Simply Learning Together

We recently found Berean Builders science for our homeschool, and we’ve been enjoying it so much more by adding picture books to supplement the content. I’m so excited to share with you how we do this as well as a list of books!

Berean Builders is plenty on its own, but I tend to get bored by textbooks. Adding in picture books makes a subject so much more exciting and engaging – this goes for my children but also for me teaching it! As you read this I’ll fill you in on what Berean Builders is, how we schedule it, and of course I’ll share a full picture book list for the current unit we are working on!

This post contains affiliate links. If you follow one of my links I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!

About Berean Builders

Berean Builders is a scripture based, homeschool science curriculum that is presented through a timeline of history starting with creation in the first textbook. You can read more about their philosophy and explore their other texts on this website.

Every lesson comes with a hands-on activity to help discover the information that is taught in the lesson. There are no worksheets with the text, but instead you are encouraged to keep a science notebook of your discoveries. At the end of every lesson there are questions for discussion for a variety of ages. So, this curriculum is great for the whole family.

The introduction of the text provides a couple of options for completing the curriculum in a school year. They suggest completing a lesson every other day OR two days a week. However, they encourage planning in a way that best suits your family even if it’s less than what is suggested. (We only do it once a week – more on this later)

Our Experience and First Impressions

The first lessons we did in this book were so exciting! The activities included were things that I could do with materials around my house and we were all amazed at the results. For some reason I was doing the lessons daily. Maybe I felt the need to catch up after being so relaxed about science that year, but I can tell you after a couple weeks of that I knew slowing down would be the the better option.

The activities included are really quite simple, but having to put them together every day (or even every other day) became a little exhausting. I found myself wanting to skip science altogether. So this year I knew I needed to pull back a bit and not worry about finishing the text. Instead we would take our time and set a goal for completing science once a week.

Once we aimed for one lesson a week, the curriculum felt like a much better fit, but I was still feeling like I was missing something.

Adding Picture Books

We recently started a history curriculum that was picture book focused, and it has been the best. It makes our lessons whole-family friendly and so much more fun and engaging. I really wanted that feeling for science! This is when I started to think that adding in picture books for science may be helpful to our family.

The lessons in Berean Builders are not that long, but the information is packed in there. I don’t think this is a bad thing, but I think that my children (ages 3-10) would benefit so much better from that same information presented in a picture book. There’s just something about a picture book that makes a topic so much more interesting and easy to remember.

Once I added picture books in, our progress through the text slowed down even more, but I knew it was the better fit for us. There’s something about science that can get overwhelming at times. Experiments and messes make it hard to complete, especially if you have little ones. Approaching science with a slow mindset made me feel like the subject was so much more do-able, and I quit skipping it all the time.

Notebooking

We try to do some notebooking when we read through the textbook lessons. I keep this very simple! I ask my children to draw what they are observing from the activity. Then, we use the questions at the end of the lessons to help us narrate what we just read. My older ones write on their own. One of my younger ones tells me and I write her response.

I have a video about how we did this with little half sheets of paper at the end of last year. This was really great because I loved the small paper. This year my oldest daughter really wanted a notebook. So we are doing the same concept, just putting it on notebook paper.

Scheduling

I am always adjusting our schedule, so it’s totally possible that in six months I’ve made little tweaks to what I’m about to share with you. However, I want to explain the pattern that is working for us now for science.

Science is a part of our afternoon loop. We aim to do it once a week. I do not try to read the textbook and a picture book in one sitting. My kiddos would never last that long. So, the better option is to alternate. One week we do the textbook and the activity. The next week we read a picture book about the lesson. I love this because then we don’t do an activity/experiment every single week. Don’t get me wrong – they’re super fun and meaningful, but as a mom of four young kids, it can get tricky to throw that together all the time.

