23/24 Curriculum Picks

Our 2023-2024 curriculum picks took me a little longer to pick than normal. I spent my summer researching Charlotte Mason (CM) and reading the first half of For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. While I'm still reading and doing deep dive into to all things CM, it was such an encouragement to my heart. I don't follow all of the principles, nor am I strictly CM in our homeschool, but we lean that direction--with a few other things thrown in. Eclectic-if you need to put a name on it. Charlotte Mason's views on learning spoke directly to me. Knowing that good literature and nature and connection are key to her principles encouraged me that we are on the right path. I have been striving to get more literature into our days and more nature into our souls. Nature walks, nature study, hiking--and more. 

While I was reading, I had in the background of my mind that learning is all the time, all year round. Our minds and bodies are learning daily in more than just book work. However, I wanted to implement the principles into our homeschool book work as well.

Ultimately, my husband and I pray over every aspect of our school year. I take into account how I teach, how my children learn, and the financial cost. Then, I make decisions based on each of those. 

So, without further ado, here are our picks for 2023-2024. 

Bible and Morning Time

I put these two together because we mostly do them at the same time. 

Treehouse Schoolhouse** released a new Bible curriculum this year titled Rooted Family Bible Curriculum, Volume One.  I had been searching for a bible study that would help teach my children that their identity is in Christ. This does exactly that, plus brings in the enrichment of poetry, hymns, and art. We do this study during breakfast, and we are enjoying it so far! 

In our morning menus, we do calendar, weather, and scripture memory. All three of these are also from Treehouse Schoolhouse. The calendar and weather are part of the Morning Time Bundle. I put them in a menu cover, and the kids use dry erase markers to fill them out each morning. We've been using this tool for a couple of years. This has been an easy way to teach them the months of the year, days of the week, and temperature. 

The scripture memory is called Light the Way Scripture Memory Set. This goes along with Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson, which we are using a family devotion led by my husband before bedtime. Light the Way has different daily activities to help commit the verses to memory. We are only one week in using this set, but I think it is going to pay dividends in the end. Two of my children have almost memorized the first verse! 

After this, we round out morning time by reading a few library books.

Individual Lessons- Language Arts

My oldest will be using Language Lessons for Today Level 4 by My Father's World. This is a Charlotte Mason style language arts curriculum. These simple lessons utilize such things as picture study, poetry, oral narration, copywork, and learning to use a dictionary.

My middle child is already almost halfway through All About Reading Level 1. She enjoys the sound practice mixed with the built in games. She also gets to read stories from an actual book every other lesson. This has been her favorite reading curriculum we have tried. We will most likely start Level 2 towards the middle of the year. 

My youngest is using a mixture of things this year. She is learning her alphabet and sounds with Treehouse Schoolhouse's Wonder of Nature Early Years Collection. I put this in a menu cover and she uses a dry erase marker, playdoh, etc. to trace the letters and words. We are also playing games I find on Pinterest or make up myself. We are using sand trays, wooden letters, things we find around the house to build our vocabulary and associate first sound letters. It's one of my favorite years, because we play as she learns. 

Individual Lessons- Math

All three will be using Math-U-See this year. We tried a spiral approach curriculum, and it was frustrating for one of my learners. It has been a hard journey with math, but we've finally found some ground with Math-U-See. I started my other two children on it, because it is easier for me to navigate one math curriculum versus 3. We may change things if it ends up that my other two don't like this mastery approach math. 

We practice math in other areas of life, too. Counting objects that we come across, cooking and baking, etc. 

One Room Schoolhouse Subjects

I've adopted this phrase this year, because essentially, that's what we are doing. I'm teaching all 3 children history, geography, nature study, art, pen pal writing, and our beauty subject unit study. Not all of these are done each day. I have Loop Schedule for these subjects. But learning is definitely happening! Each child gets something out of the lesson, and my oldest two sometimes like to dig in deeper with library books, videos about the subject, and crafts. I like learning this across the ages because sometimes the 6-year-old hears something that maybe the 10-year-old didn't, or vice versa. I love their insights, and sometimes they surprise me with things I didn't think about either. 

History 

This year we are diving into a literature-based history curriculum. We are using Beautiful Feet's Early American History for Primary Grades. Yes-my son is older than these primary grades, but again-he can dig deeper with library books and other resources. I am truly enjoying this curriculum choice. Each day we read a bit of a living book-instead of just a textbook. We are learning history through literature and a few questions posed in the Teacher's Guide. After reading and talking through the questions, we add a picture to our history notebook and add a caption. This notebook serves as our timeline that we can refer back to if the need arises. I'm joining them in making a notebook, and it's been a fun connection. There are rabbit trail books for the lessons if you want to dig deeper. And some lessons have a connection activity or recipe.

Geography

I have wanted to do U.S. Geography for a while now, but I couldn't find anything that I liked. That was until I found Beautiful Feet Books had a U.S. Geography study. We are using the Intermediate level. It's set up much the same as history. Learning geography through literature. Even the beginning lessons where we learn about the components of a map is taught through a story book. Then we take what we've learned and make a map ourselves and put it in our notebook. I like this a lot, and it is only one day a week. It doesn't feel overwhelming, and the kids are fans!

Loop Subjects

I want to incorporate so many different things into our year, but there aren't enough hours in the day to do them all. Enter Loop scheduling. Loop scheduling is saving so much time for other adventures this year. I have Pen Pal Writing, Beauty Subject, Nature Study, and Art. 

Pen pal writing is exactly what it sounds like. Each child has a pen pal (or 4😉), and they write them a letter one day a week. This is just a fun avenue to work on language arts in a way that interests them.  

Beauty Subject- We will be doing a unit study on an author, artist, or composer every 9 weeks--or however long it takes us to get through the study. My kids are Chronicles of Narnia obsessed. So naturally, I chose C.S. Lewis as our first author study. We've picked up a few library books about his life. I also purchased the book, C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller (Christian Heroes: Then & Now), for a read aloud. I wanted to incorporate art into this study, and I found an incredible artist, Bethany Glinthir, Hilltop Art, that has painted a Narnia series. I plan to purchase the entire collection for us to study and maybe paint our own Narnia scenes. 

Nature Study- We are using Treehouse Schoolhouse again this year, but we will only be doing it once a week. I'll prepare a lesson based on the library and resource books. Next, we will study the poem, art piece, and do the hand rhyme. Then, we will follow up with a connection activity and nature journal. Nature study is one of our favorite subjects, and we are all happy to have it back into our regular rhythm.

Art- This is the time we will be finding tutorials, painting something we learned about this week, or doing a handicraft. I purchased Handcrafts of the World by LittleWorldWanderers, and I plan to choose one activity a month or so from it. My 8-year-old and I are taking up crocheting. My son is learning to sew. I look forward to what we will discover in art this year. I don't currently have a set agenda, but I think that's what will make it fun! 

All of this curriculum is a small portion of our days. Our true learning comes in the form of adventure and exploring. It comes from wandering. That is what gives us the most joy. Finding crawfish in the creek. Watching a hummingbird in our garden. Identifying a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a zinnia. Seeing mushrooms after a heavy rain. Baking muffins on a cool afternoon. Listening to an audiobook while we put together a puzzle. 

Connection is the true joy filled learning. The curriculum is good, but the connections we have-the love shown-that's what we are learning. That's what we need. 

**Treehouse Schoolhouse is an affiliate link. I receive a small commission if you purchase from this link, but you can receive a 10% off coupon if you use it. 😊 Coupon code: JOYFILLEDWANDERING