Mid Year Homeschool Curriculum Review // What I'm loving (and what I'm not)

Hey friends, welcome back to my channel. We are a couple of weeks into 2024 now and I can hardly believe it

This school year is flying by. We are halfway through and today I'm going to be giving you my mid-year homeschool review update

I love to share with you about the curriculum that we're using what I think is going well and what I think is not going so well, where we might be making some changes

So if this sounds interesting to you, keep watching and we'll go through my mid-year homeschool review

If you're new here, my name is Sarah. I am a homeschooling mom of four kids. My oldest is 12 and we're using mostly sixth grade curriculum for him this year. I also have twin daughters that are 10 and in fifth grade and I have a preschooler

that just turned five. I am a Christian. I love Jesus. And although we don't use all Christian-based

resources, I do strive to teach my kids from a biblical worldview. So that might be important for you

to know. And before I go any further, I want to share that I'm doing this video as part of a collaboration

between a few other wonderful homeschool moms. Davine from Calm in the Chaos Home School and

Shauna from Homegrown homeschool are hosting this collaboration. And I'm going to link a playlist

in the description below. So you can check out some other mid-of-your-home-school reviews

if you're interested. Okay, let's get started. Before I start talking about curriculum

I want to give an update on two of the tools I'm using this year to help my kids and I stay

organized, be able to navigate our lesson plans super easily, and also keep track of my state

homeschool requirements. I still am using both homeschool planet and homeschool hall for these things

Homeschool Planet is an online lesson planner, and I use this to plan out our daily lesson

schedules and any other tasks. I've been using it for about a year now

and it has really, really helped me be able to quickly plan and also rearrange things easily

when things don't go how I did plan them. Typically, at the end of each week, I'll look ahead

to the next week's plan and make notes for my kids, edit lessons, or move things around if I

know we have changes to our schedule. And with homeschool planet, I love how my kids are able to

log in to their own accounts each morning and see exactly what they need to be doing and check it

off as they go. It's a great visual and a great way to help them stay on track. And then with

homeschool hall, I do have a video on this resource, but it's my favorite one that I found for

tracking homeschool hours, which we have to do for our state requirements. There are other tools

that track hours and even homeschool planet can do it, but this is the best one that I found that

works for me the best for many reasons. So if you have to track state requirements like

home mainly hours is what I use it for, but I know there are different things like

grades or attendance, do transcripts, lots of things like that, definitely check out homeschool

hall to see if it's a good fit for you. I always check in with the graph stat board around this

time of year because it's a really good visual for me to see if we're on track with our hours

and how we're doing there. Okay, let's get on to the curriculum updates. I'm going to talk about

my three older kids first because they use a lot of the same resources and we do a lot together

and then I will talk about my preschooler at the end and how things have been going with him. First up

is My Father's World exploring countries and cultures. This was our first year back to my father's

world. We had used them for many years when I first started homeschooling. Then we used B.JU Press

distance learning online for a while when my littlest was born. And I was really excited to come

back to it. I missed a lot of the learning that we would all do together. And I missed the curriculum

I had heard that this curriculum was mainly geography. And yes, it is. But that was a

was fine with me because we really needed it. I've done a few videos where you can see exactly

what the curriculum looks like, how the weeks are structured, and things like that if you want

to watch those, if you're interested in learning more about how that works. My overall thoughts

I do really like this curriculum. We've had a lot of fun with it, and I definitely recommend it

Remember, my kids are fifth and sixth grade, and I really do think that this is a good age for them

to be going through it. We could have done it last year, and I think it would have been fine as well

it's actually recommended that third grade is the youngest to start it

And I think that's fine too. If you have a third grader, there might be some parts that are a little bit harder

like the geography book and some of the science reading. But overall, I think their age recommendations are pretty spot on

And we've had great success with it this year. The curriculum did feel like a lot for the first five weeks because we were jumping around

to a lot of different books, learning about maps, atlases, getting a feel for things

but it calmed down so much after that and we are taking it at a very relaxed pace right now

