Homestead on Lakeside

We have started back to another year of homeschool. The beginning of a school year is always one of my favorite times of the year. It’s filled exciting anticipation of all of the adventures and fun things we will learn together as a family.  In this post, I will share the curriculums we use, the subjects we plan to cover, and the books we will read this school year.

The boys are in 4th, 6th, and 8th grade. They are close enough in age that it’s easy to teach them all basically the same things. The older they are, the more sentences they will write or more complex thoughts they will narrate. By teaching them the same things, with the exception of math, we get to school together as a family as much as possible.  Plus, it makes it easier when planning and teaching. 

We typically start our school day listening to an audiobook while eating breakfast at the table.  After breakfast, dishes are done, and everyone gets ready for the day. Then we will meet back together for morning time.

Morning Time

Morning time is the time when we read our devotion, sing our monthly hymn (we follow along with HappyHymnody.wordpress.com ), pledge, prayers, and watch World Watch News .

Sometimes, we’ll take this time to go for a morning nature walk and collect treasures for our curiosity shelf. When you have boys, you need a place to put all of the bones, butterflies, and bugs they find.

Math Lessons

Math lessons need to be completed in the morning before lunch, or else no one can focus and concentrate on the lessons.  Ideally, all of school is finished before lunch, but if we’re having a longer day, math can’t be left for the afternoon.

We have been following along with Saxon math for 8 years now. It’s a slightly more intense math program, but it’s completely worth it! The programs are spiral designed so that you are constantly practicing previous concepts together with new concepts. New concepts are introduced with just a few equations at a time.

Here are the Saxon programs we are using this year:

• Saxon Math 5/4 – 4th grade
• Saxon Math 7/6 – 6th grade
• Saxon Math Geometry Honors – 8th grade (high school credit)

Books we are Reading

Here are some of the books we will read together as a read a loud.

• The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
• Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
• Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien

Books for 8th Grade:

• The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Mysterious Benedict Society bt Trenton Lee Stewart

Books for 6th Grade:

• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
• The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

Books for 4th Grade:

• Stuart Little by E.B. White
• The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
• Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

History Lessons

Last year, we focused on a timeline of wars from the American Civil War to World War II. This year, we will focus on Medeival Times.

We will read passages from Oak Meadow’s 6th grade history lessons, but I will adapt it for all of the ages. The two older boys will also practice writing about the medieval times through the Institue for Excellence in Writing. 

We will make a timeline of key events and people from this time period and draw a map of the countries we learn about. The timeline and maps are from Beautiful Feet Books (timeline, maps).

Earth Science

This year, we will focus on Earth science. We will be following Oak Meadows 7th grade science curriculum and adapting for all the ages.

Our Earth science lessons will include themes and topics such as the scientific method and measurements, solar system, Earth’s structure,  weathering, plate tectonics, and the oceans. We will have Earth science labs and projects to support the topics we learn about. All are provided in the lab’s manual.

Sprinkling in the Other Bits

We will also sprinkle on Spanish lessons, cursive handwriting, typing, art, music, and nature studies.

The boys learned to type on a typewriter. I love this old typewriter from the 1940s.  It was an Offer Up find from a guy selling his dad’s old war typewriter.  His dad used it during the war.

It was hard to find a typing program that wasn’t tied to the internet.  I found the best typing program from The Good and the Beautiful.  We also enjoy their handwriting work books.

We’ll also go on field trips and play with other homeschool friends. We have a homeschool group that meets on Fridays.

I’m excited for the adventures that this school year will hold.  Thanks for following along on our homeschool journey. For more family inspiration or recipes from scratch, follow along @homesteadonlakeside

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