Homeschooling Second Grade

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This was our second time around homeschooling a second grader in our house. So, what did we do this time? Since this was our daughter's second-grade homeschool year, we used Adventures in U.S. History from My Father's World as our spine. We also used a variety of other resources to make this year educational and fun. 

Resources for Second Grade 

With Adventures in U.S. History as our starting point for our daughter's education, we added in lessons from Math Mammoth, Skill Sharpeners Geography – Grade 2, Stepping into Science Kit, and Science: Lessons and Investigations - Grade 2. We also used Math Challenge from Memoria Press and I Can Do All Things Book and DVD for art.

We read wonderful books for history and as read-alouds. These included: 

• Pilgrim Adventures 
• The Courage of Sarah Noble
• On the Banks of Plum Creek
• Sarah Whitcher's Story
• In Grandma's Attic
• Mountain Born
• Farmer Boy
• Squirreled Away (The Dead Sea Squirrels) 
• Crossroads at Galilee 

One of our favorite resources was the Patriotic Songs of the U.S.A. CD that was part of the second-grade curriculum. It contained the following songs: 

• God Bless America 
• America
• Yankee Doodle
• America the Beautiful 
• There Are Many Flags
• The Star-Spangled Banner 
• You're a Grand Old Flag
• The Stars and Stripes Forever
• Columbia the Gem of the Ocean 
• The Battle Hymn of the Republic 
• Armed Services Medley 

We spent the year listening to each song for two to three weeks and learning the words. It was fun singing along with the songs with our children. We also spent time looking for different versions of the songs to hear the different lyrics and musical choices. 

Homeschooling Second Grade Science 

We used a variety of science resources including those that are part of Adventures in U.S. History: 

• First Encylopedia of Science 
• Science in the Kitchen 
• Sicnece with Air 
• Birds, Nests, and Eggs
• Fun with Magnets Kit 

And a fun science kit we reviewed, courtesy of Timberdoodle, brought science to life with more experiments. There were quite a few experiments from all these resources that our children loved doing! 

A Fun Year 

Homeschooling second grade was so much fun. Our daughter built upon the skills she started in kindergarten and first grade with My Father's World. We spent time working on speed and accuracy in math. We read more books and dug deeper into U.S. History with Drive Thru History, our read-alouds, timeline, and more. And we also worked on adding more Scripture to our memorization work. 

Adventures in U.S. History was a great curriculum for both our daughter and son. It was our spine for our daughter and we used the history, scripture, and read-alouds for our son. I can't wait to see where Exploring Countries and Cultures will take our family!

An Out-of-this-World Homeschool Opportunity

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When you think about homeschooling, what comes to mind? What are your concerns? Whether you have been homeschooling for years or you are new to the journey, you may have questions about curriculum, field trips, co-ops, and more. With different social media platforms and numerous websites, you are never far away from connecting with homeschoolers or finding answers to your questions. But what are those questions? And how can we provide our children with an out-of-the-world homeschool experience? 

Common Questions Asked by Homeschoolers 

1. What about socialization?

2. What is the best curriculum? 

3. How do you grade assignments or courses? 

4. How do you teach multiple grades? 

Socialization and Making Friends 

When people find out someone is homeschooling, they often want to know about socialization. How will the children make friends? But when you really think about it, when schools force children to be together in one classroom for the majority of the day, do they really get to socialize? Didn't we all have that one teacher who said, "You aren't here to socialize?" After all, school is supposed to be a place of learning, not talking and having fun.

If school is not for socialization, where do children make friends? Well, there are many places for children to find others with similar interests. There are sports teams that are not connected to public schools, homeschool co-ops, clubs through the library, and activities at church and with neighbors and family. Our homeschooled children can find friends in many places. And they will find friends of different ages and those that have lived different lives, since they are not only choosing from 30 kids in their classroom.

We can provide our homeschooled children with many out-of-the-box opportunities to allow them to meet new people and experience the world around them. They will gain the skills they need to interact with people of different ages, beliefs, ethnicities, etc., just by participating in daily life. What a beautiful way to introduce them to God's world! 

Curriculum 

What curriculum you choose will depend greatly upon your worldview, your children, your teaching methods, and your budget. There is a multitude of curriculum providers, from those who sell everything in one neat package to those who provide individual subjects, classes, or materials. Some families find it easier to purchase everything – math, language arts, history, science, etc. – from one company, while other families prefer to shop from among a variety of companies. 

Over the past several years, we have found numerous curriculum companies and providers whose products work well for our children. We want to teach our children with a Biblical worldview, but I am not opposed to materials that are secular as long as they do not teach anything that goes against our faith.

