Homeschool Family Subjects Curriculum Considerations 2024-25 | History, Science, Geography, & Art
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 เม.ย. 2024
- Sharing more of my curriculum thoughts with you all in todays video. We’re chatting about family subjects of History, Science, Geography, and Art. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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Notebooking is a great way to allow your child to deep dive into topics. Let her pick a topic, go to the library and grab some books related to the topic, and let her have at it. It's also very budget friendly. Easy-Peasy is a great resource for art projects that relate to history. Most of the projects are simple, with materials most homeschoolers already have, and it's FREE. You just have to do a little leg work picking out which projects you want to do for each region/time period.
That's a great idea! Thx!
That's a great idea! Thx!
So… for Sonlight…. You could get a used Instructors guide (or Bookshark). They have a 1 year world history program too. Then you could look for the books used or at the library. I’m a big Sonlight/Bookshark fan :) and it included geography so you wouldn’t need to get that too :)😊
Thanks for the tips! ❤️
Try Journey Homeschool Academy for science! We switched midyear and it has been AMAZING! My children and I LOVE it and we all are thriving! My elementary (earth science), middle (earth science), and high school (biology) children are using them.
Thanks for the tip! ❤️
My child’s hybrid school uses project passport and the kids really enjoy it, it’s used for a 4/5 grade class. ( I can definitely see it being used for a few grades older as well as it is very information rich and even tailoring it for lower grades as well). They have been going through ancient civilizations, it has a great amount of information and lots of hands on crafts. They’ve made mummies for ancient Egypt, and currently making a mosaic for Ancient Rome. I also found a series called The Histronauts, it’s a short graphic novel of modern kids traveling back to ancient civilizations. It was a great overview of what gets covered. Hope this is helpful. Love your videos!
Thank you 😊 sounds like it’s really fun! Glad to know someone else has used it and enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing!
We do Master Books for science and add to it. It’s plenty all by itself, but for my more curious children having more to add is wonderful. Honestly, I do all my curricula this way. I use the curriculum as a spine and draw in videos or extra reading or extra crafts/art/projects…just whatever will work best for each individual child. Sometimes we will hit a topic that we dive deep on and stay there for a bit and other times we don’t add anything at all and anywhere in between.
That is awesome! Thank you for sharing!
Guest Hollow has a phenomenal geography curriculum. And the weeks don’t tie into one another so you can pick and choose which week you want to study based on where you are in your history studies
Oooh thanks!!!
I second a lot of the comments here. For science, Guest Hollow could be a great middle ground for your kids. You can make it as light or heavy as you want, so you could have something your girls all do together and then your science loving daughter can go further into all the options they provide. Several of their courses also offer multiple grade ranges so elementary, middle, and high schoolers are studying the same topics each week. It’s very flexible. And Simply Charlotte Mason is my favorite history, but it won’t meet your specifications so I also have to offer Guest Hollow as one of my suggestions there. The Whirlwind World History is often split into two years by people doing the course. You can go bare bones with just the online text or add in all kinds of extra readings, videos, and projects. They incorporate a lot of art (the kind you specifically mention) and geography. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with Notgrass. They are top notch.
This was great! Thank you!
Love this video! History-Oak Meadow 6th and 7th grades is complete world history in two years! It includes geography and art/hands on activities. It is advanced enough for 7th/8th grades. It is secular but includes some biblical history. You can find it used pretty easily. Science-oof! Big hug! I’m so curious to see what you choose!
I’ll take that hug for sure! Thank you for the recommendation!
I second Oak Meadow we have used it for the last 2 years and we are entering our 3rd year. The 7th grade has a science lab book. We have also done science Bookshark Level D and Sonlight Level F. I do like these both if you are trying to stretch across grades. They both come with science kits. Let’s Go Geography you may want to look at.
@@littlelearnerandmomthank you!
I also liked using Guest Hollow this year. We used Biology this year and will use Anatomy next year. It was great for independence, videos, thorough content. I have taught from Apología, Gen Sci and Adv. Bio, but it was too wordy for us. The jump from Masterbooks science to Apología was a big one so I would supplement Masterbooks at 8th grade to prepare for high school science.
One option for World History is Story of the World, Vol. 1 & 2. The total CD listening time is 18 hrs. Comes with many activities so it can be flexible.
Guest Hollow is popular here! Love that. Also the jump from MasterBooks to other curriculums has been on my mind. We may need a transition time. Thanks for the suggestions!