I’ll be completely honest – the more and more I work on my picture book lists, the more I want to stick with just that! So I can see myself slowly starting to do the activity in the text, but then read the picture book instead of the textbook. Many of the picture books present a lot of the same content, just in a friendlier way. We all enjoy reading them so much more, so I just feel like that’s probably what I’ll end up doing for the majority of the lessons. The book will become my guide instead of my main source if that makes sense.

Picture Book List

I’m so excited to share this picture book list with you. I heard from so many of you that it would be helpful, and I’m excited to finally get it to you. The one I’m sharing with you is the current unit we are working through. The first unit we completed the textbook only. It wasn’t until halfway through unit 2 that I came up with the picture book idea.

So, the following list is for Unit 3 of Berean Builders: Science in the Beginning. I’d be willing to share more lists like this if I knew there was an interest. So, if you do find this list helpful to you, can you let me know? You can comment on this blog – or, even better, shoot me a message on social media. Follow me @simply.learning.together on Instagram and let me know how you like the picture books.

Most of these books can hopefully be found at your library. Many are also on YouTube. You can also find links to all of the picture books for this science unit in my Amazon storefront. Use the link below to download the list.

UPDATE: More Picture Book Lists

I have exciting news! My family and I are now learning science through picture books! I do not have any more lists that correspond with Berean Builders, but if you love adding picture books to your science studies, you have to check out this new curriculum I’ve developed for my family. It is literature-based, simple, and most importantly fun and engaging! Help your kids build a foundation of science knowledge with these outstanding books!

MORE INFO HERE

Looking for more literature-based curriculum?

For the last few years, my children and I have created a novel-based language arts program that is family-style and enriched with great literature each week. I’m so excited to share a NEW guide with you on how we do this in our home. If you’re tired of an all-in-one language arts workbook or if you’re itching for a great novel to read aloud to your kids, you’ve got to try this method! Below are two of the newest guides available now:

James and the Giant Peach

The Secret Garden

You can watch multiple videos about this method of Language Arts on my YouTube Channel HERE

One of my kiddos will be a third grader this year, and in this post I plan to share our curriculum picks for the upcoming year. This will be my second time having a third grader and the funny thing is the line up looks completely different! It’s just proof that every child is unique. What a blessing to be able to adjust their education based on their needs!

As a reminder, I pick this curriculum because I feel like it’s the best fit for my individual child. What works for us might not work for you OR it might work great for you. That is always up to you to decide. As you read through this, I hope you are inspired with ideas as you plan for your own homeschool year. Please do not read this as expert advice.

This post contains affiliate links. If you follow one of my links I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Family Subjects

As a mom of four, I group a lot of our subjects together. This has been such a big blessing for us and it makes our days so much more simple. I have a separate post about the subjects we are covering as a family this year, and you can check that one out here. 

Our family subjects include Bible, history, science, fine arts, and some language arts.

Math

We will be completing Math with Confidence level 3 this year. This program has been such a good fit for my child and for me teaching this specific child. We have completed level 1 and level 2 so I have felt the benefits of using it.

The teacher guide is scripted and walks me through every step of the lesson. The actual lessons are full of hands-on activities and games to help practice the skills. The student workbook is colorful and easy to follow.

From what I’ve seen (and heard) the level 3 has a lot more work/practice problems than the previous levels. So that will be something I will have to play by ear. I may set it up similar to how I teach math with my oldest: She completes the review on her own in the morning then together we do the lesson and practice later in the day.

Math with Confidence is just that – confidence! It has increased my child’s confidence, but it also gives ME confidence as the teacher. Math doesn’t come easy for every child and sometimes as the parent it can cause a little anxiety about whether or not you’re doing the right program. This math curriculum really helped me overcome that fear and now after two years of using it, I trust the process and know the lessons will be great!

Language Arts

This will be in a lot of pieces. We don’t use an all-in-one curriculum in my house, so our language arts is a combination of a few things. I talk a lot about this with my oldest child’s work and have many videos about it on my YouTube channel if you are interested in learning more.

Eventually, I will follow that same routine with my 3rd grader, but we are still trying to work on improving reading skills. So I will share how we plan to do that below and any other pieces of language arts that we complete.

