Whew this post is way overdue, but we FINALLY have all our curriculum for this school year. We started our school year in August and have been taking it slow to start. Now October is here and we have been diving into it all!
Today I’m going to share with you all the curriculum we are using this school year for our family studies. We love to do our unit studies family style, with everyone together. It makes my life so much easier and its a lot more fun to do projects and experiments together. It is easier for me to adapt these different subjects to each grade level or ability than complete separate curriculums for everyone. This year we are doing some Bible, History, Science, and Geography together!
Before I begin, here is ALL the curriculum my kids are using this year for their core studies in their own grade levels:
4th Grade Curriculum Picks 2023-2024 **Lots of changes to my 4th graders curriculum already so there is an upadated blog post HERE.
2nd Grade Curriculum Picks 2023-2024
Kindergarten Curriculum Picks 2023-2024
Bible
We always do a simple Bible study together in the mornings before we start our day. This year we are using The Word Studies from Idlewild & Company and REALLY enjoying it so far. I’ve heard so many amazing reviews of this curriculum and love the way it is laid out. You can read a review HERE from my friend Trisha at Juicebox Homeschool.
This is a 34-week Bible study for ages 5 and up that uses “nature-based learning to seek truth, understand principles, and point your child’s soul to Christ.” Each week has 4 simple lessons that are based on scripture and relate them to nature topics. It uses examples straight from scripture, some discussion, testimony (from your life experiences,) and simple applications through play that make a big impact.
It is meant to be paired with their nature study “The Organic Studies” but can be done separately. I didn’t want to add a full nature study curriculum this year, so we are using these books to look up the topics and learn about them along with the lessons.
Five Minute Devotions for Children by Pamela Kennedy, DK Encyclopedia of Animals, Slow Down: 50 Mindful Moments in Nature by Rachel Williams, DK Life Cycles
We are also using The Good and The Beautiful Little Hearts and Hands Fields and Flowers lessons whenever the nature lessons match up with the topic in this bible study. (Example: butterflies, frogs, trees, etc.) This is the cutest science/nature curriculum for K-2nd grade!
The past few weeks we were learning about birds and how they relate to Jesus and his teachings. Here is just an example of some of the things we learned & talked about from the lessons:
- Birds build nests to prepare a place for their babies like Jesus is building and preparing a place for us in Heaven.
- Birds hatch from eggs and learn from their parents like we should learn from our parents & Jesus after we are born.
- Chickens protect their chicks from danger by guiding them under their wings. Jesus takes you under his wing to protect and guide you throughout your life.
- Songbirds sing and praise the Lord. God created songbirds to sing, add beauty, inspire us, and bring joy. We should be like songbirds by praising, singing, worshipping, and spreading joy to others.
You can get a FREE sample of the first 3 weeks of The Word Studies HERE to see if it would be a good fit for your family. Use code LINDSAYSMITH for 10% off any order!
*My older kids (4th and 2nd grade) also do their own Bible studies with me throughout the week. You can find what they are using in their curriculum blog posts. (Linked at the top.)
History
For history this year we are studying early American History with Adventures to the New World. This is the curriculum I wrote this summer, and it is so much fun! Great stories, lots of fun projects, recipes, videos, and games to bring history to life! We are doing Part 1 this fall that has 4-unit studies that cover the exploration to America: the Vikings, Christpher Columbus, Jamestown, and the Mayflower.
In each unit we complete a narration notebook with maps, illustrations, and information on the things we learned about. There are also many art/craft projects and recipes that we can add to our studies each week. We just finished the first two units, the Vikings and Christopher Columbus, and my kids loved it! History has become their favorite subject!
You can now purchase the Viking & Columbus unit separately HERE. The others will be available separately soon!
