We are getting ready to embark on year three of homeschool for our oldest, and I am really excited about this year’s curriculum choices! Last year we had a major disappointment with a boxed curriculum. It was overwhelming, difficult, and just not well-suited for our family. E struggled to get through the quantity of work, and I was disappointed with the curriculum as a whole. Nothing like spending a ton of money on something we both disliked! It was a tough year for us, but we weeded out the crazy amount of extras and focused on the core subjects for the year.
We are both looking forward to this year’s curriculum. I spent a lot of time researching, reading reviews, looking at samples, and scrolling Insta stories to finally find something that I think we will both love! Read on for this year’s picks!
- The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts, Level 4
- Teaching Textbooks, Math 4
- The Good and the Beautiful History, Year 1
- The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting, Level 5
- The Good and the Beautiful Science Unit, Meteorology- Weather and Atmosphere
Here’s an excerpt from The Good and The Beautiful’s website for insight as to why I moved toward their curriculum this year:
- Used completely clean and powerful literature
- Combined subjects for more meaningful learning and shorter school times
- Was completely open-and-go
- Was academically strong and very thorough
- Emphasized God, nature, and high character
- Was visually beautiful, engaging, and meaningful”
It was like Jenny Phillips met me, heard my cries for curriculum, and made my dreams come true. Honestly, immediately after I read this on their landing site, I clicked around and downloaded their sample pages. I was so excited that I was actually afraid to look at the prices. Good news: the curriculum is affordable! I mean, very affordable compared to other popular curriculum options.
In addition to TGTB this year, I chose Teaching Textbooks for math. E was really excited about this, as it is a computer based course. Our homeschool portfolio evaluator recommended it as a nice option for students who might enjoy using the computer for their lessons. I was excited to take math lessons off my teaching plate (since I have two homeschool students this year) while also meeting my son’s need for independence. We looked at their samples together, and thinking about our last math program and how it was very redundant (in a boring way) and left him unexcited about his daily math lessons, we decided it was worth a shot to try something new. Teaching Textbooks’ lessons are short, sweet, and to the point. I hope this decision leaves us happy, as we are both excited to try it!
Choosing curriculum can feel like a monumental task, and the number of options out there is definitely overwhelming. Sifting through the many options to find what works for my family has taken some trial and error. With that in mind, look for my upcoming follow-up post highlighting these curriculum choices and how they are working for our family.
What are you using for your homeschool curriculum this year?
