Our 2024-2025 homeschool year is coming to an end. As we close it out I am reflecting over what worked for us and what needs to be adjusted. In this blog post, I will focus on math and language arts, sharing the curriculum we used throughout the year and letting you know some details about them in the process.

This year I had a 5th grader, 3rd grader, and Kindergartener. I feel silly saying that because the more and more I homeschool the more I realize the grade level means nothing, but I do feel it can help someone who is looking for experiences with an age range.

I recorded a video where I share all of this information below with a little more detail. If you’d rather watch than read, check out that video HERE.

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5th Grade Math

For math this year we continued with BJU Press. We have had quite the math journey as we try to figure out what math curriculum is the best fit for us. (more on that journey HERE) However, I feel like we have finally found it in BJU! We started it in her 4th grade year and continued it this year for Math 5.

I love that BJU has a Work Text and an Activity book. I teach the lesson using the Work Text which gives me plenty of practice problems. Sometimes we can do the evens and then I assign her the odds for independent work. OR – they also have an Activity Book that has a page of practice with a page of review on the back.

I’ve worked in math curricula before where I’m constantly having to search out extra practice to make sure she understands, and I just never feel that way with BJU. The Teacher Guide is mostly used for grading purposes, but it is definitely helpful when I need it for teaching. The script provided guides me with topics I’m not comfortable with, which I find to be so beneficial!

To see more about BJU and how we use it, check out this video HERE.

5th Grade Language Arts

For the last two and a half years, we have ditched the all-in-one language arts curricula and instead complete all of our language arts studies through novels. We like to call it DIY Language Arts. By reading novels together and studying passages we are able to practice spelling, vocabulary, copy work, grammar, and more!

This is our favorite way to do language arts because it provides us with so much freedom and to be frank – it’s just FUN! After finding a good groove, I’m now able to share how we do this with all of you through novel guides.

If you want to see more about these guides, check out this video HERE.

3rd Grade Math

We started third grade using Math With Confidence. This child in particular completed level one and level two, and everything went well! It was a great fit. Naturally, we moved on to the third grade level.

After we got into it, we hit somewhat of a wall. Math lessons were a struggle. Things weren’t clicking, and the two of us were clashing – maybe you have had an experience like that. I had been hearing about an online program called CTC math through a few different podcasts, and I thought to myself that I’d give it a shot until I could figure out what move to make next.

Two things I liked about CTC Math is that it wasn’t full of games. (There are 2-3 you can play, but they are basic facts practice.) I also heard it was capable of diagnosing how to best help your child at their level of math.

Once I was able to figure out how to diagnose her math abilities using their program, she started to thrive. She gained so much independence and I was able to step back some and not push her so much (I admit – I was pushing, and I shouldn’t have been.)

Our experience using CTC has been amazing, but I will confess that I do miss the paper-and-pencil part of math. I’m not quite certain how I want to tackle this issue, but I’ll be thinking about it over the summer.

3rd Grade Language Arts

This year we still focused on a lot of reading skills. Every child is unique in when they gain fluency to read, and she needed more time. It’s been a growing process for both of us, but I’m thankful for all that we have learned together.

We started the year finishing a reading program called Abecedarian. (It’s now called Sharpen Reading) I absolutely loved this program. (You can see a look-through HERE) It really built her confidence and gave us so many tools that we still use today as we practice reading skills.

We completed Level B-1, and then I felt like I wanted to add other parts of language arts into our studies. We had spent so much time focusing just on reading. Since reading was still a skill she needed to work on, I wanted to find something that would help me be consistent but still provide all the parts of language arts.

I chose the Good and the Beautiful to do this. It was a great transition tool to get us from focusing just on reading to adding other aspects of language arts at a level that best suited her. Speaking of levels, I did not place her in the third grade language arts workbook. I used their placement tests to pick the level that would be best for her.

This whole year I’ve really let go of the “grade level” thing and it’s been such a weight off my shoulders. I knew it didn’t matter and that our homeschooling choice gave us the freedom to do this, but I think this was the year I actually believed it.

We finished out the year doing a novel study to test the waters a bit and see how it goes. We do this following the DIY Language Arts method I explained for fifth grade. We just finished our first novel and will finish a second before our school year is done. It’s been so nice to make Language Arts a family study!

Kindergarten Math

I thought kindergarten would be a breeze this year since it was my third kindergartener to homeschool. In a sense, it was. I was so much more at peace with what I wanted to accomplish, but there was definitely a learning curve when it came to figuring out what type of learner she was and how to best help her learn.

We started kindergarten using Math with Confidence. I knew it would be great because it’s gentle, hands-on, and fun! My daughter apparently thought differently (ha!) Her personality is like an eager beaver where she wants to skip the fluff and do the work.

Eventually we quit using the teacher guide so much and that’s really what Math with Confidence is all about. So, I came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn’t be a great fit for her. She finished the workbook quickly without any issues, and we weren’t even half way done with our year!

I didn’t want to move up to first grade math, so I took the opportunity to test out a math curriculum I’ve never tried before. (It’s so nerdy, but I enjoy exploring new curricula when I can.)

This is when we started Simply Math K from the Good and the Beautiful. It was very cute. I love the pictures and the stories are so sweet. My complaint though is I felt like it was not enough at times. The text would teach a new skill and provide 3-5 problems and then the student is practicing something else. I felt like it was constantly little “tastes” and all I wanted to do was sit a little longer in the one skill. Does that make sense?

Even with our experience, we just about finished the book and then I decided to switch her to BJU Math 1. This is the same curriculum her oldest sister uses, and they have pretty similar personalities. It makes sense why BJU felt like the better fit.

So, we are finishing out the last 6 weeks of school in BJU Math and we’ll continue with it next year.

Kindergarten Language Arts

For language arts, we spent some time trying out a few things I already had in order to save a little money. I started her with Logic of English, and it was a flop pretty quickly. I have nothing against LOE. I used two different levels with another one of my children. However, it wasn’t the right fit for this child.

She started the year knowing all her letters and sounds and was even blending sounds and reading books. So, when we sat down to do a Logic of English lesson, it was almost overkill. She wanted to goooo! Read, read, read…remember I mentioned she was a little eager beaver?

I wasn’t sure what to do so we used something else I already have which is called Treasure Hunt Reading. This is a really great resource and it’s very inexpensive! You can learn more about it HERE. This was a great book to keep us practicing reading/phonics skills until I figured out my next move.

While all of this is happening, I had just switched my 3rd grader to The Good and the Beautiful. Their Language Arts programs come with these awesome tools called Reading Booster Cards and Booster Books. They’re amazing!

I started using them with my Kindergartener and we developed the simplest routine. Practice the cards…read a book. We did this every day! If we didn’t read a booster book, we read from the Good and the Beautiful Nature Readers. (Another fantastic resource!) This simple routine allowed us to practice reading consistently while we built her writing skills with handwriting practice.

Final Thoughts

As you can see there was definitely an adjustment period where we had to figure out good fits, but ultimately we found things that worked. You’ll notice it was different for each kid! I’m so thankful we can plan our homeschool according to each of their gifts and abilities.

If you want to hear more about this year with a little more detail, check out this video HERE.