I am using God’s Design Life this year and my 9th graders are using Aplogia Biology. It’s been amazing to have them come into the room when I’m teaching science to hear them say that they learned what we are learning in their science.
I am using God’s Design Physical World next year.
❤️
For my oldest we are going to try science shepherd so she can be independent. She will be going into 9th. For my middle we are going to do science together, he will be going into 6th. My youngest is pre-school. So, him playing outside and helping me garden is what I consider science at this point. For history we loved Notgrass. We did from Adam to Us and split it into two years. The graphics in these books are beautiful, and it comes with mapping and workbooks if you want. If you do this you would totally be able to dive deeper, and honestly we did it 3 days a week and got so much out of it. We loved it! We are planning on doing Guest hallows Cultural Geography for this coming year. Good luck on your choices. My struggle on choosing curriculum is always in Language Arts.
This was really helpful. Thank you for sharing. ❤️
For African History Kenny Mann has a series called "African Kingdoms of the Past" which is phenomenal. It would be a great addition to whatever curriculum you pick to dive deeper into African history.
Thanks! I’ll check that out!
Love your options. Gonna research some of the history and art options
Enjoy!
I stayed to the end..haha! Sounds like some really good ideas, but here's my feedback.
For Science: "New Curriculum Idea" use Science Shepherd for your 7th grader. My "non-science lover and hater of video lessons" 8th grader, highly recommends this for her. For your 6th grader, Berean Builders sounds like a winner or look into Our Journey Homeschool (video based but high level science). As a suggestion, whatever you choose make sure you pick the same subject. So both would cover Earth Science but from different curriculum. I had to do that this year with my kids and it saved me a lot of hair pulling. Next, the "Use what you have" is stay with Masterbook but add in Mel Science kits for your 6th grader.
History is so all over the place for me as well! I need to cover World History as well in one year. I crossed out Notgrass because of the authors selections. But I did find Core Knowledge World History which is free so I may use that. I also like Sonlight but plan on buying the teacher's guide used and finding the books at the library. I also like Oak Meadow's World History as well! Send help...lol! It may just come down my budget at this point.
Also, Bibloplan has a fun craft book that you might want to add in for hands on learning.
Whoa! 😂🥴 You’re speaking my brain with this history. If you don’t mind sharing was it the read alouds from NotGrass that you didn’t prefer? I wonder if I could find some replacements. 🤔
@@LifeofTillmans Sure! Let me preface this with this first, I strongly believe in the human race. Meaning I am a we are all related by one blood which is the Lord Jesus Christ! We are one race but different shades. My reason for crossing off Notgrass is similar to the reason you switched from Masterbook’s History. It is good but you needed to include more (the darker) shades of the human race.
Now thinking about it you could add in Stories of Color curriculum to Notgrass.
My prayer is that one day it will be a “religious “ history curriculum that would include all shades of people similar to Blessed Heritage.
@@fab5bailey369 Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’ve honestly come to the conclusion that we will likely need to add in what we want to learn to most history curricula’s.
Thanks for the recommendation of Stories of Color. I forgot about them.
I’ll be praying that prayer with you! 🙏🏽❤️
I would check out Guest Hollow for science. It can be as small or as robust as you like depending on how many books you want to add to read. Guest Hollow gives you a buffet of books to choose from plus added hands-on if wanted and videos if wanted. So each child can do the bare minimum or an interested child could add more. It’s reasonable pricewise because a lot of the reading material can be picked up from the library and/or free linked online. What you are buying with them is the schedule for the whole year with links to everything needed. Some also include a digital book as the spine.
There is campfire curriculum as well. Which can cost around $30 per unit and a child could do that one on their own and you can do it for multiple different levels when you buy one you get every grade level.
There is also Apologia it can done by the child alone. My son liked the MP3 option to read to him.
Thank you all of the suggestions! I’ve yet to do a Campfire study but it has been on my list for a few years!
We tried sonlight for history and it was truly a great program. The books were so engaging and we loved the lapbook to go with it. We have changed to My Fathers World for other reasons but I wanted to mention the way we were able to budget sonlight was by getting the teachers guide from them and buying the books from thriftbooks. (This is what we are still doing for the readers)
Adding we didn’t use Sonlight for world history. We used core D American History
Thank you for the cost saving method! 🙌🏽
We are excited to do Science Shepherd this coming year as a more independent option since we will have a new baby any day now! However, I don't think it's very intensive. Your science loving daughter may find it a bit light. I think it's a better option for kiddos who just want to get the science done and move on, which is kind of where we are at.