Some of our favorite curricula or providers include: 

• My Father's World: Studying God's Creation from A to Z: A Review of My Father's World Kindergarten Curriculum
• SchoolhouseTeachers.com
• Home School in the Woods 
• CTCMath 
• Memoria Press 

Grading Opportunities 

Depending upon which state you live in, your grading needs may be different from mine or someone else reading this post. You may need to keep graded assignments for each course, starting with elementary all the way through high school, or you may not need to worry about grades until you start recording them for a high school transcript. 

If your curriculum comes with an answer key, then you are all set. You can use that to make corrections and then ensure your child understands the corrections. They should be able to fix their mistakes and apply the corrections to their next assignment. You don't want to just grade something and then file it away. Your child should use those graded assignments to study and make corrections in their own learning. You can also use them to help guide your lessons. If they don't understand the 4 times table, don't move on to the next math lesson until they do.

If there is no answer key, you will need to do more work as a parent with your child. What if they are writing an essay or research paper? You may have a rubric to help you grade the essay, but you may not be familiar with the subject material. So you may need to do some studying yourself or seek help from someone who knows the subject matter. Keep in mind that sometimes teachers assign topics that they are not super familiar with, and they still grade your children's papers. They are usually looking for a strong thesis, well-written paragraphs, and details that support their thesis. You can do the same!

Multiple Grades 

The usual approach to schooling is to put children of certain ages together in grades. They get separated out based on their age, not on their ability. We don't need to do that as we homeschool. We can provide our children with an out-of-this-world learning opportunity. We can teach all our children at the same time. Their individual assignments may look different. They may be reading different books independently or working on a variety of math problems, but we can spend time learning together. 

Our younger children are close in age and grade level, so we spend a lot of time learning together. In fact, we use our daughter's curriculum as our spine and then add in what we need for each of them. Since we sit together at the dining room table, they both listen in to each other's lessons at times and pick up new things even if they aren't studying that particular subject or topic. For example, our daughter has been introduced to multiplication as her brother studies it. She hasn't had official lessons on multiplication yet, but she will have a general understanding when we do start those lessons. 

The easiest way to teach multiple grades together is to spend time reading aloud. You can read aloud history books, living fiction, science books, textbooks, the Bible, and more. Your children can work on independent work, color, draw, or play with quiet toys while you read aloud. Reading aloud gives you the opportunity to discuss what you are reading and share special time together as a family. Our read-aloud times are some of my favorite homeschooling times. 

What Questions Do You Still Have? 

We've looked at a few questions today that are common among new homeschoolers. What questions do you still have? Please ask in the comments. 

How Do I Teach in My Homeschool?

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New and seasoned homeschoolers are always interested in how others homeschool. Whether they want to know because they are starting on the homeschool journey themselves or they want to see if there is a better way to homeschool, the goings on in other homeschool households are always fun to read about! And as we modify and adapt our homeschool lessons and days as our children grow, we might need some new tips and tools, too. 

How I Teach a High Schooler 

I was a high school history teacher for several years, so homeschooling a high schooler should be easy, right? Well, the skills and methods needed to teach a classroom of teenagers are a bit different from those required to teach one high schooler who happens to be your stepson. The differences between teaching in a public school setting and a homeschool setting make almost all of the skills I acquired as a high school teacher unnecessary.

When you are homeschooling your high schooler, you have a relationship with that child already. Whether or not you homeschooled them from their first days of school or started at some point along the way, your bond with your child is stronger than any bond you will form with a student. Parents will also find that a lot of the problems of the high school classroom are not there in the same way. There will be distractions but not necessarily from other high schoolers. It is easier to discuss the common things that pop up when teaching high schoolers. From body odor to relationships, you have more authority as a parent, so you can more easily address these delicate topics. 

So how did I teach our high schooler? We used SchoolhouseTeachers.com as our primary curriculum for 10th-12th grades. Our oldest joined his younger siblings in the homeschooling journey after he had attended public school from preschool to ninth grade. Since SchoolhouseTeachers.com is an online curriculum, our son and I utilized email and shared documents as a way of sharing lesson plans, materials, assignments, and more. 

Takeaways from homeschooling a high schooler: 

• High schoolers are pretty self-sufficient. 
• Even though they can do things on their own, you still should check in with them. Whether that is through reminders sent or daily chats, you can easily find their struggles and missing assignments through communication. 
• Communication is key. 
• Allow them to participate in course selection when possible. 
• Don't be afraid to change things if you need to during the homeschool year. 

If you want to read more about how we picked courses, set up a schedule, and more, I have shared several posts over the years: 

Day in the Life of a Homeschooled 11th Grader

Day in the Life of a Homeschooled 12th Grader

Homeschooling During the High School Years

How I Teach an Elementary-Aged Child 

Currently, on our homeschool journey, I have taught preschool through fourth grade and tenth through twelfth grade. Each grade brings different joys, challenges, and requirements. When homeschooling younger elementary-aged children, a variety of resources and curriculum has been important for our son, but a box curriculum has been the key to homeschooling our daughter. 

