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If you care to look back, you can see what we used in the 2015-2016 year here or in the 2016-2017 school year here.  Last year’s 2017-2018 can be found here.  Some of it is the same and some has changed.

Also, be sure to read my article- Homeschooling a Preschooler – See What Works for Us!.

This upcoming school year, I will have a 10th grader, 6th grader, 3rd grader, 2nd grader and a preschooler.  Last year I told y’all that my older 2 were going to do the majority of their social studies, science, and language arts with a tutor one day a week.  That went VERY well and we will continue again this year.

Math:

Math, we are once again using Horizons Math, but only for 2 of my children. For my oldest, we will continue with Math-U-See.  My 3rd grader will also be starting with Math-U-See since she is struggling with Horizons.  We are also continuing with XtraMath.org.  I can’t say enough great things about this website!  It’s a completely free way to make sure your kids understand all of their math facts.  As a mom, I can login and see how they are doing as well and what needs improvement.  We actually bribe the kids and each day they get a green light, meaning that they did well, they get a piece of candy.  Once they completely finish a chart, they earn $1 🙂  Usually it takes many months for them to complete the chart, but that’s okay!

Language Arts:

We will be starting Easy Grammar with my 2nd grader.  My 3rd grader will start on Saxon Grammar and Writing 3.

My 1st and 2nd grader will continue working on Horizons Penmanship since they didn’t finish last year.  From there, they will move on to A Reason For Handwriting.

All 4 of my school age children will continue working through Q&A For Kids: A 3 Year Journal.  I am going to get the Q&A For Teens for my oldest, though.  Also considering getting one for myself!

We are continuing Building Spelling Skills for the middle 3 to work on spelling.  We really slacked on that the past year.

My 2nd and 3rd graders will also continue working on Explode the Code.  This is a very simple program, but can help with the fundamentals for the little kids.  Takes just a couple minutes each day and they are fun!

We have actually decided to stop paying for ReadingEggs and have switched to a program that we like better called Reading Kingdom.  I feel it’s been much more thorough and has been teaching typing along with reading.  You can get a FREE month here. We tried it out for a review and loved it.

My 6th grader will be using IEW Ancient History along with Rod & Staff English.  My 10th grader will be using Easy Grammar Ultimate Series.

Bible:

This past year, once again we greatly slacked on our Bible lessons, however my son has taken it upon himself as a challenge to read through the Bible.  He’s been doing well with that.  For now, all the kids will also continue with VeritasBible.com.

Social Studies:

History we will continue to pull from Allinonehomeschool.com for the little girls and of course the vast variety of books at the library.

My 10th grader will be using Notgrass Exploring World History.  My 6th grader will be using Story of the World Volume 2.

Science:

Science we will also continue to pull from Allinonehomeschool.com for the little girls, enjoy homeschool day at Sandy Creek, and of course the library as well.

My 10th grader will be using Apologia’s Chemistry and my 6th grader will be using  God’s Design for Science

A while back, I wrote an article about how we homeschooled year round and loved it.  In fact, that was 4 years ago.  Since then, many things have changed.  The kids are getting older, we’ve added another kid, this teacher is getting more tired, and life has happened.

Even though we do still love taking breaks throughout the year when places aren’t as busy, we find that having a summer break for mental health reasons is so needed this year.  As I type this, we are wrapping up our school year with about another 2 weeks to go.  I am already feeling so done.  I want to close the door to the school room and run away!

Don’t get me wrong, I like homeschooling and love being around my kids.  I just find that when everything doesn’t revolve around school, our relationships with the children are much easier.  It’s hard finding the balance being both mom and teacher.

This summer we are taking a much needed official break.  We have an end date and the kids know that on that date, mom is going to cease being teacher.

I will not check any more work.  I will be done.  They may not finish every last page of their books.  And that’s okay.  My high schooler may have to pick back up on her math in the fall.  That’s okay as well.  We want to have fun and enjoy the kids.

School isn’t the end all.  Relationships matter.  The kids matter. My sanity matters.

This past summer I went to a used homeschool curriculum sale.  As you all know, I’m all about saving money, especially on curriculum.  It gets so expensive with multiple children.

Through the sale I attended and through some online dealings, I have a few tips to offer to the rest of you when buying used homeschool curriculum.  Most of the time, you can buy used and save the difference, but you need to know what to watch.

Tips on Buying Used Homeschool Curriculum:

• Be sure and check the edition of the item you want to buy.  Many editions may be old and the workbooks or answer keys may be obsolete or not available.  Triple check that it is the current edition or the edition that you need to buy.  A quick look at the vendor’s website should help answer that for you.  Nothing worse than paying money out for something only to find out that you can’t use it and then have the hassle of trying to sell it to someone else.
• Make sure you thumb through the items you are intending to buy used.  Check for pen/pencil marks and missing pages.  I bought a book at this sale that was labeled as new and when I got it home, it was missing a bunch of pages.  It wasn’t obvious because they weren’t all in a row, just several here and there.  I had taken their word for it and not checked it myself.
• When buying online, require that the seller double check the item for you as far as edition, and if possible send lots of photos.  I bought a teacher’s manual from someone online that was described as like new.  When I received it, they had cut the binding off and it was a huge stack of unbound papers!  I was pretty upset!  Now I have it in a huge 3 ring binder that takes up more room on my homeschool shelf than the book would have taken.  I recommend paying through paypal online so you do have some coverage if the items aren’t shipped.
• Compare prices to original price.  Remember that many things do go on sale throughout the year.  Is it still a deal?  Also take in the price of shipping as well.  Sometimes gently used even at close to full price can be a savings when compared to new plus the cost of shipping.

