Curriculum Picks 2023-2024

Welcome to an in-depth look into our homeschool curriculum planning.

According to PA Homeschool Laws we are required to have the following:

English

• Spelling
• Reading
• Writing

Arithmetic

Civics

History of the U.S. and Pennsylvania

Health and Physiology

Physical Education

Music

Art

Geography

Science

Safety Education which must include instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires

Testing for 3,5, and 8 grade and 180 day attendance or 900 hours.

Our forecasted 2023-2024 will look like

• School year July 10-May 17th
•  “Summer Transition” “Semester One” “Semester Two”
• Six weeks on, one week off
• Four days of academic learning
• One day of Unit Study/Interest-led learning
• Field trips once a month
• Two clubs
• 4-H 
• One sport or activity per season

Our Curriculum choices are based on the following

• Budget
• Who will be implementing the lesson and teaching style
• Season (Next year, I will have a one year, my 5 year old will be going to a program for 2 hours a day 3 times a week and my oldest two will be in the same grade)
• Children’s input through collaboration, interests, and assessments.

Kindergarten

Four year old input (She will be 5 in a little over a month)

• Wants to learn how to read and have been showing readiness since last year. We have used the Heggerty program with her (20 mins 3x/week)
• More Nature play and different crafts at least 2x/week
• Having her own schedule
• Being around other kids her age
• More cooking

Taking in her input and recognizing I am one person who doesn’t want to be pulled in different directions, my husband and I decided to find a half day or nursery program where she could be around kids her age to get a break, and to allow me to focus on the core subjects with my oldests. 

Per PA law I technically don’t have to register her in our district until she’s six, however she will be doing Kindergarten curriculum. 

 Her schedule will look like

• Nursery School for 3x/week for 2 hours
• 5 days block rotation with ELA and Math. Estimated time 1hr 15min
• Interest-led play and learning
• Help prepare lunch 2x/week

Kindergarten “academic” curriculum choices

ELA Rotation A

• All about Reading
• Blossom and Root
• Alternative Oak Meadow 

 ( Kindergarten Essential Package is $625 in print form. $430.50 We love Oak Meadow, but out of everyone’s curriculum this is the most pricey, and I just can’t justify the cost with my spouse when there are cheaper alternatives out there. I’m sad about this to be honest but life goes on.)

ELA Rotation B

• Dash into Learning
• Core Knowledge

Math– Eureka Math (Kindergarten)

Total spent for  full year of Kindergarten curriculum-$263

Nursery School for full year months total- $2,068

Total-$2,331 

Sixth Grade

Our curriculum choices consisted of the following

• Collaborative effort
• Kids love Oak Meadow and Core Knowledge and want to rotate to keep it “from getting boring”
• Putting more money into interest led lessons since there are plenty of free quality curriculums out there. 
• Curriculum shopping in our home
• Writing opportunities that still need to be addressed and transition from me to my spouse in teaching.
• Best curriculum to support interleaving and scaffolding.
• Curriculum supporting an efficient and to the point lifestyle. 
• Utilizing our Library system to save on Book purchases
• I also will know longer be doing our writing lessons. To be honest, I’m terrible at Middle and High School grammar. My husband will be taking over and because he works it was essential we find a program the kids could do independently that could be checked and reviewed by him the next day. 

Summer Transition July-September

• Torchlight Level 5

I really loved the feel of this curriculum and my kids wanted a break from OM and CK during the summer. Because we are moving to a school all year model, this seemed like the perfect all in one curriculum to ease us into the new year.

• LitHouse Learning for Writing (They use TWR method and this will be be a great way to keep those skill intact)
• Zearn
• Ancient Eats/Ancient Civilization History Unboxed (This was requested. A friend is using both and the kids love Ancient History and wanted to add this book to our personal library)
• Generation Genius (They offer 5 free videos with lesson plans and experiments so why not?)
• Easy Peasy Biology *free (Rotating with Generation Genius

Semester One Block A Est time( 4hrs)

• Oak Meadow English Grade 6
• Oak Meadow Science
• Novel Study (SuperHero Teacher)
• Math Mammoth
• Geography
• Art/Language

Semester One Block B (3-4hrs)

• Core Knowledge
• Math Mammoth
• IEW Structure and Style
• History
• Music/Typing and or Handwriting

Friday Interest-Led (Est -Child led, as long as they like.)

• Independent Unit Study which contains Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension and Writing (Bookshark Level H for my son)
• Zearn
• BIPOC History discussion
• Field Trip day

We will reassess to see if we need to make changes after Semester One.

Note* We are still working on a plan for my ELA gifted Learner. This will likely be  separate expense between $200-$300.

Personal Novel Choices using CommonLit and Fishtank (Extra Novel is added for my ELA gifted learner) I will break these down for my kids to be able to work on Independently.

We will also be using the book List from BYL and 

This List is not set in stone and are the kids personal choices for “evening”’ work.

July- Bud, Not Buddy/The Alchemist

August-The Lightning Thief/Animal Farm

September-The Outsiders/Jacob Have I Loved

October-Hatchet/The Great Gatsby

November-Maniac McGee/Frankenstein

December-Tuck Everlasting/Persepolis

January-Roll of Thunder

February-A Raisin in the Sun

March-The Odyssey/Of Mice and Men

April-The House on Mango Street/Fever

May-The Secret Life Of Bees/?

History Break-down

• Core Knowledge and River of Voices as guides
• Timeline Encyclopedia
• Setting intentional rabbit trails
• Documentaries
• Going to local events and lectures to deep dive
• Utilizing the Oh Freedom Literature Pack from Woke Homeschool

Interest-Led learning will consist of the following

• Each kid(oldest) will be allotted a $250 budget per semester (Must submit their “proposal” buy June)
• Creative Writing component (requested)
• Extra support with any opportunities that may inhibit them 
• Magazine style unit created unit studies. (Yay me)

As you can see a lot goes into how we prepare for the next year. Our grand total for the year so far including nursery school is $4,220. This does not include supplies (another $250), 4-H or sports, but we are satisfied with the total especially because our curriculum costs are only $1,184 and this can be spread out over the rest of this year.