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.
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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+ 😉
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.
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!)
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!
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)
Science: Berean Builders Science in the Beginning
Language Arts: DIY novel studies
