4th & 5th Grade Curriculum Review for 2024-2025: Much of our curriculum is the same for my 11-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, with Math being the only subject split by grade level. After a insightful first year of homeschooling, we’ve fine tuned our approach and I’m absolutely thrilled with this year’s curriculum. It’s engaging, effective, and builds on the skills I recognized we needed last year. I’m excited to take you along as we explore this new chapter of learning.
Weekly Structure
We attend a Co-Op on Wednesdays, so our curriculum is structured into a four-day work week. Our Co-Op covers:
Science, Art, Music, Gym
Subjects Covered in this Review:
- Bible
- Math
- History
- Language Arts
- Typing
- Writing
Bible Curriculum
Not Consumed Ministries
Price:
- Not Consumed Ministries: $55 for relationship bundle.
Not Consumed Ministries: Relationship Series Bundle.
- Format: Simple, daily study (10-15 minutes).
- Current use: Relationship Series Bundle for Juniors (ages 8-12).
Bundle Includes:
- Obey: A biblical Study on the Importance of Obedience.
- My Brothers Keeper: A Biblical Study on Loving Your Siblings.
- Making Peace: A Biblical Study on Conflict Resolution.
- Becoming a Servant: A Biblical Study on Serving Like Jesus.
- Navigating Relationships: Gods Perfect Plan for Friends.
Feedback from my children:
- Daughter: Believes Not Consumed Ministries is a nice way to grow closer to God and learn His word.
- Son: Enjoyed Not Consumed Ministries easy way to learn about God.
My Thoughts:
I love Not Consumed Ministries daily study! I love that there are so many topics to choose from. It’s simple enough for independent reflection but fun to do together as a family.
Math Curriculum
Saxon Math 5/4 and 6/5 with Nicole the Math Lady.
Price:
- Saxon Math 5/4: $128.34
- Saxon Math 6/5: $128.34
- Nicole the Math Lady: Family Membership w/ Grading is $129/yr.
Overview:
- Saxon Math uses a spiral approach, introducing a new lesson each day while reviewing previously learned concepts through mixed practice.
- Includes fact practice promoting memorization of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.
Nicole the Math Lady:
- A fantastic resource providing lesson videos for Saxon Math.
- Offers additional support, including:
◦ Drill team
◦ Mastery bank
◦ Grading assistance
◦ Extra support
Key features:
- Flexibility to choose how many math problems and activities to assign each day.
- The option to retry questions if answered incorrectly.
Daily Routine:
1. Watch the lesson for the day.
2. Complete fact practice, lesson practice, and mixed practice in a notebook.
3. Input answers into the grading system on the computer.
4. Receive immediate email with grading results, detailing what to review.
Feedback from my children:
- Daughter: Enjoys having her work graded by Nicole; she believes it saves time. She finds her teaching effective and easy to understand.
- Son: Thinks math is painless and quick; enjoys Nicole’s’ fun teaching style.
My Thoughts:
I am very satisfied with Saxon Math in combination with Nicole the Math Lady. It’s working perfectly for our family this year and is reasonably priced for the exceptional benefits it provides. This year, I opted for the grading services as well, which has been a huge success and stress reliever for me.
History Curriculum
Tuttle Twins American History & Field Trips.
Price: $215.99
Features:
- Biblically sound content in a children’s story format.
- Accompanied by a spiral notebook with curriculum activities.
- First- person creative writing journal project.
Feedback from children:
- Daughter: Likes the activities but finds the reading a bit heavy.
- Son: Enjoys learning about American history through family reading.
My Thoughts:
- I was so excited to study American history this year, especially since it was an election year. It offers a variety of activities and fosters family engagement.
- After an exceptionally disappointing experience last year with a history book that replaced Before Christ (BC) with Before Common Era (BCE). I was eager to find a more suitable curriculum, and I’m very pleased with The Tuttle Twins American History Book.
- I would like to note how homeschooling has been a blessing for our family, especially in bringing generations together. My children get to spend quality time with their grandfather, exploring his love of history through field trips that also serve as our history lessons– an experience we can only enjoy thanks to homeschooling.
Language Arts
We use two curriculums for Language Arts this year and It’s my favorite curriculum by far:
1. Total Language Plus (TLP). Price: $34.95, PDF $30.95/per novel study.
2. IEW Structure and Style Year 1 Level A (for grades 3-5), Along with Fix It! Grammar: Nose Tree Level 1. Price: $289.00
Total Language Plus (TLP)
TLP is a novel study curriculum where each novel study we treat as a unit. We will complete about four units during our homeschool year. So far, we’ve completed two:
- First Novel Study: Pippi Longstocking.