Sounds like a good plan for your family and early congrats on the new baby! ❤️ Thanks for sharing!
It also doesn't go through high school (except the biology course). We're also trying to find something that will last us through the high school years, so that's why we eliminated them from consideration.
@@Waylaid13 Thank you for this information as well. 😀
Sonlight is expensive but you’d use it many times and it’s WAY cheaper second hand. We loveeee it!
Good to know! Thx!!
Not sure if you want to do more research 🤣🤣🤣 but GeoMatters has two geography books you might like: Geography through Art and Trail Guide to World Geography. Can’t wait to see what you choose! Love this series!
I just found those options the night before posting this video! I can’t seem to stop myself 😂 They look so interesting! Thx!
Here to recommend Guest Hollow's Whirlwind World History. You can spread it out over 2 years. It is literature based, but you could really cull the list down because it is intended for high schoolers. It incorporates geography and art.
Ok! I did see that but marked it off because of the level. Thank you for sharing more details!!
Science is really hard when you have a range of ages and interests... oh vey! Wishing you luck on that one - LOL! I'm attempting to teach my upcoming 9th and 11th graders Masterbooks Chemistry next school year. They haven't done well being combined for science bc they learn so differently, but I got both kids their own textbooks, and I am hoping we can pull this off together! My thoughts were yours.... if I have to juggle two high school sciences, there isn't going to be enough of ME to go around!
😩 so challenging! Definitely need more of me for separate. Oh the decisions
For Geography, we have enjoyed Masterbooks Explore series. My son has done the first two. If you start with explore the Holy land it brings in a lot of history, and the lessons are interesting to my 11 year old. He’s always telling us about what he’s learning. And there is a variety in the types of pages.
I was considering doing Notgrass From Adam to Us in two years for my son, but also spreading it out for two years. We have used Notgrass in the past and really loved them. But for history, you seemed to be most excited about your last option that was on a file for you to print off yourself. I would say pick what sounds most exciting for you, especially since this is already a subject you don’t enjoy. It might help give you the enthusiasm to stick with it for the full two years. 😊
Just looked at the MasterBooks curriculum and I’m intrigued. Thank you!
I believe layers of learning also has art units to go along with history eras.
You’re correct I checked those out as well based on recommendations in the comments. 😀 They look interesting as well.
Thanks for sharing! You might want to look into Gatherround Artists for Arts. See if it will be good fit for your family.
We use Notgrass for history and we stretch it over two years. That was the best decision. You could definitely go in that direction. It has a lot of geography in it so you wouldn’t have to purchased another curriculum.
Thanks for the tips! Do you feel like the geography is substantial for your older ones?
Yes the geography was substantial for my older children. Looking forward to see your final picks for next school year!
My experience/advice (with quite a bit of experience including 1 homeschool grad) is: science-keep the oldest 2 together and add in extras for the science lover, highly recommend Campfire Curriculum for super fun topics or electives that can be very science-heavy.
History-Notgrass 100% and split Adam to Us over 2 years, there's a mapping aspect to that one (if you get the map book) and lots of projects that include art that tie in to the lessons.
Thank you so much!! Question: do you feel like the geography is substantial for older children? 7-8 grade?
@@LifeofTillmans if you take a few minutes to discuss what they're doing each day, maybe have a larger map that you have them figure out where the area they are focusing on each day actually is, then yes, it's enough. I will confess to sometimes just tossing them the colored pencils and saying "get it done" but something is better than nothing😂
@@jessicaolin4261ok this was helpful and yep I’ve been there too! Just get it done ✅🤷🏽♀️
Notgrass seemed perfect for you. From Adam to Us is 2 books and you could definitely do 1 a year. It gives you the opportunity to add books/art/and geography in there. I always get my Notgrass curriculum from Abe books
Thank you!
I was going to come and recommend Notgrass too. 😁
@@homeschooloutsidetheboxThank you!
My son loves all things Notgrass; he is my textbook-loving kid. My daughter hates textbooks. I am trying Beautiful Feet's new geography for grades 7-9 with her next year. It's about half what Sonlight is, but it doesn't include Bible. IMO, the big history/lit/bible packages from Sonlight can be really overwhelming. I consider the history books also the literature books - I don't see a need for a huge stack of history reads and another huge stack of literature reads. With that said, I did buy their American lit package (no history and no Bible) for my upcoming 11th grader bc he needed a challenging step-up in ELA but didn't want to take college classes yet.
