We have two little learners in our home this year: five year old Jem and seven year old Scout. That puts both of them in the Core Phase of learning. Read more about that in this post but in short, Core Phase looks like a whole lot of just being a kid: playing, listening to stories, and doing things together as a family.
I already know Scout and Jem are going to be interested in whatever big sis Kathryn is studying, so I’m tying their learning into Kathryn’s high school level studies, which will focus on oceanography.
{Note: post contains affiliate links which benefit our family.}
Elementary ocean study:
We’ve already planned field trips to the Georgia Aquarium and to one of the aquariums on the North Carolina coast. Most exciting of all: Scout and Jem will be visiting the ocean for the very first time on our upcoming family vacation!
Kid-friendly ocean books (a partial list):
- Apologia’s Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
- National Geographic Readers:
Dolphins; Sea Turtles; and Weird Sea Creatures - The Seashore Book
– Charlotte Zolotow
- A Swim Through the Sea
– Kristin Joy Pratt
- Seashells, Crabs and Sea Stars: a Take-Along Guide
- Children’s Guide to Sea Creatures
– Simon & Schuster
- Seabird
– Holling C Holling
- Pagoo
– Holling C Holling
Follow my “oceanography” Pinterest board for ocean study resources for all ages; I’ll keep adding to it throughout the year.
Basic elementary homeschool curriculum:
Though I believe this stage of learning should look a lot like unschooling, we’ll be doing some structured things because Scout needs one-on-one time with me, some direction to her day, and to practice skills like math and handwriting.
I’m excited to try Little Passports for a fun way to learn geography, plus a map skills workbook I think she’ll will enjoy.
The Reading to Learn series is wonderful to practice reading; we’ll start with the Grade 1 reader because they tend to run above standard reading level. She will continue Explode the Code for phonics, and we’ll use A Reason for Handwriting and Draw Write Now for copywork and a bit of drawing.
For math, we’ll be using Horizons Math 1. Based on using this in the past, I believe it will be challenging enough but not so much as to cause frustration.
In addition to those basics (and the science we’ll cover with our ocean study), I’m trying to feed Scouts’s extroverted personality with some outside activities. She’ll be doing Choi Kwang Do (which she began over the summer), children’s choir and a missions class at church, and taking a group homeschool class about the solar system.
Kindergarten curriculum:
Simple, simple, simple. That’s my motto for all elementary learning, but especially for this young age. Jem will listen in on our read-alouds, and we’ll work through Singapore Essential Math Kindergarten A and a few workbooks from Rod and Staff. He’ll also do children’s choir (the boy sings ALL the live-long day!) and a Mission Friends class at church. Beyond that, he’ll build a million things with LEGO blocks, ask innumerable questions about anything that moves (and some things that don’t), and he’ll spend as much time as possible playing outside.
Last year was all about us all adjusting to life as a new family; this year I’m optimistic (but realistic) about a good year of learning together now that we’re much more of a cohesive family unit.
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Visit iHN’s “not back-to-school” curriculum blog hop for more ideas!
I’m a big fan of authentic conversation and always appreciate hearing what you have to say. Thanks for reading.
15 responses to “Elementary Homeschool Curriculum Plans”
A bit off topic but I’ve been wondering – are Scout and Jem just blog names, or are they the kids’ real names? If the former, can I ask why you chose to carry on using blog names once the adoption was finalised? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts.
Yes, blog names. There are some safety concerns so I don’t (and won’t) use their real names anywhere online.
Love, love, love your plans! It almost makes me wish I had littles again. Those were such fun years.
This is the style of learning I want for my children and I just have to have confidence in myself to put it together. You’d think with an elementary education degree it wouldn’t be that hard, but perhaps it is all the harder because of it. Already have “pocketed” this post and a few others to refer to latter when I have a bit more time as I plan for the girls. Thank you!
This looks like a great year! 🙂 We’re using Horizons 1 this year, too. I tried Explode the Code last year (for Kindergarten) but it was too much writing for us… (and I had to be right there with her to figure out what the pictures were), so we’re using aBeka phonics this year. I pieced my own curriculum together for K but this year we’re using Heart of Dakota Beyond LIttle Hearts. I like that it’s open-and-go and I don’t have to plan! Mainly because I tend to waaaaay overplan. : ) But really, this looks so good that I almost wish I could do everything I see. We are doing a unit study on bats right now to kind of get us back in learning mode and it has been such a hit! Your ocean unit study will be a hit, too, I’m sure. : )
Your question got me thinking and I decided to switch to the new middle names we gave them when we adopted them. Safer than using their first names which are far too easy to find via search engines but more personal than the previous blog names.
Thanks, Rebecca! It’s probably even harder for you to get out of the box with that education degree, but you can do it! 🙂
Your post spurred me to add an ocean study to our lineup this year, thanks! I found 7 books at a used/discount new bookstore today (one is the Weird Sea Creatures you pictured) for less than $20!
Fun! And what a great deal, which is even better!
I love your plans. They look similar to what I was doing when I had a high school student and a crew of littles.
Blessings, Dawn
It sounds like a fun year of learning! Thanks for sharing!
I loved reading your plans…thanks! Now I want to add in an ocean study too:-)
Your ocean study looks wonderful!
Happy Homeschooling 🙂
Jamie I love these resources! I’m just starting to plan out an Ocean Unit study and this was so helpful! Thanks for sharing! Kirsten.
Awesome! Glad you found it helpful and I hope you love some of these resources.