Some of her language arts will be a part of our family studies (novel read alouds and poetry). So be sure to check out that post or watch this video to see more about that.

Reading

This year we are using a new program called ABeCeDarian (also under the name Sharpen Reading). We spent most of second grade reviewing with a variety of resources, and it wasn’t until the end of the year that I found ABeCeDarian and made the switch.

We started in Level B1 and although I had made plans in my head to continue it in the summer to start a new level for third – it didn’t happen that way. The need for rest was greater, and so I shelved it for a bit.

When we start the year, we will review the units we have completed and then just continue where we left off. I have loved this program for her. It has boosted her confidence and increased her desire to read. I have a blog post about this program as well as a complete look through on YouTube if you are interested in seeing what it’s all about.

Handwriting

Handwriting is slow-going right now. We do a very little bit each day mostly to encourage focus and best effort. I really would like for her to master cursive because I have read that it actually helps with reluctant writers if you use the “right” type of program.

This type of cursive program is one where all of the lower case letters start on the bottom line. This strategy can help struggling writers. I read about it when we used Logic of English a couple years ago and I’ve read more about the benefits of cursive since then.

I found our handwriting book, Handwriting Program for Cursive, at a local homeschool store and loved it because it was very basic. It has a giant letter to refer to and possibly trace with your finger. Then it had some practice lines. There are no distracting images or busy work.

This upcoming year we will continue to slowly work through this workbook to try and master cursive writing.

Grammar

I have waited to start grammar with this child. We have been working really hard on reading and that has been our focus. Last year I introduced a grammar book I found to see how it would work for her, and I loved it. So, I do intend to add it in at some point this year.

The book is called Easy Grammar. It reminds me a little bit of Fix it Grammar in that you are practicing multiple skills each day, a little bit at a time. I completely ignored the grade levels and started with the first one, and I’m really happy with that decision. When we did use it, she was confident and able to work through it without any problems, but at the same time she was getting the grammar review that I felt was necessary.

Eventually, I hope to have her tag along with us for our DIY language arts units and this will be her grammar component, but my priority right now is for her to work through her reading books. She is still reading so many fantastic novels with us, but the passage study will wait until I feel like she’s ready.

I will make a note that we only have the Teacher book. The website specifically states that if you are only using it for one child you do NOT need a student workbook. The child can simply write in the teacher book, and we’ve done just that. The answers are not visible on the work pages.

Recap

I feel really good about this year. I’ve worked really hard to find the best curricula to fit the needs of this child, and I am so thankful for the different programs we have come across over the years. Many of these workbooks were new to me, so I hope sharing them here might be helpful for one of you!

Family Subjects: Bible, History, Science, and more…

Math: Math with Confidence Level 3

Language Arts: Read Alouds and Poetry through Family Subjects

Reading: ABeCeDarian Level B1 (also under the name Sharpen Reading)

Handwriting: Handwriting Program for Cursive (a PAF Reading program)

Grammar: Easy Grammar Grade 1

I’m so excited to share our 5th grade curriculum picks for 2024-2025. First, can I just say that I can’t believe I have a fifth grader! I used to teach fifth grade, so this milestone is hitting me a little bit harder. This is our sixth year homeschooling, and I feel so blessed to be able to choose the curriculum for each of my kiddos.

As a reminder, I pick this curriculum because I feel like it’s the best fit for my individual child. What works for us might not work for you OR it might work great for you. That is always up to you to decide. As you read through this, I hope you are inspired with ideas as you plan for your own homeschool year. Please do not read this as expert advice.

This post contains affiliate links. If you follow one of my links I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Family Subjects

As a mom of four, I group a lot of our subjects together. This has been such a big blessing for us and it makes our days so much more simple. I have a separate post about the subjects we are covering as a family this year, and you can check that one out here.

Our family subjects include Bible, history, science, fine arts, and some language arts.

