Choosing to homeschool is a HUGE leap of faith. It was something we prayed about and really struggled with the pros and cons, and ultimately decided was the best option for us and our family. You can read about “why” we homeschool in this post, but today I wanted to share the curriculum we chose for the upcoming school year. I researched a few different ones (what’s nice is most will have a free sample you can download to get a feel for if it’s the right fit for you and your kids) and these are what we landed on, and I am nerding out and can’t wait to start. ;)
2022-2023 Homeschool Curriculum Choices
Now that we made the decision to homeschool both Sophie (6) and Sam (8, with nonspeaking autism) I knew choosing curriculum I could use with her and also implement some parts of it with Sam (with supports as needed) was going to be important!
Recently I’ve been learning about the Charlotte Mason method and really aligning with it. So I’d say our homeschool style is Charlotte Mason-inspired while also being very much “wild and free.” We read a TON of really GOOD books (fairytales, fables and rich stories), listen to good music (we’ll be going through a few composers, including Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven), and our lessons will be short to allow us to spend as much time as we can in free imaginative play outside and a heavy dose of nature exploration.
We have chosen The Good and the Beautiful for Language Arts, Handwriting and Math. Level 1 for each (Sophie will be in 1st grade, so I just went with grade level).
I also grabbed this Learning Without Tears Building Writers book as a review for Sophie, and this Draw Write Now book (and this journal to go with it) which I think she will LOVE as she is quite the little artist! I also got this stand for her book while she journals. We will be alternating between the 3 handwriting books, for variety.
For Sam, we’ll be working on writing by practicing tracing shapes, lines and his name with a dry erase marker. I just print out some pages with shapes, and dotted lines to trace, as well as his name, and then put them in these dry erase pocket folders that are so awesome! I’ll be doing the same for the other two, letters for Sophie, and also one for Ollie so he can “do school” with them and not feel left out. ;)
For history, we are going to be learning American Girl History which I am SO excited for!!
We have also found a wonderful nature-based center for the kids to take enrichment classes at a few days a week. I am also part of a few local homeschool Facebook groups that facilitate meetups, for all that “socialization” everyone likes to bring up when they hear the word “homeschool” (we’ll get to that another day lol). ;)
We personally are signed up through a charter school, which is nice because we have the resources they provide and a teacher to help us with whatever we need (although I am still the teacher for my kids). They also provide funding for extracurricular/curriculum/manipulatives/field trips/passes, etc. I know in California, you can also file a PSA (private school affidavit) stating that you are you own private school, and you’ll be left alone if that’s what you prefer. We did that at the end of last year, and it was as simple as signing a paper! Super easy. So, definitely check your state’s guidelines for homeschooling, they are all different!
Follow along to see how we implement everything, the supports we use with Sam, and how it all goes (and how we fit Ollie (3) into the mix as well)! I’ll be sharing the journey (the good and the crazy lol) along the way! Mixing in life skills and time simply spent together, we are so excited for this homeschool year to begin!
Hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions!
xo
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