If you’ve ever had the desire to get rid of the all-in-one language arts workbooks, you’re not alone.
I felt the same a few years ago as I was on the hunt for yet another workbook that would finally be the “right” fit for our family.
At first, that all-in-one workbook structure feels helpful. But over time, it often starts to feel repetitive and disconnected, leading to this constant search for something better.
One day it hit me:
Why is it that I get so much joy reading and talking about literature with my kids, but when we open these workbooks, we dread the task of completing it?
Shouldn’t these two things be connected? Isn’t reading and talking about literature a part of what language arts is all about??
I knew there had to be another way…
A New Approach
After some trial and error, lots of research, and a few years of experience, we have made habits and routines of learning language arts through the books we love.
We are no longer flipping through pages of random tasks, but instead we are engaged in great literature, having meaningful discussion, and still practicing different language skills such as spelling, vocabulary and grammar.
This approach put the spark back into learning – for both my children and me.
A Simpler Way to Think About Language Arts
Many homeschool parents rely on all-in-one language arts programs because they don’t want to miss anything. That makes sense, because the subject is made up of multiple parts.
But what if we simplified the standards of the subject a bit to really grasp what it is?
Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like such a monster of a subject anymore. Seeing each of it’s parts can help us truly grasp the subject and how to tackle it with a different, more natural approach – no all-inclusive workbook needed!
At its core, language arts is four parts working together:
Reading
Writing
Speaking & Listening
Language (grammar, spelling, vocabulary)
When you understand these pieces, something shifts.
You’re no longer relying on a workbook to tell you what to do.
You start to see how language naturally develops through reading great books, having meaningful conversation, and writing regularly.
But Is This Enough?
This is usually the biggest question.
If you step away from a full curriculum…are you doing enough?
With a simpler approach, nothing is getting skipped. You’re still covering everything—you’re just doing it in a more connected and meaningful way.
Instead of checking boxes, your child can truly get engaged with literature and language.
Taking the Leap
Even when this approach makes sense, it can still feel hard to start.
Without a workbook you might be wondering: “What exactly is language arts? How do I know what to cover? What does this look like in my daily schedule?”
An all-in-one workbook may feel safer, but is it truly bringing your family the joy you desire while reading and learning together?
If we look at language arts from a different angle, the leap starts to feel a little bit easier.
A Simple Way to Bring It All Together
This is exactly why I created my free guide:
Language Arts Simplified
It breaks the subject down into clear, manageable pieces and shows you:
A simple breakdown of each part of language arts
An understanding of what your child truly needs to learn
Practical ways to meet those goals
Flexible options so you can build an approach that works for your family
You Don’t Need a New Curriculum
There’s no need to start over or buy something new.
You just need a clearer understanding of the subject—and a natural way to approach it.
Download the Free Guide
If you’ve been wanting a simpler, more connected way to approach language arts, you can download the guide below.
My hope is that it gives you the clarity and structure you’ve been craving—so you can move forward with confidence and finally feel at peace with your approach to language arts.
I love to teach science with picture books in our homeschool. The thing about picture books is they’re great for every age. From toddler, to teenager, to me – the adult! We can learn so much through one book.
Over the last couple of years I find myself moving further and further away from textbooks and workbooks in multiple subjects and focusing more on literature-based learning. It has been such an engaging and memorable way to learn.
There’s something about a science textbook where every time I open up to start the lesson, I dread reading it out loud. It’s like I already know it will be hard to keep their attention the whole time. This year I bought a science text for my older girls that they were taking in our co-op and thought we could just use it as a family study since it was made for elementary ages…I couldn’t do it!
The thought of reading it to my youngest ones (ages 5 and 6) was overwhelming. I’ve been thinking a lot about my youngest two and how fun these elementary years can be – so much wonder and curiosity and play through learning. I want to take advantage of these years and enjoy what we are reading. This is what led me to create my newest literature-based curriculum – Science Through Picture Books.