For our daughter, we were fortunate enough to review the kindergarten level of My Father's World, God's Creation from A to Z in 2020. This curriculum was a great fit, so we have been using it ever since for her. This year we are including her older brother (who is in fourth grade) in some of the lessons, too. Having everything laid out in a teacher's manual makes homeschooling our daughter so easy. 

Our younger son seems to thrive on variety. We use a mix of curriculum resources for him, including the history and Bible components of his sister's box curriculum. We are currently using materials from Memoria Press for Latin, penmanship, science, and some additional history, as well as mathematics from both CTCMath and Math Mammoth. And we have two books from The Critical Thinking Co.™ that have helped build his language arts and critical thinking skills. And finally, we are finishing up a study guide from Progeny Press for The Cricket in Times Square (please note we did not read the edited version). 

I write out the tasks for each day in our children's agenda books. All the materials that they can complete independently, I put in a pile with their agenda. They can get started working right after breakfast by themselves or wait until I start working with them. I try to save the assignments they both do together to serve as breaks in between difficult work. That way we can have our read-aloud time or work on our memory verse as a break. 

Takeaways from homeschooling an elementary-aged child: 

• Be prepared to change things if they are not working. 
• Allow for time for siblings to work together and work independently. (Or if you belong to a co-op, make sure you have some courses that you do alone at home.) 
•  School when your children are ready. You do not have to start at 7 am or be finished by 3 pm. You can school after dinner if you want or need to. 

How I Teach a Preschooler 

Preschoolers do not need a lot of formal education. Play is the most important thing for homeschooling a preschooler. But what do you do when they want to school because they have older siblings who are homeschooling? Well, that all depends on the child. 

Both our younger son and daughter enjoyed coloring, painting, and playing with Play Doh and educational toys to different degrees. They went through phases where they wanted worksheets to complete because their older brother was homeschooling with worksheets. Or they wanted to use scissors to cut but not practice cutting using the fancy book we bought for them. 

Takeaways from homeschooling a preschooler: 

• Preschoolers are never predictable. 
• Keep things simple with games, toys, etc., that you already own. 
• If you want to use a curriculum, you can! 

Typical Day 

What is a typical day? There really isn't one. We homeschool year-round so that we can take off days or weeks when we need to. And even though we start the new year in September, we keep moving along with our curriculum from the previous 'year' if it is not completed and I see value in finishing it. We do not have to follow the tradition of the public school and try to cover the curriculum by a certain time. We can finish books, lessons, and more because we have the time and freedom to do so. 

How do you teach in your homeschool? Do you have a typical day? 

Art History for All Ages: A Review of Have I Got a Story For You! Downloadable Art History Video Series (Renaissance)

 

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this digital download from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Are you looking to incorporate art history into your homeschool curriculum? We found Have I Got a Story For You! to be a wonderful way to introduce art history curriculum into our homeschool lessons without too much muss and fuss. And because Have I Got a Story For You! is designed to be used with children across multiple age ranges, I am able include both our children in the lessons. 

"Mrs. Beth and her animated drop of paint, Gasfy, will introduce your students/children to artists that influenced these art periods. Through creative storytelling and silly antics, Mrs. Beth and Gasfy make the artists and their masterpieces come alive."

About Have I Got a Story For You! 

There are four different art history curriculums from Have I Got a Story For You! available through Timberdoodle, including the Renaissance Series, the Baroque Series, the Impressionist Series, and the Post-Impressionist Series. We were able to review the Renaissance Series in our homeschool. 

The Renaissance Series includes:

• One introductory video, "Who Needs a Flea Collar?" 
• Five videos on da Vinci
• Four videos on Michelangelo
• Two videos on Raphael
• 12 lesson plans that align with the videos 
• "Name that Artist" PowerPoint Game
• Downloadable Flashcards (da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, instructions for the Flashcards, and Flashcards cover)

How We Used Have I Got a Story For You! in Our Homeschool 

I have introduced this art history curriculum into our daily routine a few days a week. We watched the video one day and worked on one of the suggested art activities. I then choose other activities in the lesson plan to do throughout the week. 

Our Thoughts

I remember taking an art history course in college to fulfill my art requirement. We studied ancient art from prehistory through Roman history. We spent a lot of time reading about the pieces, but I don't really remember a lot from the course itself. The things I remember the most are those which brought life to the art pieces, which included two field trips that students took on their own to local museums (without the teacher).

Have I Got a Story For You! art history course jumps to life with the powerful stories shared by Mrs. Beth and Gasfy. Even though our children are not seeing the Renaissance works in person, they are seeing a variety of pieces through the video lessons, and we have the opportunity to further research using the lesson plans. 