- Second Novel Study: Charlotte’s Web.
TLP Offers:
- Reading comprehension practice.
- Spelling rules, words and activities.
- Vocabulary development.
- Grammar instruction.
- Writing prompts
- Enrichment activities.
Personally, I believe Total Language Plus is a comprehensive program that could easily stand on its own, but we don’t use every part of it. This isn’t because we don’t like it; rather, IEW is quiet labor-intensive, and I prefer not to overwhelm my children with repetitive writing and grammar exercises.
How we use Total Language Plus
We split TLP reading into four days, based on our four-day school week. Here’s our routine:
- Mondays and Thursdays: Children read the assigned chapters.
- Tuesdays and Fridays: They answer comprehension questions, either orally or in written form.
- Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays: They practice spelling and vocabulary words.
- Fridays: They take a spelling and vocabulary test.
- At the end of each novel study, my children complete a book report, and we host a fun movie night where they share their reports with friends who also read the book. Then, they all watch the movie together, enjoying popcorn and snacks. Its something my kids absolutely love and look forward to at the end of each unit study.
I’d be delighted to write a more extensive review of this curriculum because I enjoy it so much. If you’re interested in a review of Total Language Plus in its entirety, please let me know!
Why IEW Structure and Style?
I chose IEW Structure and Style for writing this year because I felt my children needed a better grasp of writing. Last year, I struggled to teach them how to create outlines, so this approach seemed like the best fit for our family.
Structure and Style Year 1 Level A (for Grades 3-5) with Fix It! Grammar: Nose Tree Level 1
We use the IEW program for writing and grammar. Each week, my children follow this routine:
Structure and Style Schedule:
1. Watching Streaming Videos: Andrew Pudewa teaches them how to create outlines and write papers.
2. Review a Text: They analyze a selected text.
3. Make an Outline: With the keyword outline strategy.
4. Learn a Writing Skill: Skills include adding -ly adverbs, because clauses, who/which clauses, and strong verbs, etc.
5. Write a Rough Draft: They draft their paper.
6. Revise with an Editor: They edit their own work first and then turn it in to you as the editor.
7. Submit Final Copy: They make revisions and turn in their polished paper.
Fix It! Grammar
Fix It! Grammar teaches grammar rules and helps students identify sentence structure by marking grammar rules in pre-mase sentence examples.
Feedback from my children:
- Daughter: Loves the weekly organization of TLP and enjoys spelling and vocabulary activities. She believes Structure and Style will help her become a better writer in the future.
- Son: Appreciates how TLP allows him to work independently. He believes Structure and Style is challenging him.
My Thoughts:
I’m in love with Total Language Plus; it was a godsend curriculum! I’m so grateful the good Lord dropped it into my lap. I also enjoy that it gives my children the freedom to choose novels that they’re interested in reading.
I have a strong appreciation for Structure and Style, and I can see how much my children’s writing has improved in the half-year we’ve used this curriculum.
Fit It! Grammar is a super fun way to practice grammar applications – so much more enjoyable than sentence diagramming!
Typing
Resource: Typing Club
- It’s free!
- www.typingclub.com
- Usage: I made a box to hide the keyboard while they are practicing typing. They use it for 15-20 minutes on alternating days.
Feedback from my children:
- Daughter: The games are challenging; she thinks the box helps her memorize where the letters are on the keyboard.
- Son: Likes not being able to look at the keys when he is typing.
My Thoughts:
It’s always great to find free resources! They make a big difference in our homeschooling journey, providing valuable support without straining the budget.
Handwriting
Resource: https://a.co/d/5p7bGf8
- My son’s handwriting was difficult to read last year, so I purchased invisible ink writing books.
- His handwriting has improved immensely this year. He alternated between this book and his cursive handwriting book.
- My daughter practices her handwriting in her cursive book.
Feedback from my children:
- Daughter: She originally wanted to start learning cursive this year. She says it’s harder than she originally expected.
- Son: Likes how the ink disappears and all he has to do is trace the letters. He wants to know how to read cursive.
My Thoughts:
My son’s handwriting has improved immensely thanks to the inviable ink resource! I’m grateful my children are learning cursive because I’m not sure they even teach it in some schools anymore.
Additional Tools
Homeschool Planet:
While not part of our curriculum, it’s a major tool I invested in this year for grading, organization, and scheduling. This program offers so much! If there is interest, I’m happy to make a comprehensive review about it as well.
I hope this review was helpful for you,
xoxo Erika
I’d be delighted to write a more extensive review of any curriculum. If you’re interested in a review for a specific curriculum, please let me know and contact me below!