In this blog post I’ll share a little more about what it is and how it works. I’ll let you know my plans as I work on piecing units together over the next couple years to create it for my own family. Picture books have brought so much joy to our homeschool, and I hope it can do the same for you.
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!
An Overview of Science Through Picture Books
Science Through Picture Books was created as a family study for your children ages kindergarten through fifth grade. It will be made up of multiple units, and each unit will contain a list of twelve books.
These twelve books can be read at any pace you like. Read one per week and finish the unit in twelve weeks OR two per week and finish the unit in six weeks. Read three per week and finish in four weeks…and so on!
You have the choice to read as many as you’d like throughout your week, making the unit fit into your family schedule as you desire.
Each book is paired with an optional video. These are short videos to enrich the lesson from the stories and can provide more visuals and discussion opportunities with your children.
As you read these books, I will guide you in introducing and discussing the stories with your children. (See example in photo above) For each book, I give you notes on reading it aloud, a script for introducing it to your kids, and optional discussion questions and narration prompts.
Science note booking is also an option. I will teach and encourage you to practice narration as you read this books. The unit will list multiple ways to keep record of your science notebooks in order to differentiate your note booking for different ages and skill levels.
Finally, I provide you with a list of enrichment activities that you have the option to add to your studies. The activities range in prep and difficulty containing super simple ideas or more complex projects that take a little more time.
What is a Lesson Like in Science Through Picture Books?
Picture this: Gather at the table, snuggle up on your couch, or lay out a blanket in the grass. Read a book and have your children narrate to you. It’s that simple. If you’re not familiar with narration, I’ll guide you through all of that in this guide.
Some of you may like to go a little further, and that’s encouraged if it brings you joy! You’ll see in the section above all of the additional videos and activities that are included in this unit. The point is, you can make this as simple or as complex as you’d like.
Unit Topics – Meeting the Standards
As a homeschooling mom, I try not to focus so much on the standards, but at the same time I know that some may feel peace of mind knowing they are following a certain standard as they teach their child. So, in this section, I hope to do my best to meet both sides in the middle.
As I researched science standards while developing this curriculum, I realized that they are not the same across the country. Common Core standards exist, focusing on literacy through science in grades K-5, which is great, because you’ll get plenty of that through these books!
Some states have their own unique science standards while others have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards, released in 2013. (NGSS)
My hope is to provide a variety of science units for families to choose from to help build a foundation of knowledge in the subject. These units will focus on three out of the four disciplinary core ideas listed in the NGSS: physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences.
These categories will guide me as I choose themes for the different units. The standards will not be stated in these units, because my intention is to make this a family study, which would be an extensive list covering multiple grade levels. However, if you’re curious about what these standards are, I encourage you to do your own research on their website which provides free, downloadable lists of the standards for each grade.
One thing you may notice is the majority of the standards can be met through these books and your discussion. Reading the standards can feel very “official” or possibly overwhelming, but remember that the goal of these elementary years is to build a foundation – the NGSS will tell you the same thing! We aren’t trying to reach a mastery of topics. We are encouraging curiosity and igniting their desire to learn even more!
Look-Through the Curriculum
Want to see inside one of these units? I know sometimes that can help get a better idea of what a specific curriculum is all about. Head to my YouTube channel to learn more about this and see inside the unit guide.
These units will be published as I complete them with my own children. I have a goal to complete four this year. We may or may not get to more than that. Here’s what you can expect this year:
Each unit will follow the same pattern as I mentioned above in the overview.
Choosing Books
I work really hard to research and read tons of books for these units. I enjoy it very much as I get to know authors and illustrators while increasing my knowledge on different topics.
There are hundreds of books on these topics. However, my goal is not to provide you with tons and tons of books. I hope to give you a simplified, streamlined list in order to help you build a foundation of science knowledge with your kids.
A beautiful, informative picture book always engages my children and me. Some people might refer to these as living books. These are the books that draw your attention and make you eager to listen and learn. It never fails when I read a great picture book with my kids, we are wanting to read more! It’s like it can spark a certain curiosity to dig deeper.