I also appreciate the fact that this course is not just about art history. There are also plenty of opportunities for our children to learn new art techniques and put those skills into practice. For example, one of the first activities we did was to draw pictures after we learned about perspective. 

Lesson Plans 

What do the lesson plans bring to this art history curriculum? They are a valuable part of this fun video series! 

• Great table of contents in the Lesson Plans PDF 
• Objectives included for each episode
• Multiple art and extracurricular activities to pick from (including group activities and activities for advanced students) 
• Vocabulary word list (great for spelling lists) 
• Critical thinking questions that could even be developed into essays
• References to the HiGASFY Pinterest board in the activities 

Art and Extracurricular Activities 

Just what types of activities can you find in this section of each plan? How can you incorporate these questions into your homeschool day? 

• For those students who want to practice art skills, there are multiple art activities, including drawing, painting, sculpting, and even creating a fresco! 
• Hands-on activities are included, such as creating a buckler, making paper airplanes, and more. 
• History-related research projects
• Geography 
• Science activities that ask your students to make their own play dough, make a slingshot, or examine the illnesses of the 15th century. 
• Writing activities that include critical thinking questions with each lesson.

Video Component 

One of the best parts of this particular art history curriculum are the videos with Mrs. Beth and Gasfy. They are delightful and engaging. The videos are clear and easy to watch. I previewed the first several ones before sharing with our children. I found that the second time I watched them, I picked up more information. I love homeschool curriculum that allows you to learn more the second time you go through it. 

Final Thoughts 

Our children are really enjoying this art history curriculum from Timberdoodle. They think Gasfy is just the cutest thing. I really appreciate that Mrs. Beth is introducing difficult topics (studying the Black Death is no easy task in elementary school) in an interesting way. Our children have been able to learn about the Renaissance time period while incorporating new art techniques into their repertoire. 

I would recommend Have I Got a Story for You! (Renaissance Series) for families who are both homeschooling and those who have children in public or private school. The work is fun and interesting while teaching art history. The lessons are easy to add into your regular homeschool schedule, or they would be perfect for a summer break where you want to continue schooling on the light side. Your children will learn more than they realize by watching the videos and completing activities you assign them. This is a very easy art history curriculum to make your own. 

Printables for your Homeschool Classroom

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Resources that help us review, refresh, and expand upon our homeschooling subjects are wonderful additions to our homeschool classroom. We have been blessed with a one-year membership to Super Teacher Worksheets, which has a variety of printables for elementary students. Since it is the summertime, we are mostly using the printables to help review and expand right now, but I have plans to use several of their grade-level-specific resources during the entire year.

What are Super Teacher Worksheets? 

Super Teacher Worksheets is an online site that provides its members with over 20,000 printable PDF resources for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. You can download as many worksheets as you need during your one-year membership. These 20,000+ printables are distributed among the following subject areas: 

• Mathematics 
• Reading
• Writing
• Phonics
• Spelling 
• Social Studies 
• Science 
• Holidays/Seasonal Activities 

And if you can't find the worksheet you are looking for...check back or create your own! 

Super Teacher Worksheets adds new resources on a regular basis, so don't forget to check back often during your membership. While many of their worksheets are Common Core-aligned, I haven't found that to make much of a difference other than the information is available for those who want it. 

If you want to make your own worksheets based on your curriculum, you can use their worksheet generator. I decided to create a crossword puzzle for our Roman history lesson to help our son remember the facts to know and the vocabulary from his first lesson. 

And many of their printables are also available with Spanish translations. 

Using Printables from Super Teacher Worksheets 

One of the first things I did when my membership to Super Teacher Worksheets was renewed was to check out the seasonal printables. I love finding mathematic sheets that will help reinforce our current studies that are themed. And Super Teacher Worksheets sometimes has coloring pages or crafts that we can do with our children. 

After I perused the Holiday printables, I began looking for worksheets that would help our children in areas where they were currently struggling. One of the topics in mathematics that our son needs help with is angles, so I found the various printables relating to identifying and measuring angles and printed those out for us to work on together. 

I decided to focus on grammar and spelling with our first grader in addition to the coloring sheets I printed for her. I found the Fix the Sentences collection for grades 1 through 4, where children correct the mistakes on the printable PDF worksheets. While we are using them daily, you could also use them all together rather than over the course of the week. I really like that there are different levels, so we can progress through them if our daughter is successful at the first grade level. 

Our Thoughts on the Printables from Super Teacher Worksheets 

One of the great features of Super Teacher Worksheets is that you have access to all the levels of worksheets at one time. You do not need to sign up for a specific grade level. So if your third-grade child is a wiz at mathematics but needs more help spelling, you could pick fourth grade math worksheets but second grade spelling worksheets. 