Math

I finally feel like I found a math I love for this particular child! It feels so good to say that. For the last couple of years I just knew we didn’t have the right fit and it was so hard to work through it. In January of this past year we tried BJU Press Math 4, and we both loved it!

I am so excited to continue with Math 5 this year from BJU, and so is my daughter. The set up is so perfect for her, and we have found a really great way to work through it.

This year I ordered the textbook kit which comes with a Teacher’s Edition, Worktext, Activities Book, Assessments, and Assessment Keys.

The way that we do math works like this: I teach my daughter the lesson using the Worktext. It’s a colored textbook with plenty of examples to practice the skill. We usually only work through the front side of the lesson, but there’s even a back side if we need it. The next day, during her independent work time first thing in the morning, she will complete a lesson in the Activity Book. This lesson includes practice from the skill we worked on PLUS review.

I love breaking up our math like this. I talk about it in more detail in this video if you have interest in seeing inside the textbooks and how we use them.

Language Arts

We do not use an all-in-one curriculum for language arts. I like to call it “DIY Language Arts” because we make up our own curriculum using novels that we are reading. We have been doing this for a year and a half and it is so freeing and enjoyable. (If you’ve ever wondered about getting rid of the workbook and going the more literature-based route – you have to look into this! Check out this blog post here)

I am looking forward to reading some fantastic novels. I have a few in mind related to our history unit we will be doing, but I usually wait to pick the books as we need them. This allows us to follow our interest instead of following a strict schedule. We actually WANT to read the books by the time we get to them.

With our novel units we cover handwriting, spelling, and vocabulary using passage study from the novels. By practicing copywork, dictation, narration, and just great conversation about books our language arts studies have become so enjoyable!

I use this FREE passage study template to plan and organize our novel units. I also have an entire playlist of videos on how we do this on my YouTube channel. You can even watch a series where I work through an entire novel so you can see one from start to finish.

Some books I have in mind this year…The Hobbit, Where the Red Fern Grows, Little Britches, Pollyanna, Wingfeather Saga, Number the Stars, and The Book Thief. It’s a little historical-fiction-heavy because that’s my favorite! It’s not my daughter’s favorite (ha!) so I will need to be thinking of a few more, but, like I said, we will choose as we need them!

I’m so excited to share that NEW NOVEL GUIDES are now available using this method. Check them out here.

Grammar

We do use a daily grammar curriculum alongside our novel studies, and we plan to use Fix it Grammar again this year. She is currently working through Level 2. I want to say she made it almost half way at the end of last year, so she will just pick up where she left off when we start our year.

I love using Fix it Grammar because the lessons are short and she can do them independently. It’s also nice because it’s not one mastered skill at a time. She really has to know and remember each part of speech she learns because it may or may not come up in any sentence that she edits.

Writing

I almost didn’t put this in here, but I think it’s important to point out. I can confidently say that we do not use a writing curriculum in our home. I use that word “confidently” because there were a couple of years where I stressed about adding in writing prompts and assignments, and it was quite miserable! I don’t feel that way anymore.

One book completely changed my outlook on writing, and even in just one full year I have seen the difference it has made to let go of a formal writing curriculum for now.

The book is called “Know and Tell” by Karen Glass. It’s a book about narration and how to start with oral narration and gradually move into written narration. It encourages the flow of ideas and thoughts and explains that a writing curriculum can sometimes prevent a writer from writing freely.

Although the book is not a “curriculum”, it is a fantastic resource that contains multiple charts showing how to progress at each grade level and when to actually add in a formal curriculum. (Eventually we will – but not for a while!) It also contains multiple examples of narrations from students of a variety of ages which allows you to actually see results from this method.

Just to give you an idea of what happened in our house – I quit forcing writing about a year and a half ago. I even stopped editing writing. After a few months of doing this, she suddenly WANTED to write. She was asking for notebooks and writing the most random selections (hello, creative writing) and she didn’t stop. She suddenly loved writing!

