Photo by Giuseppe Lombardo
Parents, you are trying to make a hard choice right now. Life has been full of hard choices for the last few months. And now this one involves the most important people in the world—your kids.
Last week Jamie and I shared our reasons for why we decided to homeschool our oldest two this year. That blog was everywhere. People all over the U.S. and in many other countries checked it out. Many reached out in some way.
We’re here to help. Because, even though we are teachers, when it comes to our kids we are students too. So we’ve been learning. We’ve been figuring out what will work for our family. And by we I really mean my amazing wife. I’m convinced Jamie is the smartest woman on earth. You guys can argue about the #2 spot all you want. #1 is taken.
We promised we’d be back with more to say via this platform that makes saying it and sharing it so easy. So here we go.
This is the curriculum we chose. And why we chose it. Our boys will be in third grade and kindergarten this year. So, our choices might not be much help to you. But I hope something here will help move you a little further down the trail as you sort this out for your own family.
We tried to keep this short. We’ll answer as many questions as possible. If you find this helpful please consider sharing it with someone who might need some help right now. And give yourself grace. We’re all students here.
We wanted a curriculum that satisfied four simple criteria.
It had to mostly align with Arkansas educational standards. Why? We believe in the public school system. We intend to return our boys to a public classroom in the future. So, we want to keep them “on track”.
It had to be inexpensive because Daddy is a tightwad, and isn’t made out of Benjamins
The material had to be flexible. Have you ever tried to teach a five year old to read while changing a diaper, doing marriage counseling via text, answering an email about communication theory, and helping a distraught Boomer solve their problems in the middle of another Zoom Conference? We haven’t either, but we’re pretty sure we’re about to.
There was no compromise here for us. The bulk of the material had to be facilitated without a computer. We don’t want our children staring at a device all day. Period.
Here is the curriculum we landed on based on our four requirements. (Links to each are embedded in the subject title.)
1. SCIENCE: “Mystery Doug”
We paid $69 for one year of access. This curriculum also has free lessons to try. We tried it out with the boys and they loved it. Mystery Doug’s content aligns wonderfully with the recommended national science standards and schedule for each grade. As a bonus, it does have a computer based lesson component—so we are able to use it as an incentive for screen time that also doubles as school work.
2. SOCIAL STUDIES: Teachers Pay Teacher
We purchased a 3rd grade level download for $18.50. We will need to supplement some to meet Kindergarten standards.
3. LANGUAGE ARTS: The Good and The Beautiful
Levels 1-5 are available to download for free. The “K Primer” is less than $35. Level K and Level 3 physical copies around $60 each. This curriculum is integrated to include multiple subjects. An added bonus for our family is the inclusion of Biblical references. We like the Bible. We are also using the Handwriting books from The Good and the Beautiful.
CAUTION: “Levels” aren’t really aligned to “Grades”. There are assessments to determine the correct level for your child. An advanced student might be on the same level as a grade. Whereas a traditional student might be one level below. Don’t let this psyche you out. It’s just a different metric for describing the desired development.
4. MATH: Math Mammoth and Jamie King
At the King Casa Academy Mrs. Principal Teacher Mom’s got this one covered. We are using Math Mammoth for most of Ethan’s 3rd grade material. Jamie is piecing together her own curriculum for Kindergarten. Why? Because she has approximately thirteen (I might be exaggerating) math and education degrees. There are plenty of good options available for someone feeling they need extra support in this area.
Now you know exactly what we chose and why we chose it. One the whole, there is a lot of good curriculum out there. Find the one that will help you accomplish what you’re aiming for with your kid.
We hope this helps you. As long as you have questions we’ll keep trying to lend a helpful voice. In the meantime share what you’re learning in the comments. How are you teaching your kids during this unique time?