What we're using 2022-2023
- Made From His Scratch
- Sep 10, 2022
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 8, 2022
For the past couple of months you've probably heard what EVERYONE is using for their homeschool year. Those on social media try to get "ahead of the game" to share with their followers, viewers, readers, etc what they'll be doing for the school year so I'm sure you've come across something. Now while I do want to share what we're doing for our school year, I want to chat about first.
We can easily get so sucked into what everyone else is doing that we can begin to start feeling inadequate, like we're not doing enough, that we're doing too much, that we need to add something more. I know, because I've been there! We can see a family who does something like poetry tea time and crave to have those "moments" with our children. We see a family sharing learning experiences through travels and wish that we could travel the country and show our kids the beautiful country that America is. We know families who keep it simple, and we dream of our homeschool days being that relaxed and magical.
When we see and focus on these things or allow them to cause doubt, jealousy, envy, discontentment, we're not allowing God to work through our homeschool! That's right! God works in your homeschool! Every family, is created uniquely and formed by God. What works for one family, may not work for yours and what works for your family may not work for another. We need to remember to focus on the wonderful blessings that God has given to us and create a life and homeschool worthy of His calling!
In many of Paul's letters, he writes about living lives that our worthy of God's calling!
We each homeschool because we've felt called too. If we let others or even society distract us from how we're meant to learn within our families, then we're missing out on so so very much! It's going to take time to figure out how your kiddos learn and what you enjoy as a family. Then once you get it "down", something will change and you'll have to try new things all over again. Just remember you are learning too! You get to learn how God has designed your beautiful, wonderful, amazing, possibly chaotic at times family to learn new things! No one else will ever get to do that the same way you get to! Plus, I was listening to a podcast once and the speaker was talking about her daughter who was homeschooled and just went to college. She was worried about if she had taught her daughter all that she needed to know, with homeschool and life skills. Her daughter did just fine but the one thing that mama wasn't expecting was how she thrived in her relationship with the Lord and how she started a bible study group as soon as she could! Now that's where we need to put most of our focus. Are our kiddos walks with the Lord! But maybe that's a different post, for a different day.
On to what we're using this homeschool year for our 6 and 10 year old!
RECORD KEEPING

We are so excited to be trying these Student Record and Planners from Not Consumed Ministry this year! Especially our 10 year old! She's really wanting to take on more responsibility with her schoolwork and it's amazing! Not only do these have a weekly checklist for the kiddos keep track with their school work but each week also has a habits section (Scripture Memory, Personal Care, Chores, Etc.) and evaluations for themselves and parents to complete (Showing a Christian attitude, Showing brotherly love, uUsing time wisely, and more!) These planners also have sections for logging your attendance, reading records, field trip evaluations, and more! Definitely check them out if you've been trying to find something like this!
Bible

You'll never guess what we're using for Bible this year! It's truly revolutionary! (Have you ever seen Mom's Night Out? If not, definitely watch it! You'll then get the "revolutionary" part lol) But we're using.....THE BIBLE!!!! That's right, the Bible! Last year I had a friend ask what we were using for Bible and I had this list of things we were doing which was and is fine but God convicted my heart with this! My husband and I decided that rather than trying to find "the perfect thing", we would you the absolute most perfect thing for teaching our kiddos about God and His Word, His Word!!
Math

We have been using Masterbooks' Math Lessons For A Living Education for 4 years now! (This is their First-Sixth Level Math) We have truly loved the open and go lessons that they provide as well as the ease of being able to teach the lessons to the kiddos! So far we have one kiddo who loves math and another that is the complete opposite but both seem to enjoy Masterbooks Math! They love to follow the stories of Charlie and Charlotte and their adventures!
Language Arts

We have also been using Masterbooks' Language Arts curriculum for 4 years as well! We love that not every day is the same and that there's so much included in just one open and go textbook! Grammar, Spelling, Picture Study, Reading Comprehension, and more in the Language Lessons for a Living Education textbooks!
History