Her written narrations went from just a couple of choppy sentences to full pages of writing. Is it perfectly edited? Absolutely not, but we are learning editing in our Fix it Grammar and I have witnessed her writing gradually get more and more edits by her own doing, based on what she has learned in grammar.

I could write an entire blog post about this. My point is we are choosing NOT to do a writing curriculum. Instead we will be practicing written narration by writing about what we are reading. This will happen across multiple subjects (science, history, language arts). I will also continue to let her write as she pleases and will listen, without correcting, to what she puts together on her own. That is our plan for writing this year.

Foreign Language

I never intended to start a foreign language at this point, but last fall my daughter expressed an interest in learning French. I know absolutely zero French and had hoped one day to teach them Spanish, so this was a little unexpected for me. I let her know that I could provide her with materials if she committed and did the work independently. For her, I knew an interest-led study would be good.

We tried multiple things: workbooks and websites – and we stuck the longest with Duolingo. It’s great for a free program, but her and I both were feeling like she needed more of a challenge. This is why we chose Rosetta Stone for this upcoming year.

I love the idea of using an online program for this especially because I don’t speak the language. When we tried workbooks in the past I was having such a hard time with pronunciation and was spending lots of time learning it myself. It’s doable with a workbook, but it’s not a good fit in my house.

Rosetta Stone can be a little pricey, but they have great sales and from my research it seems the sales happen often. We are currently in a 3 month trial period so we will re-evaluate when that time ends.

What I love most about Rosetta Stone is the fact that it’s interactive. She uses the microphone in the computer to record her voice so she’s actually speaking what they are teaching her. The lessons are broken up into 10 minute segments, so it’s easy to add in to her independent work for the day.

Piano

As much as I would love to sign all of my kids up for piano lessons, financially it doesn’t make sense for us. Using an online program is an alternative I am thankful for! This summer we started using Voetberg Music Academy, and it’s going so well that we plan to continue it through the year.

Voetberg Music Academy is affordable and the whole family can participate! Currently, it’s just my oldest daughter using it, and she is taking the Piano course.

The course is broken up into weekly lessons. Each week contains about a 20-minute video teaching the lesson and then it’s the student’s job to practice what was learned that week. You can move at your own pace and complete the lessons as you are ready for them.

Their website is also very interactive and helpful. It almost feels like a Facebook group. You can chat with the teachers and other families that participate. The program also offers opportunities to have a virtual meeting with their teacher, perform in an online recital, and it provides multiple ways to track for success.

Typing

My oldest daughter consistently practiced typing during her fourth grade year. At the end of the year, it seemed like the best fit for her was to practice once a week, so I plan to set that same goal for the year ahead.

We use typing.com which is a free typing program online. It’s a mix of short videos, typing practice, and games. With the free program, the computer screen contains ads. So, that’s something to be aware of. I know that there is an option to pay a fee and remove the ads, but so far it hasn’t been a problem for her.

You can set time goals for typing.com so that each day they are actually typing for a certain amount of time. If I remember correctly the videos and games don’t count for the time.

Recap

This fifth grade year feels like such a milestone to me, mostly because I used to teach this grade level and I just can’t believe she’s here already! Here is a recap of what we are using this year:

Family Subjects: Check out this blog post.

Math: BJU Press Math 5

Language Arts: DIY Language Arts

Writing: “Know and Tell” by Karen Glass

Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone-French

Piano: Voeterg Music Academy

Typing: Typing.com

Our curriculum picks for 2024-2025 won’t change too much from the end of the previous year. I feel great about this! It means we have really found a groove for our family on what works. In this post I hope to share all of our family subjects for the upcoming year.

I feel like this is an obvious statement but it feels good to say the reminder. Remember that every family is unique. What works for my family may not work for yours or may work great for yours! We don’t really know! I always share this as inspiration and not as rules/advice. I hope my thoughts can help you gain ideas for what you want to do, or maybe even solidify something you DON’T want to do! This is always meant to be helpful and NOT expert choices.