We will continue with Part 2 in the spring, that will cover the Boston Tea Party/American Revolution, Lewis & Clark/Louisianna Purchase, the Pioneer Era, and the Civil War. (Part 2 will release in January 2024)
Geography
Last year we did around the world studies and learned about different countries all over the world. We ended our year with North America and are now starting to learn all about the 50 States. This year we are using Traveling the States from The Waldock Way and will complete 1 state each week. This curriculum has a simple teacher guide with extra book suggestions, QR codes with a YouTube playlist for each state, and lots of printable games. It also has a student journal that contains the state flags to color in, coloring pages, state outline/map, and note booking pages for each state. I have recently shared a blog post all about this curriculum, our favorite books we are using with it, and how we implement it into our school week. Read it HERE.
Science
Since we are learning about the 50 states, I decided to learn about weather and natural disasters that occur in the 50 states for science!
We love the unit studies from The Waldock Way and her newest guide is a Weather Unit! It looks so amazing and we are loving it so far!
It is full of information, beautiful anatomy pages, hands-on projects, lots of games, and more! The guide has everything you need, but I’ve also been slowly collecting a few books to add to our weather studies. These are our favorites we are using:
DK Eyewitness Weather, DK Eyewitness Natural Disasters, Professor Figgy’s Weather and Climate Science Lab for Kids, DK Water Cycles
We also use the new Science for Little Hearts and Hands: Wind and Waves from The Good and the Beautiful to match up to some of the lessons for my little ones, and their weather picture book pack for some great stories.
Art
We do a lot of art projects throughout all our unit studies, but the kids were interested in learning more about watercolor this year. So we are using the Watercolor School Course from Lily and Thistle and really enjoying it so far. We have started our year learning about color theory, the color wheel, shades & mediums, and more. We try to do one art lesson each week (sometimes we do it on the weekends and have the whole family join.) The lessons have video tutorials, supply lists, and all the templates you need. There are a TON of seasonal, holiday, and nature topics that we can paint any time too. We just made these pumpkins for October this week. I have been loving joining in on these lessons as well. 😊
This course is a little expensive to purchase, but you are given lifetime access and it offers so much (150+ watercolor tutorials!) We will be able to use this for years and years to come! You can also sign up for a monthly payment plan to try it out and cancel at anytime.
Check it out and learn more HERE.
Homeschool Co-op
I also run a small homeschool co-op and this year we are using a few of my unit studies for our group. This fall we have been learning all about Space and the Solar System with Me and My Place in Space. The kids have been having a great time with it so far!
In the spring we will be learning about the human body with Me and My Amazing Body.
If you are looking for a homeschool group, or wanting to start one yourself but don’t know how to get started, check out my blog post: How to Find/Start a Homeschool Co-op.
These are all the fun studies are doing together this school year and we have really been enjoying them so far! To implement all of these in our school week: Bible in the morning after breakfast (only takes about 10 min.), History lessons Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Science on Thursday, Friday. We also do one state study on Friday’s. We meet with our co-op every other Thursday.
We try to do all our core work in the morning and have it done by lunch (Math, LA, Handwriting) and then use the afternoons to do our history, science, and geography studies.
Be sure to follow along on my Instagram as we use these studies throughout the school year and you can see a flip through of these guides in my highlights.
Leave me any questions in the comments below!
Have a great weekend!
– Lindsay
I see that you say y’all do work Monday-Friday – do you no longer take a day off every week?
We do take one day off a week from our core studies, Thursday this year, so we take a day off from everything except science. No math, LA, handwriting, etc. one day a week. If we are busy on our day off with co-op or a field trip, we can easily move our science to just Friday. 🙂
Hi, how do you do your lessons for science for little hands? Do you do one unit a week or a one unit a day on Thursday’s and Friday’s?
We are only doing lessons from Little Hearts and Hands that match up with our bible or science unit this year (weather.) I went through the table of contents and matched up lessons that we would also be doing with science or bible, and tabbed them/made a note in the curriculum. When we get to a specific section in our weather unit, I can use the lesson that matches up in the Little Hearts and Hands to go with it for my younger kids.
What age would you recommend the lily and thistle water color classes for? My kids are 7, 5 and 3. Do you think they are still too young? Thanks!
I believe it says it is for ages 5 and up. My kids all love it (ages 9, 7, and 5.) My 5 year old doesn’t pay much attention to any kind of technique, but enjoys painting alongside us. 🙂