When we first started, we were doing this every day and now we maybe do it about three or four days a week

and still can get through everything that we need to. We are not doing the entire curriculum as planned

The curriculum includes Bible, geography, science, music, and art, and read alouds, and a little bit of language arts

but then you add in your own English, spelling, math, reading, and foreign language if you want to

And the parts that we skip are really just their language art section and the music and art portion

Everything else has been really manageable. It does not take up a lot of time during our day

And I do think it's given my kids a greater understanding of geography and expose them to learning about a lot of different cultures

There are a couple of things to point out. If you are thinking about using this curriculum and you want to go more in depth

with each country and culture that you study, you do need to do some prep work

So some weeks I've been able to get this done and sometimes it's harder for me to stay on top of

It was definitely easier in the beginning when our schedule wasn't quite so crazy

but it's getting harder now. What the curriculum does include is a fact sheet

for each country and a map activity, but otherwise most of the learning that you'll do

about each country is through the books that you pick up from the library, any extra activities you plan or videos

that you pick out to watch. Don't get me wrong, I think that there's enough information in the curriculum as is

but I do wish that there were more things included to kind of guide us in our learning about each country and culture especially you know I not so naturally great at piecing together

resources like this, especially when I'm short on time and things are just so busy

So we're, we're enjoying it. We're enjoying what we are learning. We love the read alouds that have been included

We've really enjoyed kingdom tales and the different missionary books that we've read so far

Science has been the only part that I haven't really loved. And I mentioned in one of my other videos that it just felt a little bit too light for my kids and their ages

We weren't really enjoying any projects or experiments, mainly because I didn't personally choose to do the one suggested, and I just wanted a little bit more

So we're still going to be doing some of the reading, the science reading, one day each week as it relates to the countries that we're studying

So typically with their science, they have a studying ecosystem or something that's related to the country

we're learning about. So we'll still do a little bit of reading on that. Otherwise, we're going to be

trying out sunlight science E for the rest of the semester. I have an entire video on that that you can

check out if you want to learn more about the curriculum and see what it's like. We are only two weeks

in, but so far it's been okay. It's been a good addition and we'll see how it continues to go

So wrapping up the My Father's World Talk, I'm happy that we use

this as our spine this year, even though I am modifying it a bit and don't use it exactly as

it's planned out. We are going to continue with Creation to the Greeks next year, so I will talk

more about that in an upcoming video. For Bible, we are following the My Father's World suggestions

and reading through the Book of Matthew together, but my kids and I also attend BSF, which is

Bible Study Fellowship. They have a small amount of work from that each week. This is going

really well for us. I'm actually a leader in the student program this year, which I will admit

has been both a blessing, but also a little bit harder on me because there's an extra time

commitment. But my kids and I really love this program. We've been doing it for years now

and we've seen some great fruit come from it. We also recently added in some catechism work to

our daily routine, and I would love for you to check out my video on that to hear why we are

adding that in, and I will link that video down below. Okay, let's talk about history. My father's

world doesn't really have much history this year, but we didn't get through all of our history

curriculum last year. So we decided, well, I decided to continue using it and finish it this year. So

it's BJA Press Heritage Studies 5 and we honestly only do this for about two days a week. It's going well

There's not much that I would change. It's definitely more of a traditional style curriculum, but my kids

are doing well with it. This covers, you know, America's first people all the way up to the present

I think it ends with the Obama administration and it actually covers some pretty controversial topics near

the end of the curriculum, some moral issues, gay rights, abortions, things like that. As with all

BJU press materials, I've loved the biblical worldview focus, and my kids and I have had a lot

of great discussions while studying history this year. I love that we can all do it together

Their heritage studies six, so the next class, I believe, covers ancient civilizations. So if my

father's role doesn't seem to be going well next year for some strange reason, it will always

consider coming back to this. Speaking of BJU Press, we have have also been using basics for a biblical worldview and I love this one too. I'm not going to talk

too much about the curriculum because I do have a whole video on it that you can check out, but

it's going really well. We are taking this one very slowly. I'm not in a rush to get through it

mainly because of our schedule constraints, so we only do it two or three days a week. I will say

that the activity manual that comes with it is a lot, meaning it's a lot of writing and can take

my kids a long time to get through some of those activities. Sometimes I have them write everything down