If you’d like to read the reviews from the previous year, you can check out this post.

This post contains affiliate links. If you follow one of my links I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!

What is a Family Subject?

Having family subjects is one of my favorite things about homeschool. I have four children and balancing the lessons of each one can be a challenge. For example, teaching four different history lessons and four different science lessons in a day sounds exhausting to me! To simplify this, I implement family subjects that we can all do together!

This has been so helpful and time-saving to us, and these subjects have become my favorite ones to teach because we are all together. Currently my children are 10, 8, 5, and 3 so I choose our curriculum according to what best fits an elementary age. However, even in the future I can see myself still staying together on certain topics, but maybe challenging older kiddos with something independently.

Our family subjects include Bible, history, science, fine arts, and some language arts.

Bible

This year I have chosen to read through Long Story Short by Marty Machowski. I wanted to pick this one because it walks through the Bible in a way that connects all stories to Jesus. My older kids are starting to ask a lot of questions about the stories in the Bible and I felt like this would be a good way for us to work through it together.

Each day includes a bible reading and discussion topics, and the lessons takes about 10 minutes. I am hopeful that this will help us dive a little deeper into some bible stories and see God’s plan in it all.

Scripture Memory

We memorize scripture before bed. This has become such an easy way for us to do this. Recently we added in a scripture memory box that helps us review past verses as well. We plan to continue this throughout the year.

Each month I choose one verse and we practice that same verse until we know it well. Once we know it, we pull out our scripture box and begin reviewing previous verses we have learned in the past. I aim to do this 4-5 days a week.

The verses I choose will be based on what I feel my kids need at the time. I don’t really have a set plan for that. However, I did want to add it to this post because it’s something we do on a regular basis and it is part of our bible studies.

Hymn Study

Hymn study is another one we do before bed. It’s as simple as singing a hymn together 4-5 nights a week. We currently use “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan.

At the beginning of the month I introduce a hymn by reading the description that comes with the book. Then, each night we practice singing it together. I usually just focus on the first verse.

If you’d like to see how we learn scripture and hymns before bed, check out this video.

History

This year we will continue studying American history using American History Through Picture Books. This has been the best way to do history with my family. It works for all ages, and we actually remember and enjoy what we learn.

It’s so simple – you are literally just reading through picture books along the timeline of history. There are no worksheets, no crazy assignments. It has become one of my favorite parts of the day. This year we will be studying the time period after the Civil War through World War II.

Sometimes people ask me what age it is best for. My go-to answer is probably up to 6th grade, but honestly I’m 36 years old and I’ve never learned so much history in my life! It’s incredible. So in reality, this curriculum is made for ages 0-100+ 😉

Language Arts

Our language arts is a mix of family study and individual study. We do not use an all-in-one curriculum and instead study language arts using novels. This year I will be reading the novels to all of my girls so that is the family study part. Everyone gets to listen!

I do not choose the novels ahead of time, because I like to go based off our interest. I have a few in mind related to our history unit (“Little Britches”, “Pollyanna”, or “Where the Red Fern Grows”). I will also check the Read Aloud Revival book lists. She always recommends great ones!

We read every night together and it’s become such a fun habit. I love that it really doesn’t feel like school at all. It’s been such a blessing to read so many fantastic books with my kids.

For more about our language arts WITHOUT an all-in-one curriculum, Click Here.

We will also be studying a poet this year. I LOVE studying poetry with my kids and I’ve seen the benefits of it first hand. The more you read, the more they are interested, and the more they even start to write their own poems – even at a young age.

I’m keeping it super simple and choosing one poet, Emily Dickinson. I plan to read a couple living books about her life to introduce us to who she is, and then I will be reading from “Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson”.

I will probably start with one poem a week and see where that takes us. I don’t want to go through it too fast because I want them to become really familiar with the poet. However, I’ve never done poetry study like this before so this will be new to me. We will adjust as we need!