That’s exactly what science should be in these elementary years. We want to spark our children’s curiosity to learn more about the world and increase their desire to explore and experiment and even question ideas. All of this will develop their knowledge of science topics as well as their critical thinking skills.
When it comes to collecting these books for your family, the library is such a great way to do that. With the list of books in hand, you can easily put books on hold as you prepare for the unit! It’s such an inexpensive way to learn science with your kids.
How to Use these Units
In my own home, I use these units as our whole science curriculum. I don’t find it necessary to add anything else. Even as I research standards, I am confident that the content and the discussions provide my children with an excellent foundation in science knowledge.
You do have other options to consider:
As stated above, use this on its own for your homeschool science curriculum. More units coming soon!
Use the book list as a supplemental resource to enhance a science textbook you plan to work through.
Let the booklist be your guide as you create your own unit study stretching across multiple subject areas.
However you decide to use it, I can promise you one thing – You’re going to love these books!
Stay in-the-know About Releases
If you’re not on my email list already, you’ll want to join now, because that’s where I will announce new releases. Each time I publish a unit, I’ll send out an announcement with a link. I know joining email lists can be frustrating at times, but it’s the best way to communicate with you all.
Emails are sent to announce product releases, sales, and to share the videos I make on YouTube. I hope you’ll connect with me there!
Novel study has been the most fun and engaging way for us to learn language arts in our homeschool, and adding in a DIY outlook has been so freeing. Two and a half years ago we actually eliminated an all-in-one language arts curriculum workbook to solely focus on novel study, and it’s been the best decision for us.
We like to call this method DIY Language Arts because we are able to take any novel of our choosing and use it to learn all the parts of language arts including spelling, vocabulary, grammar, narration, handwriting, and more.
After a couple years of adjusting and finding good rhythms for this, I am now able to share these novel studies with you. Multiple studies are available, but sometimes it’s nice to see inside one, and that’s exactly what I want this blog post to be for you.
Included in this post is a download to receive an entire week free for one of the novel guides. In the text below, I’ll walk you through how it works, so you know exactly how to incorporate it into your homeschool. I can’t wait for you to try this!
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
Look-Through a Novel Study
If you would like to see a video of this particular novel study sample for “The Sign of the Beaver”, you can check out this link where I share more details. You can also see a complete look-through of one of the first studies I published. This will give you a better idea of all of the information and resources that come with the novel study. The novel studies have been updated since then and look much nicer now, but the content is still the same.
Language Arts Overview
Included in this sample is the “Language Arts Overview” page where I break down the subject explaining exactly what it is and how this novel guide meets the criteria for the subject. A clear and simple chart will show you this evidence.
Language arts can be so overcomplicated in our minds, but by breaking it down and understanding what it is, we can get a better idea of how a novel can truly allow us to study the subject in its entirety.
What age is this novel study for?
These novel studies were created to be for the whole family. I’ve used them in my own home with one of my six year olds all the way up to my eleven year old. All of your kids will enjoy these novels, and the activities and work that are included are made to be able to adjust for different levels. If you purchase a novel study, I include the steps to walk you through this entire process in detail.
Weekly Pattern
Each week follows a pattern. Your daily tasks will look very similar (reading, discussion, narrating, copy work), but we will rotate an additional activity each day. This makes scheduling easy, and it allows you to loop different language arts skills for better focus instead of cramming everything in to an all-in-one lesson. The looping looks something like this:
Day 1: Spelling and Vocabulary
Day 2: Grammar
Day 3: Enriching Literature and Writing
Day 4: Dictation and Bonus Activity
Let’s take a look at each day. As I describe each of these activities, you will have a better idea of how to use the free sample provided in this blog post.
Spelling
On the page labeled, “Spelling and Vocabulary Samples”, I have provided a couple of pre-made spelling lists. Multiple options are provided to help differentiate the words for the level of spellers you have. This is just an example to help you get started. You are encouraged to pick whatever words best suit your children. The words/list you choose can be recorded in the chart on the daily task sheet.