Sometimes we just discuss it together. As with anything, you make it work for you and your kids

But I highly recommend this curriculum if you have middle schoolers because it's just so important

to have these worldview discussions in this day and age that we are living in. And this curriculum

really does a great job of covering that. All right, on to math. You might know that we are using

CTC math this year. I do really like it. As with anything, there are pros and cons. But

but using an online math program is just the best fit for us right now

All three of my kids are in different places. They're working at different levels

And when you are just so busy, it can be really helpful for them to have a program like this to work through

Otherwise, it would just be another 30 minutes to an hour each for me to teach

and work through math with them each day. So the pros, they can work at their own pace

And for the most part, it's pretty hands off for me as far as the teaching

goes. I go in each week and I schedule their tasks. I put them in homeschool planet, so it's very

clear what I want them to do. When we originally started using this, I was kind of letting them

go at their own pace. I told them what section to work on and just kind of said, go had it

But I quickly found that if I didn't intentionally check in on them, they weren't working on it

as much as they probably should have. So, I know, I probably should have figured that would happen

but you live and learn. So that's something that I've been doing this month. I've been intentionally

planning out their assignments and scheduling them in the planner. And I think it's been so far helping out

a lot. I don't love the grading aspect of CTC math in the sense that it doesn't allow for partial

points. This was something that was always important to me as a math teacher, allowing partial credit for

problems because oftentimes my kids will understand the big point of the problem, but they'll miss one little thing

type it in wrong and then there's no going back so right now I think we're fine

because I don't really have to count the grades for anything but once we get

into high school range I'm gonna have to think about this a bit more maybe

reevaluate if this is still the best program for us and being a former high

school math teacher I think that part of me is getting a little bit excited

about the opportunity to teach my kids algebra and geometry and things like that

so we'll see what we do when we get to this point but overall I think see

CTC Math is giving my kids a good foundation and the math concepts that they need to know

It not going to work for everyone but it working for us right now It doesn take them too much time most days to get through their math and I feeling good about it We are going to continue with this next year My goal for my son is to be

able to get through their eighth grade program next year. It's similar to pre-algebra, and this will be my

son's seventh grade year. So the hope is to start algebra in eighth grade and count it as high school

credit. We're on track to do that as of now, so that's the plan. I will also share that CTC math has

weekly revision questions which help kids review previously learned concepts. So I have these

automatically assigned each week. And what I've been doing is if I notice them not scoring well on

them, I will print those out and have them complete the work with me so that I can follow through

their thought process and help them out a bit more where we needed. So this is just something that

has been going well and helping us out with our math. Next step is language arts. This year

we tried something completely different and gave learning, language arts through literature a try. So my son is using the tan book and my girls are using the purple

book. Last year we used BJAU Press and we had different curriculum for reading, English, spelling

and handwriting. And it was taking a lot of time and the all in oneness of this curriculum really

appealed to me. And I heard some great reviews on it. I really wanted to love it and I'm just liking it

I am a little underwhelmed. I think it was going okay for the first couple months and there's

nothing inherently bad about it. I'm just realizing that it's maybe not the best for us to continue

moving forward in the next year. We are going to finish it out for the year, but I'm going to be

using a different option for next year. The fact that this curriculum is all in one, meaning it covers

your spelling, reading, slash literature, your writing, grammar, handwriting. It's not necessarily

bad thing. It saved us a lot of time this year and it's very inexpensive so I can see where it would be a

good option for many families. But for example, I'm finding that my son needs more writing instruction

and more practice with this and not necessarily as much spelling, grammar, and reading comprehension

