2024-2025 HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM | 4th Grade & 7th Grade | BJU Press, Amazon, Christianbook Hauls 

We've done formal reading curriculum in the past, BJU Press Reading is great, I just felt like stepping back and taking a more gentle approach this year. I ask a lot of questions about what they are reading and plan to continue doing that. Those questions get them thinking about characters, plots, etc. without necessarily needing a formal curriculum. We may go back to BJU Reading next year I just felt like we needed to step back from that for a little bit. Something else we've done is get book studies to go with chapter books we are reading. You can find some great ones on Amazon. As for social studies and learning about wars and historical events, BJU Heritage Studies curriculum is great and we've used it. We've also used Notgrass Our Star Spangled Story and I highly recommend it. We also watch alot of documentaries and for younger children Liberty Kids on RU-vid is great. I wanted to start the upcoming year focusing on a study of the 50 States and facts, events, and interesting information about each state. 😊 And we love doing science projects!

So true!

Congrats!! I'm getting ready to start kindergarten with my oldest and I'm super nervous but excited too. Can I ask what curriculum you used and if you did any History at this age?

@@nicoleadel1983 I didn’t do a formal history, no. We did a little on MLK for Martin Luther King Jr. Day but nothing crazy. I have my eye on the Tuttle twins books, they’re not a formal curriculum but seem to be informative and kid-level. I used The good and the beautiful for our math and LA. and did a few science experiments, baking, and science and social studies workbooks to introduce basic concepts. I’m going to be switching to Christian Light Education/Masterbooks though for 1st grade and see how we like that. ☺️

@@MealsMadeAtHomeThank you for sharing information with me. I really appreciate it. I've been eyeing The Good and The Beeautiful. Did you enjoy using it? What made you want to switch?

@@nicoleadel1983 no problem. For me it’s good, it’s fun, and it’s colorful! I just want something with more practice per lesson/concept. Christian Light seems to offer more practice for their concepts. I also like that it’s broken down into shorter books. Haven’t tried it before but I’ve heard good things. ☺️

I read your comment and meant to come back and answer when I had some time and it slipped my mind. I'm so sorry! I like to take topics for science and history that we want to cover and then find supplemental resources and activities to go with the topic (or I've taken a curriculum like BJU and used specific sections from the book and built off that). I pull books, documentaries, work pages, and activities from all kinds of sources and combine it to make my own unit studies. Then we can cover the topic in whatever amount of time we decide and move on to another. Pretty much just using multiple resources to learn about topics of interest. I have thought about putting some of our unit studies down on paper more formally to be able to share with others... but we will see. 😊 As for history, I think it's a great subject to teach as soon as you want as long as you keep it age appropriate. We've always started it more formally in first or second grade but offered the opportunity for them to sit in and participate with the older kids as young as they want. For kindergarten, BJU has a curriculum called Focus on Fives that we will be using when Wyatt turns 5. They also have Math K5. So it's just the two books. I've never used it but plan to because I love the way it is set up. With Huddy we used Masterbooks Simply K and Masterbooks Math Level K and it was good. I feel like BJU leads into more rigorous studies than Maaterbooks and that's why I lean towards it, but both are good!

​@@OurSmallTownLifeThank you so much for sharing this with me. It definitely would be awesome if you were able to share your unit studies at some point. It's just so nerve racking going into this blind and just wanting to do your best ya know. The amount of excitement and trepidation I have is crazy. Plus since no one I know has homeschooled it's been a little disheartening with the amount of weird looks and backlash I get when I tell people that I'm going to homeschool. I just want to make sure I'm doing the best I can for my kids and I don't want to fail them. Thank you so much for being someone I can talk to about this😊❤

@@nicoleadel1983 I'm here any time you have questions! You've got this! I'm so proud of you for doing what you feel is best even if it's hard.

From what I've been reading and studying in it, it's going to be so good!

That's awesome! I can't wait to watch some videos!

We love all things BJU Press! It's such a wonderful curriculum.

I just watched a video that would help you…it’s super short and to the point 🥰 it’s @homeschoolmadesimple and called “5 easy steps to start homeschooling”

You can do it! I don't know that I've done a how to get started homeschooling video but I will! I'll sit down and do that within the next week!

Did you and your hubby see the total eclipse tiday April 8....1230 pm to 3 pm...saw at 149 pm. It got dark and cool sbf then sun was out again... my sister was a teacher about math and science about she got excited..... friend Mary

@@user-re5bu8co8f no, we didn't. I saw it on video and in pictures.

​@@MrsAlmaTrumblei dyd to but itvwas cool in person

@@user-re5bu8co8f I bet it was, friend.

You could do some of both, however, my experience is that parent led worked best for us in the lower grades.

@@OurSmallTownLife thank you for you quick response and input!

@abbymorrow2539 you're welcome!

I highly recommend BJU for a rigorous and thorough high school curriculum if you are looking for a one stop shop! Or you can mix and match based on learning style. There's so many wonderful options.

I’m subscribed to your channel as also