On the day one task sheet you’ll notice “Spelling Activity” is listed. I’ve got you covered with options for this. Practicing the words can be as simple or as hands-on as you’d like. In this sample, I have provided you with multiple spelling activities to try with your family. Some are extremely simple. Others are a little more involved. The great thing about this is you can do what feels right for your week.
As you practice the words, make a note of the ones your kids know well and the ones they don’t quite have memorized yet. This could be a simple checkmark next to the word in your spelling chart. Then, each day after that, remind them of these words. Have your child practice the missed words throughout the week. Spend about a minute or two each day reviewing the words that are needed. The final spelling assessment will be in their dictation.
Vocabulary
Optional vocabulary words are chosen for you in the “Spelling and Vocabulary Samples” list. Once again, you have the option to choose the best words for your family. We aren’t doing matching worksheets or flash cards. Instead we will focus on meaningful discussion the whole family can participate in. When you read the weekly passage aloud to your children, this discussion will come pretty naturally. A discussion might look something like this:
Ask your child, “What do you think ____ means?” It doesn’t have to be a formal definition. Sometimes my child will describe to me with motions or sounds and then try to explain herself. Let this be casual. If she knows it well enough, move on to the next word. If not, move to step two.
Next say, “Let’s look at the sentence and see if it can give us some clues to make a guess on what ____ means.” Read the sentence again that includes the vocabulary word. Then, encourage your child to make a guess.
If the child is still not able to come up with a definition that is close to the real thing, look it up in the dictionary. This is a great way to practice dictionary skills. Sometimes you can even practice the process of looking it up on a phone or computer.
Grammar
There are many, many grammar lessons that can be taken from a passage. Throughout the guide I will provide you with one grammar focus on day two of each week. You have the option and are encouraged to practice more grammar, if you desire. In the full novel guide, I provide you with detailed information about grammar studies and how to engage in meaningful grammar lessons while practicing passage study.
In my home, we also enjoy using a grammar review workbook alongside these novel guides. We have used Fix it Grammar in the past and now we use Easy Grammar. (See this video for details) The novel passages give us more opportunity to review what we have learned in those workbooks and see it in a more meaningful way.
Enriching Literature and Writing
On day three of the week, a picture book is chosen for you to read aloud to your children. This particular book will teach a little science as we learn about the life cycle of bees.
I encourage you to check your library for this, but I will mention that it’s also read aloud on YouTube HERE. This picture book is an enriching option that provides your children with an exciting story related to the novel, and it will allow you to stretch your novel study across multiple subjects.
I also use these picture books to practice written narration with my older children. Written narration has been such a beneficial practice in our homeschool (watch this video to hear more). Once I read the story, my oldest child will write a narration about the book.
Dictation
Dictation happens on the fourth day of the week, and I have provided you an option to help your younger writers in this process. Not all of your children will be ready for dictation yet, but those that are can complete dictation in two different ways.
The first option is for your beginning writers. I have provided you with a fill-in-the blank dictation option that uses a shortened passage and contains the spelling words from one of the spelling lists.
The other option is a full dictation where your child will write down the passage as you read it out loud. Feel free to dictate just one or two sentences, especially if you’ve never practiced dictation before. If you have a strong writer, you could try dictating the entire passage.
The copy work will match the weekly passage. You have multiple options when assigning copy work in order to best meet the needs of each of your children. In this sample, I have included the shortened copy work as well as the full passage.
The goal of the copy work is to finish it by the end of the week. It may not take that long, but I challenge you to encourage your child to go slower with their best effort. I like to give short and sweet daily copy work assignments with the reminder that it has to be their best writing. In my experience, these short bits of copy work assigned over the week turn out much better than long, daily assignments.
Download the Novel Study
You can access the free sample to this novel study at the end of this post.
If you enjoy this first week and you’d like to complete the novel study as a whole, you can find the entire guide here. This guide will include much more information about the DIY method and will even teach you how to take any novel that you choose and use these same patterns! The how-to guide is GOLD! You’ll learn so much about language arts and the simplicity of a good novel study.