My girls need more on the spelling end. And I think that all of my kids need a little bit more

literature and I think I was expecting a bit more on the literature end from this curriculum since

that's part of the name, but really it's a lot more comprehension. Not as much literary ysis in the

day-to-day work or in the actual student workbook in the plan or the schedule. The literature pieces

are short little bites that we read and we use those to answer questions and learn spelling

grammar, and things like that through those little passages, but it's very disconnected. So for example

we spent five weeks on passages from Mr. Popper's Penguins, but we were never assigned to

the entire book and the passage has chosen had no real connection to each other. Yes, we could read

the entire book on our own. That could be something that you want to do if you want to add that in

but it's just not part of the curriculum. Now they do include a few book studies, which is where

some of the literary ysis comes in. And my kids have enjoyed reading these books, but I've

been, again, less than impressed by how they actually incorporate these into the curriculum. It's

kind of a do-on-your-own-own-thing, add them in when you can on top of the rest of the curriculum

which is okay, but then you just need to be intentional about doing it. That was hard for me this semester

I want something that's planned out, that's scheduled, it tells me when I need to do it, what I need to do

That's just how my brain works. So also for those studies, the student workbook does not include

the pages where they answer questions about the book or anything like that. Those are all in the

parent guide. So it just makes it harder for the kids to be able to work through those lessons. I would

love it more if these book studies were scheduled in, like I said, or even better, if the rest of

the pieces like the grammar, the vocab handwriting were worked into the novel studies, I think that

would help a lot. So anyways, not a terrible curriculum by any means. I don't think we're doing

any harm in continuing it as my kids don't necessarily mind it. I just think we could use a little

bit more and I'm just going to be switching it up next year. We are going to be using essentials in writing

and essentials in literature for my older son, and I'm going to be using essentials in writing with my girls

I'm still working on what I'm gonna do for lit and possibly spelling, so stay tuned for that

One of the other big things that we do in our homeschool is our weekly co-op

Last semester, my kids took Latin, which I teach, and they did drama and J.A. BizTown

We loved all those classes, and we'll be doing the same classes this semester

They start up again in February. For Latin, we've been using. Memoria Press. I started teaching this with Prima Latina and then we did Latina Christiana and now we will finish first form Latin this year. Super easy to teach. I do not have a Latin background. I've never learned Latin. I'm learning it along with the kids and this curriculum. I have no plans in switching. I really, really love this curriculum and it's been working really well in a co-op setting. It's a small class, but I think it's more fun for the kids to learn their main lesson together and then they have

workbook lessons that they do during the week. Co-op days can be kind of tough, mainly for me

the kids love it, but it takes four hours out of our day. So we try to get a little bit of work

done before and then finish up anything absolutely necessary afterwards. But I do also try to

keep our schedule lighter on those days so that we don't get overwhelmed. But we've been doing this

co-op almost since the beginning of our homeschooling journey. My kids have made some wonderful

friends there and they get a lot out of the enrichment classes that we do there. So even though it's hard

for me schedule-wise, because I get stressed thinking we're not going to finish all of our history

or language arts today or whatever, I have gotten better about letting that go, simply rearranging

our schedule and homeschool planet, click of a button, and just seeing the value in what we are doing

right? We can't get everything done every day. We have limits. And I'm learning

that homeschooling just offers so much flexibility and freedom. It important to learn to relax a bit and enjoy our days together enjoy our time together especially if our kids are having fun and learning So that something that I working on this year and slowly getting better at

Okay, that's that I think for our main curriculum. We also have some extras that we will continue to do

We take a quilting class once a month every, it's on Friday, once a month on Fridays. And

typing is something that I also have my kids do every day for about 15 minutes. We are using typing.com

and they just log in and complete their lessons. They are getting pretty good at using this

but they are still looking at their hands. I was telling them the other day

that I was gonna make some cardboard stands to put over their hands like I had to use in school

So they're gonna keep working on learning typing. Once they're through all those lessons

we will continue to improve speed and things like that. But right now typing.com is working really well for us

Oh, and art, that was one of my New Year's goals to do better at actually doing our art curriculum

It had just fallen by the wayside during the first part of this year, but we are going on two weeks now of working on our art projects

So, so far, so good. We use creating a masterpiece and so far my kids have enjoyed the projects