Oh, History. We have tried a good bit of history curriculums! History, is not my favorite subject by any means and I know that sounds awful but it's true! However, we started using Notgrass History last year and it was amazing! The lessons can be short and simple or you can things on such as projects, music, or a book from their recommended reading list! (They even offer all the books as a bundle!) Aaaaand if you go to their website they have links for extra resources for their different curriculums under Homeschool History. We did the first textbook of Our Star-Spangled Story last year and are doing the second textbook this year.
Science

For science this year I'm actually creating our own curriculum! The kiddos wanted to do Engineering this year especially our 6 year old! We're also going to be completing some of this unit study with our co-op group which I know our kiddos are going to really enjoy! I'm hoping to have this available soon if it's something you might be interested in!
Extras/Looping
Keep in mind the things listed below we will be rotating through! Some we'll do only every once in a while others we'll do once a week. So please do not think that we will be doing these every day because....that's too much!
The Tuttle Twins

I'm sure you've seen or heard about The Tuttle Twin books! We actually read the first book one morning after breakfast. (They super easy reads, with wonderful lessons and information!) After reading just the first book, The Law, we talked about; Zacchaeus the tax collector, rights to vote, school taxes, supply and demand, growing a garden vs buying in store and the cost difference, gas, we even pulled out our globe and looked at different countries were gas comes from, and pulled out, Around the World, from Daily Grace Co.
It was one of my favorite mornings because we bunny trailed all over, the kids asked questions and we found the answers and we covered so much just from the curiosity that came from reading the first book! They even have a YouTube channel with episodes that tie into the books!
Art

This is one of the resources we will be using to study art! We've had these for a while now but I wasn't sure how I wanted to use them until recently. I created a document that goes along with these Famous Painting cards from Usborne or if we were to observe art work elsewhere. I'm warning you, if you've never been to their website....there's so much good stuff! If there's ever anything that you would love to use in your homeschool and just not sure how. Think out of the box and be creative Mama!
Music

My husband and I are not musically talented so our poor kiddos will have to gain knowledge from outside sources if they ever show interest in singing or learning to play an instrument! However, I came across Happy Hymnody last year for Hymns and the kiddos and I truly enjoyed the lessons April prepared! This year she even released the whole school year as a bundle in her Etsy shop! You can learn more about her and previous hymns on her website!
Health/Nutrition

We have used Earthly products for a couple of years now and when I saw they had a "curriculum" on eating healthy, I just had to! My kiddos absolutely love learning why things are good or bad for their bodies and will help them stay healthy vs sick. This is going to be a wonderful resource to talk about sugars, nutritional foods, everything artificial, probiotic foods, and so much more! They even included some healthy recipes! I have a feeling I'm even going to learn a thing or two!
Character Matters Cards

These Character Matters Cards from September and Co. are something that we're continuing to do during our mornings. There are three different groups of cards; Home, World, and Bible. Each card has a character trait, definition, "I Can" statements, and scripture on that trait. I feel like these are a quick little thing to add to our family's morning and to grow in Godly character together!
Some extras!

These are a few things that we are adding in every once in a while to our 10 year olds school days.
For some extra grammar practice we're using, Top 30 Grammar Mistakes, from Thinking Tree! If you've never heard of Thinking Tree/Funschooling, definitely check out their website and all that they have available! They have wonderful resources and materials! They texts are not just about learning but engaging your kiddos imagination and creativity! I even got myself one of the mommy books!
I came across Secrets of Storytelling on Amazon and grabbed it for our daughter! She absolutely loves reading and writing and this seemed like a great resource to help encourage her creativity and how to develop her writing skills.
Lastly, when I heard about, Your Business Math Series, from Simply Charolette Mason and that they had a Pet Store option, I just knew our daughter would love to "run" her own pet store. We completed a little bit already and thankfully I was right! They also have a book store and sports store options!
Wooooooo. Ok, I think that's all that I wanted to share! Those are some of our base subjects and some things that I have come across that were different and just wanted to share incase someone was searching for an out of the box something.
Remember Mama, it doesn't matter what I do. What matters is that you find what works for your family and that you live the life that God caller YOU to!
What have you come across for the school year that you're excited about?!

I will be praying this scripture over you Mama! If you have a prayer request, please send me a message so that I can be praying for you specifically!
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