There are multiple novel studies available and more coming soon. To see more novel options, click here.
Picture Book Studies for Grades K-2
If you like the idea of book studies in your homeschool, check out my new picture book studies for your younger ones. These one-week units focus on one beautiful picture book and provide you with a passage for the week. This passage will allow you to practice copy work, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar.
Each week also includes an outdoor activity as well as an optional bonus activity at the end of the week. These book studies are so much fun! Use them for one week or grab a themed bundle for the month!
Have you been wondering if you could teach language arts without a workbook in your homeschool? It seems do-able and much more inviting than opening a workbook each day. Well, I’m here to tell you – you CAN! And it’s so freeing and fun! It can completely change the attitudes of this subject in your home, in the best way!
A few years ago we did just that. I was having the hardest time teaching language arts, mostly because it was boring and the workbooks really felt like a chore to get through. Add the fact that I have multiple students to teach, and it really just wasn’t great for any of us!
This is when I began to research passage study and novel-based language arts. There are multiple curricula options available to walk you through something like this, but I still was looking for even more freedom. That’s when I started practicing and using the term “DIY Language Arts”
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 DIY Language Arts?
As I mentioned in the introduction, over the past few years I have been passionate about letting go of an all-in-one language arts curriculum. They are great for pacing and consistency, but most of the time we found them to be boring and repetitive in our home. I want my children to love literature and since it is such a huge part of language arts, it’s important to me that we all find enjoyment in learning about it. Otherwise, in my experience, reading becomes more like a chore.
Using this DIY (Do-It-Yourself) method of language arts, we have been able to have so much more freedom, letting go of the workbooks and instead choosing what we learn based on passages from great novels.
Choose A Novel
First, we choose a novel we want to read and all of our studies come from passages in that novel. One passage per week is how we started. The novel works around our schedule, making it so much more enjoyable than trying to fit a novel and chapters into certain time frames. Since all of the passage studies revolve around the novel, it becomes simple to plan and inexpensive to purchase. We can almost always use the library to collect books.
Passage Study
As we read, I choose a passage from the upcoming chapters each week and that becomes our focus. What’s going on? Who’s involved? What are the emotions? Next, that passage provides us with new vocabulary to discuss as well as spelling words to practice for the week. Each day, my children write portions of the passage practicing their handwriting skills and getting accustomed to reading and writing well-written sentences.
Narration + Meaningful Discussions + Enriching Literature
As we read the novel together, we practice narration and have meaningful discussions. This has allowed us to eliminate the need for busy-work worksheets and instead encourage connection and conversation about what we are reading. Through the addition of children’s literature, we can expand our language arts across multiple subjects as we relate our story to something in history or science or the arts. My older children use these engaging stories to practice writing skills.
Dictation/Assessment
Finally, through the use of dictation, I am able to assess my children and their progress from the week. I can check spelling skills and punctuation use as I dictate the weekly passage. This pattern of passage study has been educational, flexible, and honestly just much easier and enjoyable than completing a workbook every day.
Family-Style
This method of language arts works for my whole family! Currently my school-aged kids are 6, 9, and 11. We love that we can do language arts all together. With simple adjustments to copy work and spelling lists, each of my kids can participate in this study, making planning and time management so much easier in our homeschool!
New Guides Available
After doing this for a few years and forming rhythms, I’m so excited to share what I have learned with you all. Recently I created DIY Language Arts novel guides where I walk you through a complete novel PLUS I share with you the research and strategies I use to put something like this together. My goal is to help you be able to DIY your own language arts in your home whenever you choose. It’s freeing and FUN! The newest guides are linked below:
If you are familiar with passage study or if you do something like this style in your own home, then you may enjoy the new Passage Study Charts. These charts break it down so simply providing a passage, sample spelling and vocabulary lists, chapters to read for the week, and weekly enriching children’s literature. This simple chart is perfect for someone who loves a little more freedom but wants decisions made already!
