This year feels different than other years because both of my children are now in middle school. There is a pretty sharp turn from fourth and fifth grade to sixth and seventh grade.
In the elementary years, especially the younger ones, so much of our homeschool was tactile, simple and sweet. We created the cutest notebooking pages after learning about pioneers through the Little House series, counted wooden acorns while using our math curriculum, painted the sweetest version of Wilbur after reading Charlotte’s Web, multiplied pinecones in the backyard for math, built words out of rocks I had drawn letters on, made a recipe and called it learning fractions, and studied mushrooms in our backyard before recording them in our nature journals and calling it science.
Those early homeschool years were filled to the brim with art, beautiful books, nature study, field trips, reading outside and plenty of time to explore interests. And I am so glad we spent our time that way.
Middle school, however, has brought a shift.
There is simply more to learn, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I believe is important for my children to know and why. I’ve realized that I feel very strongly about giving them a broad, rich education. I have no idea what either of them will decide to do with their lives, and I don’t think I’m supposed to know yet. My job right now is to give them the foundation and exposure that will allow them to make those choices later.
I feel confident that I’ve given them a beautiful childhood filled with rich learning opportunities. But giving them a rich education in middle school is going to look a little different.
This year, that means choosing a Language Arts curriculum that allows them to independently work on grammar, vocabulary and writing mechanics every day. It means increasing our overall workload, as we challenge ourselves academically. It means choosing a more rigorous science curriculum that may not look as whimsical on the outside, but is chock-full of information, experiments and labs. We’re using student science notebooks instead of relying solely on the kind of open-ended notebooking we’ve done in the past, and I’m paying closer attention to what they need to know as they prepare for high school.
It also means being willing to choose more traditional styles of curriculum when I believe they’re the best fit, rather than trying to make everything we use fit within a strict Charlotte Mason method.
Charlotte Mason still heavily influences our homeschool, and I don’t see that changing. We still read beautiful books, narrate, study poetry and composers, spend time in nature, create, explore and leave room for curiosity. But I’ve realized that giving my children the broad, rich education I want for them no longer fits neatly inside one particular educational model.
And I think that’s really what has changed this year. I’m less concerned with whether our homeschool fits a particular method and more concerned with whether I’m giving my children what they need at this stage of their education.
My children are only one grade level apart, so we’re still able to combine almost every subject and then tailor the work to each child. That’s one of the things I love most about homeschooling: as their needs change, our homeschool can change with them.
So today, I’m sharing what that looks like for us this year: our choices for Morning Time, History, Science, Geography, Math, Language Arts and more, along with how we’re using them and why I chose them.
Morning Time
This is our favorite time of the day and the main anchor in our homeschool days. When we gather around the table for Morning Time, my children know we’re transitioning from “home life” to “school day,” which has been extremely helpful in our homeschool journey. It’s an opportunity to gather together before everyone heads into their independent work and allows us to focus on the things I don’t want to get crowded out by the rest of our day.
We begin Morning Time with our Morning Menus, and these contain everything we need: calendar work, emotional check-in, poetry study, scripture study, picture study, character study and copywork. There are even extra math and language arts pages for a “Morning Starter,” which is what I sometimes place on the table the night before so my kids have something to occupy them before I get to the table for Morning Time. While we are completing our Morning Menus, we listen to the composer we’re studying that term. All of this is helped by a routine I created on our Alexa device.
After our Morning Menus, we rotate between a flip-through manners book, a book about etiquette, The Book of Virtues or another personal growth book, and Shakespeare.
Though Morning Time has changed as my children have gotten older, it remains one of their favorite parts of the day. With the increased academic load of middle school, I think it’s even easier for things like poetry, music, art and character study to get pushed aside. Morning Time gives those things a permanent place in our day.
Math
For math this year, we’re using Math with Confidence Grade 6. My seventh grader has followed along with his brother since they were in second grade, when my at-the-time third grader needed additional help mastering certain math topics.
Over the past year, I’ve slowly integrated additional practice for my older child as he prepares for Algebra next year. Something that has helped me in figuring out what additional work to give is using the Home Learning Year by Year book and checking my state standards.
I’ve had to let go of some of my anxiety around the grade level printed on the front of the book and focus instead on what my children actually know. I’d rather slow down, identify gaps and make sure they truly understand the math they’re doing than move ahead simply to say they’re working in a certain grade-level curriculum.
At the same time, especially now that we’re in middle school, I’m paying close attention to what they need to know moving forward. The goal isn’t to stay behind. It’s to build the foundation well enough that we can move forward confidently.
Science
I am most excited to use Apologia General Science this year for both of my children. Mostly because a formal science curriculum has not been a large priority in the past, and I truly believe it’s vital to a well-rounded education for older children—shout out to my bestie Lindsay for helping me see that.
In the past, nature study, observation and hands-on learning have made up a larger portion of our science education. Those things are still valuable to me, but as my children enter middle school, I want them to have a broader exposure to science.
I love how Apologia is written, how it presents information accurately yet through a Biblical worldview lens, and that there are experiments scattered throughout the curriculum. It covers a wide array of topics, including meteorology, astronomy, ecology, biology and so much more. I especially love the breadth of General Science. At this age, I’m not trying to make them experts in any one area. I want them to encounter a lot of different areas of science and build a foundation for whatever comes next.
There is a notebook that corresponds with the textbook, which provides a schedule, questions, lab reports and so much more. I initially planned on doing it without the notebook but quickly realized the amount of time and resources it would take to recreate my own plan. I’m currently debating on whether to have them both use the notebooks from General Science, or for me to use them as a “general guide” and have them use their own notebooks.
History
We are adding in another newbie this year with Gather ‘Round Homeschool’s U.S. History 2. This beautifully organized, well-written curriculum is a huge step away from our Charlotte Mason roots, but I love it so much for this season of life.
