2019-2020 Homeschool Curriculum Plans

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I have to admit I’m pretty nervous about this next school year. For the past three years we’ve been part of an academic, homeschool co-op with other families from our church. But things are changing…

Two of our children have never fit into the co-op classes, because of challenges that significantly affect the pace of their learning. We had them join in the reading/poetry/art portion of the day and then let them play with the younger children for the rest of the time.

The problem is that our son is now 10 and still playing with toddlers for most of the day on Mondays.

He loves those little ones to death (and so do I!) but it isn’t helping his social and behavior delays. It also means that he starts the week with play instead of setting up the school routine from the start.

The same goes for our 7 year old daughter.

On top of that, our 12 year old struggled again this year with math (which means he’s not ready for the calculations in higher level science) and he had to slow down in Latin as well.

Pushing him to keep up with co-op — when he needs to slow down for mastery — would be unfair to him. Because of this, he doesn’t fit most of the classes now either.

So, we won’t be continuing with co-op next year and I’ll be teaching seven children, including two high schoolers, on my own.

Kind of. (Hey, I’m not that crazy!)

We’ll be outsourcing some of the older kids’ classes to online programs but I still have to figure out what our days will look like as I manage the remaining classes and teach all the younger kids.

I’ll let you know when I figure out a daily/weekly plan (prayers? please?), but in the meantime, here’s our curriculum plan for next year!

16 year old {10th Grade}

• Online classes
  • Math — Algebra I {MPOA}
  • Composition — High School Composition II {MPOA}
  • Modern History — Light to the Nations, Part 2: Making of the Modern World {Homeschool Connections – Recorded Classes}
  • Elective — Computer Science A – Java Programming {Homeschool Connections – Recorded Classes}
• Home classes
  • Literature & Poetry — Memoria’s 10th Grade Literature Set with their Prose & Poetry Book II: The Elizabethan to NeoClassical Age
  • Science — Modern Biology Set, using Memoria’s streaming lessons for the teaching portion
  • Foreign Language — (this one might change) Easy Spanish Step-by-Step {McGraw-Hill}.

15 year old {10th Grade}

Same as above, except he’ll be taking Fourth Form Latin with MPOA and he chose Greek Drama & Tragedies (minus the DVDs) for his at-home elective.

13 year old {7th Grade}

Our 13 year old son will be using the Seventh Grade Core with the following changes:

• Math — when we switched to the Rod & Staff Math curriculum, we discovered that our son has some significant gaps in his math knowledge. We’ll continue addressing those gaps over the summer and this next school year, using Rod & Staff Math. He can’t wait to get into higher level science, so our goal is to have him ready for pre-Algebra in 8th grade.
• Science — Novare Earth Science; he’s been dying to use this book ever since his brothers studied it!
• American Studies — From Sea to Shining Sea: the Story of America {Homeschool Connections – Recorded Classes}
• Christian Studies — in addition to the normally-scheduled Christian Studies IV, he’ll be doing Confirmation prep at our parish. We’re still deciding on which catechism program to use.

10 year old {5th Grade}

Our 10 year old struggles with attention, sensory processing issues, and eye convergence difficulties as well as limited core strength. The Simply Classical curriculum from Memoria Press has completely changed his school experience. It helps me to meet him where he is at and then lead him forward step by step.

There’s no watering-down with this program. Just Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in the format and pace my son needs.

This year, he’ll be in Simply Classical Level 4 with the following changes:

• Spelling — spelling has been a real struggle for him, so we’ll be working on Simply Classical Spelling: Book Two fromLevel 3.
• Christian Studies — we’re still deciding on our catechism program, but I’m hoping to do Christian Studies I (reading/discussion only) as a family.

9 year old {4th Grade}

Memoria originally released a 3rd grade curriculum that was paced the same as their model school, Highlands Latin. But many homeschoolers found the jump from 2nd to 3rd grade to be too intense.

To solve this, MP split many of the 3rd grade studies into a two-year pace that encompasses 3rd and 4th grade. The one-year pace is called Accelerated Third (3A) and the two-year pace is the Standard or “moderated” track (3M, 4M, etc).

When we began using Memoria, my daughter’s reading wasn’t strong enough for their 1st grade program so we started her in Kindergarten. We then continued through 1st and 2nd grade despite her being “old” for her grade.

Now, as she gets ready to turn 9, she really wants to deepen her studies.

She has shown that she’s ready for the jump, so we’ve decided to use MP’s original one-year pace through their Accelerated Third Grade Core. We’re making the following changes though:

• Latin — my daughter loved Prima Latina this year and really wants to dive into Latin. She asked if she could start First Form (usually started at age 10) instead of doing another intro course (Latina Christiana is normally scheduled in this core). We decided she could (Latina Christiana isn’t a prerequisite), but we told her we are going to take it very slowly and that she may need to take two years on it.
• Science — she asked to use the Mammals set instead of the normally-scheduled Astronomy
• Christian Studies — as with the others, Christian Studies I will be read/discuss only and we’re still deciding on a catechism program.

7 year old {2nd Grade}

Our 7 year old daughter struggles with emotional regulation and sensory processing issues and she is easily overwhelmed. The Simply Classical curriculum has been wonderful for her!

She’ll be doing Simply Classical Level 3 this year. The only adjustment will be in Christian Studies. We’ll read and discuss that as a family, plus she’ll be in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd/First Communion prep at our parish.

4 year old {Pre-K}

Except for our attempts at Montessori, I never did formal schooling for my preschoolers — until I realized our seventh child was getting lost in the daily shuffle.

I used parts of MP’s Preschool Program when she was two and it really helped us stay connected. Read-alouds, activities, and songs were already planned out for me, which meant they were actually likely to happen!

She doesn’t have any special needs, but with a mid-winter birthday, she wasn’t ready for the Jr.K program this year; so I decided to use Simply Classical Level B, followed by Level C, as a slower-paced junior kindergarten.

She has loved Level B and we’ll be wrapping up this sequence next year with Level C. She’ll also continue with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at our parish.

So that’s the plan! Maybe I’m a little crazy after all…