Ready to plan your own? Before I made the guides, I used a simple template (pictured above) to help me organize and plan our passage study. By making quick notes at the beginning of the week, decisions were made and the process of studying the passage became easier. Plus, it doubles as a great record for our novels and how we have used them throughout our school year. This is a FREE template! Get yours below.
I’ve done a lot of research on the different pieces of language arts and what it ACTUALLY is. I honestly think the subject gets over-complicated and as a result we end up with endless worksheets and exercises that feel more like busy work than meaningful education.
Imagine if your language arts could suddenly feel like a little book-club in your home. Book after book you can make connections, expand your learning across multiple subjects, learn from character experiences, and MORE and you study language arts as a family. This method simplifies the process, makes learning meaningful, and truly creates much better connection than a workbook.
I hope you’ll give it a try! If you do, share it with me here or on social media (@simply.learning.together). I love chatting about this so if you have questions, let me know. I also have multiple videos on YouTube sharing our experiences with this over the years:
I absolutely LOVE adding literature to our homeschool studies. Recently we completed our study of American History using nothing but picture books! It was amazing! And so much fun! Check it out here:
Two years ago I was on a mission to learn American History through picture books, and I am thrilled to say that we did it! It’s been hard work getting here in regards to research, but we have all enjoyed the process – I have learned more American History than I ever did in my own schooling, and my kids have actually enjoyed each and every history lesson we’ve learned together.
In the beginning of this project, as I researched different picture books for specific topics, I always ran into the same problem – there were so many! Which one should I read? Which one would give me the best information to teach the topic? The more and more books I found, the more I wanted to stream line the idea and make it much simpler. That is exactly how Learning American History through Picture Books came to be.
As you journey through the timeline of American History, a picture book will take you through each event, and all the books are chosen for you – one book per topic. (We’re focusing on quality over quantity here, and I’m so excited about it!) I’ve organized them all into a simple book list making it easy for you to follow along, check out books from the library, and plan for simple history lessons.
Starting as early as the Viking explorers in Unit 1, this curriculum will take you all the way through current times. To learn more about this curriculum and the different units, start HERE.
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!
The Final Unit – Part 4
It’s bittersweet to come to the end of this since it’s been a big project of mine for the last couple years. My kids and I have learned so much, and we have had a blast doing it.
This newest unit will cover the time period after World War II through current times. You will touch on topics like the Cold War, the space race, the Vietnam war, 9/11, and so much more! Specifically this unit ends about the year 2003, as the last book in the main book list covers the invasion of Iraq in that same year.
The following is a breakdown of each unit and the time period it covers:
Since the whole point of this unit is for me to research and pick what I think is the best book for each topic, it’s so hard for me to narrow down my favorites! However, if I had to pick a few, the following were the ones we enjoyed the most. I share these to give you an idea of the kind of beautiful, engaging books you’ll be reading to your kids. You will look forward to reading these books each and every lesson!
The favorite books listed above are the types of stories that walked us through history. They are unforgettable! Each picture book beats a textbook paragraph any day of the week! You can find ALL our favorite American History books in my Amazon store front HERE.
Each of these units comes with a list of videos to enrich the learning of certain stories. Not every book is connected to a video, but sometimes I felt like some background information was helpful. Or, at other times, the video might fill in a gap from one story to the other. The following is the direct link to each video listed in part 4. For more information on each of these videos, you’ll want to check out the descriptions in the curriculum.
Finally, I’d like to share a link to my Pinterest board that contains the coloring pages we used to help us record our narrations. This is an optional part of the curriculum, but it’s such a simple task that I enjoy so much. The narration process is amazing to me, and I love looking back and reading their words of how they remember each story. It’s the perfect little product of learning to hang on to.
Honestly, I have no idea (ha!) Here’s the thing…I have poured my heart into this over the last two years. I am so passionate about what it is and how much better it is than any kind of history textbook you will ever buy. With that being said, I am having such a hard time trying to decide what we will do next as a family. I don’t want to let this style of learning go!
