You guessed it- it is time to share our curriculum picks for the 2021-2022 homeschool year. You should know none of the creators, publishers or authors have paid me or given me free product to share this with you. I, like you, spend way too much time on Youtube and Instagram doing research and crossing my fingers as I purchase. Let’s kick off this series with Language Arts.
Last was our first year using All About Reading (you can read about it here and here) and it was so good, the next levels for both boys was the first purchase I made. Both boys’ literacy skills and their enjoyment and desire to read skyrocketed with this curriculum. Not to mention, they offer tons of free games and resources via their website. We are all looking forward to the great things ahead!
Both boys will also be using Spelling You See this year by Demme Learning. We introduced it with James during the 20-21 school year and the method has really proven to work-not just to improve spelling fluency but also helped James meet other goals like increased confidence, handwriting and working independently. I’m excited to use both levels in tandem with the boys now that I have a solid rhythm with James.
For grammar, we were thoroughly pleased with Growing with Grammar. I honestly don’t have any complaints which may sound odd given that we will not be using it next year. Again, I have no malice at all with Growing with Grammar but I feel James needs a tiny push in this area, hence us switching to Easy Grammar. I went back and forth and after speaking with my husband, we both agreed level 3 would be the push he needs and aid in his writing skills.
We will bring back our Dash Into Learning books for Jude to practice reading fluency.
There is no shocker here when I tell you we are using Learning Without Tears for handwriting. It is all we have ever used and I have not anything comparable. James will continue with manuscript but will also begin Kickoff to Cursive will Jude will begin lowercase manuscript.
And that’s Language Arts! Any questions? I may answer them in this video or via IG.
How is 2021 treating you so far? I surely hope you are well. If you can’t tell by the title, this is the first in a series of blog posts where I will be updating you on all of the curriculum we’ve used this year. If you need a refresher on what we are using for language arts (LA), check out this blog post.
I would also like to preface this with homeschool curriculum is an experiment. It just is… you honestly really never how well something will work until you try it.
Alright now to LA!
I’ll start with the All About Reading (AAR). This was the biggest investment for us, time wise and financially. After prepping both sets for each of my kids, I planned out the lessons. I’m not going to lie- I was intimidated. I was used to open-and-go, easy peasy instructions. Here’s what I’ve learned thus far.
This curriculum is exactly what my kids need. I honestly can’t express to you the gains my kids have made since September using this curriculum. Not only is James reading more fluently, he now loves reading. It excites and delights him. It’s opened up a new portal for us in all subjects. Jude started this year not being able to recognize any letters consistently or know any phonemes. Now we are at 20/26 with 95% accuracy. Even better-I’m learning and growing with them. The curriculum comes with letter tiles and syllable tags. However, we opted to purchase the app for $20. I know, that’s a crazy amount for an app. However, it’s a lifetime purchase that I can use for both children through their matriculation of this program.
I will also add this-once we got into a rhythm of homeschool the lessons became way easier to implement and much less intimidating.
So, basically AAR is a hit and both my kids are excited for me to purchase the next levels for them.
Our other LA picks for James were for grammar and spelling. Because I felt like AAR was going to need more times and reading is where I wanted the most focus, it was important to me that spelling and grammar were kinda bare-bones. I mean no frills, no videos, no manipulatives. Just simple lessons taught principle by principle. Growing With Grammar and Spelling You See are just that. I also like that there is plenty of time to practice previous lessons while learning new principles.
Same goes for spelling you see. It was also important to me to have some things that James could easily complete independently so I could work with his brother, Jude. The copy work, rhyming and rhythm practice is just what the teacher ordered.
Handwriting for both boys is Learning Without Tears (LWT). I honestly can’t say enough good things about this company. Even their price point is really good. For someone who never understood the schematics of teaching writing, let alone to children with a fine motor delay, LWT takes the cake, frosting, sprinkles and candles. Hands down.
Lastly, we introduced journals this year. While we are still trying to find our footing with using them daily, we use them as frequently as I can and I love seeing their creativity, fine motor skills and critical thinking skills improve.
All in all, language arts is a hit! I am still looking for good books to add to our library that challenge James and won’t be over Jude’s head… a tough one for this wanna be minimalist. Maybe I just need to cave and let us have a more expansive library? What do you think?
I’ll be back with all our other subjects in the coming weeks.
Alrighty, mighties! Let’s get this curriculum picks series show on the road! Today we are talking all things Language Arts! (See what I did there?) Just a moment of truth here, reading, writing, and grammar are my JAM! They are where I thrive and live! My kids, however, would prefer numbers and circuits and games and whatnot. Thus, all the business below. Alas, my disclaimer, I haven’t been paid for nor am I an affiliate marketer or brand ambassador for the following companies or products, although I should because free publicity yields sales. I digress. Last thing- If you would rather listen and/or see these, check out my YouTube videos here.
No Name A (see this post if you’re confused by the name), PreK, K-Primer and Level 1
All About Reading, Pre-reading and Level 2
Measured Mom
Growing With Grammar
No Name B (again, see this post if you’re confused by the name,)
Dash Into Learning and other books and readers
Friends, I know. This seems like a crap-ton of stuff. I get it. Let me explain in brevity. So, before I knew that No Name A’s commitment to diversity was nothing but a mere marketing ploy, I purchased it. So… I am using it ONLY as a spine to make sure I’ve got everything covered. However, I am REALLY glad I looked for other things because these next two things I am VERY EXCITED about!
All About Reading (AAR) is a multi-sensory reading program that has no gaps. Y’all, I was going through the lessons and there were things I was never taught. At all. In all my years of education. It is not teaching sounds and sight words, it teaches so much more with a multi-sensory approach and y’all know that is our jam. I scooped level 2 and Pre-Reading for James and Jude respectively and they are both very excited to start with it.
So, No Name A barely goes over grammar in their curriculum so I bought a supplement thinking that was the norm. I was wrong. The “supplement” I bought, Growing With Grammar, is comprehensive, yet to to the point. It is way more than a supplement, it is everything. It has short lessons that reinforce and teach new concepts.
Another thing No Name A was lacking was spelling. It had charts and reviews but never really taught how to spell a word or what spelling even was. Again, I am so glad I found other things because No Name A really had us on the struggle bus! I digress. Back to spelling. So, I stumbled across a YouTube video of Spelling You See and my game leveled up! Off to a used homeschool store sale I went a purchased level B. James started book 1 this summer and I am quite pleased! It really is spelling you see, not just sounding out a word.
Handwriting will always be Learning Without Tears! The way they teach letter formation is unparalleled! Legit, I am not aware of any comparison and I am not trying to find out any. Jude will start Kick Start To Kindergarten and James will start Letters and Numbers for me.
Again, I get that all of this seems over-the-top. I explain it all in greater detail with some peeks into what we are using here.
Ok, I know you’re thing, “How exactly is she going to use all this?” The short answer, loop schedule! The long answer? Do yourself a favor and YouTube loop scheduling because they can explain it better than I can. We are looping all the things. More on that later.
Ok, I’ve got more coming just as soon as my fingers can type, edit and schedule.
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.