I am not 100% sure if we are going to continue using it next year or not

I kind of want to look more into the art that's included with my father's world, creation to the Greeks, and still need to make some decisions about that

So that's it for my older kids. Let's chat about my preschooler real quick

There's not as much to stay here. It's been a good year so far. We are using my father's world voyage of discovery

and he really enjoys it. It's a very, very gentle curriculum. Lots of repetition each week

which, to be honest, we do at this point end up skipping some of the activities week to week

because some of it he's a little bored of by now. I think the curriculum has been great

for helping him learn his letters and their sounds. we've both loved the Bible readings and many of the activities

We love the books we've been reading. And he actually still asks me to do school halfway through the year, even on the weekends

So I think that that's a good thing. I've been very relaxed with this curriculum this year and don't feel bad about that

We do the parts that we love and what works for us in our schedule and we skip the things that

we don't like or we don't have time for. I definitely recommend it to moms who need ideas, who need or want structure

for their preschooler. I said before that a box curriculum like this isn't necessary, but it can be such

a big blessing. And I'm really happy with it this year. So I think that just about covers all of the

curriculum stuff. Mostly, I am really happy with how things are going this year. And I think it's always

good to check in about halfway through and reflect on what's working, what's not, how are the kids doing

do we need to make any immediate changes, things like that. I don't usually prefer to make big changes

midway through the year unless something can really be improved kind of like our science or if the kids

just are not doing well with something so although there are some things that are not perfect

there aren't any other huge pivots that we're going to make at this point in time i'm also feeling

really good about some of the fun field trips and activities that we've been able to fit in this year

i am terrible at planning things like this and i always feel a little guilty about not having more

fun things for us to do. Well, luckily, there's this amazing mom that I know that has organized

a field trip group and she plans these outings every other Friday or so. And I have tried my best

to go to the ones that we can make. Part of me just wants to hang out at home and chug through our

lessons, you know, the box checker type A part of me. But the other part knows that my kids love

this kind of stuff. And it's so important for them to get out and explore new things. So

We've had a couple of neat field trips and some fun outings with friends. This Friday, we are going to the World Chess Hall of Fame

I honestly didn't even know we live near a place like this, but there you go. And really, it's a great reminder to me that, again, we can't do it all

Just because I'm not great at planning field trips doesn't make me a bad mom, and I don't

need to feel bad about it. God gave us all unique gifts and talents and strength

And part of being part of a community is leaning into that

letting others be strong where they can be strong and use their talents, and showing up when it's

something that I can do well for everyone else. It's a great lesson for our kids to learn, too

that it's okay to delegate and lean into people that the Lord has placed in your life to fill those gaps

So whether it's with field trips or using an online class in your homeschool or whatever

it's okay that we can't do it all on our own. We are not made for that

What I'm loving most this year, though, is seeing my kids grow and start to develop their own interests

more and more. It used to really bug me that either, you know, they didn't love reading or they

didn't have a thing that they were really interested in. And I had a step back from that and stop

pushing so much. I realize now that there's a lot that I can't force, but I can provide opportunities

for them to learn and love learning and trust that we will continue figuring this out together as we

all grow. And I'm loving seeing their relationships continue to grow. This is something that I didn't

really have with my own brother growing up. And I'm really thankful for this time that homeschooling

is providing us to spend together and for them to get to hang out and get to know each other as

siblings and just become friends. Things are going well this year and going fast. I literally can't

believe we are halfway through January right now, but it has been a good school year so far. I hope that

you enjoyed this update, enjoyed listening to me, ramble a little bit about our curriculum

and sort through my thoughts on some of it. If you follow me on it, Instagram, you might have seen my reel with all of the unpacked boxes. I definitely do have new

curriculum rolling in that I need to get unboxed soon. So make sure to subscribe to my channel and

hit that notification bell in case you were interested in seeing those unboxing videos and learning

more about the curriculum that we're going to be using next year. Finally, don't forget to check out

the collaboration playlist. There are a lot of other homeschool mamas excited to share their mid-year

reviews with you and I think you'll love them. Thanks so much for watching

I hope you have a blessed day