I felt all of this 🥴 We’ve don’t textbooks rule before with MasterBooks and didn’t hate it lol but it wasn’t our fav. We shall see…. It’s a hard decision for me.
Love your brain dump videos!
Thx! ☺️
Hey! Have you tried generations history? They have a good wolrd and american history from a bible based standpoint and its not your average throw in some christian vereses its taught from the bible. Also Not grass has a good ine as well!
I haven’t but know someone who has been using them for about a year and really enjoys Generations. They are definitely on my radar for the future.
I’m really excited to get started with Not Grass.
Most of what you’re searching for sounds a lot like what’s in our My Father’s World Creation to the Greeks package that we just bought. I know you mentioned using MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures previously. Maybe the Creation to the Greeks package can check most of those boxes for your girls.
Not sure how we would navigate the cycles they have. But I’ll look a little more into that. Thx!
I would love a video with the resources you are considering for African history. I am currently looking at and considering using units from Layers of Learning because each unit has booklists which include books written by contemporary authors who live in a variety of African countries. LoL is a four-year cycle, but you can buy each unit individually as a pdf for about $6. The units relating to the African continent include from Year One: Ancient Egypt and Africa; from Year Two: African Kingdoms and West Africa; from Year Three: Central Africa, Southern Africa, Africa & the Slave Trade, and African Arts; and from Year Four: Modern Africa, Saharan Africa, and East Africa.
A vote for Layers of Learning.
We use their writing but I had no idea they had history units! Love it! They all sounds very interesting! Thank you for the recommendation! Once I get my Africa list together I will definitely share!
Ok!! Thanks!
I'd separate the kids for science. They are old enough to work independently. Or look for additional experiment kits for the science lover. I like the Not grass idea. I plan on using them next year. You mentioned studying Africa. Consider Generations Taking Africa for Jesus. It's fairly small. We used Taking Asia for Jesus this year and I learned a lot. It also has a lot of geography in the workbook.
Thanks! I’ll also check out Generations!
Maybe for history gather round ?
Maybe we’ll go back to them. It’s been a while since we’ve use their curriculum. Thx!
What about Guest Hollow for history? My son and I don’t like textbooks for history. We will be combing the new Jr American History from Guest Hollow and Sonlight next year.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Science Shepherd!!!
Thank you!
Have you checked out the MB academy for the science? What about Apologia science?
I haven’t Thx!
@LifeofTillmans we started using it to pair with classes and it makes them easily an independent class for even non-reading kiddos. They do the experiments at least in the elementary years. We are at week 30 for let's talk science Creation and do a full week (3days) in one sitting.
That sounds like a great routine! Thank you for sharing!
We are using Art Makes Me Smart and tying it in with our world geography. I haven’t used it because it’s for next school year but I am very excited about it!
Ok! Thanks for the recommendation! I haven’t heard of that one!
@@LifeofTillmans Kristy @theselittlesprouts has a great video about it
Thank you!
Berean Builders is also Christian. The author Dr. Jay Wyle used to write for Apologia before breaking of and doing his own curriculum. He does present both sides though and I think it’s tastefully done (we are a Christian family)
Also came to say this. My vote is for BB or if you're open to hunting, using the older versions of Apologia. Any that are written by Jay Wyle and Jenny Fulbright are absolutely amazing!!
Love this!! Thank you!
Thank you so much!
Before you even said what you were looking at for science I was already saying Berean Builders and Science Shepherd. We haven’t used SS but I’ve looked into it extensively and thought it’d be a good fit for your eldest. But oh Berean Builders!!!!! 😁😁😁 We love them. My eldest is finishing up 5th/6th grade and did Science in the Industrial Age this year. He loved it and learned soooo much. He was also able to do 95% of all experiments by himself. There are times when he had to leave the room and I had to do something with the experiment before he could come back but the Helps and Hints book guides you through all of that.
Next year my two older ones will be in 4th and 6th/7th they will both be using BB (different books). I do buy the experiment kits because it saves so much time and money in the end. Also, when you get to the Science in the Atomic Age (and beyond) there are recorded classes available. I’m not sure if we are going to get them next year but will definitely will for the high school level.
I don’t know if you’ve been on the actual BB website but in the description it gives a broad overview of the topics that will be covered in the elementary series books. I really don’t think it matters which you choose as the middle school books will prep your student for the high school courses.😊
BIG Thank you for this!