The worksheet generator was quite easy to use. I only needed to put in the names and facts to create our crossword puzzle. I also discovered they have a generator for classroom newsletters. This would be a neat thing to use with your homeschooled children, so they can create a newsletter for family and friends. I also like that I create as many math worksheets as I need so our children can practice addition, subtraction, and multiplication. You can make division worksheets, too. We just haven't reached that point yet in our curriculum.

Another neat feature that I didn't really use was the filing cabinet. You can create folders to save your favorite worksheets, and the worksheets you generate and save will be housed in your filing cabinet. I think this is a great feature if you travel and need your favorite worksheets accessible on different computers. 

While we have only been using Super Teacher Worksheets to supplement our current studies, there are some subjects where you could easily put together a semester or full-year curriculum from the printables on their site. I feel the most intuitive ones to use for a full-year curriculum would be spelling, reading comprehension, and perhaps science if you worked your way through the available printables.

I would recommend Super Teacher Worksheets to homeschooling families who are looking to supplement their curriculum. The printables make it very easy to help your children succeed in areas where they may be struggling. Review, refresh, and reinforce important skills with Super Teacher Worksheets.  

Please be sure to visit the Homeschool Review Crew to see how the other members of the Crew have used Super Teacher Worksheets in their homeschool classroom. 

Swimming Through New Waters: Are You New to Homeschooling?

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Are you new to homeschooling? Would you like to start homeschooling this coming year, but you don't know where to begin? There are so many wonderful options for families who wish to start their quest to educate their children at home. From boxed curriculum that contains everything you need to curriculum sites that allow you to pick and choose the courses that meet your family's needs, you can tailor your children's education to their needs. 

We began our homeschooling journey a few years ago with our youngest son. Since he was a preschooler, we didn't do a lot in the way of formal education. We spent a lot of the time playing, reading, and learning together. Then, his older brother decided to join us on our homeschool journey when he was in the 10th grade. He left public school, and we starting homeschooling officially.  

I was fortunate that even though we were new to homeschooling, I was part of a wonderful group that allowed me access to a wide variety of quality homeschooling resources. I became a member of the Homeschool Review Crew after writing several courses for SchoolhouseTeachers.com. So, I not only had access to a full curriculum through SchoolhouseTeachers.com, but I also had access to the different products that the Crew reviewed during the course of the year. With these homeschooling resources, we were able to easily create a curriculum for our teenage son in addition to his younger brother and sister.

 

Are You New to Homeschooling? 

If you are new to homeschooling, the waters are full of rich resources, but at times it can seem scary and overwhelming. Where do you even begin? There are several things I recommend you think about before you take the plunge into the deep waters of curriculum buying. 

What is your goal for homeschooling? Will your children return to public school? Are you homeschooling through high school? (I promise it is not as hard as you may think!) 

How do your children learn best? Do they thrive on hands-on activities? Do they love to read and write? What subjects do you need to teach them? 

Do you have a large family? Are you trying to find a homeschooling resource that will meet the needs of everyone in your family without breaking the bank?

Our Favorite Homeschooling Resources

I have been blessed to try out a wide variety of homeschooling resources in our family. From online math curriculum like CTCMath to supplemental, hands-on history resources from Home School in the Woods, we have tried a range of homeschool products from the time our homeschool was new. Some of them I would easily recommend to new homeschooling families, and others I think may be best suited for those who have been swimming in the waters of homeschooling for a while. 

One of the best ones for families who are new to homeschooling and for those who have been homeschooling for years is SchoolhouseTeachers.com. As I mentioned before, I am fortunate enough to work for The Old Schoolhouse®, and SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a division of that company. Even though I work for The Old Schoolhouse®, I would not just recommend their curriculum if I didn't use it in our homeschool. We have used it as our core curriculum for our high schooler for the past three years and have used a variety of lessons, courses, and materials for our younger children. 

What Do I Like About SchoolhouseTeachers.com? 

One of my favorite aspects of SchoolhouseTeachers.com is that, for one price, you gain access to all the content for grades PK-8th or PK-12th grade, depending upon which level you select. So, if you have a large family, you do not need to join for each child. Having access to the entire curriculum also means you can use 4th-grade math materials and 6th-grade language arts materials for one child without having to pay extra. You find exactly what courses you need to meet the needs of your child. And if you are new to homeschooling, this makes it very easy if you don't know what levels your children are at in their education.  

When using SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you can select to use entire courses or even the School Boxes that lay out curriculum guides for each subject area, or you can pick and choose what you wish to teach in your homeschool. For example, we completed our science curriculum early, so I looked through the Second Grade School Box's Science Curriculum Guide for a few lessons and activities to include in our son's summer studies. As we will be studying mammals this year, I skipped over many of the lessons to focus upon Watersheds and the Water Cycle. 

