2019-2020 Curriculum Review, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Hey Loves!
Is anyone struggling to plan during this time? Some days, I’m all over it. Other days, I forget I haven’t changed the wall calendar since MARCH! So, I guess you could say I am tight-rope walking that fine line. Today, we are talking about what I used for our 2019-2020 homeschool curricula and how I felt about them. Disclaimer: I was not given a single one of these products, if they were free it is because they are offered as free downloads. Let me note, that title is quite misleading. There is no “tea spillage” or anything ugly for that matter, in my opinion, and that is definitely not my intent. Per usual, I am sharing my truth and my experience.
Let’s start with brother Jude.
For the record, I know his age and I know a lot about early learning and development so don’t come for me in the comments about “let them be little”. Jude demanded a learning bin and workbooks like his brother daily for months to the extremes of committing violent acts sooooo, I found lots of free resources to make him some workbooks. I initially thought he would be over it really quickly. To date, he is not over them and when he saw next year’s curriculum he looked at me like I was Steve Harvey holding a check for a million dollars. What can I say? The kid likes learning.
The main items I used for him where these alphabet bubble finding worksheets from The Measured Mom. She is a gem and very generous. I’ve shared in stories how we use them so head over to my IG and check that homeschool highlight.
For math, we used a curricula company that I will not mention or publicize as she not only doesn’t have a stance and/or doing the work on racial injustice, when I inquired about said stand via social media, she blocked me. In the least, that’s terrible customer service so I contacted her shop provider, Teachers Pay Teachers, and only then did she unblock me and give a very basic unweighted response. We will call refer to this curriculum as No Name B. Back to math for Jude- All year long, we worked on number recognition (1-10), counting items to a specific number, shapes and colors. For my auditory learner, the multi-sensory approach offered in both of these curriculums were just what the doctor ordered and I’m very pleased with what is selected for him for next year.
Next Up, James.
This is where it gets dicey. James has all three learning styles. (He gets it from his mama!) Said learning styles must be met and then reinforced to achieve retention and application. Still with me? So, this is where we get really eclectic…
Language Arts: During the summer of 2019, after James was reading CVC word family words, I took it back and worked on sight words, rhyming and syllables. Why? I felt like his foundation was solid-ish, and I wanted full-force, no slip, no-fall, no cracks foundation. So, we used The Measured Mom’s Rhyming Clip Cards, Syllable Clip Cards and Rhyming Games. We also used No Name B’s sight word packs. Jude is currently using the same rhyming slip cards and will use the other resources as well. We also used Explode The Code workbooks to continue working on phonics, word families and reading. We also read pack one of Dash Into Learning as a summer reading challenge and we both loved those!
Still with me? (I know this a lot and I am condensing as much as I can, promise!)
Enter the start of his “kindergarten” year, quotes because he isn’t school-age for K but we homeschool and I can say he is in Kindergarten if I want to because that’s my business. I digress. For Language Arts we used yet ANOTHER curriculum that I have used before but they will not be mentioned because they too will not take a stand on racial on injustice AFTER committing to making their curriculum more diverse. I’m baffled and honestly pissed off. They will be known as No Name A from here on out. He finished level K of that program and I am so incredibly pleased with what I selected for him next year. Like, I’m over the moon. Here is why- No Name A ALWAYS had gaps I had to supplement and fill with other activities or curricula. I thought that was normal. That is until I didn’t want to use them and found wonderful curricula solid.
Math: We used No Name A, level k. Y’all it was gorgeous. That was about it. It was taxing to complete a lesson because they took forever, had lots of manipulatives, and got to the point where it wasn’t fun. We only finished book 1 and only did the actual lessons, none of the other fluff. I sold book 2 and level 1 happily. Another thing, that curriculum only allowed you to go into the next level of the same curriculum successfully. James would’ve floundered with any other curriculum. That’s a no-go in my book.
James also used Math U See, which will refer to as, “MUS” from this point on. This is a math curriculum by Demme Learning and was referred to me by several mamas. I initially had this as my main curriculum until I realized one lesson is like four problems. There are about 5-7 lessons per chapter. James did MUS Primer and we LOVED it. I love the concept and it truly helps a child who has multiple learning styles “see” what they are doing. It is a mastery program and the company has been committed to racial injustice before it was “cool” and has receipts.
And everything else we did together…
That’s right! Circle time (calendar, weather, morning menu), Bible, Black History, Social Studies and Science were all done together with the Jesus storybook bible, a map and lots and lots of books.
I failed at Nature study after November because I now realize I am not exploring in rain, temps colder than 70 degrees or with ornery kids. However, when those were not factors, we explored and we learned.
Alright, peeps, That’s enough for now. Coming up, everything *I think* we are doing for next year.
Love you. Mean it.
