco. What the differences are, the health risks that using tobacco brings, what lavender is used for, etc.

The curriculum mentions to draw a diagram of a bunny if we hadn’t already done so, but since we had, Little Miss asked to draw one of a squirrel.

We also took some time to do creative activities. This is a little art garden with their Grimms Rainbow and Leonardo Sticks

We didn’t get to the knitting project that was for this weeks handicraft, but we will eventually get to it.

Books for Mondays book basket

Tuesday

Using our Farm Anatomy book we went over the diagram of an onion. She drew and labeled the parts in her Leuchtturm journal she puts all her lessons in.

We dyed muslin dishcloths instead of handkerchiefs. We used beets, turmeric, and red onion skin. If you use turmeric, make sure to rinse before you wash it with other clothes or wash separate in case of bleeding.

Wednesday

Little Miss took a good forty minutes reading in her rabbit care book, where I had her write some important notes if she were a rabbit owner. (I don’t mind the incorrect spelling for these quick notes she takes.)

For her typing lesson, she wrote her own rabbit story. She needed to have story where she added quotation marks for her Language lesson we were working on this week.

We just printed out a picture that would fit the day’s theme for her to color while I read our read aloud.

Books for Wednesday

The Velveteen Rabbit // Pet care guides for kids Rabbit // How Does My Garden Grow

Thursday

We read so many pleasant gardening books today! We are planning on making a garden this spring and it was the perfect oppertunity to come up with some sort of a garden layout plan. This is what Little Miss thought our garden should look like and what we should grow. I’m really excited to start this process, not only to grow some of our own food, but to teach the kids these skills.

Lynni bug was teaching her brother colors.

Just getting some fresh air. The rain never stops us from having a good time!

Lynni Bug volunteered to help daddy make dinner! We had pancakes, scrambled eggs, and ribs from the night before. She really enjoys daddy/daughter time.

Books for Thursday

We are the Gardeners Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard Secrets in the Garden The Curious Garden

Friday

We took today off for Valentines Day.

Independent time

Saturday

Little Miss and I had mommy/daughter time at a local greenhouse while Little Man and daddy were at home playing.

I taught Lynni what the symbols meant on the back of the plant tags so she will be able to help pick out plants for different parts of the yard.

We decided we would get some herbs while we were there.

They had so many baby chicks for sale! We spent a good ten minutes looking at their cuteness.

Thanks for joining us on here and reading what we’ve been up to!

-M

17-18 Month Toddler Update

I do not know where the time has gone with our little man turning 17-months-old this month. The past couple of months we have noticed such a change in his overall development. He is understanding what ‘no’ means, what we mean by ‘gentle hands’, how to hand things to others instead of throw, and he’s even apologizing when he doesn’t get it quite right. He is also trying to say and sign more words, which really helps to understand what he needs. When we ask him to bring us his shoes or a certain toy, he understands and goes and gets it.

Talking

He isn’t saying two words sentences, but we have noticed him trying to say words after us. It’s adorable when we are singing to him and he says a word here and there. These are all of the words RT says that are understandable.

• Dada
• Mama
• Issy (sissy)
• More, it sounds like Mah
• Milk
• Ball
• Book
• Dog

Signs

American Sign Language is used in our house every day throughout the day. It has really helped us understand his needs when he isn’t capable of telling us yet. These are words that he has mastered (well, at least he does them well enough that we understand him).

• All done
• More
• Mama
• Dog
• Again
• Music
• Thank you
• Please
• Eat/food

Signs that we are working on a lot at the moment

• Outside
• Help
• Water
• Shower

Sister playing tickle. I was just messing around with a paper towel roll when I took this.

Food

RT is PICKY when it comes to eating. Before we started getting more strict with him, he would only nurse and eat fruit packs and only occasionally our food, but my husband and I finally had a conversation about how to tackle the problem. Now, its the food we eat. We still keep puffs and his other snacky foods from time to time, but his main source of food comes from our food, nursing, and healthy smoothies that I make the kids most mornings.

• Mommy’s milk
• Yogurt
• Homemade smoothies
• Homemade guacamole
• Spaghetti
• Rice dishes
• Healthy muffins
• Crackers
• Fruit

Mr. R is very independent when it comes to feeding himself. He’s getting better each day at using his utensils the right way. We often have food flung on the floor and walls that I have been starting to teach him to clean up.

Activities and Toys

• RT LOVES being outside. He doesn’t really even play with anything out there right now; he just loves to walk around and splash in puddles. He also likes to go into the street… Luckily we don’t live on a busy street, so it’s a good place to start learning street safety.
• Dancing. This kid is into anything with a good beat.
• Water. Whether it be in the shower, bath, puddles, rain, or just washing his hands.
• The Pikler set. His grandpa built his whole set for Christmas, and it’s amazing! If you don’t have a woodworker in the family, Etsy has SO many different options and Amazon has a couple I’ve seen. He hasn’t really shown an interest in climbing, but he loves walking and crawling up the slide, rolling his cars and balls down, and sliding down.
• He also loves his Wood City wooden stacker and sorter . He really likes when I count as he stacks or when I say “Where does the blue circle go?” This toy never gets rotated on his shelves because it gets played with multiple times each day.

• When we chase him around the house. We get big giggles and oh, how we love that noise!
• Cars. This is his favorite set that he plays with throughout the day. He loves just watching the wheels. Sometimes, he will place his head on the floor as he rolls them and roll them back and forth.
• Another toy that doesn’t get rotated is the Montessori Imbucare box. Little man entertains himself for a good 15 minutes just dropping the ball it came with or parts from his Wooden City Stacker Sorter (see above).

• Throwing beanbags and balls. We still have some work on learning to catch, but he’s a great thrower. I have to redirect him a lot to throw only soft items.
• Montessori Knobbed Cylinder Sorter is another favorite toy in our house. It comes with four individual sets and each of those come with five pieces to place. Note that little ones need to be supervised because the pieces are on the small side.

His dinosaur. He got it for Christmas from his great grandparents and loves it. It’s one of the few plastic toys we rotate in for him. It makes a cute little noise and walks on its own.

Other likes

• Wearing shoes
• Wearing shoes on his hands 🙂
• Wearing socks
• Swing on our indoor swing

Dislikes

• Staying inside for too long
• When we make him come inside
• Diaper changes
• Being in the car too long

Favorite Songs

• The Ants Go Marching
• Old McDonald
• The Wheels on the Bus
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Make You Believe, by Lucy Hale
• Phineas and Ferb music
• Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, by Selena Gomez
• Let It Go (from Frozen)
• 1950’s rock music

Books

Little Man hasn’t shown too much interest in books. He likes to flip the pages himself, but he doesn’t seem to care for sitting and listening, except when he nurses. Here are some of the ones we are focusing on:

First Words

This book was his sisters and she has graciously given it to him.

Cars an Trucks and Things That Go

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever

The Little House

I am taking a Montessori/ Waldorf approach in his learning environment. His little play area is where we spend a good chunk of the day with activities I have laid out that spark his interest. These shelves get rotated out once a week.

Thanks for reading about little man’s progress!