After you select a course, School Box, or lesson you want to teach, you can either use the lesson plans provided or you can use the materials in the way that works for your family. The Watersheds and the Water Cycle is part of the Science Unit Studies and can be a stand-alone unit study. I am choosing to loosely follow the suggested lesson plan from the Second Grade School Box's Science Curriculum Guide (this is found in Week 33) and read through the materials with our son. We read a few pages a day, I ask him to write the definitions, and then we discuss the diagrams that are included in the unit study. If you are a new homeschooler, a unit study like this is the perfect way to wet your feet in the homeschooling world. 

Of course, there are lots more things I really like about SchoolhouseTeachers.com. It is a curriculum grounded in a Christian worldview. I do not need to preview every single page to ensure my children will not see something I fundamentally disagree with in terms of values. There are also over 400 courses, record keeping tools, a homeschool planner, a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, streaming videos, and access to World Book Online. All of these wonderful resources are fantastic for those who are new to homeschooling! 

New Sale Coming July 19 2022 

 (New members only. No refunds. US customers only.)

Day in the Life of a Homeschooled 12th Grader

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I can hardly believe that our oldest will be graduating soon. When he started his schooling journey, it was in public school, but he eventually decided to join his younger brother and sister on our homeschooling quest. 

Prepping for the Homeschool Year 

As this was our oldest's last year of high school (after I had bookmarked a variety of possible courses on SchoolhouseTeachers.com), I invited our son to sit down with us to go over all his options. (And there are a lot of options on SchoolhouseTeachers.com!) Little by little, we narrowed them down to pick ones that would fill out his final year of homeschooling. 

We created our own schedule for the year based on the courses at SchoolhouseTeachers.com, but you don't have to do it all alone. If you are not looking to create your own course schedule, you can use the School Boxes on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. For 12th grade, the box includes: 

• Precalculus 
• High School British Literature 
• For writing: 
• Writing: College Admission Essay 
• Writing: Advertising Copy 
• Writing: Compare and Contrast 
• Words and What to Do with Them 
• Specific pieces from Writing and Classics-Based Writing
• High School Spelling
• High School Physics 
• Two History Options: 
• Traditional: American Government (Part One) and Economics (Part Two)
• Classical: Understanding Modern History 
• Art 
• Studio Art for Teens
• Digital Art and Product Design for Small Business
• Inkscape Online Adventure

Prepping for the Homeschool Week 

My methods for preparing our senior's homeschool week are very similar to those of last year. I use an editable PDF to plan out the days and weeks using the lesson plans from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. I often just copy and paste the information if it fits into the boxes. For some courses, I have printed out the lesson plans so that our son has a full list of assignments. I then just type the unit's title or week number to follow in the weekly plan.

For those courses where I print out the materials, I try to print several weeks in advance and have those in a three-ring binder. He can access this binder whenever he wants so he can look ahead or look at work he has completed. If I do not print the materials (usually because there are a lot of links within the document), I email them to him each Sunday night or Monday morning. He can then work through that week's assignments online. 

What Courses Is Our 12th Grader Taking? 

This year, our high schooler had a lighter course load as he has completed most of the requirements he would need to fulfill if he was following a public school course load in our state. But this doesn't mean that he didn't actually take a lot of courses. Many of his courses were short – 9 weeks or 18 weeks long, so he actually learned a lot from a variety of disciplines this year. 

• Introduction to Worldview and Philosophy
• Apologetics: Creation vs. Evolution
• United States History: Exploration to the Present Day Lessons
• Business Plan Creation 
• Money 101 
• High School British Literature
• Introduction to Graphic Design 
• Spelling High School 

I can bookmark all of our son's courses on SchoolhouseTeachers.com, so they are easy to find.

A Typical Day 

As both my husband and I are working from home now, we have schedules that vary and need to be on conference calls or online meetings. With our days being busier, we have asked our oldest to help with his younger siblings in the morning by getting them breakfast. And on some days, I have asked him to help one of them with various homeschool assignments. By asking our 12th grader to help more around the house, we hope to teach him how to run a household.

For the majority of his homeschool work, I give our son a lot of freedom. I let him pick and choose what order he wishes to complete assignments in and on which days (with the exception being tests or quizzes). Like many children who receive a lot of freedom, there are times when we need to push him along to make sure he is completing his assignments. 

In general, he completes his work for each subject in one day. So Mondays, he may focus on Spelling and do the entire week's worth of work while he would forge ahead with his Apologetics course on Tuesdays. Personally, I do not have any problem with the order in which he does his work as long as he is completing it. 