I am in prayer about this, because I don’t want to give up reading picture books…EVER! However, I am in a busier season of life that makes it tricky to create and research. I also feel a pull to focus on science for a bit because I feel like a slacker in that subject! My point is – something is brewing…I just can’t pin it down quite yet.
You’ll probably never stop hearing about picture books from me – I use them in almost all of our subjects. So, I hope you’ll stay tuned for what’s to come…even if that’s not clear to me just yet. Although deep down, I know a textbook won’t cut it for me. 😉
(EDIT – It’s been a few months of prayer, reading, and writing…and I’m back with more literature-based curricula! See below)
NEW Science Through Picture Books
We had so much fun learning history through these amazing picture books. I knew Science had to follow suit. Read more about it 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 guides 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!
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.
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!
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:
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!
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!
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
As we come to the end of the year it’s always good to look back and reflect on the curriculum we use and how it fit with our homeschool. As a mom of four, I try to teach as many subjects as I can as a family. So, in this post, I’m going to share with you all of our family subjects plus the curriculum that worked and what didn’t.
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!
Bible
I started the year with “Who is Jesus?: Forty Pictures to Share with Your Family”. I actually really loved this one, but for some reason we quit using it after a few weeks. As I think back about why, there’s really not a clear answer besides the fact that I may have wanted to simplify/shorten our morning time for a bit.
The pictures are memorable and the devotions are meaningful, but I might have decided to put it aside for a while to wait until my littlest ones were just a bit older. With two under 5 years old, our morning time can’t get too long or I lose them! I do love this devotional, and I will definitely pull it out again in the future.
The devotion book that we stuck with for most of the year was 365 Trivia Twist Devotions. This devotion is family friendly and engaging. It doesn’t really go in depth, but it was a great fit for what we needed at the time.
The trivia devotion is a great book if you have young kids OR if you’ve never really read devotions as a family before. The trivia facts are really fun and it’s “light-hearted”. I know that might not be the greatest thing to say about a devotional, but sometimes it can be intimidating to start family devotion if you’ve never done it before!
We actually added Dad into our morning time with the trivia book. He works from home, and it was the perfect way to kick off our morning as a family. Because of the nature of the book, he was able to jump right in and lead us each morning.
As we came to the end of the year, we ran out of our trivia devotions, so I pulled out my tried and true Louis Giglio devotion books. For the last couple months of school we’ve been reading through “Indescribable”. I really do love these books for the whole family. Plus, it’s bible and science in one! That’s a win!
History
This school year I wanted to simplify our history by focusing on engaging picture books. We all know that a beautiful picture book is so much more memorable than a textbook, and I knew I wanted to give that to my kids. As a result, American History through Picture Books was created!
I was certain I could work through the timeline of American History with Picture Books, and after a lot of research, we did just that! Our history this year was one amazing picture book after another. I can’t even describe to you how simple and enjoyable it was. We learned so much! Yes, WE! It includes ME! It’s like I’m learning history all over again with my kids, but this time it’s actually sticking!
This was no worksheets, no extras – just a simple checklist of picture books that completely simplified our history lessons for the better. We worked through part 1 which covered explorers through the Treaty of Paris (1000-1783) and in the spring we completed part 2 which covered the constitution through the civil war (1787-1865).
I am currently researching for our picture books for next year, and I can’t wait to continue this style of learning for history. If you’d like to read more about this curriculum, check it out in this blog post.
Science
Why is science so hard to do? Is it just me? It’s always the subject that gets pushed aside. I struggled with science this year, but towards the end of the year I found a much better fit/groove for us, so I’m excited to share more about that.
We started the year with Apologia Science – Zoology 1. I was really excited about this because the text was written a little differently than your average textbook. It was just a much more fluid, engaging read. I also loved that there were activities throughout the lessons that seemed do-able and not too intense. All of the pictures were beautiful, and I really had high hopes for this one.
Unfortunately, it really wasn’t my favorite. I ended up using it more as a guide instead of our textbook. For example, if there was a lesson on butterflies, I would just go to the library and get books about butterflies. Sometimes we would do the activity in the book to go along with it.