Where to Buy:

• HomeschoolClassifieds.com – Search for the item needed and then email the seller to make purchase arrangements.
• Ebay
• Facebook: Find local homeschool pages and list what is needed.  As always, meet up in a safe place.
• Amazon: Save a bunch by buying used on Amazon.
• Local Co-ops: Reach out to local homeschool co-ops and find out if they will be having a sale.
• Friends: Ask other homeschooling moms for what you need.  Sometimes they may even let you borrow!

Have things you need to pass along?  Please also check out our article on How to Sell Used Homeschool Curriculum.

Now that I have made our plans for homeschool next year, I made our homeschool schedule for multiple children.  I find it helpful to make a schedule for the entire family so that I don’t have 2 kids trying to use the same computer and so I’m not stretched thin.  It helps to know exactly who needs to be where during the day.  With 5 kids to balance, 1 being a toddler, I expect that this next year will hold some tremendous challenges.

I think this schedule will work for the first several months, or at least until the baby drops his morning nap.  I also schedule in time for the kids to play with the baby.  This helps him to stay out of trouble and the big kids love taking a break from school and unwind by playing for a bit.

Take a peek and maybe it will help you in your plans for the year.

How do you plan for your year?

Homeschool Plans!  I think that I’m in denial that school is about to start again!  I just realized I needed to finish ordering curriculum, but first I needed to figure out what we were using this year.

We have had a marvelous summer and stayed extremely busy – busier than I would have liked, but we have had a ton of fun.

It’s time to start buckling down and making plans for homeschool again.  Last year we did have to switch up math for my oldest.  She just wasn’t understanding pre-algebra with Horizons.  We switched to Math-U-See thanks to a review and she has been thriving!  You can see what we used in the 2015-2016 year here.

This year, I will have an 8th grader, a 4th grader, a 1st grader, a Kindergartener, and a toddler.  Below I will show you what we plan to use for the kids throughout the year.

Math:

Math, we are once again using Horizons Math, but only for my middle 3 children. We use the math books plus we supplement with the extra worksheets for more practice. For my oldest, we will continue with Math-U-See.  We are also continuing with XtraMath.org.  I can’t say enough great things about this website!  It’s a completely free way to make sure your kids understand all of their math facts.  As a mom, I can login and see how they are doing as well and what needs improvement.

Language Arts:

We are once again using Wordly Wise 3000 for my older 2 kids.  This starts in 2nd grade and helps with vocabulary, reading comprehension, and sentence writing.  We started Easy Grammar last year and have had great success, so will continue with it this year.  It only takes a couple minutes a day.

All of the middle 3 kids are also using A Reason For Handwriting, again.  My oldest has completed all of the books now so we will be working on other copywork for her.  We are also adding Building Spelling Skills for the older 3 to work on spelling.

My kindergartener and 1st grader will also be working on Explode the Code.  This is a very simple program, but can help with the fundamentals for the little kids.  Takes just a couple minutes each day and they are fun!

Big 2 will also continue working on Writer’s in Residence that we started a couple months ago.

Little 2 girls are going to continue with ReadingEggs and have just started with ABCMouse.  I’ve seen great improvement in their reading since beginning last year.

I know this sounds like a lot, but most of the workbooks mentioned only take a couple minutes.

Bible:

For Bible we are continuing to use Catechism for Kids.  We didn’t get as far along as I hoped last year, but with a new baby, things just don’t quite work out as planned.  We will finish questions 11-20 and then move along to the next set.  I’m also continuing to read through the History Lives set to the bigger kids when the littles are occupied.  Some of the stories can be fairly intense so it’s taking longer to go through them so we can digest and discuss.

All the kids will also continue with VeritasBible.com.

Social Studies:

History we will continue to pull from Allinonehomeschool.com and of course the vast variety of books at the library for my younger 2 students.  We also plan to start using Notgrass Uncle Sam and You for my older 2.

Science:

My littles will be continuing through Allinonehomeschool.com and the bigs will start on Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy.

That’s it, I think!  Going to be busy!  Always feels great to have a written plan!  Now I just have to write up a schedule and stick to it!  What are your homeschool plans?

The end of our homeschool year is coming up soon!  Per Georgia homeschool laws, I need to do an end of the year homeschool evaluation to keep for my records.  Each year, I have been typing something up and printing it for my files, but this year I decided to make something a little more organized and open-ended to chart from year to year.

How to Do a Homeschool Evaluation:

Honestly, just be honest.  In Georgia, we write a report, but no one else sees in outside of my husband and myself.  I’m sure other states are different, but this is the best way to find your child’s strengths and weaknesses.  It also helps to evaluate their curriculum to see if it was a good fit or if perhaps you might need to check out other options the following year.

Get your child involved as well.  Ask them if they liked their curriculum or not.  Ask about their favorite subjects and why they like them.  You just might be surprised on what they prefer.

Free Printable Homeschool Evaluation Form:

We have a free printable homeschool evaluation form available for you to use. I had my fabulous sister in law make this homeschool assessment form so that I could share it with you guys.  I hope you enjoy it and feel free to use it each year to keep track.  I’m very excited about using it this year!  Click to download the PDF file.

Do you write end of the year homeschool reports for your family?  What do you do or use to keep track?