I think it is important to note that homeschooling does not magically happen. Just today, we had a 'meeting' with our son to discuss a poor test grade and try to motivate him to finish the year strong. Like so many young individuals, our son is smart, but that does not always translate to schooling – whether in public school or homeschooling. As parents, it is our job to help provide the tools, encouragement, and sometimes the prodding to make sure that work is completed efficiently and to the best of our children's abilities.

And if you are curious what his 11th-grade year looked like, please visit Day in the Life of a Homeschooled 11th Grader. 

How to Plan a Homeschool Day

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Have you decided to homeschool? There are so many wonderful options for homeschooling, from online curriculum for specific subjects like CTCMath to print materials you can order to teach history. If you are looking for curriculum-in-a-box, perhaps you want to check out Timberdoodle (we have reviewed many of their products including Zig Zag Puzzler, which is part of their 2020 9th grade Curriculum Kit, and Gobblet Gobblers, which is part of their 2020 Kindergarten Curriculum Kit) or SchoolhouseTeachers.com. In order to plan out your days, there are some important questions to ask to help you get started. 

Top Five Questions to Ask When Planning 

Your Homeschool Day 

What time of day would you like to start homeschooling? 

When is your family the busiest already? Do you go to work or work from home? Do your children participate in outside activities? You can easily divide up your day into different sections such as 

• Early Morning 
• Mid-Morning 
• Lunchtime 
• Afternoon 
• Evening 

All are equally good times to start your homeschool day based upon what is best for your homeschooling family. There are times we start early in our day, and then some days we start homeschooling in the late afternoon and evening because of other obligations. The beauty of homeschooling is that we can plan our day for our family. And so can you! 

How many subjects would you like to cover each day? 

Will you study each subject - Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, etc. - each day with your homeschooling children? Will you pick one or two to be completed each day while you rotate through the other subjects every other day or weekly? All this might depend upon the age of your children and what they are studying at the time. 

For our teen, we allow him to decide what subjects he will complete on which day. I prepare a weekly plan of lessons he needs to complete, starting on Monday of the week, and then I allow him to arrange his daily lessons. There are times when we need to review his tasks, and we assist him with his time management. 

My Father's World kindergarten curriculum forms the core for our daughter. Each day she completes some math and language arts activities based upon the lesson plans in the Teacher's Guide. I will then supplement with materials from My Teaching Library, SchoolhouseTeachers.com, and Focus on Fives curriculum. 

Will you study any subjects together as a family? 

Many homeschooling families enjoy learning multiple subjects together as a family. While mom or dad reads from a work of fiction or non-fiction, younger children may color while older children take notes or complete activities. Many subjects are easy to combine, depending upon the age of your children. Science experiments can be conducted together, and you can watch history documentaries and movies together and then discuss what you have learned.

How will you fit in field trips, documentaries, co-op opportunities, outside classes? 

You don't have to teach it all! There are so many wonderful opportunities to allow your children to learn from others. Many zoos, museums, and historic sites not only offer tours but often host workshops or homeschool specific classes or days. If you don't feel like an expert on a topic, you can easily look online to find out who is an expert and view interviews or documentaries or share books and articles with your children.

What learning style or homeschool methods do you want to use? 

There are a variety of popular homeschooling methods or approaches that you can research and apply. Many individuals often end up taking an eclectic approach because they borrow from multiple methods tailored to fit their own children's needs, learning styles, and interests.

The names of some of the methods are (the links below will share some information on these methods): 

• Classical 
• Charlotte Mason 
• Montessori 
• Unschooling 
• School-at-Home 
• Unit Studies 
• Eclectic 

A fellow homeschooling blogger at Homeschool on the Range shared a video that discusses many of the homeschool styles: Exploring Homeschool Styles.

Which method or style do you think you would like to use in your homeschool? Personally, our family takes a Classical approach in some ways, enjoys using unit studies, and combines curriculum and materials that help our children learn based upon their individual learning styles.

Favorite Homeschool Curriculum and Resources of 2020

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We had the privilege of reviewing many different homeschool curriculum and resources during this past year while being members of the Homeschool Review Crew. One of the traditions of the Homeschool Review Crew is to select their favorites and award them a Blue Ribbon for such topics as favorite math curriculum, favorite science resource, or favorite elective. While our family has not reviewed every product and vendor that was reviewed by Crew members this year, we did review quite a few and selected our favorites. 

Language Arts-Related Favorites 

There were many awesome language arts resources reviewed by Crew members this year that we also count as our favorites, including: 

Reading Eggs – Both our younger children love working through the various parts of Reading Eggs such as Math Seeds and Reading Eggspress. They have enjoyed the addition of Fast Phonics, as well. Even though we did not write a review of Reading Eggs this year, it is no surprise that it was chosen for more than one Blue Ribbon by Crew members. 