I think the lessons were just too long. It was hard to read through an entire one (we even tried the audiobook!) and it was tough to skip around because I felt like the information was good! The other problem I had with it was after a while I was ready to move on to a new topic. The whole textbook focused on flying creatures, and it got to the point where I needed something new.
After Christmas I searched and searched for something that would better fit our family. This is when I found Berean Builders. I love how short the lessons are, and I have also loved the activities that come with each lesson. Many of them use supplies we have already at home.
After a few weeks of using it though, I did find myself tiring out of preparing activities every time we did a lesson, so recently I’ve slowed us down a bit and I have loved the rhythm we have created. In a week I will spend one day doing the activity and reading the lesson. Another day of the week, I read a picture book that goes along with the lesson.
This does take some extra planning on my part, but it feels so much more do-able than doing an activity every single time. Plus, we are really learning a lot from the picture books we read as well. I’m hoping to share this planning process (and our picture books that we picked!) with you guys soon, so stay tuned for that science update.
Bedtime studies sounds kind of silly I know, but I have found the wind-down time right before bed to be the perfect time to complete a few different things I want to teach my kids. So, I’m including all of this in our family studies. You can watch about how I do this in this video, but the following things are all included in our bedtime routine!
DIY Language Arts/Read Aloud
A year and a half ago I ditched our all-in-one language arts curriculum and decided I would make our own based on the novels we love reading together. It was the best decision I ever made. We have so much more freedom now with language arts and it has really increased our love for books!
At night I read aloud the novel that we are studying for language arts. This includes all of my kids except my youngest, so that language arts really becomes more of a family subject – which simplifies things so much!!
My oldest then has other lessons related to the novel, but I feel like that would be a completely separate blog post. Check out my DIY Language Arts playlist HERE.
Soon I will need to review all of the read aloud we did this year. There were so many! Some of my favorites included “Willodeen”, “Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”, and “True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle”. You can see all of our novels in my Language Arts Read Aloud list through Amazon.
Scripture Memory
Starting in December, we started memorizing one bible verse a month. I usually pick the verse based on what I want my kids to think about at the time. For example, when we were dealing with bedtime fears, we memorized a verse about not being afraid.
Recently, I was sent a beautiful scripture memory box from Shop Butter N Honey, and this has helped us keep the verses on our hearts. With this memory box, we are able to practice and review the verses every night. It’s been so much fun and my kids love seeing what they remember each night.
I love adding scripture memory before bed. It doesn’t feel like “school” and it really does set the tone for bedtime. The addition of the memory box was so helpful because it has allowed me and the kids to keep reviewing our verses even after the month is over. I hope to keep this habit of bible verses before bed even through the summer.
Hymn Study
I have always wanted to study hymns with my kids. I tried adding it into our morning time once but it didn’t stick. Then one night I randomly sang a hymn to the kids and we’ve been singing every night since.
I choose one hymn a month from a book called “Then Sings My Soul”. I grew up with traditional hymns in church, so I just choose one that I can remember the tune. Eventually, I’ll probably end up having to look them up on YouTube or something.
This has been such an easy way to memorize hymns. The book comes with a little description of the author so we read that and memorize the first verse together. Each night (most nights) we sing the verse and by the end of the month it’s memorized.
I have loved learning hymns with the kids and the way we do it has been so simple and effortless. I definitely love using this book as well because it gives us a little background of the hymn we are learning.
What’s Staying?
Well, I plan to continue almost everything next year! I do have a new plan for our devotional. I’ll be picking some new read alouds of course. I’m most excited for our next American History unit and all the books we will be reading for that. (The unit will cover post-Civil War through World War 2 and will be available to you around Christmas 2024) Science will keep going with Berean Builders now that I have found a better groove.
Overall, I’ve been happy with our family studies. I will make a few tweaks here and there, but once that’s done I’ll probably do a YouTube video sharing our “official” picks for the year! I’m ready to get into planning mode soon!