Loop Subjects

I am hoping to study the following subjects on a loop schedule. We usually do school four days a week, and each of these subjects will get one of those days. So, as you read it, it might seem like a lot, but it’s happening only once a week.

Science

I struggled with science last year but found a good groove towards the end, so I hope to continue that same method this year. We will be using Berean Builders “Science in the Beginning”. This textbook uses the days of creation to introduce multiple science activities through textbook lessons and hands-on experiences.

I plan to use this curriculum alongside a handful of picture books. I’m adding books in for a couple of reasons. First, picture books just really stick in your brain better. It makes topics so engaging and easy to remember. Second, doing an activity every single time we do a lesson became exhausting for me. So, this helps me slow it down a little bit. I will most likely alternate days – one day in the text, another in a picture book.

I hope to share the picture books we use alongside the units here on the blog, so if that sounds like it may interest you be sure to head back for those recommendations!

We also do a little notebooking with the lessons. I keep it very simple and give my kids a half sheet of paper. They draw a diagram of our activity while I read the lesson. It works out nice because their hands are busy while they listen to the text. You can see what this looks like in this video.

Nature Study

I heard such a great podcast recently from Read Aloud Revival about simple science. It made me so happy because it was 100% my style – learning through picture books. I couldn’t pass it up. So, I’ve decided to add it into our loop.

The nature study is set up by season with 12 books per season. Each book is paired with a super simple optional activity – that’s it!

The guide was completely free and the directions on how to download it were all in the podcast. I believe you can also submit your email on the link above to get it as well. I’m really looking forward to the simplicity of this! I think it will be a fun way to study nature, it will spark interest with my kids (they love this kind of stuff), and I really think it will help us add in more nature journaling.

Fine Arts

I really slacked in this department last year. I had every intention to do picture study and composer study and it just completely fell through. I don’t do them because we have to, I truly enjoy those subjects with my kids – and they do too!

So, this year, I’m trying to be better by aiming for one! I have already purchased the picture study and the artist is actually connected to our history unit so I feel like it will be so much more meaningful.

We will be using Simply Charlotte Mason’s Picture Study for Homer and my goal is to complete it (at a slow pace) during the first half of the year.

I think starting small will help me to reach my goals and find a good routine of fitting more fine arts in our homeschool because I’d really like to add in a composer to study as well. I’m just not there yet!

I’ve considered Joplin since he is an American composer during the time period we are studying in history, but I know how it gets at the beginning of the year – We want to do so many things and never get to it. Just me? It’s in the back of my mind as a “maybe” if we can finish our picture study first.

If you are interested in a super simple composer study, check out this blog post of one we did not too long ago. It was a lot of fun (which is why I want to do it again soon!)

Geography

This was a last minute addition. I was sent a brand new Indescribable Atlas (by Louis Giglio) and when I started looking through it, it was too neat to shelf! It’s jam-packed full of fun information about different countries all over the world.

My goal is one country a month. We plan to read through the information provided in this atlas and then once a week we will spend the rest of the month diving deeper into one of those topics. This might be an animal in that country, landmarks, or people.

You’ve probably guessed it – but picture books will be my main source to do this. (What would I do without my library??) I also plan to show a video here and there too if we can’t find a book to extend our learning.

One of the things I’m really looking forward to is trying new food. Each page comes with a food item from that country, and I really hope to make some of the dishes with the kids.

Recap

Family studies are my favorite part about homeschool. I love that we can do so much together, and now that we’ve been doing this for several years, we have really found a great groove for our individual family. Here’s a recap of the subjects:

Bible: Long Story Short

Scripture Memory: Scripture Memory Box

Hymn Study: Then Sings My Soul

History: American History through Picture Books (Part 3 Available December 2024)

Language Arts: DIY novel studies

Science: Berean Builders Science in the Beginning

Nature Study: Read Aloud Revival Nature Guide

Geography: Indescribable Atlas Adventures

Poetry: Poetry for Young People – Emily Dickinson