The Boxcar Children Early Reader Set – With reviewing this early reader set perfect for younger children – we were introduced to the Boxcar Children series. We have since purchased one set of the books and checked out several more from our library to read. I love that the stories are simple and easy to read aloud. 

Mathematics-Related Favorites 

It was very easy for our two younger children to pick their favorite math curriculum/resource. They both agree that they love CTCMath. In fact, our daughter asks to work on her CTCMath on a daily basis (although she does add in an extra TC to the name). In addition to the complete online math curriculum of CTCMath, our youngest also said that she loved working on the materials from Page A Day Math,    which made me very happy as practicing math facts to work on math fluency is important. 

One of the projects from Let's Go Geography

History-Related Favorites 

As a history major and former history teacher, I love it when the Crew reviews history-related curriculum and resources. We started the year off reviewing SchoolhouseTeachers.com and then reviewing Let's Go Geography, which was a wonderful addition to our homeschool year. Then, we spent time reading about C.S. Lewis and his place in history, learning about elections, then the American Civil War with Home School in the Woods, and finally spending time with a family favorite – Drive Thru History®. 

Let's Go Geography – While our second grader has spent the majority of the time completing the lessons of Let's Go Geography, his sister was able to join in all of the different fun crafts. I really like the fact that both our children can work together on this geography homeschool curriculum. 

Home School in the Woods – We have used a number of resources from this great company over the years. I love how they truly bring history to life for those using these homeschooling resources. For example, they provide period crafts and recipes in addition to readings and projects to complete. 

General Homeschool Resources 

There were also a number of wonderful resources that were reviewed by Crew members that I found to be valuable additions to our own homeschool this year. About the time that I joined the Crew Admin team, we received a subscription to Super Teacher Worksheets and then My Teaching Library. I have been incorporating materials from both these sites into our younger children's homeschool day on a regular basis ever since. 

Super Teachers Worksheets – From seasonal worksheets to grammar and mathematics, there are so many useful resources for our homeschool at Super Teachers Worksheets. We have incorporated mostly grammar into our second grader's homeschool day along with some fun coloring sheets for our kindergartner. I love the ability to search for items easily with their menus. 

My Teaching Library – I have been able to find so many great resources to use with all three of our children, from a study on Beowulf, which our senior read at the beginning of this year, to monthly skills workbooks that I am using with our two younger children. I love that I can find seasonal worksheets to include in their homeschool day. It makes our weeks fun and exciting. 

A few of the worksheets from My Teaching Library

Complete Curriculum 

There were several products that really stood out for our family in terms of complete curriculum. We were chosen to review My Father's World: God's Creation from A to Z  as well as Focus on Fives from BJU Press Homeschool with our kindergartner. Both these curriculum have really helped our daughter blossom and develop a love of learning. And for our younger son, I have been using materials from Homeschool Easy for grammar and mathematics, but they have a complete curriculum for grades 1 to 5 with reading, social studies, science, and writing. 

God's Creation from A to Z – We were blessed with being able to review the complete kindergarten curriculum from My Father's World. This meant we added a great number of children's books to our homeschool library, as well as were able to incorporate important religious instruction into our homeschool day. I am eagerly awaiting starting the Christmas unit after Thanksgiving – it looks like so much fun! 

Focus on Fives – This has been such a fun curriculum to use in our homeschool. I love how we have been able to incorporate the holiday-themed lessons from the last Teachers' Guide – such as the one on Easter and now Thanksgiving – into our homeschool day. And our daughter loves her 'bunny homeschooling.' 

Other Favorites 

There were several other family favorites that I must simply mention. From fun games to learning a new language, we have added a lot of cool resources into our homeschool day. 

Geography and mathematics have been studied in our homeschool, courtesy of two fun games from Byron's Games. Our entire family has enjoyed playing both Continent Race and Math Sprint this year. I love that we have two more board games that we can play – and they are educational, too!

Memoria Press – I have been circling the Prima Latina in the Memoria Press catalog ever since we started homeschooling. I really wanted to learn Latin alongside our younger children (our oldest took French in high school, like I did). So, I was very excited when we were given the chance to review the complete set! I love the organization of Prima Latina. It has been an excellent addition to our homeschool journey. 

A Fun Homeschool Year 

With all the bumps of 2020, we have been blessed with many great homeschool products to review in our home. The companies have been very gracious to share their wonderful resources with the Homeschool Review Crew, so we could review them and share our thoughts and opinions with you. I know that over the course of the past two years of being a Crew member, I have found several companies that I will be patronizing in the years to come. 

If you are curious about who was awarded Blue Ribbons by the Homeschool Review Crew, I urge you to visit their post. While you are there, don't forget to check out the other Crew's posts as they share their personal favorites from this homeschool year.