With a 17-month-old playing at my feet while teaching two middle school boys, we needed something that would help us finish Early American History within a few months so that we could begin Modern American History.
Gather ‘Round was a great fit because there are 20 lessons, which will take us about 10 weeks to complete. It includes a teacher’s guide, which is filled with beautifully written information from that time period, and a student notebook filled with great prompts and activities. It includes notebooking, narration, vocabulary and hands-on activities, so while it isn’t technically a Charlotte Mason curriculum, it still incorporates many of the things I value.
I’m pairing this with a few picture books that older elementary children and middle schoolers will still find interesting, readings from George Washington’s World, and we are reading Johnny Tremain while we complete this unit.
We’re only a week into the school year, but I am really loving Gather ‘Round. It’s actually made me rethink some of my assumptions about the type of curriculum that works for us. I could absolutely see us using more of it in the future.
Once we complete Gather ‘Round’s U.S. History 2, we plan on beginning Beautiful Feet Books Modern American History, which is a Charlotte Mason-style curriculum. I’m eager for us to work through both and see how the different approaches fit our family this year.
Geography
Geography is another subject I’m intentionally giving much more attention this year.
For World Geography, I essentially created our own curriculum using resources from Little School of Smiths and Wild Feather Edu, along with books, maps, notebooking and hands-on activities.
We’ll move through the continents and spend time learning about different countries, cultures, landmarks, landforms, biomes and animals. This is definitely one of the more hands-on areas of our homeschool this year, and I love that it gives us room for some of the creativity and exploration that played such a large role in our elementary years.
After we complete our World Geography study, we’ll move into Beautiful Feet Books U.S. Geography.
I’m excited about the combination because I don’t want geography to be reduced to memorizing names on a map. I want my children to understand the world they’re living in, to be curious about places outside of their own community and to have some context when those places come up in history, literature or current events.
Language Arts
If you haven’t caught on yet, we’ve made a large transition to more independent work this year.
I want my children to practice grammar, writing and vocabulary every day without needing me to lead all of it. Dictation, grammar and formal writing have always required me. While written narrations can be done on their own, I felt that there were still a lot of mechanics and other things to learn.
I needed something that would just lay it all out for them, and something that they could complete with me nearby—not hovering over them.
This is why we chose Master Books Language Lessons for a Living Education Level 7. We opted for Level 7 because that felt like the appropriate level for both of my boys, and after one week of completing the work, I’m really glad we chose this path.
I like that each day has a predictable rhythm and that they can complete it independently. I researched this for many, many months. The negative reviews stated that it wasn’t “rigorous” enough, which may be true if you are not using any other writing or reading in your homeschool.
That isn’t the case for us, however.
I found that other curricula forced books that were dry, dated or straight-up boring, and I just didn’t understand forcing those particular books when we read our own literature through daily read-alouds, independent reading and history. Adding in additional chapter books to the three we’re already reading every day seemed like too much. Master Books doesn’t have that, and for us, that’s actually a positive.
We also use Wordly Wise, which I have absolutely loved. It’s an independent vocabulary program and has helped my children learn so many new words already. While Master Books also has vocabulary words, there aren’t many prompts throughout the week to study those words or use them, which is why I opted to add a vocabulary curriculum.
Writing
Something I remain hands-on for is writing. I love to write, and love teaching it. I don’t know if my children will ever love it the way that I do, and I’m okay with that.
I simply want to show them that writing can be a tool for putting their dreams, ideas, worries and imaginative stories onto paper. I felt that the best way to teach them was through my own excitement and example—something I wasn’t able to find with the curricula I researched.
I kind of made up my own writing curriculum by researching what needs to be taught through Home Learning Year by Year and our state standards, and then making a list of what we should cover explicitly with writing. This has led to what I’ve created, which covers everything from writing quality sentences, to good paragraphs, to opinion writing, creative writing and so forth.
We learn about a topic, practice it, and then go on to the next. We use a lot of graphic organizers, take notes in our Language Arts notebooks and practice the skills we’re learning through actual writing.
They also write daily in their writing journals. We’ve created Interactive Writing Notebooks, something we started couple of years ago with pages I purchased from Thrive in Grade Five. Sometimes I provide a prompt, sometimes it connects to another subject we’re studying, and sometimes I give them more freedom.
I’m trying to find a balance between teaching them the mechanics of good writing and giving them enough opportunities to actually write. I don’t want every piece of writing they produce to become an assignment that is picked apart and corrected. Sometimes we’re practicing a specific skill, and sometimes I just want them to get comfortable putting their thoughts on paper. Overall, I’m happy with the approach we’ve taken the past couple of years as their writing has made a lot of improvement.
Literature & Independent Reading
Literature remains a huge part of our homeschool, but I don’t use a formal literature curriculum to choose every book we read.
We always have a family read-aloud going on, both boys have their own independent books, and we often have another book connected to history or another subject we’re studying. That means we’re usually reading several books at once without needing a curriculum to add even more.
For independent reading, I’m becoming more intentional about balancing ability with enjoyment. Of course I want them to progress and read increasingly challenging books, but I also want them to enjoy reading. I don’t think every independent book has to push them to the absolute edge of their reading ability in order to be worthwhile.
Our family read-aloud is different. Those books give us an opportunity to read literature together that might be more challenging, discuss it, laugh about it, talk about characters and ideas, and simply enjoy a story together.
This approach also gives me the freedom to change our reading list throughout the year based on what we’re enjoying, what we’re studying and what I think my children need at the time.
Our Homeschool This Year
When I look at all of our curriculum choices together, this is probably the most eclectic our homeschool has ever been.
And I’m really, really happy about that.
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