I was really looking forward to doing posts for “Back to Homeschool Week,” but with my internet connection down all week, I didn’t get to do it until today.

Maybe I will get a chance to back-fill the other topics. If for no other reason, it is good to answer those questions for myself.

Todays prompt is curriculum.

We are about to start our third school year homeschooling. The D is going into 5th grade; Big E 4th.

We still use grades because they started out in public school and, let’s face it, the world of kids is structured by grade, at least here in America, anyway.

This year, we are doing sort of a grade 4/5 hybrid, starting with grade 4 materials and ending with grade 5, except in language arts and reading, where The D is ahead of Big E and we can’t combine it.

The first year, we tried things out and found out what we liked and didn’t like. It was very “school at home.” Some things we liked (Saxon math), some we didn’t (language arts workbooks).

The second year, we tried an unschooling approach, which was not a good fit for us. They need more structure. I need more structure. We need more structure.

This year, I have a pretty good idea about what materials will work and what ones will not. I also have a pretty good idea of how much structure we need and how much flexibility we need.

I still believe in a life learning philosophy - that learning does not only take place during school hours - but this year, we will have school hours, too.

I just finished sketching out my curriculum to submit to the state, a requirement in Vermont, so here is what we will be doing this year:

Math: Saxon Math 5/4 for both kids, though The D should be able to move into 6/5 at some point.

Language Arts: Learning Language Arts Through Literature. Orange book for Big E; Purple book for The D. (Read my review.)

That book also covers the “Literature” requirement for the state.

History: The Story of the World: Middle Ages, and the tests, so I have something for our state portfolios. We will supplement this with library resources as well.

Geography: Spectrum Geography, grade 4. We will complete this in half a year, doing it once per week. Then we will move into the grade 5 book.

Vermont History: Ethan Allen. His homestead is right in Burlington, so this is an easy one. Plus, our community garden is right next to the homestead museum and the kids have been begging me to bring them there. This we will also supplement with books and/or online resources.

Science: Science Made Simple, grade 4. (I can’t find a link to this.) It is an experimental, hands-on science guide. This will only take half of the year, so I am not sure what we will do the second half, yet. Again, supplemented with library or online resources.

Art: How to Teach Art to Children, plus music (singing, instrument playing).

Phys. Ed.: I can’t even believe this is a requirement for homeschoolers. It is a perfect example of how clueless the state can be.

Health: This one I am not sure about. Another area that is foolish to require for homeschoolers. Suggested topics, like nutrition and hygiene, are things we teach the kids every day. We do not use a curriculum. Usually, I just order some free pamphlets from the government and use those for the portfolio.

So, that is our curriculum for the year. Fortunately, most of those books I already had because I picked them up along the way somewhere.

Of course, so much more is learned, as we live and grow together, that is not in a book or written out on our curriculum. Those are usually the most important things.